1. An activity that is natural to or the purpose of a person or thing.
2. Practical use or purpose in design.

If function is natural and has a purpose, you have to ask yourself what a lot of trainers and physios are doing. They may say they’re doing functional training, but is it? Or is it just a simple movement pattern, or something they made up that does nothing and makes you look like a fool in the gym?

Quantifying Function

It is pretty damn difficult to identify true function in a specific sport. Attempts are made within sports to quantify certain aspects by applying a numerical value to a specific act. In rugby, for example, the tackle made by a player can be graded from 1-5, where 1 is a missed tackle and a 5 is a hit that forced a turnover. As you can imagine, there is a high degree of subjectivity or personal bias associated to such a scoring system, and gray areas will exist.

When a search for evidence in the literature is undertaken relating to function, the most common finding is the Functional Movement Screen (FMS). The FMS is a system devised by a group of American professors and physical therapists that attempts to quantify movement with a scoring system, where 0 represents pain that inhibits movement, and 3 represents perfect movement form for the seven movements prescribed: overhead squat, lunge, hurdle step, straight leg raise, push up, and rotary stability.

I have a decent amount of experience with the FMS (and the SFMA), as I was one of the first accredited practitioners in the UK and spent some time with Gray Cook and Kyle Kiesel (two of the developers). Both these guys are extremely clever and their thought processes are excellent. I have utter respect for what they are attempting to do with quantifying movement. However, it is movement they are quantifying, and I would argue the function part is equivocal. For sure, if you squat, lunge, step over, or do a push up, it is measuring your function, but only if these movements are functional to that individual. If you score badly on the FMS, does it mean you are destined to be injured or not be able to do a particular sport? Of course not, and I don’t think even Gray or Kyle believe that.

If a movement screen doesn’t test things you need to do, can it be called functional?

Consider a recent study that investigated young fast bowler cricketers in Australia.¹ Fast bowlers performed the FMS before the start of the season, and injury incidence was monitored monthly throughout the season. There was no difference between the non-injured group and the injured group in terms of FMS scores, and the composite score of <14 had no bearing on the injury rates. The conclusion of the authors: “A total FMS score of 14 does not provide the sensitivity needed to assess injury risk among adolescent pace bowlers and no other accurate cut-off score could be calculated.” The FMS composite score of <14 is now no longer viewed as the essential cut off point. Now, the individual movements and asymmetries are placed with a higher importance in predicting injury.

Another example comes from a study investigating the FMS and chronic low back pain.² The study recruited 20 chronic back pain sufferers and 20 healthy subjects. Unsurprisingly, the chronic pain sufferers had a reduced capacity to perform the movements, specifically the squat, hurdle step, straight leg raise, and rotatory stability tests. The surprising thing from this study was that the authors concluded that the FMS could be used “as a functional assessment tool to identify functional deficits in chronic lower back pain patients.” But the FMS assesses specific movements, and unless these individuals do them all the time as part of their life, the FMS is not truly assessing their function, but merely a specific movement and their ability to do it.

Don’t get me wrong, the FMS can be useful for seeing what a patient can and cannot do. It is a great tool to use as a marker of their ability to do a squat, lunge, push up, etc. in order to create a baseline for them and get them towards exercise, but it is not looking into their function. Only when you investigate and decipher what is really going on in a chronic pain sufferer’s life (physical and psychological) do you get anywhere near what constitutes true function for them.

Training for Function

I am not bashing the FMS—I like it. I have a bastardized version I use that includes movements I believe are important for athletic ability. The take home message here is that functional training should reflect the function you require. So if you are doing functional training that involves walking handstands, I guess you are in the circus. Why not instead call it movement training, since that is what it is?

