Should You Have Protein After Your Workout?
How important is having protein after your workout? It turns out not much — but there’s a bit more to it than that. Here’s what you need to know about post-workout protein.
Many years ago, a fresh-faced overenthusiastic Aadam was just starting his personal training career. He was cocky, and he thought he knew it all. Which is just a diplomatic way of saying he was an arrogant little shit who didn’t know as much as he thought.
One of the things he was adamant about was the importance of post-workout protein. So adamant, in fact, he would force protein shakes down his clients’ gullet as soon as they finished their workout.
If you had asked younger me why, I’d have scoffed at your apparent ignorance and launched into a needlessly long rant where I’d explain that:
- After a workout, your muscles are being broken down and consuming protein as soon as possible provides your body with the amino acids it needs to start the repair and growth process.
- There’s a short window of time — informally called ‘the anabolic window’ — after the workout for you to consume protein to maximise your gains from that session. If you don’t take advantage of this window well, you just done fucked up, and all your hard work was for nothing.