Have you ever heard the claim “Your body can only digest 30 grams of protein? Or too much protein at one meal will turn into waste and most likely turn to fat or damage your liver?”

This is what many so-called fitness “gurus” tell others.  I was told by another lifter that my protein shake of 40 grams was a waste because my body will only digest 30 grams of it and the other 10 grams will turn to fat.  True story.

So let’s smash this debate on protein that you may already believe in or come across someday.

I’m hoping you already know the importance of protein, especially if you’ve been following my blog. There are many benefits of protein but to quickly highlight a few, protein is important for muscle growth and maintenance, as well as recovery from a training session.

Moving on.

Back to the lifter telling me that the extra 10 grams of whey is going to turn to fat.  You see, he isn’t the only person out there who thinks this.  But logically this never  made sense to me.

My favorite cut of steak is a ribeye and I will grill up a nice sized portion whenever I get my hands on one.  I did some digging around and found that 4 oz of ribeye comes out to nearly 30 grams of protein.  There is no way that I’m going to grill an 8 oz ribeye steak, which has 60 grams of protein, and eat less than half of it.

Eat only 30 grams from this?

You must be crazy!

This sort of belief all came from research that tested out how to maximize muscle protein synthesis.  The scientist found that protein builds muscle, but he also found that  subjects who consumed 30 grams of protein had the same amount of muscle protein synthesis as the ones who consumed 90 grams.

So ipso facto, your body can’t digest more than 30 grams of protein.

Easy tiger, don’t get ahead of yourself.

Eating a high protein diet can help build more muscle, increase satiety, and also burn fat because it takes more calories to break down protein in your digestive system.

Should we get a little sciencey here?

Research done in France took participants and placed them into two groups.  One group was given 80% of their protein in one meal while the other group’s protein was spread over multiple meals.  After two weeks of evaluation, the results showed no differences between the two groups in terms of nitrogen balance, protein synthesis, or protein breakdown.  And not that it’s a big deal, but the participants for this test were females.

The breakdown of the protein for this test was 1.7 grams per kilograms of fat-free mass per day.  For the 125 lb test subjects, that means the 77 grams of protein in one meal had the same effect as spreading it out.

77 grams in one meal, and no difference.  77 grams is more than double of what some people believe you can absorb.

Just like my view on the 6 meals per day theory. The important thing to pay attention to is your daily protein rather than per-meal protein.

So don’t hold back the next time you have a slab of meat straight off the grill placed right in front of you.

Mmmmm….meat

Now when I get all meat-heady with my wife and tell her she should eat more protein, she doesn’t really go for it.  That’s fine because 1) she’s the boss and can secretly kick my ass and 2) we came to an agreement that she would have some sort of protein during each meal.

Suggested Protein Intake:

Since I’m a fitness addict/bodybuilder/strength coach/author and a bit nerdy, here are a few numbers to take note of when it comes to protein.

If you are currently on an consistent resistance training routine and want to gain lean mass, then consume around 1.5 to 2 grams of protein per lean body mass (LBM).

If you are looking at making sure you are intaking the right amount of protein and are not following an exercise plan or don’t really care about getting muscle (why not?), then I’d suggest 0.5 – 1 gram per LBM.

Any thoughts? Concerns? Leave them in the comment section below.

Aloha.

No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training…what a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable. – Socrates

I was rummaging through quotes that I saved from magazines, articles, and books I keep in one of my notebooks when I came across this quote from Socrates.

I thought to myself…

“That’s Kū.”

I get asked quite often why I must workout or if I really measure my food?

To simply answer those questions, I workout because I love it and no I do not always measure my food, although as I get closer to competition prep time, I will be.

Our bodies are capable of doing amazing things.

I love the human body and it’s capabilities, especially when it comes to performance.

It’s an obsession I have.

When it comes to helping others build a Kū body, my tool is the gym.  In the gym or during any physical training an individual’s character is revealed and can be built; many don’t see it that way.  Training to me is more spiritual rather than physical.  When it comes to becoming strong, healthy, and fit you are not an amateur.  

Your health is your wealth.  Yes you are not getting paid to workout, eat healthy, perform, or get a six pack.  But what you are doing is getting paid through investing in your health.

I have many relatives who say “If only I took better care of my body.” They say this now because they have to constantly visit the doctor, take medication, are in pain, and spend their hard earned money on trying to regain their health.

Stop Being An Amateur

Your health is your job.  In my book, Aloha to You, many thought I would begin with talking about your health.  Nope.

I worked from the inside out.  I talk about what Mana is, and how Mana can build up your spirit and help you to become an influential leader.   As you build up your Mana, you have more capability to give Aloha and make a difference in your community.

If you have all of this Mana and can give all of this Aloha, but you didn’t take care of your body — the influence you have could be short lived.

When it comes to building a Kū body, it’s not an amateur gig.  When you make that decision to be Kū, you are signing a contract with yourself and you are becoming a professional of your own body.

You are on your way towards seeing the beauty and strength your body is capable of.

Aloha and Be Kū!

Together we can make a difference.

You see, there are different sides to The Aipa Project.  When I first started this blog I only wrote about training, being strong, and nutrition, but that’s not what life is all about.  There’s more to life than just that.  Hell, there’s more to me than just that.