I work in professional sailing with Oracle Team USA as they attempt to defend the 35th Americas Cup. These guys are athletes—true athletes. They lift weights three times per week (power cleans, deadlifts, bench press, squats etc.), sail for 2-4 hours up to four times per week, and top up with pedestal grinding sessions for fun. The training they do is functional. The deadlift or RDL they do is used specifically to train the posterior chain. The posture they are in during these lifts is very similar to the posture they are in during grinding. We also know from several studiesrelated to grinding performance that the involvement of the lower limb is paramount to performance.³Therefore, a significant amount of their training involves squatting, deadlifting, and cleaning. It is built into their program because it improves their function. It has a purpose, which is to make them better athletes and better at grinding and sailing in order to win the America’s Cup.

Only when a movement helps you toward a goal can it be termed functional.

The other key principle to consider is Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand (SAID). This principle states that if you do something enough times, you will positively respond and adapt to it. Therefore, grinding on grinding machines is perhaps the best example of functional training that the sailors can do in order to adapt and improve their performance. The strength training translates to improving grinding performance and can be considered additional work for a specific, functional task.

Am I against drills that improve mobility, co-ordination and proprioception? Absolutely not! Am I against calling every new exercise developed by someone with an interest in physical activity a functional drill just for the hell of it? Yes! So the next time you are doing a functional exercise, ask yourself—and the person giving it to you— “Is it really?”

It’s not too late to rediscover what training should be:

How Sports Performance Can Fix Functional Training

The post FMS, Circus Acts, and True Functionality appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

1. An activity that is natural to or the purpose of a person or thing.
2. Practical use or purpose in design.

If function is natural and has a purpose, you have to ask yourself what a lot of trainers and physios are doing. They may say they’re doing functional training, but is it? Or is it just a simple movement pattern, or something they made up that does nothing and makes you look like a fool in the gym?

Quantifying Function

It is pretty damn difficult to quantify true function in a specific sport. Attempts are made within sports to quantify certain aspects by applying a numerical value to a specific act. In rugby, for example, the tackle made by a player can be graded from 1-5, where 1 is a missed tackle and a 5 is a hit that forced a turnover. As you can imagine, there is a high degree of subjectivity or personal bias associated to such a scoring system, and gray areas will exist.

When a search for evidence in the literature is undertaken relating to function, the most common finding is the Functional Movement Screen (FMS). The FMS is a system devised by a group of American professors and physical therapists that attempts to quantify movement with a scoring system, where 0 represents pain that inhibits movement, and 3 represents perfect movement form for the seven movements prescribed: overhead squat, lunge, hurdle step, straight leg raise, push up, and rotary stability.

I have a decent amount of experience with the FMS (and the SFMA), as I was one of the first accredited practitioners in the UK and spent some time with Gray Cook and Kyle Kiesel (two of the developers). Both these guys are extremely clever and their thought processes are excellent. I have utter respect for what they are attempting to do with quantifying movement. However, it is movement they are quantifying, and I would argue the function part is equivocal. For sure, if you squat, lunge, step over, or do a push up, it is measuring your function, but only if these movements are functional to that individual. If you score badly on the FMS, does it mean you are destined to be injured or not be able to do a particular sport? Of course not, and I don’t think even Gray or Kyle believe that.

If a movement screen doesn’t test things you need to do, can it be called functional?

Consider a recent study that investigated young fast bowler cricketers in Australia.¹ Fast bowlers performed the FMS before the start of the season, and injury incidence was monitored monthly throughout the season. There was no difference between the non-injured group and the injured group in terms of FMS scores, and the composite score of <14 had no bearing on the injury rates. The conclusion of the authors: “A total FMS score of 14 does not provide the sensitivity needed to assess injury risk among adolescent pace bowlers and no other accurate cut-off score could be calculated.” The FMS composite score of <14 is now no longer viewed as the essential cut off point. Now, the individual movements and asymmetries are placed with a higher importance in predicting injury.

