Protein Synthesis and Muscle Growth, Meal Timing Matters

Protein synthesis and muscle growth, meal timing matters.

Muscle protein synthesis has often been connected directly to muscle growth. The higher the level of synthesis we have, the more muscle we will build. And while it is important, there are other factors that come into play most notably muscle protein breakdown.

Both muscle protein synthesis and breakdown are initiated by exercise. In order for muscle protein synthesis to be greater, it needs the building blocks to repair and building new muscle. These come from the amino acids found in protein.

Today’s discussion is based on an article by Alan Aragon and Brad Schoenfeld, published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. Where they look at the current study’s and discuss if there are there any advantages to timing your protein intake around your workout to kickstart muscle protein synthesis.

They also give their thoughts on, how much protein we need to achieve maximum results? Does the anabolic window differ between experienced and new lifters? And do we need to do anything different as an older lifter?

One of the things I found interesting is that the whole theory of the anabolic window, which is that time period right after training where we can use nutrition to optimize our muscle growth. Was originally based on training in a fasted state. This is important because when you start looking at some of these contradictory studies you find not all of them where done in a fasted state.

If you were to train fasted and didn’t eat afterwards it would take between 3 and 3 and a half hours before your muscles would reach a catabolic state where muscle protein breakdown became greater than muscle protein synthesis.

So if you train fasted it makes sense to eat something protein-based as soon as you can after training to get the most out of protein synthesis.

For the rest of us who don’t train in a fasted state, they have done studies that have shown it doesn’t make any difference whether or not a meal is eaten pre or post-workout, muscle protein synthesis is the same, but we don’t have to eat right before our workout to get the benefits. The anabolic effect of a meal can last 5 to 6 hours. Although there are some studies that have found increased muscle protein synthesis from a meal only lasting for about 3 hours after eating. So we might want to keep our pre-workout meal within those 3 hours. The recommendation in this article was to keep your pre and post-workout meals within 3 or 4 hours of each other, and stated that a case could be made for those meals being even farther apart more like 5 to 6 hours. Which allows us even more flexibility.

I workout right after dinner so that is my pre-workout meal then afterwards I have my final meal which is usually Greek yogurt and some fruit. Typically a banana and an Apple.

Most of the studies have been done on untrained people, but to get a full picture more studies need to be done on trained individuals but based on the information available so far. They’ve found that meal timing mattered less for people new to training and it didn’t make any difference if the next meal was consumed right after the workout or 6 hours later. It did benefit the more experienced lifter with their findings supporting having a post-workout meal right after training.

They concluded this was because in untrained men peak muscle protein synthesis doesn’t happen immediately after training and lasts longer. Whereas in trained men peak protein synthesis occurs shortly after training and doesn’t last as long. So training experience is a consideration when deciding how you want to plan your meals.

It’s not the only consideration either, age also makes a difference in younger men they have found the maximum dose of protein to fully stimulate muscle synthesis to be about 20g but in older men, they have found it to be 40g this is due to the anabolic resistance that we develop as we age.

[attractionmanifestors]

This is super interesting! I'm a 46 year old woman, just started training again and was wondering why I get SO HUNGRY afterwards (I work out fasted first thing in the morning) - I definitely need to get in at least 40 grams of protein to feel satisfied and recover well. Great info!

[adidicea]

Thank you, for keeping this channel. I was looking for this type of experience, as I am turning 51 this year. The majority of fitness channels are related either to young people or lifetime athletes, while I am a beginner.

[ChristopherDimitriousPhanara]

Wow, He's 50? Hubba Hubba. He's in great shape. And he seems very intelligent as well. Great Job Lawrence!!!

[Howtheylikeit]

This is exactly the information I was looking for. Quick and concise! Thank you!

[ZZ-eved]

Just watched a few videos - GREAT stuff man thank you for the well organized and thoroughly researched information.

