If you can, take Whey Protein before AND after workouts.
However, I usually recommend only taking Whey Protein before your workouts.
People always say it is ESSENTIAL to take whey protein 30 minutes after workout, or your workout is as good as dead.
That is bulls***.
Studies have been showing that taking Whey Protein before your workouts is a lot more beneficial then taking it after.
Myth Debunked
Whey Protein contains a lot of branched chain amino acids or BCAAs.
BCAAs will aid you by fueling your muscles during your workout.
Since they don’t need to be handled by your liver they will head directly to your blood stream and your muscles will absorb them.
Taking Whey Protein BEFORE your workout will help you not catabolize and help you get more energy as well.
More Pump
That’s right.
For you pump lovers out there, taking Whey Protein before your workout will increase your Pumps.
By taking Whey before, you will decrease muscle breakdown and therefore increase your protein intake and effectiveness of the drink.
Burn Calories
Recent studies have shown that if you take Whey Protein before workout, you will be aiding your body in burning more calories for the next 24 hours.
Now who wouldn’t want that?
The reason why is still not known, but you can try it out yourself and start burning calories and gaining lean mass before you know the answer.
Prolonged Effect
According to studies, what you take as a pre-workout has a prolonged effect. By taking Whey Protein before your workout, you will have increased protein synthesis for up to 4 hours after your workout.
What does this mean?
This means that taking protein before your workout is the equivalent of taking it pre-workout and post-workout.
You will have increased amino acid levels in your blood before and after the workout, therefore getting double the effectiveness than if you only took whey after.
This will not only mean increased muscle gains, but also less time in recovery, since with elevated amino acid levels in your blood during your workout, your cortisol levels will be decreased.
Are you convinced?
If you’re still not convinced, I suggest you research more, but meanwhile, it wouldn’t hurt for you to try this out yourself and reap the benefits of it.
If you are not willing to leave your post-workout shake behind, I suggest you take BCAAs before your workout so you can reap all the benefits I have cited here.
The BCAA I tell my clients to take are these. They are excellent. They provide a lot of BCAAs as well as some caffeine for that extra boost and energy.
If you want to try out protein before your workout, I suggest you take this one. They contain a lot of high quality BCAAs and essential proteins. You could take them before your workout and anytime during the day after for best results.