Another example comes from a study investigating the FMS and chronic low back pain.² The study recruited 20 chronic back pain sufferers and 20 healthy subjects. Unsurprisingly, the chronic pain sufferers had a reduced capacity to perform the movements, specifically the squat, hurdle step, straight leg raise, and rotatory stability tests. The surprising thing from this study was that the authors concluded that the FMS could be used “as a functional assessment tool to identify functional deficits in chronic lower back pain patients.” But the FMS assesses specific movements, and unless these individuals do them all the time as part of their life, the FMS is not truly assessing their function, but merely a specific movement and their ability to do it.

Don’t get me wrong, the FMS can be useful for seeing what a patient can and cannot do. It is a great tool to use as a marker of their ability to do a squat, lunge, push up, etc. in order to create a baseline for them and get them towards exercise, but it is not looking into their function. Only when you investigate and decipher what is really going on in a chronic pain sufferer’s life (physical and psychological) do you get anywhere near what constitutes true function for them.

Training for Function

I am not bashing the FMS—I like it. I have a bastardized version I use that includes movements I believe are important for athletic ability. The take home message here is that functional training should reflect the function you require. So if you are doing functional training that involves walking handstands, I guess you are in the circus. Why not instead call it movement training, since that is what it is?

I work in professional sailing with Oracle Team USA as they attempt to defend the 35th Americas Cup. These guys are athletes—true athletes. They lift weights three times per week (power cleans, deadlifts, bench press, squats etc.), sail for 2-4 hours up to four times per week, and top up with pedestal grinding sessions for fun. The training they do is functional. The deadlift or RDL they do is used specifically to train the posterior chain. The posture they are in during these lifts is very similar to the posture they are in during grinding. We also know from several studies related to grinding performance that the involvement of the lower limb is paramount to performance.³ Therefore, a significant amount of their training involves squatting, deadlifting, and cleaning. It is built into their program because it improves their function. It has a purpose, which is to make them better athletes and better at grinding and sailing in order to win the America’s Cup.

Only when a movement helps you toward a goal can it be termed functional.

The other key principle to consider is Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand (SAID). This principle states that if you do something enough times, you will positively respond and adapt to it. Therefore, grinding on grinding machines is perhaps the best example of functional training that the sailors can do in order to adapt and improve their performance. The strength training translates to improving grinding performance and can be considered additional work for a specific, functional task.

Am I against drills that improve mobility, co-ordination and proprioception? Absolutely not! Am I against calling every new exercise developed by someone with an interest in physical activity a functional drill just for the hell of it? Yes! So the next time you are doing a functional exercise, ask yourself—and the person giving it to you— “Is it really?” 

It’s not too late to rediscover what training should be:

How Sports Performance Can Fix Functional Training

The post Is Your Training Functional or Circus Act? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

A lot of advertising out there will have you believe that the road to leanness is paved with protein shakes.

Sadly, protein in any form is not the “magic” macronutrient for body transformation. Protein is just one part of the nutritional requirements needed to achieve health goals. Following on from my article about sarcopenia and protein requirements for the ageing athlete, I thought it timely to discuss protein in a broader context: What protein is, what it’s not, what it does, and the practical application of its use.

What is Protein?

In its simplest form, protein is amino acids. There are twenty of these, and nine of them are considered essential amino acids (EAAs). EAAs are essential because the body does not produce them, so you need to consume them in liquid or food form to get them into your system. Now, of these nine EAAs, there are three branched chain amino acids (BCAAs). These are your most important amino acids as they are key regulators in muscle protein synthesis (MPS). One BCAA in particular, leucine, is viewed as the key amino acid for triggering muscle growth after exercise.¹

Thus far, there is nothing magic about the mystical creature, protein – just some solid science.

What Can Protein Do for Athletes?

If you look at reviews and studies on protein and its effect on muscle building, improving body composition, and improving strength^2-6, you will see clear evidence to support protein’s use. While the World Health Organization has a recommendation of 0.8g per kg of bodyweight for individual protein intake, the International Society of Sports Nutrition has a position stand that recommends 1.4-2g per kg of bodyweight for physically active individuals.² This difference in recommendation is because protein breakdown is higher in training individuals, and should be supported with an increased intake.

