When is Protein most beneficial?

kelhea

I'm not really sure how to explain this so that it will make sense so I will try to give a hypothetical example: Lets say for argument sake you can only eat protein one out of two days (I know, I know, you should eat protein every day, and I am so just stay with me here) Now on day 1 you weight train and on day 2 you rest. With only being allowed to eat protein on one of those two days, which day would you chose for best results? Is protein used better on the day of weight training, or the day after you weight train?

I hope this makes sense! I just have a question in my head that I can't really explain. I guess I just want to know if protein helps with building muscle day of or minutes after exercise or the full day after?

TimothyFish

I would eat protein right after I finished my workout on day 1 so it would be available to repair the cells. Some people say it should be consumed within thirty minutes to maximize the benefit and speed recovery. I can't say that I've noticed much difference, but it usually isn't hard for me to consume protein within that window.

psuLemon

Pre or post workout within a 2 hour window. But if you are working to optimize protein synthesis, an argument can be made to spread out protein throughout your entire day, since leucine is a big driver of MPS.

But overall, total protein>timing.

Mycophilia

This study is a really good read on muscle protein synthesis and how it relates to nutrition and exercise:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3381813/

TR0berts

If you were forced to pick one, I'd look at when your workout was/is.

If you exercise in the AM? Then consume protein that day.

If you exercise at night? Then it might end up better to consume it the next day.

That said, why would - unless alternate day full fasting - one consume protein only every other day?

Rusty740

Your body takes up to 2 days to fully digest food depending on the food. Pure glucose will be quick though. It takes awhile for the protein to be useable. The studies mentioned above do indicate performance gains pre and post workout, but the gains are going to be small. I'm not sure if it's worth doing for many folks. @psuLemon has got it. Total protein>timing.

psuLemon

Rusty740 wrote: »

Your body takes up to 2 days to fully digest food depending on the food. Pure glucose will be quick though. It takes awhile for the protein to be useable. The studies mentioned above do indicate performance gains pre and post workout, but the gains are going to be small. I'm not sure if it's worth doing for many folks. @psuLemon has got it. Total protein>timing.

It actually depends on the type of protein. Whey has been shown to digest in as little as 30 mins, while casein is much longer (2 to 4 hours).

middlehaitch

psuLemon wrote: »

Pre or post workout within a 2 hour window. But if you are working to optimize protein synthesis, an argument can be made to spread out protein throughout your entire day, since leucine is a big driver of MPS.

But overall, total protein>timing.

With regards to the above. I have read in a couple of studies that it is best to have a protein intake in blocks of 25-35g+ as opposed to lower g more frequent quantities.

These studies were aimed at an older population but I was wondering if you could say if this was pertinent to the OP's question of protein timing.

Cheers, h.

psuLemon

middlehaitch wrote: »

psuLemon wrote: »

Pre or post workout within a 2 hour window. But if you are working to optimize protein synthesis, an argument can be made to spread out protein throughout your entire day, since leucine is a big driver of MPS.

But overall, total protein>timing.

With regards to the above. I have read in a couple of studies that it is best to have a protein intake in blocks of 25-35g+ as opposed to lower g more frequent quantities.

These studies were aimed at an older population but I was wondering if you could say if this was pertinent to the OP's question of protein timing.

Cheers, h.

To get adequate leucine, its generally 30g.. so yours make sense. Although, in veggies sources, its closer to 50g.