There are a lot of accepted facts about building muscle. In most cases these “facts” are based on little more than that they are widely repeated. The belief that you need to eat protein right after a workout is one of those “facts”. The reality is that there is very little to base this belief on and the limited amount of research that has been done would seem to contradict it. That being said for most people it is still usually a good idea to eat protein after a workout, just not for the reasons that are generally believed.
Over the years it has become largely an accepted fact that consuming protein right after a workout would help with muscle growth. Unfortunately actual research to back this up is rather limited and the results of that research are open to question. Almost all of the research that has been done has focused in large part on protein synthesis immediately after the workout. The results of this research did show that if you eat protein right after a workout protein synthesis will be increased. The problems come when the researchers tried to extend the results.
Most of the research that has been done into the effects of eating protein right after a workout on muscle growth have focused on the two hour period right after the workout. Protein synthesis during this period is increased. However there is very little actual muscle growth during this period.
When researchers extended the study period they discovered that after nine hours protein synthesis in people who had consumed protein right after their workout was no higher than it was for the people who had not eaten anything after their workout. The result is that they were really no better off than the people who had not eaten at all in more than nine hours.
It should not come as a huge surprise to learn that the value of eating protein right after a workout is rather limited. After all muscle is built during the recovery period after you have worked out, this takes several days. It is during this period that you need to be providing your body with protein. There is very little muscle growth during the first two hours after you have finished working out so there is not really a huge need to be eating protein.
All of the above being said it is still usually a good idea to eat protein after you workout. The reason has more to do with the fact that you want to be supplying your body with protein on a regular basis. This is the real key to growing muscle. Ideally you should be eating protein every three to four hours to make sure that you are getting an adequate amount. Clearly this means that you are likely going to want to eat protein in the two hours after you have worked out since you will likely be nearing four hours since you last consumed any.
The other reason that you are probably going to want to consume protein after a workout is that the research on the subject is far from definitive. While there is evidence that shows that there are in fact no benefits it can hardly be considered conclusive, it may be that eating protein actually does help. It is pretty clear however that it won’t hurt to eat protein after a workout. Therefore if you feel like it is helping you to eat protein after you have worked out then there is no reason to stop.
The only real issue that you may face if you do decide to consume protein after you a workout is that they may end up consuming more than you really need. Most people are under the impression that they need a lot more protein than they actually do to build muscle. In reality you only need to be a little bit above maintenance levels.
Again it won’t do you any harm to eat more protein than you need, it just isn’t going to help you any. There is a limit to how much protein you can process, if you consume more than this it will just pass right through you.
References:
1. Atherton PJ, Etheridge T, Watt PW, Wilkinson D, Selby A, Rankin D,
Smith K, Rennie MJ. Muscle full effect after oral protein: time-dependent
concordance and discordance between human muscle protein synthesis
and mTORC1 signaling. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Nov;92(5):1080-8.
2. Garlick PJ, McNurlan MA, Patlak CS. Adaptation of protein metabolism
in relation to limits to high dietary protein intake. Eur J Clin Nutr. 1999
Apr;53 Suppl 1:S34-43.
by Will from Sprained Ankle Institute. He also
writes a blog about Ayurveda.
Monday, February 6, 2012 at 9:58AM 