What Can Protein Do for Body Composition?

Protein may have an effect on your body and your body composition^5-7– but not a magical one.

Firstly, protein may reduce the total amount of food you are eating due to its ability to keep you feeling fuller for longer. On a higher protein diet, you can go into a calorie deficit without knowing it. This is one of the great practical applications of a higher protein diet for a lot of clients. Have you ever tried eating 400g of chicken compared to 400g of bread? Big difference in difficulty. This is a huge part of why higher protein diets work. Not because of all the fancy science behind protein’s effect on the body, but simply because most people cannot eat large volumes of food.

With that said, protein does have a greater thermic effect called TEF, or the thermic effect of feeding. In other words, your body works harder to break protein down and thus uses more energy to digest it. Protein is an uneconomical fuel source, but beneficial when used in the right manner. Protein has a TEF of approximately 19–23% in both obese and lean individuals, whereas carbohydrate has a TEF of approximately 12–14%. Studies investigating higher protein diets support that the majority of individuals (~70 %) who consume a high protein diet (>2 g/kg/bodyweight daily) get an improvement in body composition. This method is not 100% foolproof, but it does often work.

Protein also assists muscle protein synthesis. This means if you’re in a calorie deficit, there is potential for the muscle mass to be maintained whilst fat stores are utilized for energy. The parts of your body that aid metabolism are therefore maintained. When protein is combined with quality resistance training, then protein consumption starts to have a very significant effect on lean mass growth and fat loss.

Protein isn’t the key to muscle growth on its own. But without it, you won’t make significant strides in your pursuit of increased lean muscle and reduced body fat.

Protein in Action: A Case Study

Let’s take a look at a real life nutritional intervention in the form of one of our professional sailors here at ORACLE TEAM USA.

At the start of his diet adjustment, the sailor’s body composition was far from ideal for a professional athlete. 21% body fat is barely overweight, but in today’s world of professional sailing, it really wasn’t good enough. We embarked on discovering why this was. We first required an understanding of the sailor’s nutritional habits. This meant a food diary to look for trends and habits to explain the sailor’s physique. Two weeks of daily recording ensued, and it became obvious where he was going wrong.

His beliefs about what fuels an endurance athlete meant he was eating an extraordinary amount of carbohydrate. He was eating carbs constantly throughout the day, from breakfast to dinner and also for snacks. Most of his carb consumption was in the form of breakfast cereals and pasta at night. This was the first glaring issue.

The second was that his total energy consumption exceeded what we predicted to be his total energy expenditure using both a combination of equations and the Zephyr Heart Rate system. He was in a calorie surplus daily and as a result, his weight was increasing without the visual gains of lean muscle mass being achieved.

Thirdly, we realized his protein consumption was around the WHO recommendation of 0.8g/kg/bodyweight. Certainly not bad, but for an individual in training two to three times per day, he was not fuelling his body with the necessary protein.

We embarked on a nutritional intervention program designed to educate the athlete, improve his lean mass, reduce his body fat, and reduce his overall weight to 94 kg. He was too heavy for his specific role on the boat and we felt he was carrying unnecessary weight that was not providing a sporting advantage. The nutrition program reduced his overall total energy intake to approximately 2900Kcal/day, increased his protein consumption to approximately 240g protein/day (2.5g/kg/bodyweight), fat intake to approximately 100g/day (1.06g/kg/bodyweight) and set his carbohydrates to approximately 260g/day (2.8g/kg/BW). He was also put on a supplements routine of daily whey protein isolate (40g/day to assist meeting his daily target for protein intake), creatine monohydrate (5g/day) and BCAAs (10g/day). His training schedule stayed exactly the same as it had been.

