‘This is one of those rare bits of TikTok fitness advice with a lot of truth behind it,” says Bethan Crouse, performance nutritionist at Loughborough University. “Sometimes it’s taken a bit too literally, though! You see people chugging protein drinks as they’re scanning out of their gym.”
Crouse recommends the athletes she works with consume 20-30g of protein within 30-60 minutes of finishing a resistance training session. “The act of exercising our muscles increases the breakdown of muscle proteins,” she says. “In order to restore, or hopefully improve them – and get gains such as increased muscle mass or strength – we have to consume amino acids in protein.”
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Crouse says eating protein within an hour of working out decreases muscle protein breakdown and increases the rate of the repair and rebuild process known as muscle protein synthesis. It improves the muscle adaptation response to the exercise, which leads to growth in size, strength and lactate tolerance.
That said, Crouse adds, if you’re just a casual gym-goer (doing resistance training three or four times a week), it’s better to focus on consuming three balanced meals in the day, and choosing healthy snacks, before you start stressing too much about when you consume things. “Go back to the basics of carbs, protein and veggies on your breakfast, lunch and dinner plates first,” she says.
And if you do like to have a snack after working out, it doesn’t need to be a protein shake. “A large glass of milk has really high protein content, as do those chicken satay skewers that you often get in a meal deal,” says Crouse. “Having something like a chocolate milkshake, which contains both carbs and protein, is good. Co-ingestion of carbohydrates and protein leads to greater net muscle protein synthesis.”