[eaglefangfitness]

Very interesting and helpful! I have been training fasted (just preworkout drink) and then not eating for 5 hours. Going to change that starting tomorrow. However I have been making gains which just shows the benefits of the Fit and 50 full body routine I have been following. Thank you Laurence!

[whysoserious]

I don’t know why, but I can relate to the mice benching the mouse trap.

[Schmuddel]

The 20g number for stimulating muscle protein synthesis has been around for a while and it doesn't take into account the lean bodyweight of the lifter nor the amount of muscle breakdown that needs to be compensated for (since like you said, you can still experience synthesis but if it isn't greater than the breakdown then it doesn't matter). Worst is that inexperienced trainees will see that statistic and think all they need to do to build muscle is down a 25g protein shake and they'll be good to go.

[shantanusapru]

Another great myth-busting video!
Great work!

[Oggiesilverfitness]

That was really interesting. I personally normally train fasted as it is early in the morning and after my workout, I am starving so certainly need a lot of protein.

[unclerawn]

I was encouraged to have a whey protein shake right after a workout. i think it helps.

[Powerman]

Very interesting Laurence! I have been timing my meals intuitively and it seems to line-up with what you are saying here. Based on the trained person's protein synthesis peaking sooner, and lasting less time, I wonder if that's a matter of their ability to utilize protein for rebuilding/recovery faster because the body adapts and becomes more efficient at doing that process? No point in producing more muscle protein if the job is done. The untrained curve looks a lot like the timing I seem to experience for delayed muscle soreness after a long gym lay-off. In that case, it doesn't seem like growth happens until after the soreness dissipates, but maybe it doesn't work that way. Can you have Lactic Acid and Muscle Protein Synthesis at the same time? After I've been consistent for a while, even with progressive overload, I usually don't get sore and I feel like my recovery is less than 48 hours.

[Boogie]

What if someone is on trt? Is muscle protein synthesis upregulated so you can utilize more protein per meal?

[GreyWolfFitness]

I naturally eat most of my calories around my workouts with doing intermittent fasting Laurence but I'm guessing most people have a decent meal wether it's pre-workout or post-workout MINT

[iamJROD]

Lions, and Cheetahs only eat a few meals a week, and manage to maintain their muscles during these periods. Another thing i wondered about is how do the big cats restore their muscle glycogen when they don't eat carbs?

[imanvendr]

if one is getting the right amount of protein in a day, .8-1gm/pound and training optimally (progressive overload etc.) in the bigger scheme of things protein timing doesnt realky matter especially for recreational lifters who are mostly sedentary apart from their weight training routine.
If one is a drug user who wants to squeeze every ounce of muscle or somebody is an athlete training multiple times a day with lots of different variables, then yes timing may/should produce significant difference.

Body is not that fragile or stupid that if you dont give your body each gram of protein every 3-4 hrs that it will decide to wither away or decide that even with the right stimulus it wont build muscle, just cause you gve it food a little too late. :P

[stevenrwilson]

Arnold has said before that the muscles don’t care when the protein is ingested only THAT the protein in ingested and that the “catabolic window” theory is a lot of baloney, that makes for an interesting discussion eh?

[peaceloveandhappiness]

I'm 41 I hope to look like you by 50 💪🤴💛

[Encourageable]

Thanks. Good video. I notice a lot of older guys get this (what I call) “barrel chest” - I think it may be from an excess of protein. It’s like their chest and upper abs sticks out, rounded, like a barrel. I don’t think it’s from over training. I guess the 40g of protein made me think of it - it’s weird looking and something I want to avoid - I’ll stick with 20g to avoid that LOL. Could be a genetic thing I suppose but I only ever see it in older guys (I am older so no insult intended).

[chasepotter]

Okay then why is there studies saying that muscle protein synthesis actually peaks at about 24 hours after resistance training, and then dropping after that. Meaning you are good to fast for a lot more than 3-4 hours after training, to get optimal protein synthesis. I really don’t think your muscles will start breaking down after a few hours.