for him, one consisting of complete protein and an overall greater volume of it. The next year, the NBA man played injury free for the first time in years, and his team went on to play and win the NBA championships, in which he was the high scoring star.
One of the two bodybuilders worked as a police officer, 220 pounds of traffic-stopping muscle as he walked his beat with every bulge rippling through his uniform. To pack on a few more pounds of muscle in preparation for the Mr. America contest, he increased his already-high protein intake to two and a half grams for each pound of his bodyweight, an amount suggested by the makers of the protein supplement. Within months, he was hospitalized with critical kidney damage. The cause, the doctor said, was his body’s inability to handle the excessive volume of protein.
The other bodybuilder was 190 pounds of hard, ripped muscle. Not believing the one or two grams of protein per pound of bodyweight theory, he decided to see how low he could go and still progress. Over the course of 18 months, he slowly and progressively dropped his intake to 30 grams a day (about one gram per six pounds of bodyweight) - all the while continuing to pack on muscle.
The how much dilemma So how do you know what to believe? For sure there is a lot of confusing information out there. Go to a local health food store and the clerk says you should drink a protein shake with each meal. Read the label on the protein powder canister and it instructs you to mix two scoops in water or milk and drink three servings a day (hmm, think that just might be a ploy to get you to use up a can of the stuff every three days). The “experts” at the gym advise you to drink protein shakes and chow down on as much chicken, cottage cheese, beef and milk as your bloating stomach can handle. The folks with diplomas on their walls, the sports medicine people, dietitians, and such, tell you to eat only a moderate amount of protein. It’s enough to make you go to a diner and order a big piece of pie with two scoops of ice cream.
You might be getting enough right now. Most athletes, with the exception of some vegetarians, are already eating enough protein without having to sit down and do the math. Every day, they consciously or unconsciously eat a little extra chicken, tuna and drink a glass or two of skim milk. In fact, most people consume protein-heavy diets, which is true even for those who haunt the greasy burger joints on a regular basis (no, we are not recommending greasy burger joints).
4 Ways to Calculate Your Needs
As a thinking martial artist who recognizes that good eating habits account for much of your progress, you need an easy way to calculate your protein intake. Well, you came to the right place; in fact, here are four easy ways to determine your daily requirement.
Method one: This method is based on a general guideline that puts your daily protein need between .03 and .09grams of per pound of bodyweight. Here is how it looks for a 150-pound fighter and a 200-pound fighter.
150-pound fighter
.03 x 150 = 45 grams of protein per day
.09 x 150 = 135 grams of protein
200-pound fighter
.03 x 200 = 60 grams of protein
.09 x 200 = 180 grams of protein
Yes, .03 to .09 is a large margin, but every person is different so you have to experiment to see what works best for you.
Method two: With this, you multiply your bodyweight times .36 grams to determine your daily intake. This is the formula used to calculate the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) found on food labels. For most martial artists who train regularly, this supplies an adequate daily intake; but it should be considered the absolute minimum. Let’s use our 150- and 200-pound friends again.
150-pound fighter
.36 x 150 pounds = 55 grams of protein
200-pound fighter
.36 x 200 = 72 grams of protein
Method three: This method for determining your daily protein need is called the “Hatfield Estimate,” a unique formula that takes into account your lean body mass (LBW) and your activity level, referred to as your Need Factor (NF).
LBW: Your lean body weight is your weight minus your body fat. Since fat doesn’t require protein, there is no need to calculate your total body weight. To get an estimate of your LBW, you need first to determine the percentage of body fat you carry around. This is done using ultrasound or electrical impedance, methods used by many commercial gyms and by sports medicine doctors and dietitians Call one of these places and ask to have your body fat measured and calculated in pounds. You can also purchase skin fold calipers, though they are less accurate. That said, Christensen once had the task of using skin fold calipers to measure the body fat of over 1000 police officers. His calculations were within one to two percent of those officers who had had their body fat measured by more high-tech means. That is good enough for our purposes.
Once the short procedure is completed, subtract the fat poundage from your total body weight and the answer — tu-duh — is your LBW. Here is an example using a 150-pound person with 30 percent body fat.
.30 X 150 = 45 pounds of body fat.
150 - 45 = 105 pounds of lean body mass
Need Factor: The NF is your best guesstimate of your activity level; use the below scale to give it a number. Be honest about your activity level so you know exactly how much protein to take in every day. Should you rate yourself too high you will end up taking in more protein and calories than you need.
.5 - Sedentary, no sports or training
.6 - Jogging or light fitness training
.7 - Sports participation or moderate martial arts training three times a week
.8 - Moderate weight training, aerobic or martial arts training daily
.9 - Heavy weight training daily
1.0 - Heavy weight training daily and martial arts training daily
Take your NF number and multiply your LBW to determine your daily protein requirement in grams. The math looks like this: LBW x N F = daily grams. If you are as bad at math as we are, toss your calculator out the window and use this chart that does it for you.
Weight
Need factor and corresponding protein requirements
LBW (lbs)
.5
.6
.7
.8
.9
1.0
90
45
54
63
72