Focus your attention on the word approximate for the total macronutrient quantities prescribed. At the start of any nutritional intervention, I get my clients to recognize and understand how much they are eating and what foods contain what macronutrients. They do this by using a visual representation for their macronutrient split and weighing their food. This is very important so they understand how much food and macros they are actually consuming. Gradually over time, usually a period of two weeks, the weighing of food stops and the visual guide is the way of determining intakes. It’s not foolproof or an exact science, but most people don’t want to be weighing food forever. It’s impractical, and not the way that food or nutrition is intended to be enjoyed. The method of weighing and measuring food is about providing an awareness and understanding.

And it works. A review of the sailor’s results over a one month period saw him drop an estimated 9.2 kg of fat mass and put on 5.1kg of lean mass, and his body fat percentage went from 21% to 12.2% in one month.

Look Beyond Protein for the Best Results

Was this impressive result solely because of protein adjustment? No. It was because we took a wider view of the athlete’s nutritional intake and manipulated it so it matched what the literature tells us. He started taking a significant increase in protein on a daily basis, but this was not the only reason he dropped body fat, increased lean mass, and reduced his overall bodyweight. He reduced his overall food intake, combined that with weightlifting, and started taking targeted supplements.

So before you simply up your protein intake, have a good think about what you are trying to achieve by doing so and how you are going to accomplish your goals. Seek assistance from a professional nutritionist or dietician with knowledge of sports requirements, along with a quality strength and conditioning coach. Get together and review your current habits for food, training, and lifestyle. Design a plan that works for all three elements and stick to it.

Consistency, commitment, and effort are required to achieve the results you desire. Remember that it is all about practice, because nobody is perfect. Protein will help you for sure, but it’s only one piece of the nutritional puzzle.

New to nutritional concepts? Begin at the beginning:

 Let’s Talk About Diet, Part 1: Quantity Versus Quality

References:

1.Moberg et al, Activation of mTORC1 by leucine is potentiated by branched-chain amino acids and even more so by essential amino acids following resistance exercise. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2016 Jun 1;310(11) International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Protein

2. Willoughby DS, Stout JR, Wilborn CD. Effects of resistance training and protein plus amino acid supplementation on muscle anabolic, mass and strength. Amino Acids. 2007; 32:467-477

3.Morton RW, McGlory C, Phillips SM Nutritional interventions to augment resistance training-induced skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Front Physiol. 2015 Sep 3;6:245.

4. Borsheim E, Aarsland A, Wolfe RR. Effect of an amino acid, protein, and carbohydrate mixture on net muscle protein balance after resistance exercise. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2004 Jun;14(3):255-71.

5. Reidy PT¹, Rasmussen BB. Role of Ingested Amino Acids and Protein in the Promotion of Resistance Exercise-Induced Muscle Protein Anabolism. J Nutr. 2016 Feb;146(2):155-83.

6. Krieger et al. Effects of variation in protein and carbohydrate intake on body mass and composition during energy restriction: a meta-regression. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Feb; 83 (2):260-74.

7. Simmons et al, 2016. Cumulative Muscle Protein Synthesis and Protein Intake Requirements, Annual Review of Nutrition.

The post Protein Is Only One Piece of the Nutritional Puzzle appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I was asked to pick a subject matter that would be of interest to the athletic population that read Breaking Muscle Australia and thought what better than the actual subject of breaking muscle.

The information in this article is directed towards the slightly older population, so if retirement and old age are still decades away, you could be forgiven for thinking it isn’t relevant to you. But you’d be wrong. One day you’ll fall within that age bracket. And unless you came from a test tube, your parents and grandparents are likely to be there already. If you care about your future health and theirs, read on.