In lua, the Hawaiian martial arts, I learned about the duality of life.  You can’t always be strong and firm.  You must learn how to be graceful and soft as well.

That is life.

The balance between grace and strength. When you have this balance, you maintain pono with the world around you.  And when you live pono, you are able to make a difference with Aloha.

Here’s a great clip of Uncle Robert Keli’iho’omalu talking about what Aloha is to him.  Just listening to him speak, you can feel his mana and Aloha:

Aloha doesn’t only go towards how you treat others, but most importantly, it goes towards how you treat and think about yourself.

This post didn’t come out of the blue.  I felt the need to share the essence of Aloha after hearing of Nelson Mandela’s death.

Seth Godin, author and someone I think is a marketing genius, wrote:

A Legacy of Mandela

Others can better write about Nelson Mandela’s impact on the world stage, on how he stood up for the dignity of all people and on how he changed our world.

For those that seek to make a change in the world, whether global or local, one lesson of his life is this:

You can.

You can make a difference.

You can stand up to insurmountable forces.

You can put up with far more than you think you can.

Your lever is far longer than you imagine it is, if you choose to use it.

If you don’t require the journey to be easy or comfortable or safe, you can change the world.

Fitness is a topic many make more confusing than it really is.  There are magazines saying you ‘have’ to do this, then a so-called fitness guru says do that, a celebrity did this type of diet and workout, and your friends are telling you they heard this.

Confusing right.

Here are a few things to think about when trying to figure out what you want to do with this whole fitness thing.

Find out a physical activity you enjoy doing.  I enjoy lifting weights, that’s my way of staying active and fit.  My wife enjoys learning tahitian and hula, and goes to her weekly yoga.  No matter how much I want her to lift weights, it’s not her thing.  Others enjoy hiking, surfing, or running.  My dad’s workout plan is working in the yard. The main idea is to enjoy what you are doing.

Now if you don’t like getting active or a bit sweaty – well then, you should find someone who will light a fire up your ass to get moving to live a stronger and healthier life.  What’s up? Maybe I could be of some service.

There is no easy fix.  All those informercials promising  just 10 minutes a day will tone you up.  Pardon me but that’s complete bullshit.  You still have 23 hours and 50 minutes to screw it all up.  It makes no sense that 10 minutes can cancel out the rest of your day.  Think about it.

Trying to find the easiest and fastest way to achieve results can only bring frustration, discomfort, and may actually hurt you more than help you.  Remember, nothing great ever comes easy.

Stick to a plan.  Life is a marathon, not a sprint.  Same goes for fitness.  If your goal is to lose fat, figure out a plan and stick with it for at least 4 weeks.  I come across many people, especially guys, who want to start losing weight one week then when the next week comes around they want to bulk up.  Talk about running around like a chicken without a head.

Focus on a goal and stick with it.  Make sure you are tracking your progress.  If you are trying to get better at running, keep record of your run times.  If you are trying to get stronger, keep track of the weights you lift.  If you are trying to lose fat, no, don’t weigh yourself but instead take progress photos or pay attention to how your clothes are fitting you.

A photo my client sent to me on her walk

Keep it Simple

When I’m asked what I would recommend for someone who is trying to become more fit, I tell them go for a walk.

I truly believe when people make that decision to live a stronger and healthier life, going for a walk outside is the best thing you can do.  It doesn’t matter where you live: the city, jungle, snow, or beach.  Just get outside.

By being outside, it will invigorate your soul and motivate you to become more active.  When you walk, listen to music or a podcast.  If you are surrounded by nature, listen.

Today, go out for a 20 minute walk wherever you are and be eia, present.  I promise you’ll feel better and you may even be inspired to not only start a Kū lifestyle, but also start your own project.

The first ʻAloha to Youʻ

It’s not very often that I click on a ‘submit’ button, let out a big sigh, and hug my wife.

When I first published ‘Aloha to You’ – it was a simple downloadable PDF ebook. A project I worked on for almost a year. When I announced that my book was published and available to purchase, I wasn’t expecting anything. It just felt good self-publishing my first ebook and releasing it.  I remember thinking to myself, Let’s see what happens – my mom will probably be the only one who buys it.

Of course she did, but so did many others; family, friends I haven’t heard from in a long time, colleagues, athletes I coached, and people who I never met before.  It was overwhelming.

And then the response I received about the book was very humbling.

I believe we all have a story to tell.  Like I mentioned at my ‘Build a Ku Body’ talk at Native Books Hawaii for Pono Today, I am just a messenger.  The purpose behind my book is to inspire and evoke thought.

As more people continued to ask about my book, many asked when will I make print version.  Something they could feel, flip through the pages, and lend to a friend. There were many people who purchased my ebook and had no idea what an ebook was.  They contacted me asking when they would be receiving the book in the mail.

In the Hawaiian culture – when one comes across a story, it is their responsibility to take that story and look at their own.

One story can turn into a thousand stories or maybe a million.

Because my goal is to reach out to and inspire as many people as possible, I decided to publish an awesome looking paperback version of Aloha to You: A Journey to Living with Aloha and Finding the Power Within.

The new Print Version of ʻAloha to Youʻ

If you are interested you can pick-up your own 132-page print version.

And if you love the book or already read my ebook version, I’d really appreciate a review on Amazon.

Mahalo and Aloha!

Be Kū!