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When should you take protein for maximum muscle growth? Learn the best time to have protein, whether protein timing matters, and if you really need a protein shake immediately after your workout.
In this video, expert nutritionist Dr Richie Kirwan breaks down the science behind protein timing, the anabolic window, protein distribution throughout the day, and what actually matters most for building muscle and improving recovery.
Key Facts:
Your total daily protein intake is more important than precisely when you consume it.
You don't need to drink a protein shake immediately after finishing your workout.
Consuming protein around your training session can help support muscle protein synthesis and recovery.
Spreading your protein intake across several meals throughout the day is a practical way to support muscle growth.
Each protein-rich meal provides amino acids that your body can use for muscle repair and growth.
Consistency with your daily protein intake matters more than obsessing over perfect protein timing.
FAQ:
Q: When is the best time to take protein?
A: There isn't one perfect time. Focus first on consuming enough protein throughout the day and spreading it across several meals.
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0:00
Do you really need to slam a protein
0:01
shake as soon as you finish your last
0:03
rep? Let's talk about that.
0:08
How's it going, guys? My name is Richie
0:09
Kirwan. I'm a registered nutritionist,
0:10
researcher, and university lecturer in
0:12
nutrition and exercise physiology. If
0:14
you've spent any time in the gym, you've
0:16
probably seen it. Someone finishing
0:17
their last set and practically sprinting
0:19
to the changing room to neck a shake
0:21
before the imaginary clock runs out.
0:23
Maybe you've even done it yourself. For
0:25
years, we were told that if you didn't
0:27
get protein in within about 30 minutes
0:28
of training, you were leaving a load of
0:30
gains on the table. So, in this video, I
0:32
want to clear up when you should
0:34
actually take your protein. We'll look
0:36
at what really happens inside your
0:38
muscles after you train, how long that
0:40
effect lasts, and why the timing of your
0:42
protein matters a lot less than you've
0:44
been led to believe. And by the end,
0:46
you'll know exactly what to focus on
0:48
instead. So, where did this whole idea
0:50
even come from? Because it didn't just
0:52
appear out of nowhere.
0:54
Like most fitness myths, it started with
0:56
something that actually made sense on
0:58
paper. The thinking went a little
0:59
something like this. When you train
1:01
hard, you use up fuel stored in your
1:03
muscles. You cause a bit of damage to
1:05
the muscle fibers, and your body shifts
1:07
into repair mode. So, it seemed logical
1:09
that the sooner you flooded your system
1:11
with protein and carbs, the faster you'd
1:13
kick off recovery, top up your fuel
1:15
tank, and start growing. You know, get
1:17
the nutrients in fast, ride the wave,
1:19
grow more muscle.
1:20
Some people took it even further and
1:22
argued that this little period of time
1:25
right after training was absolutely
1:27
essential. And a big part of this came
1:29
from research on endurance athletes and
1:32
glycogen, which is the carbohydrate your
1:34
body stores in your muscles for energy.
1:36
If you're a cyclist doing two hard
1:37
sessions in the same day, getting carbs
1:39
in quickly after the first session
1:41
really can help you refuel in time for
1:43
the second session. The problem is that
1:45
this concept got stretched and
1:47
copy-pasted onto people lifting weights
1:50
three or four times a week, where the
1:51
situation is completely different. If
1:54
you are not depleting muscle glycogen
1:55
and not training again for another 24
1:58
hours, there's no rush to refill
2:00
anything. There was also an idea that
2:02
the spike in insulin you get from eating
2:04
right after training would slam the
2:06
brakes on muscle breakdown, too. And to
2:07
an extent, it does. But, it turns out
2:10
you don't need much insulin to do that,
2:12
and a normal meal eaten whenever gets
2:15
you there pretty easily. You're not
2:16
missing out by not chugging a shake the
2:18
instant you finish. So, the whole idea
2:20
of this anabolic window wasn't built on
2:23
nothing. It was based on real physiology
2:26
that got oversimplified, stretched a bit
2:28
too far, and then sold back to us on
2:30
bodybuilding forums. There's a kernel of
2:32
truth right there. It just got blown way
2:34
out of proportion. And to really see
2:36
why, we need to look at what's actually
2:38
going on inside your muscle after you
2:40
train. So, when you finish a hard
2:42
resistance training session, your body
2:43
ramps up a process called muscle protein
2:45
synthesis or MPS, which is just the
2:48
technical term for building new muscle
2:50
tissue. This is the process that over
2:52
time makes your muscles bigger and
2:53
stronger. And training is by far the
2:55
most powerful trigger for it. Now,
2:58
here's the part that really demolishes
2:59
the 30-minute anabolic window idea.
