When to Take Protein to Increase Muscle Mass?

Paloma Quintana 9 min. of reading Proteins Leave a comment

Protein Intake Timing in Strength Sports to Optimize Muscle Protein Synthesis

We worship dietary protein in the sports world in general and fitness in particular as that essential ally when trying to boost our protein synthesis, although we already know it’s just one more variable to keep an eye on.

Index

1 General Protein Recommendations
2 What Determines How Much Protein to Take?
3 Safe Amount of Protein
4 Protein Intake Timing
5 Athletes Seeking Hypertrophy
6 Strength Sports and Protein
7 Protein Timing
8 Protein Intake Literature Review
9 Post-Workout Protein Supplementation

General Protein Recommendations

We’ve also learned that when the goal isn’t muscle anabolism but rather maximizing body fat oxidation, a good protein intake becomes even more essential.

To quickly recap daily amount and distribution throughout the day, the old recommended daily intake (RDI) of 0.8 g/kg body weight/day for sedentary people is out the window.

General Protein Recommendations for the Population. Source: Examine.com

Just like those crazy excesses seen in gyms around here and beyond, over 4-5 g/kg body weight/day.

Daily protein requirements may increase by up to 100% compared to recommendations for sedentary individuals (1.6-1.8 vs. 0.8 g/kg)

What Determines How Much Protein to Take?

However, even these intakes are much lower than what most athletes report. This might mean actual requirements are below what’s needed to optimize sports performance, and the debate goes on [1].

Many factors influence this, including:

energy intake,
carbohydrate availability,
exercise duration, intensity, and type,
dietary protein quality,
training history,
sex,
age,
nutrient timing (which is what we’re going to talk about)

Making this topic extremely complex [1]

Safe Amount of Protein

First, remember that increasing even those 1.6-1.8 g doesn’t pose a risk for healthy people

For an active person, a high protein intake like 3g/kg body weight/day is totally safe

Whether it provides any benefit largely depends on the person’s physical activity level and timing of intake, as noted in the 2004 study published in the “Journal of Sports Sciences” [2]

Protein Intake Timing

Back to timing, we know it’s something to consider once other factors are already controlled

These include: total daily amount, increased energy intake if the goal is to boost protein synthesis, training type, volume, intensity, rest…

As well as your own circumstances…

Once all that is optimized, we could start worrying about the exact timing of protein intake during the day, which, in my opinion, is a bit less important than the above.

I recently helped review a literature review (yes, a review of a review) that evaluated the efficacy of different protein intakes and timing in strength sports. It will be published in the Revista Española de Nutrición Humana

Athletes Seeking Hypertrophy

As we know, athletes aiming for muscle hypertrophy should consider that it largely depends on genetic background, age, sex, training level, nutritional status, and diet.

Simply put, hypertrophy happens when Muscle Protein Synthesis (MPS) exceeds Muscle Protein Breakdown (MPB)

Modulated by:

the activity of stem cells,
signaling pathways (like mTOR, MAPK, and calcium-dependent pathways),
hormonal activity (insulin, testosterone, growth hormone), and
the activity of cytokines that promote higher MPS.

The parameters mentioned above explain why individuals respond differently to the same training [3]

Don’t forget that training factors like intensity, duration, frequency, and load proportionally affect adaptations. So, more trained individuals need a bigger stimulus to trigger change

Strength Sports and Protein

It’s well known that combining strength training with nutrition triggers physiological responses that improve muscle structure and function [4].

So, people doing strength training need higher protein intake to reduce MPB, which increases after MPS [5, 6].

MPS stays elevated for 48 hours after strength exercise, suggesting nutrient intake during the “anabolic window” [7], which is especially stimulated by insulin and leucine [8]

Protein Timing

Following this response, it’s important to consider the term “timing”, defined as:

Nutrient intake at a specific time to improve sports performance [9], or to optimize MPS and thus find the best intake moment

So now you have part of the answer about timing, meaning that famous “window” lasts way longer than we thought, so taking protein just minutes after your workout probably isn’t necessary

Protein Intake Literature Review

The goal of the literature review I mentioned was to compare different protein intakes, their effectiveness, and the optimal timing of protein consumption in strength athletes

The conclusions were that a proper strength training program (exercise type, intensity, volume, frequency, rest periods) is key to achieving muscle hypertrophy, and most errors happen here.

It was found that both trained individuals and older adults require a stronger stimulus through the training program to get better results in body composition and/or strength gains.
Amount, timing, and type of protein consumed are important factors during training.
Recommended daily protein intake depends on genetics, age, experience, and training level.
Higher protein doses are more beneficial in the early stages of strength training, with an intake of 1.6 – 1.7 g/kg body weight/day.
Whereas in well-trained athletes, protein intake can drop to 1.2 to 1.4 g/kg body weight/day, as they tend to be more efficient at nitrogen utilization.

If you want to dive deeper into this, click on Who needs more protein: beginners or experienced?

Post-Workout Protein Supplementation

It was observed that post-workout protein supplementation supports increases in hypertrophy and muscle strength with a consumption of 20g to 40g of protein, recommending higher doses for older adults.

Not forgetting the possible synergistic effect between protein and other components like creatine and/or carbohydrates

As you can see, we maintain that that amount of well-absorbed protein post-workout can be very optimal, but if you don’t take care of other macronutrients and energy intake, you might not see much benefit from this supplementation after training

References

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