Avid gym goers and body builders know full well that they need to have a post workout
meal if they want to capitalize on their muscle gains.
Eating within the feeding window of 1 hour after workout is a must if you want to build
muscle.
But does this window actually exist or is it all bro science?
The feeding window belief stems from research showing that immediately after workout, insulin
levels spike rapidly for a few hours, priming the body for synthesizing new muscle, limiting
exercise-induced muscle loss, and restoring energy levels.
By eating while insulin levels are highs, the body will theoretically maximize the digested
nutrients to take advantage of these benefits.
Fortunately, it's not bro science at all.
Multiple studies showed that consuming 20-40 grams of protein within 2 hours following
workout indeed significantly increased muscle growth compared to consuming more than 4 hours
later.
Along with muscle growth, strength and energy levels increased as well.
However, there might be some problems with these studies.
Nutrition and fitness experts Alan Aragon and Brad Schoenfeld found a couple of alarming
problems . They pointed out that in the majority of these studies, the subjects consisted of
only elderly males or untrained young males, making the results unsubstantial for any other
demographic.
Another problem they found is that in most cases, tested subjects were consuming way
more protein than their control counterparts, skewing results in their favor.
On top of these problems, there are also several studies that DO NOT show any benefit to a
post-workout meal.
With all this being said, having a post-workout meal still isn't really a bad thing.
Just having any sort of planned protein consumption can improve your fitness results.
Whether you plan to have a post-workout meal or not, just know that, at the end of the
day, it wouldn't hurt!