Picture this: You’ve just completed a workout. You’re feeling accomplished—yoked, swole, jacked, buff, muscly, ripped, cut—and are in the throes of the sensation Arnold Schwarzenegger memorably christened “the pump.” And all of that is great, as long as you don’t say any of those words out loud, ever, to anyone.
The next step, according to lore passed down through generations of diligent weight-room enthusiasts, is to grab a protein supplement and let its precious grams flow through your body, thereby repairing microtears in muscle and maximizing the well-earned gains in mass and strength. But what does the science say? And is the timing really so important that you have to clean out your disgusting shaker bottle in the office kitchen sink every day?
The conventional wisdom around when to drink protein shakes—or bars, or beef jerky, or whatever—is that you should do it as soon as possible after finishing a workout. As it turns out, this is only sort of true. In 2017, the International Society of Sports Nutrition issued a position statement on all things protein and exercise, based on its extensive review of existing research. And on the subject of protein consumption and timing, their conclusions didn’t make any definitive statement—they just noted that the optimal moment for supplementation is “a matter of individual tolerance.”
In other words, the idea that you have to chug your protein drink is likely overblown, especially if you’re consistently consuming protein every three to four hours throughout the day. That was also the consensus from a different review of literature published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition in 2013.
In an e-mail, ISSN co-founder Jose Antonio, Ph.D., politely scolded me for this misguided inquiry. “That’s the wrong question to ask,” he wrote. “The right question is this: Is there ever an advantage to not consuming protein post-workout? Clearly, the answer is a big fat no.” Total protein intake, he says, is what matters; the post-workout suggestion comes from the understandable desire to not eat all of one’s daily prescription in a single sitting.
For most people, the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day; for those trying to put on mass, that figure is closer to between 1.4 and 2.0 grams. If you’re keeping tabs on your intake, the merits of more frequent protein boosts are readily apparent. On the other hand, if a shake sounds like the worst thing in the world after you’re done on the bench press, research also indicates that there’s nothing wrong with having protein before a workout instead. As long as you’re hitting that magical ratio each day, a post-workout drink isn’t anything special.
There’s an obvious caveat worth considering, though. “From a practical standpoint, it’s easier for digestion to have it afterwards,” says Kelly Pritchett, Ph.D., a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “If you compare eating a steak before versus after, which is going to feel better? Probably eating afterwards. You’re going to be sluggish trying to digest that right beforehand.”
There are a few supplements and nutrients that are best saved for immediately after a workout. Creatine is one of them—that’s the conclusion of a separate study Antonio co-authored. And Pritchett says if she had to pinpoint the most important nutrient to consume post-workout, she wouldn’t choose protein—she’d choose carbohydrates, which provide the necessary fuel to help you finish that last set.
If you’re having trouble hitting the upper limits of your protein targets, try gulping down some casein, a protein the body digests more slowly than whey, before bedtime. But even that, says Pritchett, is “just the icing on the cake”—keeping the protein flowing all day is what matters most. That, and discussing your muscle-mass improvements in public without utilizing any of the words listed above.
Source: https://www.gq.com/story/when-should-you-drink-a-protein-shake
