Today’s topic is dedicated to a scientist by the name of Douglas Paddon-Jones who was a giant in the field of nutrition and exercise science. You might have not heard of him, but he’s one of the individuals who inspired Dr. Jacob Wilson.
Unfortunately, Dr. Paddon-Jones passed away after a battle with cancer, after performing groundbreaking research and elevating the field of exercise and nutrition science. For that reason we’d like to dedicate this article to Dr. Douglas Paddon-Jones and what he taught us about the best ways to use essential amino acids (EAAs) to maximize hypertrophy.
1. Maximize Protein Synthesis by Supplementing Between Meals
Back in 2005 Dr. Paddon-Jones published a study that proved how EAAs could help boost protein synthesis and maximize the duration of hypertrophy. During that time this study was massively groundbreaking.
He took individuals and split them into two groups. One group had 3 meals a day of around 700-800 calories each. They were pretty large meals and presented a massive calorie load.
The other group had those same meals. However, the catch was that they had 15g of EAAs in between these meals. EAAs are the amino acids that your body can’t make, so you need to get them through your diet.
What Paddon-Jones found was when he looked at the net protein balance by the end of the day, is that the group who just ate the 3 large meals had either no gain, or slightly negative gain. Can you imagine eating three 800-calorie meals a day and being slightly negative in net protein balance?
Protein synthesis goes up after a meal, then between meals you break down proteins. So, it’s a net wash by the end of the day–kind of antagonistic if you’re trying to build muscles.
The interesting thing was that the group that had 15g of EAAs between meals, which is considered a small calorie load, actually had drastically elevated protein synthesis throughout the whole day. This made Dr. Paddon-Jones the first person in history to show that having EAAs between meals could be highly anabolic.
That’s why our first tip for using EAAs to maximize hypertrophy is that you need to supplement your body with EAAs between your meals. This elevates your protein synthesis throughout the day, increasing your protein synthesis window of opportunity.
2. Use the Optimum Amount of EAAs
Our second tip, which we actually already covered with the study, is that you should take at least 10-15g of EAAs between your meals. If you’re eating three meals a day, make sure you have at least two servings, with 10-15g per serving.
3. Time Your EAA Supplementation
The best thing you can do when it comes to supplementing with EAAs to max out your hypertrophy is to time it. Research has found that consuming EAAs before your exercises is the best time for making gains, compared to taking it as a post workout.
We hope you enjoyed learning about the top 3 ways you can use EAAs to max out your hypertrophy. We’ll see you again in the next article.
