Protein in the Evening. Why is protein important for muscle building?

Protein in the evening - important for muscle building

Athletes know the recommendation: after exercise, you should eat a protein-rich meal. Protein is needed for muscle building. That is why dinner after an intense workout often consists of a lot of meat or at least dairy products. But why does it have to be protein in the evening? Can protein for muscle building not also be eaten in the morning?

Protein for muscle building complements training

Muscle building refers to the muscles growing after being stressed by targeted training. In humans, two types of muscle building are generally distinguished: with muscle hypertrophy, existing muscle fibres thicken. With muscle hyperplasia, on the other hand, new muscle fibres are formed. Whether muscle hyperplasia is possible in humans at all is considered very controversial. What is not controversial: protein is needed for muscle building.

Protein in the evening is important. Whether it comes from animal or plant sources can be disregarded. However, the amount consumed must be adjusted! The quality of the protein for muscle building is, however, quite important. Combining different proteins can speed up muscle building. For example, combining wheat protein with soy protein is considered particularly good. The quality of this combination is higher than that of muscle meat or eggs. However, quality alone is not decisive; the amount of the amino acid L-leucine matters.

Protein in the evening - why?

Before training, a carbohydrate-rich meal or a carbohydrate-rich snack is generally eaten. This is partly sensible, so that the body has enough energy available immediately during exercise. Carbohydrates in a light form, such as pasta or rice, do not burden digestion, so all your energy can be concentrated on the sport. Mineral water ensures that the body also has enough water and minerals, especially salts, available. Protein is important for muscle building, but eating it before training would not be ideal. This is because the protein for muscle building first has to be broken down by the body.

Your muscle building rate fluctuates over the course of the day, in a rhythm of 3 to 5 hours. It rises to a maximum after a portion of protein and then falls again after 3 to 5 hours (even if more protein is consumed!). At night, however, we sleep for about 6 to 8 hours and therefore have a low muscle building rate after 3 to 5 hours. If the last protein portion is taken 5 hours before going to sleep, we have a low muscle building rate all night, which can have a negative effect on muscle building. That is why it is important to take a portion of protein in the evening for optimal muscle building!W

How exactly does protein support muscle building?

Protein in the evening is not directly responsible for muscle building; training is. During training, the muscle is exhausted. This causes the cells to increase their production of muscle proteins. If building is greater than breakdown of muscle protein, this eventually becomes visible externally. However, this takes several weeks. So you can influence your muscle mass through targeted training and plenty of protein (including in the evening).

Muscles differ from other tissue in the body, because most tissues consist only of cells. Muscle tissue, on the other hand, consists of individual cells that are combined into fibres. These fibres form bundles, which in turn are combined into strands. These strands make up the actual musculature. If you damage your muscle cells, they cannot regrow, because unlike other cells in the body, they are not capable of dividing. A muscle fibre can grow up to 30 cm long and up to 0.1 mm thick. Within the muscle, blood vessels run between the individual fibre bundles and supply the bundles, individual fibres and cells with nutrients. Your body needs protein in the evening to keep the muscles capable of performance and to build them up.

If you train hard, protein is stored in the muscle cells in the evening and during the night after training. This protein storage thickens the muscle fibres. Protein can only be used for muscle building if more of it is available than the body uses. Whether you achieve this with a protein shake, or by eating protein in the evening through a large bowl of quark with oat flakes, is initially irrelevant.

Protein in the evening provides the body with amino acids

Proteins consist of amino acids. Amino acids are involved in many metabolic processes in the body and are needed in particular to build new cells. Knowing that you need protein for muscle building does not mean that you need the proteins as such: your body incorporates the amino acids contained in protein into the musculature. Your body can produce some amino acids itself, but not all of them. Protein in the evening is therefore essential, so that your body has all the amino acids it needs available. The different amino acids are needed for very different processes.

Experts often call the nightly resting phase the catabolic phase. This means: the muscle-breaking-down phase. This is because the body uses the rest to carry out repairs. It needs protein for this. You should provide that protein through food in the evening. If you don't, the body draws on the muscles as a protein store. Muscle is therefore broken down in order to repair cells with the protein available. If you consume protein in the evening, for example casein protein, you prevent muscle breakdown. Casein is processed for up to eight hours. Quark with a high casein content is very well suited as a source of protein in the evening.

Protein is not only for muscle building

Protein in the evening has several effects. The positive effect of protein on muscle building is only one of them. In contrast to carbohydrates, protein in the evening keeps you full for a long time. It provides energy, but at the same time it supports fat loss. This is because the body does not use proteins as an energy source; instead, it first breaks them down into individual amino acids, which requires energy. These are needed as building material for body cells: above all muscle tissue, but also for nerve cells, enzymes, hormones and even skin and hair.

The body must therefore draw energy from another source in order to break down and use the protein in the evening. That is why protein in the evening is always recommended when losing weight, too. Because your body cannot store protein it does not need immediately, it uses it straight away for thermogenesis, that is, heat production. If you eat protein in the evening, you are therefore unlikely to have cold feet during the night. Even though protein is not only needed for muscle building, it therefore has positive effects. Protein in the evening keeps you full for a long time, so the urge for a midnight snack does not even arise.