The importance of protein becomes even more important as you age. [Photo courtesy of Pixabay]

Ageing and Progressive Muscle Loss

During my training to become a nutritionist I had the privilege of learning from several of the world’s leading professors in Sports and Performance Nutrition. Dr. Leigh Breen and Dr. Stuart Phillips are lecturers in Exercise Physiology and Metabolism, with a special interest in the aged (>60 years of age), muscle, and exercise. I found their lectures fascinating in that while outlining the process and negative effects of ageing, they simultaneously focused on the methods and means to reduce and even reverse these outcomes. This was an eye opener to me and made me question the traditional approach to training and nutrition that is often taken with older clients.

Ageing is associated with sarcopenia, a syndrome characterized by a decline in skeletal muscle mass and associated declines in strength.¹ This has the effect of reducing the capacity to perform functional task and sport, and can therefore reduce quality of life. This syndrome is not just for the “elderly.” By definition, “elderly” are people who are over 60 years old. People of this age may not feel old, but the physiological effects occurring in their bodies are ever-present and ongoing. Despite their best efforts the process is still likely to occur. The following advice is of particular importance to anyone over age 50.

Estimates put the number of people in the world with sarcopenia by 2050 at a massive 200 million.²

Sarcopenia is attributed to several factors, including reduced physical activity, inadequate protein intake, and reduced ability to synthesize protein in comparison to younger people. Think of this as “anabolic resistance” – anabolic meaning building up, catabolic meaning breaking down. This resistance is attributed to reduced sensitivity to insulin and its ability to reduce body protein loss. Several other factors are noted in the scientific literature including altered protein absorption, reduced blood flow, and perfusion and altered cellular signaling pathways.³ The process or progression of sarcopenia is characterized by chronic alterations in skeletal muscle protein turnover, where rates of breakdown (catabolism) exceed rates of protein synthesis (anabolism). Unfortunately, as you age, you simply don’t function the same way as you used to – even if you are exercising hard.

Nutrition for Longevity

I was chatting to my father the other day about the diet of the sailors on the America’s Cup team, ORACLE TEAM USA that I currently work for, and what they have to eat to ensure they perform at their peak.

My dad is 70 years old, about to turn 71. He asked about the exact amounts of macros (protein/fat/carbohydrates) they consume on a daily basis, so I outlined the approach the guys take with food and drink and the targets they are all supposed to achieve. He then asked, “Is this what I should be doing?” My answer was “No.”

If you’re thinking, “Obviously he doesn’t need as much as professional athletes,” you might be surprised to learn what the older population really needs in terms of protein and muscle protein synthesis (MPS). Below are nutritional strategies for someone who is involved in sport and is approaching the magical age of 50 or above.

A Day in the Life

Think of an average day’s meals. Breakfast consists of a bowl of cereal, maybe a couple of bits of toast, even a green juice. Lunch is a sandwich or wrap at your desk. You grab an apple for a mid-afternoon snack. Finally, dinner is a meal of steak and steamed vegetables. Sound familiar? This routine very typical of what I continually find in my older clients’ feeding behaviors.

Below are charts from one of my sporty 62-year-old female client’s food diary. She displays a moderate- to high-carbohydrate consumption, with low protein ingestion. Even when the client was instructed on the amount of protein to eat, she found it difficult to achieve the volume required. Before we learn how to improve protein intake, it is important to understand how much protein you should be aiming to get on a daily basis.

Note the distinct increase from 2/18 where an intervention was applied. [Chart courtesy of Scott Tindal]

You will note a distinct increase from 2/18 where an intervention was applied. [Chart courtesy of Scott Tindal]

Protein Requirements for Older Athletes

From the available scientific literature we know that people approaching age 60 should be consuming at least 40g protein per meal.⁴ This is significantly more than the 20-25g of protein that a younger adult would require per feed to stimulate MPS.^5,6 If you fall into the 50+ age bracket you should aim to consume around 2-2.5g/kg/bodyweight per day. If you weigh 60kg you should eat at least 120g-150g of protein per day in combination with a quality resistance-training program. If you eat three meals per day, that equates to 40-45g of protein per feed.

