The post workout shake has almost been religious routine for many gym rats. But what does the science say? Does the anabolic window exist?
If you’ve been interested in fitness and nutrition for any amount of time, you’re probably heard that you should be eating protein RIGHT after a workout.
Because of this, you’ve also been told to drink a post workout shake packed with proteins in the minutes following a workout. Or eat an inordinate amount of chicken.
Well, I’ve looked into this and studied it and I’m here to report whether or not this is true.
This blog post is all about whether or not the post workout shake is a fact or myth!
Table of Content
POST WORKOUT SHAKE: FACT OR MYTH?
What's the so-called "anabolic window"?
The idea of an anabolic window suggests that there’s only a short and limited period of time after a heavy lifting session where muscle protein synthesis occurs.
Proponents of this believe that protein must be ingested within a maximum of 15 to 30 minutes after a workout.
In other words, if you would fail to eat protein within 30 minutes of a workout, then the workout would be “wasted” as no muscle is being built.
The belief of this window implies that there is a single period a day (or two if you were to workout twice a day) where one should eat as much protein as possible.
What science says about protein consumption
Unfortunately, there is LITTLE TO NO scientific evidence to support the claim of the anabolic window.
It’s actually quite the contrary: muscle protein synthesis is actually elevated for up to 48 hours following heavy resistance training.
So you SHOULD be consuming protein at some point after the workout. But the “window” in which you should be eating protein after is going to depend on the state at which you entered the training.
If you ate protein shortly before, then the amino acids from the previous meal may still be in your blood stream. WHICH MEANS that the muscle protein synthesis is already occurring as you’re training.
So basically, it’s pretty safe to say that even if you wait until your next meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner) to eat protein, you’ll still be in good timing.
So with all this in mind, the “optimal window” (I put these in quotation marks because there’s really no precise optimal window) would be within 4 to 6 hours of the heavy lifting training. And with that large a window… then there’s really no window.
Just eat protein .
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When should you be eating protein?
So with all the information above, when should we be eating protein?
The most reliable scientific evidence points to distributing your protein consumption throughout the day. This has indeed been shown to be more beneficial in building muscle than just concentrating protein in one or two meals.
By spacing out protein throughout the day, then you’ll be consuming protein at some point prior to the workout, and at some point after.
So basically… there’s no need to stress about protein timing. Just space it out and eat consistently.
So what's the deal with the post workout shake?
So for the post workout shake…. well there’s really no such thing as a proper “post workout shake”.
There’s just a protein shake that you take in order to build muscle, but it does NOT be thought to be relative to your workout.
Take it when you have a gap in your protein consumption, or when you need a snack of some kind.
That’s not to say that you SHOULDN’T take it right after the workout. That’s totally cool. But it isn’t the end of the world if you don’t.
