Research
Macro partitioning
Optimizing the distribution of protein intake across meals, particularly by shifting protein from dinner to post-training snacks, can improve the efficiency of muscle protein synthesis (MPS) without increasing total daily protein needs.
You don't necessarily need to eat more protein, but you should spread it out. If you eat a huge dinner, try moving some of that protein to a snack immediately after your training session. This helps your body use the protein more effectively for muscle repair.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Particularly, since the protein intake at dinner was much higher than that (40 g) required for the maximization of MPS, the allocation of a part of the protein intake from dinner to the snacks consumed after training is recommended... The allocation of protein intake may aid in the efficient utilization of proteins, decreasing the total daily protein needs.
Why this rating
Based on nitrogen balance data and discussion of MPS literature, not a direct intervention test of distribution.
Source
Within-Day Amino Acid Intakes and Nitrogen Balance in Male Collegiate Swimmers during the General Preparation Phase
Takeshi Matsuda et al. · Nutrients · 2018
DOI 10.3390/nu10111809
cross_sectional · n=13Cited 15×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
Related findings · Macro partitioning
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