Protein Shake Before or After Workout – What’s Better?

Protein shakes and bars are often associated with bulking up and preserving muscle mass during the cutting phase. The exact amount of each macronutrient is strongly individual but what about the timing? Should you have a protein shake before or after a workout?

Protein Powder Before or After Workout – Why Does It Matter at All?

A typical healthy and well-balanced diet usually consists of 4 to 6 meals each day. While portions of carb and fats may differ from breakfast, through dinner and supper, the amount of protein is mostly stable. The reason for this is quite simple. Your muscles need a constant stream of amino acids, small blocks that build protein molecules. They are needed in countless processes, like muscle protein synthesis, hormones and enzyme production, and proper immune system functioning.

The core of a healthy diet should always be natural food. The most popular sources are meat, fish, nuts, legumes and dairy. Products from each of these groups have a slightly different amino acid profile, so an ideal diet should mix complementary sources of protein.

Artificial protein shakes timing is important when you don’t have the possibility to eat a complete meal before or after a workout or you want to increase protein intake due to some reason. It can be an especially intense part of the training season or reduction diet.

Protein supplements are often combined with fat burners, while both kinds of products support weight loss. Depending on your goal and experience, you can choose, e.g. carb blockers or thermogenics. The first family of supplements essentially makes carbohydrates harder to absorb even without physical effort. Even if you don’t train a lot, they can effectively help to reduce body fat. When you’re in need of an extra boost, try something that increases your energy level. Consider using thermogenics with ingredients such as caffeine, L-tyrosine or green tea.

Why does all this theory matter in the context of training? Researchers suggest a concept called ‘Postworkout Anabolic Window of Opportunity’ (shortly called ‘anabolic window’). It’s a relatively short timeframe after exertion during accretion of muscle proteins goes more effectively. Some experts go so far as to say that the anabolic window is more important than the absolute daily consumption of nutrients.

What Are the Benefits of Consuming a Protein Shake Before a Workout?

Firstly, let’s look what’s good with protein shake before a workout. One reason is energy generation. Protein is a source of BCAAs, which can be utilised as last-resort fuel, when supplies of glycogen are low and fat cells' oxidation is ineffective. To limit muscle protein breakdown, drink BCAAs before training and as an intra-workout. You can also choose protein shakes with fast kinetics, such as whey protein hydrolysate. It will be absorbed quickly resulting in sustainable energy. Try this idea, if you cut carbs drastically.

Constant amino acid flow supports muscle preservation and contributes to higher muscle protein synthesis as well as supercompensation at a later stage. If connected with proper dieting and training regimen it promotes muscular hypertrophy (muscle mass increase, driven by big weights-small number of reps or the other way around, smaller weights and large number of reps).

When Is the Optimal Time to Drink a Protein Shake Before a Workout?

When should you drink protein shakes before going to the gym? There’s no simple answer for this question. If the break is too short, a shake can make you bloated. When it’s too long, any energy from amino acids will dissipate. When it comes to quick-digesting protein, such as whey protein, usually circa 40 minutes to 1 hour would be enough and no more than 3 hours, since that’s the limit of amino acids' availability. With beef protein a timeframe is longer, even 4 to 6 hours.

What Are the Benefits of Consuming a Protein Shake After a Workout?

For most athletes, a more intuitive approach is to drink protein shakes after a workout. It’s essential for muscle recovery and growth due to amino acids, which build muscle tissue. With enough protein and carbs, as well as resting after exertion, you can ‘switch on’ the supercompensation.

It’s vital for muscle mass, strength and endurance development, since it enforces body adaptation on several levels. Primary triggers for muscle protein synthesis are BCAAs, that is leucine, isoleucine and valine, so animal protein blends would serve you best. However, if you follow a plant-based diet, choose vegan plant protein. They are less creamy and more floury in taste, but don’t have to be less complete. Supplements-producing companies attain the best quality through mixing different sources of plant protein, such as brown rice, hemp, pea, pumpkin seed and others.

When Is the Optimal Time to Drink a Protein Shake After a Workout?

