Protein Myth Busting + Should you do Supersets?
Thursday Thrive #16
Today at a glance:
Debunking 2 of the most common myths about protein consumption
Exploring the pros and cons of using supersets to make your workouts more efficient.
Protein Myth Busting
There are far too many ridiculous nutrition myths out there. They spread so quickly because people like to seem informed, so they will eagerly share any tidbits they hear without checking the facts.
There’s no way I could debunk all of the common ones in one newsletter, so today, let’s focus on a couple of the ones that bug me the most because they involve my favorite macronutrient: protein.
Myth #1. Protein is hard on your kidneys
The idea that protein is bad for kidneys dates back to the recommendations for people with renal disease.
This is because protein has nitrogen + an ammonia group, and this has to be excreted through urea and processed by the kidneys.
Basically, the more nitrogen consumed, the more the kidneys have to work to process that nitrogen.
If your kidneys are struggling to function properly, it makes sense to do everything you can to make sure they’re not overworked.
But somehow this translated to the perception that protein is hard on everyone’s kidneys, not just those with renal disease.
However, hundreds of studies have looked at this, and this meta-analysis found no difference in kidney function between low-protein and moderately/high-protein diets.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30383278/
Not only that, a specific study looked at bodybuilders eating a high amount of protein (2.2 grams per kg) and found perfectly normal kidney function.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10722779/
It seems that protein is in fact, not hard on healthy kidneys.
Protein Myth#2: You can only absorb 25g at a time
You may hear this as 20, 25, or 30 depending on the person relating the data to you.
But the idea is that you can only process a relatively small amount of protein at one time and that there is no point in eating more protein at once.
This idea comes from the initial findings on muscle protein synthesis, which found that 20 grams of protein is the minimum effective dose to trigger MSP.
This is true, and it’s why you’ll see that any legitimate protein bars have at least 20 grams of protein, and a serving of whey isolate will have between 20-35 grams of protein.
But the idea that you can’t absorb more protein than this is false.
This study found the ingestion of up to 100 grams of protein created a longer anabolic response than 25 grams of protein.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38118410/
The old thought that you need to eat 6-8 protein-containing meals because the anabolic response to protein in the blood was extremely short-lived.
This is false — you don’t need to eat 6-8 times per day and you can ingest up to 100 grams (possibly more) of protein at one time.
So eat plenty of protein - and don’t hesitate to eat large amounts in one sitting.
High protein is arguably the most important change you can make to your diet to improve your body composition and overall health.
Should you do Supersets?
A superset is when you perform an exercise and then immediately perform a second exercise that targets a different muscle group.
For example, you might do a set on the bench press followed immediately by bicep curls.
The immediate advantage of supersets is obvious: they can cut the length of a workout nearly in half.
For every exercise you superset, you’re shaving ~3 minutes of rest time off of your total workout.
Many people also find super setting leads to a more enjoyable workout - it creates a higher perceived rate of exertion which makes people feel like it is an “intense” workout (which can be fun).
There are drawbacks, however.
In the same study that found superset workouts were considered more enjoyable, they also found that they reduced the total training output for the session.
A more telling study conducted by Brad Schoenfeld and colleagues looking at 23 individuals over 8 weeks compared results from a traditional set group and a superset group.
While both groups saw progress in muscle size over 8 weeks of resistance training, the TS group saw approximately a 6% increase to their 1 rep max on the bench press, compared with no discernable increase in the superset group.
The superset group did, however, improve in muscular endurance.
The main takeaway was that hypertrophy results were similar, but that the supersetting did negatively impact strength gains.
So back to the initial question: should you superset?
It depends on your goals.
If you’re crammed for time and you care more about training for overall health, hypertrophy, and muscular endurance (and you don’t care too much about the weight you’re lifting) then super setting can be a good option for you.
But for the serious training folks who want to increase their numbers and get as strong as they can, it seems that super setting is not a great strategy.
This doesn’t mean you won’t get stronger using supersets — anecdotally I’ve seen clients improve significantly in strength using supersets in their workouts.
But the research suggests it’s not ideal for strength gains.
Here’s a potential negotiation for someone who wants shorter workouts but also cares about strength gains.
You could make sure to keep your main compound movements as traditional sets but use supersets for your accessory lifts.
Since supersets mainly impede strength (and not hypertrophy or muscular endurance) you’d mostly want to avoid them on lifts like the bench press, back squat, and rows.
But get your main lifts out of the way, and then use supersets to increase efficiency for the remaining lifts of your workout (the lifts you’re less concerned with strength gains for).
Anyone looking to optimize their performance should be concerned about strength progression in all lifts, which is why traditional sets are arguably better for the serious lifter.
But remember — optimal isn’t necessarily right for you.
Hope you found that useful, I’ll see you next time
-Colin “Don’t listen to people who don’t know anything about nutrition and spread lies” Matson