So I want to talk about something
incredibly controversial, and that is when to take your supplements. In particular,
protein. Now this is controversial, as everyone has their own routine, passed
down from that massive guy at the supplement store or their best mate or their
trainer. Closely guarded secrets, like how to build an arch was back in the
day. Bro-science rules when it comes to what people will tell you about this in
the gym. But I read an interesting article on this the other day and wanted to
share it with you.
For years, there has been a prevailing
idea of the ‘anabolic window’. In this period, your bodies main concern is
repair and reconstruction of muscle so that it comes back bigger. If you didn’t
chug down some fast acting protein and carbs in this 30 minute ‘window’ you
missed your opportunity, went into a catabolic state where food consumed was
put away for other purposes and your gym effort was wasted. Researched seemed to back this up, those who took protein in the window got bigger.
The study I read was what’s know as a
meta-analysis. That is, they took the results of a large number of studies and
put them all together to see what picture it painted. These studies looked at
the effect of nutrition timing on strength and hypertrophy (the building in
size of something, in this case muscles). At first pass, it noted that taking
a good quality, fast acting protein within 30 minutes of completing exercise had
about the same effect as having it within 4 hours of finishing exercise in
terms of increase in strength and only a slightly increased, but still significant, effect on hypertrophy. That is it didn't make you stronger, but made you a little bit bigger. What they did from there is drilled into it
all a little bit deeper to look at why this was the case.
What they found was that it wasn’t the act
of taking quick acting protein in that ‘window’ that was the key factor. They
found that the same effect could be received if you had a good quality, high protein
meal just before heading to the gym. In continuing to dig they worked out that
a quality high protein meal just after the gym seemed to work too. As they kept digging they
started to build a picture. The real reason the protein supplement seemed to increase
hypertrophy was that people who took it tended to space their meals and intake
of protein consistently throughout the day. These people had several meals, well spaced throughout the
day, giving your body constant hits of protein and this was the key to the results. The protein shake straight after the gym was just a part of the picture. It just
was another of their meals, just taken at a convenient 3-4 hour gap after their
previous one. But of you had a good quality high protein meal just before the gym, you could get the same effect, if it was part of 5-6 well spaced meals throughout the day.
So the big conclusion was, if hypertrophy
is your goal and you want to gain size, the key is (as I mentioned in previous
posts) first of all eating enough to you are in a caloric surplus. But you also
need to have several meals throughout the day (5-6) and your protein supplement
is just a piece of the puzzle. Your protein powder wont, in and of itself, make you big if the rest of your nutrition isn't set. But if
you get the rest of your nutrition in place, it can be a easy to make part of
the bigger solution.
So if you want to bulk up, go and get an app like myfitnesspal (see my previous post on the it). Make sure you hit your protein, carb and fats requirements for the day. Eat 5-6 small meals per day and factor in your protein shake so it is part of your bigger nutritional picture. While the protein shake may help it's not the key.
