It’s a plan everyone’s spoken about for years, but no one was sure precisely how well it went and whether there were any shortcomings.
We all kinda-sorta understand that becoming a protein shake before we go to bed is a great muscle-growing plan, but it’s yet fascinating to read a new scientific paper that says we’re not just right, but absolutely right. It makes us feel dynamic. It shows we weren’t kicked in the head by no horse.
And it’s very satisfying when that article is a big lollapalooza survey that looked at 45 papers on the subject and managed to draw some conclusions on how to best use the protein-drink-at-night policy.
No fat, but only muscles
Tim Snijders, the first author of the study, is no foreigner to research on the subject of endurance coaching and beddy-bye protein ingestion. In 2015, he and his team found that lifters who drank 27.5 grams of protein (13.75 grams of casein and 13.75 grams of casein hydrolysate) before bed gained about 4 more pounds of further muscle than a power group over a 12-week period.
That’s damn important, and when he recently looked at the bulk of the articles on the subject, most of them accepted that drinking protein before bed improved muscle protein synthesis (MPS) dramatically without heading to any improvements in fat.
“All protein that is ingested prior to rest is used for protein structure,” explained Snijders. “When exercise is made earlier that evening, a large part of the ingested protein is delivered to muscle protein structure and is not saved.”
It is true, however, that some of the studies he looked at didn’t show much or even any further muscle protein construction overnight, but the researchers included in those thoughts might have used deficient quantities of protein, a protein that had rotten biologic value (BV), or a check program more adapted to sarcopenic poodles than bodybuilders or strength sportsmen.
Any Red Flags Pop Up in These Studies?
You have to question when studying, whether there’s something special about ingesting protein before bed or it’s just a subject of improvement in total protein intake. Here’s what Snijders thought about it:
“…these data suggest that the protein ingested during every meal signifies a distinctive opportunity to stimulate muscle protein synthesis and that subsequent rises in post-prandial muscle protein synthesis to each meal may be additive. This is relevant for the athletic population who usually consume more than 1.2 g protein kg bodyweight-1 day-1, with the majority of protein ingested during the three main meals, and only a small amount of protein ingested as an evening snack.
“Despite the relatively high amount of protein ingested earlier in the day, pre-sleep protein ingestion would presumably still provide an anabolic stimulus on overnight muscle protein synthesis rates, thereby enhancing daily muscle tissue re-conditioning.”
Another potential problem results from the timing of the endurance exercise. In some of the subjects where they got a real relationship between bedtime protein and further muscle protein synthesis, the fight practice took place in the evening between 8:00 and 9:00 PM or between 9:00 and 10:00 PM.
That’s encouraging for lifters who hit the gym in the evening, but what about lifters who work out in the morning or late midday? While the results aren’t yet pure, my opinion is that the late afternoon trainers would still be in their anabolic “window” at bedtime and would still profit from swallowing some further protein before hitting the sack.
Morning trainees would also benefit from late night protein in common, but whether they’d use the same moving developments in MPS is private (they might simply profit from adding to their total protein consumption rather than a time-sensitive rise in MPS).
If you do train in the daylight, you could try a little exercise. Save some or all of your arm exercise for the evening for when you’re viewing videos. Pull out a pair of dumbbells and maybe do a German Volume Training plan, or maybe a few sets of Paul Carter’s 10-6-10 training.
Then, take your bedtime protein and recognize what, if anything, appears to your arms over the course of various weeks.
How to Use This Info
If you’re not already doing so, clearly start drinking a high-quality casein shake before bed. Most of the subjects used casein, presumably because it’s a slower-digesting protein, so it’s not understood how well other proteins would happen in similar circumstances.
When? Somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes before leaving.
How much? Up to 60 grams, but the average sweet spot seems to be around 30 grams.