Research

Hormonal

Consuming approximately 25g of high-quality, rapidly digested protein (specifically whey or milk) immediately after resistance exercise maximizes muscle protein synthesis and hypertrophy, whereas consuming energy alone (carbohydrate) is insufficient.

After your resistance training, consume about 25 grams of high-quality protein (like whey or milk) as soon as possible. This dose provides enough essential amino acids (8-10g) and leucine to trigger maximum muscle growth. You do not need to add carbohydrates to this protein dose for muscle synthesis purposes, as protein alone is sufficient.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Growing evidence supports the conclusion that consumption of protein in close temporal proximity to the performance of resistance exercise promotes greater muscular hypertonomy. We can also state with good certainty that merely consuming energy, as carbohydrate for example, is also not sufficient to maximise muscle protein synthesis leading to anabolism and net new muscle protein accretion.
Stuart M. Phillips · Proceedings of The Nutrition Society · 2010

Why this rating

Based on a review of numerous training studies and acute MPS measurements, though the author acknowledges some equivocal results for pre-exercise feeding.

Source

The science of muscle hypertrophy: making dietary protein count

Stuart M. Phillips · Proceedings of The Nutrition Society · 2010

DOI 10.1017/s002966511000399x

narrative_reviewCited 80×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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