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Do you really need to slam a protein
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shake as soon as you finish your last
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rep? Let's talk about that.
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How's it going, guys? My name is Richie
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Kirwan. I'm a registered nutritionist,
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researcher, and university lecturer in
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nutrition and exercise physiology. If
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you've spent any time in the gym, you've
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probably seen it. Someone finishing
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their last set and practically sprinting
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to the changing room to neck a shake
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before the imaginary clock runs out.
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Maybe you've even done it yourself. For
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years, we were told that if you didn't
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get protein in within about 30 minutes
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of training, you were leaving a load of
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gains on the table. So, in this video, I
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want to clear up when you should
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actually take your protein. We'll look
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at what really happens inside your
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muscles after you train, how long that
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effect lasts, and why the timing of your
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protein matters a lot less than you've
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been led to believe. And by the end,
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you'll know exactly what to focus on
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instead. So, where did this whole idea
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even come from? Because it didn't just
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appear out of nowhere.
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Like most fitness myths, it started with
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something that actually made sense on
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paper. The thinking went a little
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something like this. When you train
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hard, you use up fuel stored in your
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muscles. You cause a bit of damage to
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the muscle fibers, and your body shifts
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into repair mode. So, it seemed logical
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that the sooner you flooded your system
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with protein and carbs, the faster you'd
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kick off recovery, top up your fuel
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tank, and start growing. You know, get
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the nutrients in fast, ride the wave,
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Some people took it even further and
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argued that this little period of time
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right after training was absolutely
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essential. And a big part of this came
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from research on endurance athletes and
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glycogen, which is the carbohydrate your
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body stores in your muscles for energy.
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If you're a cyclist doing two hard
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sessions in the same day, getting carbs
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in quickly after the first session
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really can help you refuel in time for
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the second session. The problem is that
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this concept got stretched and
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copy-pasted onto people lifting weights
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three or four times a week, where the
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situation is completely different. If
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you are not depleting muscle glycogen
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and not training again for another 24
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hours, there's no rush to refill
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anything. There was also an idea that
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the spike in insulin you get from eating
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right after training would slam the
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brakes on muscle breakdown, too. And to
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an extent, it does. But, it turns out
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you don't need much insulin to do that,
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and a normal meal eaten whenever gets
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you there pretty easily. You're not
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missing out by not chugging a shake the
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instant you finish. So, the whole idea
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of this anabolic window wasn't built on
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nothing. It was based on real physiology
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that got oversimplified, stretched a bit
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too far, and then sold back to us on
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bodybuilding forums. There's a kernel of
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truth right there. It just got blown way
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out of proportion. And to really see
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why, we need to look at what's actually
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going on inside your muscle after you
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train. So, when you finish a hard
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resistance training session, your body
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ramps up a process called muscle protein
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synthesis or MPS, which is just the
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technical term for building new muscle
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tissue. This is the process that over
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time makes your muscles bigger and
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stronger. And training is by far the
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most powerful trigger for it. Now,
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here's the part that really demolishes
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the 30-minute anabolic window idea.
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That elevated rate of muscle protein
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synthesis or muscle building doesn't
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last for just 30 minutes after a
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workout. After a single workout, muscle
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protein synthesis stays elevated from
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somewhere between 24 and 48 hours.
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So, a full day or maybe even two after
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you finish training, your muscles are
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still primed for building. And it gets
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better. The muscles don't just build
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protein faster during this time, they
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also become more sensitive to the
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protein that you eat. So, if you have a
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protein-rich meal a full day after your
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session, your body actually puts that
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protein to better use than it would have
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if you hadn't trained at all. That
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heightened sensitivity to protein has
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been shown to stick around for at least
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24 hours after you train. So, let that
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sink in for a second. The supposed
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window where protein matters isn't 30
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minutes. It's more like a day or maybe
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even two. So, that idea of sprinting to
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your shaker the second you finish your
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last set looks a little bit silly now.
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Now, here's another twist that I think
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is pretty interesting. The length of
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this window actually depends on how
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trained you are. So, in people who are
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new to lifting, muscle protein synthesis
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stays elevated for longer, up to that
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full 48 hours I mentioned earlier. On
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the other hand, in well-trained lifters,
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the response is a little bit shorter,
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settling back down closer to the 24 to
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36-hour mark, which is the opposite of
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what you'd expect. So, the people most
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likely to be stressing about nailing
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their post-workout protein, the
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experienced gym-goers, are the ones
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whose window is a little bit shorter.
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Yeah, but it's still measured in tens of
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hours, not minutes. And the beginners
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who've never heard of the anabolic
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window actually have the longest window
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of all. The point I'm making is, no
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matter who you are, the time you've got
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to catch this elevated muscle protein
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synthesis effect is enormous compared to
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what some people would have you believe.
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You're not going to miss it by having
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your protein an hour or two after
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training. So, if the window really is
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that wide, when should you actually take
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your protein? And the honest answer is,
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more or less, whenever suits you. As
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long as you're getting enough total
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protein across the day, the exact timing
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around your workout doesn't matter that
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much as long as you're training
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regularly to regularly stimulate muscle
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protein synthesis. And we don't just
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have to rely on the muscle-building
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theory to say that. We can look at what
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actually happens to real people training
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over weeks and months. So, when
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researchers have pooled together trials
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on protein timing, [music] the picture
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is pretty clear. Once you account for
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how much protein people are eating in
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total, the timing [music] of it around
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training has no real meaningful impact
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on how much muscle or strength they
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gain. What predicts the results isn't
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when they ate their protein, it's how
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much protein they ate overall. [music]
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There's even a study that tested this
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head on. They took trained lifters and
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gave one group their protein right
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before [music] training and the other
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group the exact protein right after.
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Everything else was matched and after 10
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weeks there was no meaningful difference
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between both groups. Gain muscle and got
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stronger and it didn't matter [music]
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one bit whether the protein went in
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before or after the session. Now, I'll
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be fair here. Some people have pointed
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out that a lot of the older timing
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studies weren't [music] perfect because
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they didn't always match total protein
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between the groups. And that's a valid
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criticism. But, the before versus after
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study I just mentioned was specifically
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designed to get around that problem and
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it still [music] found that timing
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So, the conclusion holds up. This
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doesn't [music] mean a post-workout
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shake is useless, by the way. If having
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one helps you hit your daily protein
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[music] target, great. It's doing its
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job. It's just doing that job because it
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adds to your total [music] protein, not
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because of some magic half hour. A shake
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at lunchtime would have done exactly the
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same thing for your muscles. So, if you
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enjoy a shake after training, have it.
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If you'd rather wait and have a proper
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meal an [music] hour later, completely
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fine. Your muscles genuinely don't care.
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The main exception is if you train
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completely fasted or you haven't eaten
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protein for [music] several hours. In
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that case, getting some protein in
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sooner after training rather than later
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is a good idea. Not because of a magic
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30-minute window, but because your body
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has simply gone a long time without
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[music] any added amino acids. So, if
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timing isn't the most important thing
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when it comes to protein, what is? It's
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your total daily protein intake. That's
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the number that actually moves the
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>> And for building muscle, the evidence
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points to somewhere around 1.6 g of
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protein per kilogram of body weight per
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day as a solid target. So, if you weigh
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80 kilos, that's around 130 g a day.
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[music] Going much above that doesn't
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seem to add a whole lot more for most
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people and the gains you get from eating
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more [music] and more protein start to
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shrink the higher up you go. That's it.
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There are situations where aiming a bit
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higher into the region [music] of 2 g
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per kilogram of body weight makes sense
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if you're in a calorie deficit and
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trying to hold on to muscle while you
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lose fat, or if you're genuinely
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training incredibly hard, pushing your
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protein towards that upper end can help.
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Remember, [music] adding some extra
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protein is not going to hurt. And it
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might give you a small edge, and that's
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what a lot of people are happy to aim
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for. But for most average gym goers just
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trying to build muscle, hitting around
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1.6 is the sweet spot. And here's where
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it all ties together. To hit a number
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like that comfortably, you're naturally
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going to be spreading your protein
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across a few meals throughout the day
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[music] anyway. Breakfast, lunch, maybe
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a snack, and dinner. You don't need to
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plan it around your workout. You just
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need to get it in, and when you do that,
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you're feeding your muscles right across
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that long window we talked about without
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even thinking about the clock. So, the
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next time you see someone sprinting to
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the changing room to neck a protein
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shake before some imaginary clock runs
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out, you can relax. Finish your set,
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re-rack your weights, of course, pose in
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front of the mirror a little bit, and
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have your protein whenever it suits you.
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Your muscles will be just fine. As
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always, if you've got any questions, let
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me know in the comments below, and
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remember to like and subscribe to the
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Myprotein YouTube channel for more great
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evidence-based nutrition information.