3:03
That elevated rate of muscle protein
3:05
synthesis or muscle building doesn't
3:07
last for just 30 minutes after a
3:10
workout. After a single workout, muscle
3:12
protein synthesis stays elevated from
3:14
somewhere between 24 and 48 hours.
3:18
So, a full day or maybe even two after
3:21
you finish training, your muscles are
3:23
still primed for building. And it gets
3:25
better. The muscles don't just build
3:27
protein faster during this time, they
3:29
also become more sensitive to the
3:31
protein that you eat. So, if you have a
3:33
protein-rich meal a full day after your
3:36
session, your body actually puts that
3:37
protein to better use than it would have
3:39
if you hadn't trained at all. That
3:41
heightened sensitivity to protein has
3:43
been shown to stick around for at least
3:46
24 hours after you train. So, let that
3:48
sink in for a second. The supposed
3:50
window where protein matters isn't 30
3:53
minutes. It's more like a day or maybe
3:55
even two. So, that idea of sprinting to
3:57
your shaker the second you finish your
3:59
last set looks a little bit silly now.
4:01
Now, here's another twist that I think
4:03
is pretty interesting. The length of
4:05
this window actually depends on how
4:07
trained you are. So, in people who are
4:09
new to lifting, muscle protein synthesis
4:11
stays elevated for longer, up to that
4:13
full 48 hours I mentioned earlier. On
4:15
the other hand, in well-trained lifters,
4:17
the response is a little bit shorter,
4:19
settling back down closer to the 24 to
4:21
36-hour mark, which is the opposite of
4:24
what you'd expect. So, the people most
4:26
likely to be stressing about nailing
4:27
their post-workout protein, the
4:29
experienced gym-goers, are the ones
4:31
whose window is a little bit shorter.
4:33
Yeah, but it's still measured in tens of
4:36
hours, not minutes. And the beginners
4:38
who've never heard of the anabolic
4:40
window actually have the longest window
4:42
of all. The point I'm making is, no
4:44
matter who you are, the time you've got
4:46
to catch this elevated muscle protein
4:48
synthesis effect is enormous compared to
4:51
what some people would have you believe.
4:53
You're not going to miss it by having
4:55
your protein an hour or two after
4:57
training. So, if the window really is
4:58
that wide, when should you actually take
5:00
your protein? And the honest answer is,
5:02
more or less, whenever suits you. As
5:04
long as you're getting enough total
5:06
protein across the day, the exact timing
5:09
around your workout doesn't matter that
5:11
much as long as you're training
5:13
regularly to regularly stimulate muscle
5:16
protein synthesis. And we don't just
5:18
have to rely on the muscle-building
5:19
theory to say that. We can look at what
5:21
actually happens to real people training
5:23
over weeks and months. So, when
5:25
researchers have pooled together trials
5:27
on protein timing, [music] the picture
5:28
is pretty clear. Once you account for
5:30
how much protein people are eating in
5:32
total, the timing [music] of it around
5:34
training has no real meaningful impact
5:37
on how much muscle or strength they
5:39
gain. What predicts the results isn't
5:41
when they ate their protein, it's how
5:43
much protein they ate overall. [music]
5:45
There's even a study that tested this
5:47
head on. They took trained lifters and
5:49
gave one group their protein right
5:50
before [music] training and the other
5:52
group the exact protein right after.
