Q: Is it really necessary to drink the classic post-workout shake, so that we take advantage of the anabolic window? Is this a major factor for growth, gains and success?

A: Most people will have you believe that the so called post-workout shake has to be taken within 30 minutes post-workout (anabolic window). What this means is that if we don’t drink a protein shake or eat a meal based on protein within 30 minutes of finishing our workout, we will have to kiss our gains goodbye.

Many people have probably heard about the “anabolic window” concept, which is the time period that lasts an hour after training, where our body absorbs more protein than normal. Also, if we don’t ingest fast acting carbohydrates with said protein within this time period, we supposedly become catabolizing.

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This theory forces us to transform the post-workout shake and meal into a sacred ritual that must be followed, because if not, it will greatly limit our gains. Also, it makes us have a huge weight on our consciousness if we aren’t able to consume something post-workout, whether it be because of a lack of time or money.

Does the anabolic window exist? Yes, and in most cases it lasts between 24 and 36 hours.

In a study done in 2003, many scientists decided to approach this myth and made various tests to verify if said “anabolic window” did in fact exist. So, the scientists discovered something curious: The “anabolic window” exists, but it doesn’t last just one hour. No, it lasts a whole day (1). So, a workout is capable of increasing protein synthesis for a period of anywhere between 24 to 36 hours. This way, our body is capable of absorbing more protein during this time frame.

To finish, this study only shows that we don’t need to be slaves of “the anabolic window” because of thinking that in order to have our gains we must eat immediately after exercise.

Most people who train regularly practically live in an anabolic state. What we mean is that what we eat will always help muscle protein synthesis, since our muscles “live” in a state of growth and recovery due to weight training.

There is no need to complicate something that is already complicated on its own, and worry about said “anabolic window”. We should eat according to our goals a make sure we are covering our daily needs for macronutrients, that we train hard and this way ensuring we will achieve our goals, as long as we monitor our progress and adjust nutrition and training accordingly.

Now you ask: so we don’t need to eat post-workout?

What’s important is that we ingest the same calories as we did before, and we can inclusively continue to take our post-workout shake, but we don’t need to keep thinking this shake will make a huge difference since “the anabolic window” will last for 24-36h post training and not just 1h. So bear in mind that feeding yourself later on is irrelevant, as long as you ingest the same number of calories. The caloric balance that we ingest throughout the day is what will have the most impact on muscle gain and fat loss, not that post-workout shake.

Wrapping this up, when a workout plan suggests that a determined number of repetitions is best for muscle gain, many people consider that statement “a profanity”, because they say “muscles can’t count”, but the body having an anabolic stopwatch of 30 to 60 minutes seems acceptable to most. Ironical, if not contradictory.

Alan Aragon published an article about the post-workout anabolic window, if anyone is interested in reading a more detailed article about this theme. You can read it here: http://www.jissn.com/content/10/1/5

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Note: The photographs used belong to Dana Linn Bailey !

References:
1. Tipton KD, Borsheim E, Wolf SE, Sanford AP, Wolfe RR. Acute response of net muscle protein balance reflects 24-h balance after exercise and amino acid ingestion. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2003 Jan;284(1):E76-89.