When can you drink best protein powder to get the best bodybuilding performance?
I will start by saying that protein itself is of minimal utility as a fuel for performance (especially when compared to total caloric and carbohydrate intake). While we could leave this discussion at that, it is valuable to understand the key parts of the research . It is also useful to understand the main mechanism, which is to prevent myosin breakdown (MPB), which leads to muscle loss and thus performance. Another reason to consume protein or amino acids during training is to prevent central fatigue , but this hypothesis has been disproven in many studies. In this article you read about best protein powder.
Before training
As for pre-training, the only study to date that directly compared the effects of protein and other macronutrients on endurance performance was conducted by Rowlands and Hopkins in 2002. Twelve competitive cyclists consumed a high-fat, high-carb, or high-protein meal before a sprint and a 50 km ride. There were no significant differences in performance between the different diets. As for strength performance, to my knowledge, no study has specifically compared the effects of protein and other macronutrients before training.
In training
A critical but often overlooked factor influencing the energy-generating potential of nutrients (protein or otherwise) during exercise is the presence or absence of pre-training nutrients, which can have an impact on in-training nutrition for several hours from a bioavailability perspective, given the time course of digestion and absorption. In a recent meta-analysis examining the effects of protein and carbohydrate co-ingestion versus carbohydrate alone on endurance performance , Nielsen et al. reported that when carbohydrate intake was equal, a higher protein intake enhanced endurance. However, this was due to a higher total energy intake. When total calories were equal, a carbohydrate-protein combination did not provide an advantage in endurance performance over carbohydrate alone.
Nutrition
Likewise, the effect of pre-workout nutrition on in-workout nutrition also depends on how close to training it is take. For example, when consuming 45 grams of whey protein powder alone , circulating amino acid concentrations take approximately 45 minutes to peak and another 2 hours to return to baseline levels.
Therefore, the question of protein intake during training only applies to resistance training in the fasted state , a situation that rarely exists in reality. This unrealistic scenario can be consider a reason for nutrition during training, and there is indeed evidence that it can benefit resistance trainees. Bird et al. found that a drink containing carbohydrates and essential amino acids can inhibit myosin breakdown. This finding may have implications for those who can only wake up and train immediately, in which case strength gains will be impair as myosin continues to decrease. I should reiterate that this was observe in the fasted state, without any pre-training nutrition, so it is not very relevant to resistance training. For those who want to delve deeper into the study of protein intake during training and endurance performance, a more comprehensive study can be found in the July 2020 issue of AARR.
After training
A recent meta-analysis by Craven et al. showed that a combination of protein and carbohydrate did not increase post-training glycogen resynthesis (or subsequent exercise performance) compared with carbohydrate alone, especially when the dose was equal to or close to 1.0 g/kg/hour. This is consistent with recent suggestions that in time-constraine conditions (less than 8 hours between competitive endurance events), post-training carbohydrate doses should be keep to 1-1.2 g/kg/hour to maximize glycogen replenishment.
Summarize
This may be the most anticlimactic summary ever, protein timing is a non-relevant factor in athletic performance. It can even be say that to maximize athletic performance, it is best not to let your protein intake affect your carbohydrate intake. Although consuming protein during training has the potential benefit of reducing myosin breakdown, this only applies if no nutrients are consume before (and/or after) training. The concept of the ” anabolic window” will be discuss in the next section on the relationship between protein intake timing and muscle growth.
