The Effects Different Types of Milk has on Strength Gains and Lean Muscle Mass when Combined with Free-Weight Training.
By Chris Kitson
Abstract
Nutrition and recovery go hand in hand. Post resistance training, it is vital for athletes to rebuild and refuel their bodies with the correct nourishment to ensure maximal results. To ensure they are replenishing their bodies of these vital nutrients, they rely on the consumption of different post exercise recovery aids to help develop gains in muscle mass, aid in hydration, and speed up the recovery process.
A nutritional supplement that has recently grown in popularity is milk. A study by Stuart (2011) stated that “athletes who are interested in maximizing the gains from their work-out, should consume milk as it is a good post exercise choice.”
The relevance of conducting this investigation is to discover an alternative understanding to generic energy replenishment to ignite physiological adaptations when combined with resistance training. Historically, research on post-exercise meal optimization in terms of strength gains has focused on refined protein. Although Wheeler, (2013) considers protein intake reduces post-exercise muscle damage by inducing repair, other scientific literature endorses that a blend of both carbohydrates and protein are vital in an optimum post exercise meal (Achten et al, 2007) (Holub et al, 2010). A study conducted by Valentino et al (2008) indicated that subjects who consumed carbohydrate alone or plus protein all had significantly lower levels of blood myoglobin (indicating less muscle damage) post-exercise. These results coincide with Ferguson et al (2011) whose study also demonstrated an improvement in muscle repair and gains in the carbohydrate plus protein group, compared with groups who consumed just carbohydrates, protein and a placebo using an alternative muscle marker such as creatine kinase (another protein found in the muscle).
Method: 12 volunteers, all male, aged between 18-25 years of age were divided into four groups, (whole milk, semi-skimmed milk, skimmed milk, and water). 500ML of their allocated beverage was consumed three times a day, on training days, (upon awakening, prior to training and immediately post training). This procedure was carried out over an 8 week period.
Results: The whole milk and semi-skimmed milk group, showed a greater increase in strength gains with all of their compounds increasing in weight from week to week. Skimmed milk group also show and increase in recorded compound lifts however proved to be significantly lower than that of the whole milk and semi-skimmed milk group. The water group showed a small increase in recorded compound lifts, yet were a great deal lower than that of any of the milk groups. The increase in strength gains in the water group developed much later in the programme (week 7). Conclusions: The ingestion of milk following resistance exercise results in phenylalanine and threonine uptake, representative of net muscle protein synthesis. These results suggest that whole milk may have increased utilization of available amino acids for protein synthesis.
Nutrition and recovery go hand in hand. Post resistance training, it is vital for athletes to rebuild and refuel their bodies with the correct nourishment to ensure maximal results. To ensure they are replenishing their bodies of these vital nutrients, they rely on the consumption of different post exercise recovery aids to help develop gains in muscle mass, aid in hydration, and speed up the recovery process.
A nutritional supplement that has recently grown in popularity is milk. A study by Stuart (2011) stated that “athletes who are interested in maximizing the gains from their work-out, should consume milk as it is a good post exercise choice.”
The relevance of conducting this investigation is to discover an alternative understanding to generic energy replenishment to ignite physiological adaptations when combined with resistance training. Historically, research on post-exercise meal optimization in terms of strength gains has focused on refined protein. Although Wheeler, (2013) considers protein intake reduces post-exercise muscle damage by inducing repair, other scientific literature endorses that a blend of both carbohydrates and protein are vital in an optimum post exercise meal (Achten et al, 2007) (Holub et al, 2010). A study conducted by Valentino et al (2008) indicated that subjects who consumed carbohydrate alone or plus protein all had significantly lower levels of blood myoglobin (indicating less muscle damage) post-exercise. These results coincide with Ferguson et al (2011) whose study also demonstrated an improvement in muscle repair and gains in the carbohydrate plus protein group, compared with groups who consumed just carbohydrates, protein and a placebo using an alternative muscle marker such as creatine kinase (another protein found in the muscle).
Method: 12 volunteers, all male, aged between 18-25 years of age were divided into four groups, (whole milk, semi-skimmed milk, skimmed milk, and water). 500ML of their allocated beverage was consumed three times a day, on training days, (upon awakening, prior to training and immediately post training). This procedure was carried out over an 8 week period.
Results: The whole milk and semi-skimmed milk group, showed a greater increase in strength gains with all of their compounds increasing in weight from week to week. Skimmed milk group also show and increase in recorded compound lifts however proved to be significantly lower than that of the whole milk and semi-skimmed milk group. The water group showed a small increase in recorded compound lifts, yet were a great deal lower than that of any of the milk groups. The increase in strength gains in the water group developed much later in the programme (week 7). Conclusions: The ingestion of milk following resistance exercise results in phenylalanine and threonine uptake, representative of net muscle protein synthesis. These results suggest that whole milk may have increased utilization of available amino acids for protein synthesis.