What does that mean in real food terms? 100g of chicken contains roughly 20-25g of protein, so you should aim to eat around 200g of chicken per feed. Red meat, pork, and fish are similar in terms of their protein content. This can sometimes be a chore for smaller people, especially women who may struggle with eating a high volume of food. If that is case, have as much whole food on your plate as you can comfortably eat and top up with a protein supplement.

I often get asked what type of protein supplements are best. Your taste buds, moral preferences, and digestive system will all determine what supplement you choose. I recommend whey protein isolate as first choice. Whey protein isolate is the most researched form of protein powder on the market and has the most evidence to support its use over other forms. It has the highest rate of PDCAAS (Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score), a fancy system that rates the quality of protein based on its ability to deliver essential amino acids to the person consuming it.⁶

Whey isolate also has the highest amounts of leucine. Leucine is one of the three branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) that are considered essential for increasing MPS. If you are struggling with eating the necessary volume of food, even when supplemented with a protein shake, then adding just 3g of leucine to a glass of water should be advantageous to helping maintain lean muscle mass. Breen and Phillips speculated that whey stimulates MPS more effectively than casein or soy protein because whey contains more leucine and induces a more rapid hyperaminoacidemia/hyperleucinemia environment.⁷

Protein Is Powerful as You Age

So, back to Dad. After a lengthy discussion, he came to the realization that he was certainly not eating enough protein throughout the day. Since then he has made a conscious effort to increase his daily amounts in each feed. As a result, he has felt energetic, with a definite improvement in body composition and a reported improvement in strength. Here are my recommendations:

• Track you food and beverage consumption for a minimum of two weeks using MyFitnessPal.
• From this, estimate your protein consumption in grams/kg/bodyweight.
• If it’s low, aim to gradually increase your intake as per the instructions above.

As always, if you have any health issues, especially renal dysfunction, consult your doctor before increasing your protein intake. To be sure you are on the right track, utilize the services of a certified nutritionist or dietician as first port of call.

Ready to try a new protein recipe?

Mackerel and Moroccan Mash: A Tasty Post-Workout Protein Hit

References:

1. Churchward-Venne, T.A, Leigh, B., Phillips, S.M., “Alterations in human muscle protein metabolism with aging: Protein and exercise as countermeasures to offset sarcopenia,” BioFactors, 40(2014): 199–205

2. Janssen, I., “The epidemiology of sarcopenia,” Clin Geriatr Med 27(2011):355–363.

3. Fry, C. S., Drummond, M. J., Glynn, E. L., Dickinson, J. M., Gundermann, D. M., et al., “Aging impairs contraction-induced human skeletal muscle mTORC1 signaling and protein synthesis,” Skelet Muscle 1(2011): 11.

4. Pennings, B., Groen, B. B., de Lange, A., Gijsen, A. P., Zorenc, A. H., et al., “Amino acid absorption and subsequent muscle protein accretion following graded intakes of whey protein in elderly men,” Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 302(2012):E992-999.

5. Yang, Y., Breen, L., Burd, N. A., Hector, A. J., Churchward-Venne, T. A., et al., “Resistance exercise enhances myofibrillar protein synthesis with graded intakes of whey protein in older men,” Br J Nutr 108(2012):1780–8.

6. Smith-Ryan, A.E., & Antonio, J.A., “Optimizing Protein Consumption for Body Composition and Sports Performance,” In Sports Nutrition & Performance Enhancing Supplements, Linus Learning (2013):31-47

7. Yang, Y., Churchward-Venne, T. A., Burd, N. A., Breen, L., Tarnopolsky, M. A., et al., “Myofibrillar protein synthesis following ingestion of soy protein isolate at rest and after resistance exercise in elderly men,” Nutr Metab 9(2015):57.

The post Protein Requirements for the Ageing Athlete appeared first on Breaking Muscle.