*The “Anabolic Window of Opportunity” doesn’t shut as quick as you think

I find it fitting to start off with the longstanding idea that we have a highly limited amount of time after resistance training to replenish the body with nutrients. This is undoubtedly one of the most practiced habits in bodybuilding subculture, with many gym-goers going into a panic mode if they go a mere 15-30 minutes after training without their precision protein and carbohydrate shake.

It may come to surprise you that there is actually quite a bit of time after training has occurred (especially if you’ve eaten a solid meal before training) to reap the physiological benefits of feeding the body, and by “quite a bit of time” we’re talking several hours, not just minutes like so many people believe.

Why is this you ask? Well take into consideration that if you eat a decent-sized meal prior to training it can take upwards of 5-6 hours before circulating substrate levels recede back to baseline. Therefore, the food you’ve eaten before training is often still being utilized even after your training has occurred.

Moreover, the acute responses to resistance training such as up-regulated GLUT4 expression in muscle tissue and enhanced muscle protein synthetic (MPS) response appear to last for hours, even when training in a fasted state. [1,2] However, if you train fasted it certainly would be wise to take in protein/amino acids soon after training to take advantage of those acute metabolic responses to training.

The bottom line

Before you read this and go start praising the idea of starving yourself after weight training, the take-home message here is in no way saying that you should not eat at all…What it’s saying is that you don’t need to be fretting over every last nanosecond that passes after your complete your final rep. Just make sure you take in a quality protein source (and other nutrients if desired) within a few hours (say 0-3, based on the research) after training and you’ll be fine.

Also consider that there is no research that suggests taking protein in after training impedes the anabolic response, but it’s likely that the exact timing is not as critical as many people seem to believe

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Disclaimer: Hypermuscles.com does not promote the use of anabolic steroids without a doctor's prescription. The information we share is for entertainment and research purposes only.