Download Takanori Nakano

Bio5 Writing Assignment
4/25/06
Protein Muscle Building and Diet
Is how much muscle people develop determined genetically rather than through
exercise? Genetics has a great deal to do with this. When I came to the U.S. for the first
time, I felt that American people were really big. Compared with Asian people, American
people are genetically tall and thick, and Asian people are usually short and thin. Growth
hormone effects this growth. People make their bodies bigger and less fat for some
reasons such as looking sexy or keeping physical health. Even though most Japanese girls
dislike muscle-bound people, over weight people are usually commonly disliked in most
parts of the world. After I entered COS, I planned to take the physical education class to
build some muscle because I thought I was too thin and weak. I went to the weight
training room for some exercise. I tried some training with the training machines, and I
developed muscle soreness, but I did not gain much weight or muscle as I had expected.
For this assignment, I learned how to build muscle effectively. The most effective way is
to train a lot and take protein; moreover, muscle building with protein use has some other
positive effects.
First, I planned to build muscle in my chest and shoulders. I was concerned that I
would lose flexibility by building muscle. Because I am a BMX rider, I do not want to
lose my flexibility and balance. After I considered, I decided to make some muscle for
biceps, triceps, chest, abs, back, and shoulders and lose as much fat as possible. I
exercised without taking protein in order to build muscle. The day after the first exercise,
I got a little muscle soreness, and I believed that my body was gaining muscle right away.
Even though I had kept training those parts for 4 weeks of every other day, except
weekends, I did not gain much muscle and strength. I searched for some advice on the
Internet. In the same time, one of my friends told me to do more concentrated training
and take protein. For instance, doing more sets of the same type of training such as chest
presses and triceps extensions and leave some other parts for the next day. Each time, I
had taken the protein after the workout, and I gained eight pounds by one week training.
Next, I wanted to be able to run not faster, but longer. I walked, jogged, and ran
after the weight training to burn fat. My research informed me some interesting stories
about Type I and Type II muscle fibers. Basically, they are muscles fibers that have
opposite characteristics. Type I muscle is slow twitch, and Type II muscle is fast twitch.
The principal difference is force and endurance. Type I has less force and more
endurance than Type II, and Type II has more force but less endurance. Which kinds of
muscle we can develop depends on genetics, but there is still some hope. For example,
short distance runners commonly have Type II muscle, and long distance runners have
Type I muscle. By that information, my workout plan is made. I want Type II muscle for
chest, biceps, triceps, and shoulders, so I take less time for one set and full power use. For
legs, I wanted Type I muscle, so my running plan takes at least 30 minutes to finish. For
abs and back, I wanted the Type II b, which is a kind of muscle between Type I and Type
II. My schedules for abs and back extensions are with a small barbell such as 30 pounds
for 30 repetitions for abs, and 50 repetitions for my back muscles some day. This
difference in number is because the back is 0.6 times harder to make muscle than the abs.
Another day, I extended as many times as I could without a barbell for both abs and back.
Finally, I started thinking about burning fat. The fat is fuel for making ATP to
keep our body moving. Compared with glucose, scientists say that fat is a more efficient
store of energy. In fact, one molecule of glucose can make 36 ATP from both Krebs cycle
and Glycolysis, but one fat can make approximately 400 ATP. To transform the fat into
ATP, the human body uses β-oxidation. One fat is composed of three palmitin acids, and
each of them can make 130 ATP. The fat is a longer burning fuel than the glucose for our
body; in other words, burning fat is harder. Protein is good for the diet because it speeds
up the burning of fat. I asked a guy who is majoring in biochemistry about the best way
to lose fat. He told me to keep running in the same pace at least 15 minutes because after
the 15 minutes, our bodies start losing the fat. Unfortunately, I have no tool to weigh how
much fat I burned.
Through this entire project, I gained 10 pounds by 3 weeks of protein training. In
addition, I found that whey protein is also good for improving body health. This helps
muscle building, and fat burning. Moreover, this protein keeps our body really healthy,
for example raising the immune response and activating antioxidant power. Even though
protein is the most efficient substance for building muscle, the most important thing is to
stick to the training plan for a long time.