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For good health, your body needs protein for hair, nail, skin and internal organ development. When it comes to building big, muscular arms, protein is most important for muscle tissue synthesis. During weight training or other intense exercise, muscle tissue breaks down its protein constituents [actin and myosin] to provide additional energy during muscle contraction. To avoid a net loss of muscle tissue from this activity you must consume adequate amounts of protein each day.

The amount of protein that you consume must be sufficient to maintain what?s known as your body?s positive nitrogen balance. Each of the 3 food sources [protein, carbohydrates and fat] contains carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. But only protein contains nitrogen in addition to these elements.

If your protein intake fails to provide nitrogen and amino acid quantities sufficient to rebuild muscle tissue broken down during your training, you may end up actually losing muscle as a result of your workouts.

There is no exact formula for determining the amount of protein required to maintain a bodybuilder?s positive nitrogen balance. However, research indicates that bodybuilders and other strength athletes need to consume between 1.5 and 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day to meet this goal. One kilogram equals about 2.2 pounds.

As an example of how this formula works, let?s assume that you are a 200 pound bodybuilder. Since 200 pounds equals about 91 kilograms, you would multiply 91 by 1.5 or 2.0 to determine the approximate number of grams of protein that you should consume each day to maintain your positive nitrogen balance.

In this example, that number equals between 137 and 182 grams of protein per day. Since 1 gram of protein contains 4 calories, at 200 pound you?d end up consuming between 548 and 728 calories from protein each day. These figures represent approximately 20-30 percent of total calorie intake assume a diet of 2,500 calories per day.

Choosing Your Protein Sources

You should consider a couple of factors when selecting foods as protein sources. First among these concerns should be whether the food choice is a source of complete protein. ?Complete protein??means that the food source contains the 22 amino acids necessary for protein synthesis or muscle building.

While your body can manufacture the 13 ?non-essential??amino acids, the other 9 ?essential??amino acids must come from dietary sources. Complete protein is found only in meat and dairy products. For this reason, egg whites, fish and lean meat are excellent food sources of complete protein. You must make sure that eat sufficient amounts of protein each day and that you balance your meals with lean sources of complete protein.

Net Protein Utilization

An additional consideration that relates to protein source selection is net protein utilization [?NPU?]. NPU compares the nutritional value of various protein sources based on your body?s ability to convert the amino acids contained in certain foods to protein based on the ratio of amino acids supplied. In other words, NPU represents and compares the rates at which your body digests and absorbs various sources of complete protein that it can use to build muscle.

As you might expect, egg whites have the highest NPU with fish, poultry and lean beef also having high NPU ratings. The NPU for milk products is slightly higher than the ratings for fish and poultry. However, you should be careful to consume non-fat or low-fat dairy products as the higher NPU isn?t worth the extra fat that comes with whole milk dairy foods.

Train hard, eat smart with a watchful eye on your protein consumption and you can build the big, muscular arms that you deserve.

Mark G. Winston, "The Master Gunslinger," is author of the ground-breaking training manual, "GO For Your GUNS ??7 Simple Secrets to AWESOME ARMS.??He has also created GOforyourGUNS.com, a bodybuilding and fitness website dedicated entirely to helping you build big, muscular arms. The book will be available in September 2007 and jammed with workouts and training techniques to help you build the big, muscular arms that you deserve! To learn about the GO For Your GUNS bodybuilding system and get free arm training tips that really work, visit http://www.GOforyourGUNS.com