There was a recent study that found that even 100 grams of protein per meal was still a big improvement over 40 grams. The protein synthesis is also spread over a longer time then. Btw: if 40 grams was the max, someone doing OMAD would see the same muscle improvements whether they eat 40 grams a day vs. 160 grams a day :p

Another fantastic video. Based on the research you cited, I have been eating 3-4 servings of protein daily for the last 7 years. It's so much more sustainable and practical too.

The limitation here is using static numbers like "20g" "40g" without taking into account what percentage that number equals to the mass of the individual. A 130 lbs woman training a single muscle group and a lean and jacked 230 lbs male doing a full body session are going to have very different results here. It stands to reason the latter could utilize well upwards of 50g on a per-meal basis for muscle growth.

Thanks Menno. Clear and concise.

Thank you for improving the audio quality 👍🏽

Absolutely fantastic video. Thanks! 🙏

Thank you so much! I love your sience based video!

Hello, can you please make a long winded video about the amino acid leucine for natural bodybuilders and answer a few questions that totally confuse me. How important is the protein but especially leucine content per meal, because almost everyone says that studies show that you need at least 2,5-3g of leucine per meal to stimulate muscle protein synthesis and to build muscle but 20g of protein don´t contain 2,5-3g of leucine!? how much from a protein source I have to eat per meal, how many grams, for example how much raw or cooked chicken, turkey, beef or dairy, and how much total protein per meal when 20g don´t contain 2,5-3g of leucine? What is the minimum amount of leucine to stimulate muscle protein synthesis? What if I don´t eat a meal with more than 2 grams of leucine. Does the leucine content or protein content per meal depend on bodyweight or can a 160 pound male and a 225 pound male both eat a minimum of 20g or protein and muscle protein synthesis will be triggered? What will happen when I don´t eat 2g of leucine per meal, for example just 3 whole eggs, can I still build muscle or will I hurt myself and let gains on the table. Thank you very much, I appreciate you and I value the content

Great video as always. I'd like to see your actual meals per day (full day of eating and schedule) and if you/they count snacks as part of these meals. Because 200 g of protein in 3 meals can be challenging some days, so protein snacks in between make it much more feasible. Also some people don't consider their preworkout meals. They are always like "I only have 2 meals per day and I reached hypertrophy", but when they share a video of their meals per day the preworkout and the snacks add a lot :O.

yeees. Using some memes with this informational content is the sweetspot. Thanks keep up the good work

Fantastic video sir!!!

What about second breakfast? What about elevenses?

Great video! Does protein speed matter in this as well? I had thought the studies showing a 20g cap on MPS involved whey which is extremely fast absorbing. I would imagine a slower digesting protein wouldn't hit this cap?

Menno, excellent vid/info Thanks. I'd hazzard a guess that the average person working out is (on average) eating about 3 meals per day with at least 30 to 40 grams per meal

Liked and subscribed! Been following you on Instagram Menno love your work. Relieved that my eating habits aren’t terribly misaligned with your findings 😂

Great video backed by scientific research.

The disagreement between the mechanistic knowledge of the anabolic cap versus the actual outcomes in studies is so confusing. If decreasing protein degradation contributes little to muscle growth, then why in at least one study in rats and that one study in Japanese humans was there such a small difference in muscle growth when having evenely distributed protein rather than unevenly distributed protein? Layne Norton basically says the same thing, that there is the anabolic cap of synthesis yet despite that it seems that in practice, having a single 150g protein meal nets you 80% of the results.

Is this effect also seen when eating meals that have a combination of lipids, carbs and proteins? Wouldn't this delay digestion and absorption of protein to a degree where the muscle full effect doesn't take place or something like that?

Does strength training twice a day for example, once in the morning and the once in the afternoon potentially help with gaining more muscle by increasing the muscle full cap effect so you can utilise more protein provided both workouts had the volume and stimulus, or would that be too fatiguing and could negatively effect recovery.

What about the fats and fibre in the meal slowing down the digestion and hence a 100gm protein meal might slowly get into blood stream and the body can utilize all for that 100gm protein for MPS.

