Does Gorging Equal Muscle Growth?

Many wild animals, particularly carnivores, exhibit a feast/fast eating pattern.  I have been looking into how this may connect with muscle growth.

The first thing I'm noticing is that the "window" for muscle growth may be shorter than people think.  This new study shows that protein synthesis rates were back to normal only 28 hours after a resistance training session.  Other studies suggest that protein synthesis is only elevated 24 to 36 hours post-workout.  How long this window lasts can be affected by various factors, but it does seem to be a relatively short period of time.

From this, I think you can make a simple connection to overfeeding.  We know a calorie surplus is needed to build muscle.  If you just simply overfeed when sedentary about half goes to muscle and half goes to fat.  If you overfeed post-workout, it would seem like the lion's share (pun intended) of calories would go to muscle.

Here's another clue: a feast/fast eating pattern helps maintain muscle mass in men with HIV-related wasting.

Comments

[Charles Richardson]

Okay, so I read the study about the 4-28 hour period of increased protein synthesis.

It mentioned that the untrained leg had rates above resting even after the trained leg was back to resting levels.

Can you explain the implications of that?

[Matt Metzgar]

Yes, I thought that was curious, too. I'm not exactly sure why it's happening. I will take a look though.