5:54
Everything else was matched and after 10
5:56
weeks there was no meaningful difference
5:58
between both groups. Gain muscle and got
6:00
stronger and it didn't matter [music]
6:01
one bit whether the protein went in
6:03
before or after the session. Now, I'll
6:05
be fair here. Some people have pointed
6:07
out that a lot of the older timing
6:09
studies weren't [music] perfect because
6:10
they didn't always match total protein
6:12
between the groups. And that's a valid
6:14
[music]
6:14
criticism. But, the before versus after
6:17
study I just mentioned was specifically
6:18
designed to get around that problem and
6:20
it still [music] found that timing
6:22
didn't matter.
6:23
So, the conclusion holds up. This
6:25
doesn't [music] mean a post-workout
6:27
shake is useless, by the way. If having
6:29
one helps you hit your daily protein
6:30
[music] target, great. It's doing its
6:32
job. It's just doing that job because it
6:34
adds to your total [music] protein, not
6:36
because of some magic half hour. A shake
6:38
at lunchtime would have done exactly the
6:40
same thing for your muscles. So, if you
6:42
enjoy a shake after training, have it.
6:44
If you'd rather wait and have a proper
6:45
meal an [music] hour later, completely
6:47
fine. Your muscles genuinely don't care.
6:49
The main exception is if you train
6:52
completely fasted or you haven't eaten
6:54
protein for [music] several hours. In
6:56
that case, getting some protein in
6:57
sooner after training rather than later
7:00
is a good idea. Not because of a magic
7:01
30-minute window, but because your body
7:03
has simply gone a long time without
7:05
[music] any added amino acids. So, if
7:07
timing isn't the most important thing
7:08
when it comes to protein, what is? It's
7:10
your total daily protein intake. That's
7:12
the number that actually moves the
7:13
needle.
7:14
>> [music]
7:14
>> And for building muscle, the evidence
7:16
points to somewhere around 1.6 g of
7:18
protein per kilogram of body weight per
7:19
day as a solid target. So, if you weigh
7:22
80 kilos, that's around 130 g a day.
7:24
[music] Going much above that doesn't
7:26
seem to add a whole lot more for most
7:29
people and the gains you get from eating
7:30
more [music] and more protein start to
7:32
shrink the higher up you go. That's it.
7:34
There are situations where aiming a bit
7:36
higher into the region [music] of 2 g
7:38
per kilogram of body weight makes sense
7:40
if you're in a calorie deficit and
7:42
trying to hold on to muscle while you
7:44
lose fat, or if you're genuinely
7:46
training incredibly hard, pushing your
7:48
protein towards that upper end can help.
7:51
Remember, [music] adding some extra
7:52
protein is not going to hurt. And it
7:54
might give you a small edge, and that's
7:56
what a lot of people are happy to aim
7:58
for. But for most average gym goers just
8:01
trying to build muscle, hitting around
8:02
1.6 is the sweet spot. And here's where
8:05
it all ties together. To hit a number
8:07
like that comfortably, you're naturally
8:09
going to be spreading your protein
8:10
across a few meals throughout the day
8:12
[music] anyway. Breakfast, lunch, maybe
8:14
a snack, and dinner. You don't need to
8:16
plan it around your workout. You just
8:18
need to get it in, and when you do that,
8:20
you're feeding your muscles right across
8:22
[music]
8:22
that long window we talked about without
8:25
even thinking about the clock. So, the
8:27
next time you see someone sprinting to
8:29
the changing room to neck a protein
8:30
shake before some imaginary clock runs
8:32
out, you can relax. Finish your set,
8:34
re-rack your weights, of course, pose in
8:36
front of the mirror a little bit, and
8:37
have your protein whenever it suits you.
8:39
Your muscles will be just fine. As
8:41
always, if you've got any questions, let
8:42
me know in the comments below, and
8:43
remember to like and subscribe to the
8:45
Myprotein YouTube channel for more great
8:46
evidence-based nutrition information.
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