Id be curious how this ties into protein absorbsion rates. Obviously theres strong evidence to suggest casein is a good alternative to whey when you have longer periods between meals. Its why many of us suffer cottage cheese before bed. Could you do a follow up video tying this one into the difference between quick release like whey, and slow oike casein? Would a large quantity of casein in fact be better if your eating kess meals?

Isn't there a recent study showing muscle protein synthesis being raised for 12 hours after a 100g protein meal? Wouldn't that mean that the body slows digestion with larger protein feedings and while there's a cap on how much protein can be synthesized in the short term, the body compensates by slowing digestion to elevate protein synthesis for a more extended time? Is there evidence of a higher cap of protein synthesis post exercise meal leading to more hypertrophy vs a smaller elevation for an extended time? Thanks.

are bodies about muscle protein synthesis, like every thing else where different people have different levels of efficiency in protein synthesis? Some are extremely efficient and tend to add muscle tissue more easily, and others are not efficient in synthesis, and tend to put on muscle tissue more slowly? And secondly, does the body always synthesize enough protein to repair all damage done in the daily training, especially if someone is doing all their sets that week at rpe 9-10

Personally, I do 4x40 + 1x20 to maintain an intake of 1g per cm in height. I do weigh around 185lb also, so the 1g per lb of bodyweight standard is also covered. I don't think I'm getting any sort of abnormal gains from doing this just for context, but I having a good understanding of my macros definitely allowed me to get better definition quicker as somebody who used to be ~300lb.

I have basically never followed any type of protein partitioning aside from a few months when I was 20. I just try to get enough daily, and even before the recent data don't think I was getting near the older teaching of 1g/kg body weight. I've made gains just fine.

Hi This is only applicable to whey protein, but what about protein from food like beef ? I think there are studies showing protein from beef mixed with carbs and fat can stimulate more protein synthesis above 25 grams of protein !

One of the things I learned early on was spacing your meals is optimal but if you can only manage 2-3 large meals, as long as you reach your calorie/protein goals by the end of the day, you get 90% of the benefits, spacing it to 4-5 meals a day gives you the extra 10% so min maxing in a sense. Focus on the macros then if you can the micros, not the micros before the macros.

Okay here’s another Two guys train full body for a year: one lifts every day and one lifts every other day, who makes the most gains? Two guys train full body every day for a year: one does 5 sets per session and one does 15 sets per session, who makes the most gains? All sleep and protein and carb and hydration is equivalent or equal between all of them Do you have any videos on this topic already?💯💪🏽

Presumably anabolic steroids increase the amount of protein used from a meal for muscle protein synthesis. Serge Nubret used to eat just one meal a day, occasionally two. I very much doubt that only 40g of muscle protein synthesis (the highest level quoted here) were the result of that meal.

Hi, 3 meals a day minimum? I’m doing 1 meal, 2 if taking into account my protein shake (pea protein isolate) before the training at 5pm and diner 8pm, would love to hear about those, but at the end, 3 meals minimum is said? Menno, amazing person Iwan

Can I ask you some questions via email or the likes? And also, can I just eat 170 grams of protein once a day and still build muscle? Or do I have to spread my protein intake over the course of the day? Thank you.

Im not convinced by the 3MAD conclusion. Can you comment on the paper "The anabolic response to protein ingestion during recovery from exercise has no upper limit in magnitude and duration in vivo in humans" by Jorn Trommelen et. al. and how it fits into this?

Menno, if you use a study comparing 3 vs 6 meals, we can only conclude ideas in regards to 3 vs 6. Not 3 vs 4 or 5 meals per day. Even in the graph you show in your thumbnail and at 2:15 in the video we can see that around 180 minutes in the time axis MPS drops significantly. Why not consider a meal plan splitting meals between 180 up to 240 minutes apart? (3 - 4 hours) that would point Into the direction of 4 - 5 meals per day during 16 hours of being awake.

