Protein for Recovery: How Much? And When?

When discussing the role of nutrition in recovery from training for both athletes and members of the general public it’s important to first establish the primary goals of the individual and understand that every individual will respond to specific strategies in their own way. It’s also important to understand that fatigue can manifest itself in more than one way and if we don’t understand the origin of the individual’s fatigue we will likely fall short in our attempt of achieving optimal recovery.

According Bishop, Jones, and Woods (2008) perturbed homeostasis in the soft tissues can be referred to as peripheral fatigue. This origin of fatigue is a result of tissue damage that has left the muscle biochemically or mechanically incapable of responding as effectively as it does in its optimal state. This is likely the mechanism of fatigue that can be best modulated through properly prescribed dietary interventions and strategies.

The second hypothesized, and in my opinion, the most often overlooked origin of fatigue is known as central fatigue, which suggests that the brain is constantly acting as a protective mechanism to prevent excessive damage to the muscles (Bishop et al., 2008). It’s important to note that central fatigue is widely recognized as the chief mechanism in training recovery, so even if we are implementing all the right dietary strategies, our recovery will still be less than optimal if we aren’t providing our central nervous system with the rest that it needs to fully recover.

When explaining this to athletes I’ve found it useful to refer to our musculoskeletal system as our “hardware” and our central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) as our “software.” Explaining that the hardware will always be governed by the software, helps them to conceptualize the key role that sleep quantity and quality play in optimal recovery from training. I’ve found it useful to explain that sleep is akin to re-booting your computer each day while practices like meditation and mindfulness are akin to ensuring the proper upgrades are discovered and downloaded. I mention the importance of recovery from central fatigue to establish that, no matter the precision of our dietary recovery strategies, they alone will not provide us with optimal recovery from intense bouts of training and competition.

Long term recovery from peripheral fatigue requires that our nutrition strategies are well formulated and adhered to. If the individual’s goal is to recover from a specific training stimulus and increase their stores of fat-free muscle mass (FFM), then their dietary strategies must ensure that they undergo muscle protein synthesis (MPS) at a higher rate than muscle protein degradation (MPD). Tipton and Wolfe (2001) showed that resistance exercise improves muscle protein balance, but in the absence of food intake, the balance will remain negative (catabolic). This means that if you fail to consume sufficient protein prior to resistance training you may actually lose muscle mass (MPD). Muscle protein’s metabolic response to a bout of resistance exercise can last 24-48 hours (Tipton & Wolfe, 2001) so any dietary strategies implemented in that window can have an impact on your body’s ability to pack on muscle. This evidence suggests to me that the “anabolic window” a number of individuals are so eager to discuss while waiting to perform their next set of bench press at your local YMCA is probably not as important as they’d like you to think. Aragon and Schoenfeld (2013) shine light on the over-reaction to the timing of protein ingestion in their 2013 paper by writing:

“If protein is delivered within particularly large mixed-meals (which are inherently more anticatabolic), a case can be made for lengthening the [feeding window] to 5–6 hours. This strategy covers the hypothetical timing benefits while allowing significant flexibility in the length of the feeding windows before and after training. Specific timing within this general framework would vary depending on individual preference and tolerance, as well as exercise duration. One of many possible examples involving a 60- minute resistance training bout could have up to 90- minute feeding windows on both sides of the bout, given central placement between the meals. In contrast, bouts exceeding typical duration would default to shorter feeding windows if the 3–4 hour pre- to post-exercise meal interval is maintained. Shifting the training session closer to the pre- or post-exercise meal should be dictated by personal preference, tolerance, and lifestyle/ scheduling constraints”

Aragon and Schoenfeld (2013) go on to suggest that 20-40 g (depending on your age) of protein ingestion should suffice to maximize the acute anabolic response necessary to achieve muscle hypertrophy. I think we should all be able to conceptualize with the availability of this data that consistent and sufficient protein intake is required if an athlete wishes to accumulate fat free muscle mass, but the timing of the protein intake can be highly variable with little to no detrimental effects.

My current recommendations for athletes attempting to accumulate body mass in the form of fat free muscle mass are:

1.     Consume .5 gram of protein per pound of your bodyweight daily.

2.     Get at least 75% of your protein intake from real foods. Learning to properly prepare a variety of animal products (sorry vegans) makes this relatively simple.

3.     Supplement with whey protein throughout the day if necessary.

4.     Don’t worry about the timing of your consumption, worry about being consistent.

5.     Stop carrying your blender bottle around the weight room and start wearing shirts with sleeves. You look stupid.

References

Aragon, A.A., Schoenfeld, B.J. (2013) Nutrient timing revisited: Is there a post-exercise anabolic window? Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 10(5), 1-11.

Bishop, P.A., Jones, E., Woods, K.A. (2008) Recovery from training: A brief review. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 22(3), 1015-1024.

Tipton, K.D., Wolfe, R.R. (2001) Exercise, protein metabolism, and muscle growth. Interntional Journal of Sports Nutrition. 11(1), 109-132.