When it comes to timing, basically the faster, the better, but only to some extent. If you train hard, your gastrointestinal tract will be badly perfused for some time. That’s because it would be a good idea to wait circa 20 to 30 minutes before grabbing a shake. There’s not much sense in waiting longer though, since muscle protein breakdown processes will overcome muscle protein synthesis. As a result, gains can be less than optimal.

Post-workout nutrition timing may be important from the standpoint of the anabolic window concept. Eating proteins and carbs after working out seems logical. Shouldn't it lower muscle breakdown and increase muscle protein balance? Well, it’s a little bit of oversimplification.

Muscle recovery and growth are affected by numerous factors, like:

• age,
• hormone balance,
• training regimen,
• nutrition (as a whole diet, not as a single meal).

While eating a solid portion of protein and carbs after a workout is crucial for swift glycogen restoration, it won’t do much for muscle growth, if a whole diet is messy. For athletes who work out very often (such as triathletes), replenishment of glycogen may be crucial for maintaining energy reserves for more than one training session per day. Try to keep proteins to carbs ratio 1:3 or 1:4. You can also drink mass gainer-protein or whey protein with carbohydrates.

When Is It Too Late to Drink Protein After Workout?

Nowadays the theory of anabolic window is more and more often questioned, which means that later than 30 to 60 minutes after a workout meal probably won’t hinder your muscle protein synthesis. It seems that equally distributed amino acids throughout the day are more important for maintaining balance between muscle protein breakdown and muscle protein synthesis.

You can safely assume, that well-balanced diet will cover up requirements for protein, although things you should avoid are:

• skipping meals completely, as it disturbs your total calories and macronutrients intake,
• aggregating more than circa 20 to 25 grams of quick-digesting protein in one meal, since any surplus is still debated to be oxidised for energy or transaminated to form urea and other organic acids.

Protein Shake Before Bed – Which One Should You Choose?

The best protein before bed would be micellar casein, since its timeframe of amino acids release is 5 to 8 hours. Thanks to that, building material for muscles is supplied for a long period, leaving your muscles well-fed.

In case you can afford some naps during the day, you can exchange casein for whey protein. It’s usually a little bit cheaper and will suffice. If you consider drinking protein shakes before going to bed, dissolve powder in water, not milk. It will be easier to digest, so you won’t have trouble falling asleep. For people who try to reduce body weight, water will be a better choice, since it doesn’t contain energy. Choose legitimate products from companies with renown and you won’t notice much difference between water and milk dissolution.

Is Protein Shake Before or After Workout for Weight Loss a Good Idea?

Drinking protein shakes close to workout not only helps to build muscle tissue, but also may contribute to weight loss. The reasons for greater fat oxidation are threefold.

Firstly, protein releases amino acids, which fuels your muscles with building blocks and energy. This way you slow down muscle degradation.

Secondly, protein as a macronutrient helps to regulate hormonal response (e.g. ghrelin, YY-peptide). That’s because after protein ingestion, you feel fullness in the stomach for a longer time when compared to carbs.

Thirdly, breaking down protein molecules is a metabolic-demanding process. It not only requires a lot of energy, but also produces a lot of thermal energy that dissipates through the body and into the air.

While increased protein intake can help you to lose weight, the result depends on overall calorie deficit. If you eat more energy than you spend, numbers on a scale won’t come down, but rather up.

Should You Eat a Protein Bar Before or After a Workout?

Instead of drinking shakes, you can always chew a protein bar. It works similarly, but not the same. Firstly, the weight of bars is usually less than liquid shake, but the structure is more solid, so it may better suppress hunger. What is more, the ingredient profile of bars is usually more complex, which is not always a good thing, because of the presence of artificial additions.

Both protein shakes and bars contain sweeteners, such as maltitol. When consumed sporadically, they are mostly well tolerated, but in larger amounts may induce problems with gastrointestinal tract. Typical symptoms of sweetener overuse are bloating, gases, stomach pain and diarrhoea.

To avoid unpleasant complications, try to compose a well-balanced diet and limit the consumption of whey shakes and bars just to pre- or post-workout timeframes. You can always ask a sports dietitian to help you. High-protein products can be a valuable addition to your diet before and after the workout. It all comes down to your needs and goals.