So if I consume 40g protein in a meal when I only need 20g to maximize the MPS, what happens to the remaining amino acids in the blood stream? Do they get stored as fat since the muscle tissue can't metabolise them or they get used by the processes other that MPS and thereby still beneficial to the body?

I'm pretty sure I read or heard that as we get older, we lose the ability to absorb protein and therefore should increase our intake. True/False?

Let's say that after 20g of protein there is no effects on muscle growth; let's say that when ingested after a workout we can use a little bit more than 20g for muscle protein sysntesis... my question is: do you think anabolic steroids increase the amount of protein utilized for muscle protein systesis (given the correct stimulation via resistance training of course)? and so: would it be orrecy to say that enanched people can benefit from more that 20g per meal?

Hello Menno, pls tell me how to copy your beard. Thank you

So what now? Muscle protein breakdown increases past 40 g? I don‘t get it, how does eating a certain amount of protein increase breakdown as well???

Dr. Donald Layman and Dr. Gabrielle Lyon are saying that you need a MINIMUM of 30 g of protein per sitting to initiate muscle protein synthesis. So, how do we square that circle?

🚀

Two guys eat and train the same for a year: one eats one meal a day, the other eats 6 meals a day Who makes the most gains?

I'm a little confused... you said there's not really big benefits to eating more than 3 meals a day, but also you can't utilize more than 20g of protein at one time (or say 40g after a workout...) so that's only 80g of protein? That's half my daily target??

So this confused me. Are you advocating ~ 3 meals per day w 20g of protein? That’s 60g total for the day. Your newsletter says you suggest 1.6g/kg of ideal BW. Can you clarify?

So what happens to the protein in our body if we have more than 40g of protein per meal? Is that still synthesized? Ex: 4 meals of 50g of protein. Will only 160g of protein be synthesized at the end of the day?

I eat around 100-130g a day and I’m around 52kgs… I divide this in 3 meals. I love protein. I think I even eat more than that … hope my kidneys do not explode!

I might be asking something completely idiotic but how does the info presented on this video jive with your 0.8g/lb recommendation (for a 200 lbs fellow, that ballparks 160g/day)? If I'm understanding correctly, 3 meals a day at 40g of protein each, a total of 120g protein per day, should be pretty much enough to maximize MPS and MPB in 99% scenarios. Am I missing something obvious, here?

Finally, someone explaining this semi-myth correctly!

Menno’s English is wayyyy better than a lot of other KZfaqrs explaining how his stuff

I got much better growth from five to six high-protein meals/shakes per day. Very significant difference, after years of slow/no growth. So: I don't believe it applies to me.

If you eat a lot of fiber with your meals like typically vegan do, you will be digesting macro and micro nutrition much slower hence you body should have more steady and spread over time and this should allow you to eat more proteins in meal and have them absorbed. You are 100kg and target eating 1.6g@kg you would need to consume 160g protein a day so if you want to limit protein intake per meal to 20g you would end up with 8 meal a day, that is a lot. Eating every 2hr.

20 g per meal regardless of body size? doesnt sound right. That would mean everyone getting on 60g per day on 3 meals

Probably. Because the 25g protein shakes go right through me! 😂

Yeah, did you not address that the one the study was in post-menopausal women and perhaps a 20 year old man is capable of far greater muscle protein synthesis that than the general population? Maybe you did and I missed it.

American wrestlers, bodybuilders etc eat massive amounts of protein per meal. i.e. whole chickens and more. The body can obviously use this massive amount of protein per meal or no one would ever get huge! It must also depend on the size of the person and the amount of muscle they have. A 50kg woman and a 300kg man can't both have a max of 20-40g of protein max synthesis per meal.

Nobody means protein synthesis when they repeat the myth about absorbing 30g protein per meal - they're meaning exactly what they say. They're just repeating what everyone says. I don't know why you'd try and excuse them by claiming they mean synthesis.

me: 90 grams protein shake, 1 meal 50-80 grams protein. (I'm cutting)

lions eat like 10 kg of meat in one sitting

I doubt its true and also each person is different. your body will absorb what it wants to.