With regular practice, resistance exercise can lead to gains in skeletal muscle mass by means of
hypertrophy. The process of skeletal muscle fiber
hypertrophy comes about as a result of the confluence of positive
muscle protein balance and satellite cell addition to muscle fibers. Positive
muscle protein balance is achieved when the rate of new
muscle protein synthesis (MPS) exceeds that of
muscle protein breakdown (MPB). While resistance exercise and postprandial hyperaminoacidemia both stimulate MPS, it is through the synergistic effects of these two stimuli that a net gain in
muscle proteins occurs and muscle fiber
hypertrophy takes place. Current evidence favors the post-exercise period as a time when rapid hyperaminoacidemia promotes a marked rise in the rate of MPS.
Dietary proteins with a full
complement of
essential amino acids and high
leucine contents that are rapidly digested are more likely to be efficacious in this regard. Various other compounds have been added to complete
proteins, including
carbohydrate,
arginine and
glutamine, in an attempt to augment the effectiveness of the
protein in stimulating MPS (or suppressing MPB), but none has proved particularly effective. Evidence points to a higher
protein intake in combination with resistance exercise as being efficacious in allowing preservation, and on occasion increases, in skeletal muscle mass with dietary energy restriction aimed at the promotion of
weight loss. The goal of this review is to examine practices of
protein ingestion in combination with resistance exercise that have some evidence for efficacy and to highlight future areas for investigation.