Peer-Reviewed Article: "Muscle and Protein Synthesis in Response to Nutrition and Exercise"

As I have thought about my last blog post regarding my research topic, I have decided I should first start on a broader scale and see what kinds of articles I can find related to my interests before deciding that is the particular topic I want to research. The first thing that made the most sense to search for was an article having to do with exercise, nutrition, and muscle growth. I came across the article, “Muscle Protein Synthesis in Response to Nutrition and Exercise” by P. J. Atherton and K. Smith which seemed fairly fitting.

I suppose their aim is to express guidelines and information to those interested in the most effective way to maximize muscle protein synthesis and therefore muscle growth. This article discusses the nutrition and exercise factors of muscle growth in several parts so there is really more than one claim, but the one I found most interesting was the claim stating that high repetitions of exercises with a weight low intensity to failure can be just as effective as low repetitions of exercises with a weight of high intensity. The claim jumped out at me because I thought that high intensity/low rep created mass whereas low intensity/rep until failure was primarily for strength.

Of course, I believe there are exceptions to this claim. Everyone’s body works somewhat differently, usually making one more effective over the other for that individual. I personally find that with some exercises it is best to use lighter weight and with others heavy weight, depending on the amount of focus I desire on a particular muscle or simply that with one more of a muscle contraction is felt than with the other. A bigger question to ask may be ‘why do some individuals’ muscles generate more muscle protein synthesis with high intensity/low rep sets and others’ respond better to low intensity/rep until failure sets?’

This is a similar concept to the diverse approaches some personal trainers take with each of their clients for how much of certain foods they should eat or what kinds of exercises they should do to reach their physique goals since different body types respond differently to various exercises and amounts of macronutrients. For example, those with a slow metabolism build muscle easily and can’t burn fat quickly, so they may have to do more cardio or eat less than someone with a high metabolism if the ultimate goal is to gain muscle mass. Of course there are more technical details for that and everyone’s metabolism is unique, but they do their best to accommodate each person’s differing needs. Similarly, it may be beneficial to research the ‘why’ instead of creating a set amount of guidelines for every person to follow.

Considering this was one of the first articles I saw, I believe it gave me a better insight to the biology behind what is really happening in one’s body in response to foods and exercise which I have never looked into before. It provided a solid basis of information for my future research and was applicable to my personal activities and interests.

“Muscle Protein Synthesis in Response to Nutrition and Exercise”: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3381813/?tool=pmcentrez