I’m currently studying exercise science here in Georgia and am constantly coming in contact with professors who state the opposite of what is commonly believed.
My exercise physiology professor made the statement last week that the consumption of a protein supplement post-workout was theoretically useless for what they are marketed as. He said they work great if you are trying to get in some extra calories.
I asked him about the “studies” that all the products cite that say your muscle cells are more permeable to protein within 30 mins of your workout or something to that effect. He said the “studies” they cite are made up. I was wondering if someone could link me to a study by a reputable source that confirms the benefits of protein post workout?
I think you can find that sort of stuff on pubmed maybe.
Regardless, I question what you pay all that money for a degree for when the scientist seem pretty fucking ignorant at a pretty common hormone manipulating drink.
[quote]james258 wrote:
I’m currently studying exercise science here in Georgia and am constantly coming in contact with professors who state the opposite of what is commonly believed.
My exercise physiology professor made the statement last week that the consumption of a protein supplement post-workout was theoretically useless for what they are marketed as. He said they work great if you are trying to get in some extra calories.
I asked him about the “studies” that all the products cite that say your muscle cells are more permeable to protein within 30 mins of your workout or something to that effect. He said the “studies” they cite are made up. I was wondering if someone could link me to a study by a reputable source that confirms the benefits of protein post workout?[/quote]
Real world experience from hundreds of people doesn’t count?
I understand many people have had success taking protein supplements, myself included. These results are an increase in mass which can come from excess calories of any macronutrient.
I don’t think he denies that it works in gaining mass but not so much that there is an increased permeability of the muscle cells and that protein is used at a faster rate in that time period.
I always felt that my protein shakes were best taken prior to exercise, not after.
While you can eat anything to “put on mass,” eating a protein supplement is one of the best ways to get a large amount of protein without unnecessary addition of other food content that may not be digested and absorbed as quickly or efficiently.
perhaps what hes saying is that, the protein ingested still won’t be available for several hours. Therefore it is the pre-workout nutrition that is more relevant as far as providing protein for the PWO period?
[quote]actionjeff wrote:
protein synthesis peaks 24 hours PWO
perhaps what hes saying is that, the protein ingested still won’t be available for several hours. Therefore it is the pre-workout nutrition that is more relevant as far as providing protein for the PWO period?[/quote]
He actually did mention that the protein one consumes immediately post-workout would not be used until the next day. Thats what led to me questioning why its always been stated to down a protein shake within 30 mins of the workout due to increase in permeability.
I don’t think protein is the all important ingredient in a PWO drink anyway. Insulin is a anabolic hormone which is why you ingest the carbs to spike it. This tell your liver to release amino acids into the muscles.
Growth Hormone levels are elevated after a workout, and I believe they are linked to stimulating protein systhesis along with insulin.
I have never heard of the protein in the drink being directly related to the protein being pumped into the muscles. It may or may not but like stated above, protein systhesis is a 24 hour period. I believe the 30minute window is because of increased GH levels, and its reduces cortisol also.
[quote]hardgnr wrote:
I don’t think protein is the all important ingredient in a PWO drink anyway. Insulin is a anabolic hormone which is why you ingest the carbs to spike it. This tell your liver to release amino acids into the muscles.
Growth Hormone levels are elevated after a workout, and I believe they are linked to stimulating protein systhesis along with insulin.
I have never heard of the protein in the drink being directly related to the protein being pumped into the muscles. It may or may not but like stated above, protein systhesis is a 24 hour period. I believe the 30minute window is because of increased GH levels, and its reduces cortisol also.[/quote]
From an anabolism point of view, the carbohydrates are important to re-load glycogen stores, which for an enormous number of reasons I’m not going to go into detail on here, creates a more conducive environment for muscle growth the next several days. Aragon had some interesting commentary on the relevance of maximizing the insulin spike that I alluded to before that may be relevant. To make a gross generalization, it isn’t that important unless you have exhaustive training of the same muscles again within a 24 hour period, in which case it is slightly more for some reason involving recovery or glycogen supercompensation… idk, I’ll have to read that again too
I’m gonna delve into this further and come back w/ a better informed opinion on protein in the pre and post workout period. I don’t know enough to be sure either
[quote]LiftSmart wrote:
Real world experience from hundreds of people doesn’t count? [/quote]
Nope, that’s called Bro-science.
Unless you can prove it with actual scientific proof, experience from others is still bro-science.
I would like to see these studies as well. I’ve followed this protocol since I started supplementing with protein and wonder if there is any validity to this method.
[quote]james258 wrote:
actionjeff wrote:
protein synthesis peaks 24 hours PWO
perhaps what hes saying is that, the protein ingested still won’t be available for several hours. Therefore it is the pre-workout nutrition that is more relevant as far as providing protein for the PWO period?
He actually did mention that the protein one consumes immediately post-workout would not be used until the next day. Thats what led to me questioning why its always been stated to down a protein shake within 30 mins of the workout due to increase in permeability.[/quote]
well, that is inaccurate for sure. Some of the faster digesting more proteins can provide aminos within a few hours.If that’s what he said, anyway.
He may have a point though. What I want to find is what synergistic effect that supposedly causes an upregulation of muscle protein synthesis is created by taking protein with our carbohydrates immediately PWO, and how protein intake earlier in the day could influence this.
I’m looking forward to any updates on this, and I will read into it tommorrow and see if I can dig up anything relevant, since I’m sure the reasons are pretty obvious and out there and we are just a bunch of shmucks and don’t know =)
Isn’t the point of the protein consumption post workout within this 30 minute window to curb the rising levels of cortisol from the workout and stop catabolism while increasing growth hormone levels and promoting anabolism. Could be wrong but that is what I thought the purpose of eating during this window was for.
[quote]james258 wrote:
actionjeff wrote:
protein synthesis peaks 24 hours PWO
perhaps what hes saying is that, the protein ingested still won’t be available for several hours. Therefore it is the pre-workout nutrition that is more relevant as far as providing protein for the PWO period?
He actually did mention that the protein one consumes immediately post-workout would not be used until the next day. Thats what led to me questioning why its always been stated to down a protein shake within 30 mins of the workout due to increase in permeability.[/quote]
What’s with all the speculation this professor is a quack…read the article by Dr. Berardi I think it is called the post-workout puzzle or something along those lines. It has a boat load of scientific data on why/how important post workout nutrition is!
Berardi indicates in that article that only a small amount of protein intake is necessary, and doesn’t take into account how digestion or preworkout nutrition influence this.
He also states that the primary reason is just to maximize the insulin spike, which is an entire other story, and regardless doesn’t have much to do with what the OP was asking about- his professors statement that the protein supplement isn’t good for what people think it is good for, and could in fact support it.
That’s pretty inconclusive as far as the relevance of protein in the post-workout shake. I emailed a couple people this question though, hoping for some more comprehensive explanations because I am very interested
I did a search on pubmed but never really found what I was looking for. If something was closely related it was inconclusive.
If we in fact never come to a conclusion on this, it will be a/the subject of my graduate study research. I will most definitely report back my results on this website.