Research
Hormonal
Post-exercise ingestion of rapidly digested, high-leucine protein (e.g., whey) maximizes muscle protein synthesis rates more effectively than slow-digesting proteins (e.g., casein) or lower-leucine proteins (e.g., soy).
After your resistance training, consume about 20-40 grams of a fast-digesting protein like whey or skim milk. This provides a high dose of leucine that triggers muscle growth more effectively than slower proteins like casein or plant proteins like soy. You do not need to add carbohydrates or other supplements to get this benefit.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Current evidence would thus lead to a guideline stating that to achieve peak rates of MPS, a high leucine-containing protein that is rapidly digested, leading to rapid leucinemia and hyperaminoacidemia, should be consumed post-exercise.
Why this rating
Based on multiple controlled dose-response and comparative studies cited (Tang et al., Pennings et al.).
Source
A Brief Review of Critical Processes in Exercise-Induced Muscular Hypertrophy
Stuart M. Phillips · Sports Medicine · 2014
DOI 10.1007/s40279-014-0152-3
narrative_reviewCited 266×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Supplementation with glutamine or arginine does not enhance muscle protein synthesis or hypertrophy in healthy, well-nourished individuals performing resistance or endurance exercise.Strong
- Higher protein intake (1.3-1.6 g/kg body weight) during caloric restriction preserves or increases lean muscle mass and strength, whereas standard protein intakes may fail to prevent muscle loss.Good
Related findings · Hormonal
- Initial treatment for type 2 diabetes should be a combination of metformin and either an SGLT-2 inhibitor or a GLP-1 receptor agonist to achieve cardiorenal protection, rather than monotherapy or older agents like sulfonylureas.Strong
- For patients with specific monogenic obesity syndromes (leptin deficiency, POMC/PCSK1/LEPR mutations), targeted pharmacotherapy (recombinant leptin or setmelanotide) is highly effective and should be prioritized, unlike in polygenic obesity.Strong
- Continued weekly administration of 2.4 mg subcutaneous semaglutide prevents weight regain and promotes further weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity, whereas switching to placebo results in significant weight regain.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →