We’ve all heard them, standing next to clients giving advice on everything from supplements to diet and the unwitting client soaking it up as fact, why? Because these guys are qualified trainers and they know their stuff. Well not so, a large proportion of trainers giving advice have gained their qualifications by doing short courses that scratch the surface on a surfeit of health related topics yet give little grounding on any particular one.
The would be Dietitian
Standing next to the treadmill the trainer spends the time pontificating about the types of food the client should be consuming and you guessed it, at the top of the list is protein. It would seem any personal trainer worth his weight in eggs is almost obliged under the unofficial trainer’s handbook to preach the benefits eating protein. A client recently spoke of her personal training experience how she was advised to eat a high protein diet punctuated with none other than the bodybuilders staple, the “protein shake”
The client’s goal was to lose a few kilos and tone up, obviously like a lot of other personal trainers out there he wasn’t acquainted with the fundamental principles of Net protein utilization (NPU).
NPU is the ratio of amino acid converted to protein to the ratio of amino acids supplied and can be determined by the dietary protein intake and the amount of nitrogen excreted.
Protein isn’t a magic macronutrient
Although most bodybuilders swear by the benefits of eating and drinking copious quantities of protein, in actual fact the body takes what it needs and the rest is converted to fat and stored, used as fuel or excreted via the kidneys. The more you eat isn’t going to make your muscles any bigger. The basic principle is that excreted protein ends in faeces and urine and can be identified by the amount of nitrogen found in urine, this amount is called "our nitrogen balance", what goes in equals what comes out.
Trainers are not dietitians
The best advice for any prospective client is to do your own research, ask the questions and don’t believe or eat everything your told, these guys are not dietitians and protein is only one of three macronutrients important for good health and wellbeing.
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