Protein consumption: Before or after exercise?

Surely you have heard that if you do not consume some protein immediately after training you will not maximize your results or even that your training was totally wasted. Many people believe that there is an anabolic window in which our body absorbs protein and converts them directly into muscle and outside this window you can no longer build muscle.

So, before or after?
In a published study (1), researchers tested whether consuming 25g of whey protein before or after training was better at developing muscle mass.
In this study, 21 men carried out a weight-lifting routine. They performed a full body routine three times a week for 10 weeks. Approximately half of the men consumed whey immediately prior to training, and the other group immediately after training.
At the end of the 10 weeks, protein intake before or after training did not make any difference to the muscle mass of the studied group. This means that no group gained significantly more muscle with respect to the other group.

There was a slight increase in the size of the biceps in favor of the group that consumed proteins at the end of the training session. Since the study was only 10 weeks long it may be possible that this difference may not be greater over a longer period of time.
The study concludes that since there is no signifcant diference, people can choose between consuming protein before or after training depending on individual differences such as preference, availability, tolerance and other factors.

It should be noted that despite the specific instruction to maintain a caloric surplus, the subjects fell into a caloric deficit, that is, they lost fat during the study. This may suggest that the results are limited to scenarios where there is a sustained energy deficit.

Recommendations:

There is not much difference between consuming protein immediately before or after training. Consume your protein when it suits you. We make some recommendations forthe following cases:

-If you exercise right at he beginning of day, consume some protein before training.

- If at the time of training you have not eaten for a long period of time (greater than 4 hours), consume protein before training.

- If at the time of training you feel fatigued or without energy, consume protein before training.

-If after training you will not have access to food for a few more hours, it consume protein right after training.

-If you have eate well for a period of time close to training (less than 3 hours), consume your protein after training.

-If protein consumption makes you feel a bit sick, consume protein after training.