The protein requirements of athletes is approximately 1 2 to 1 8g or kg body weight compared with 0 8 to 0 9g or kg body weight for less active individuals for heavy athletes this extra requirements is especially important muscle mass is increased by the rate of anabolism growth and decreased by the rate of catabolism breakdown during exercise it is not associated with fat or cholesterol as is the case with many animal based proteins pea protein has one of the highest lysine conten