Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - Should You Eat Protein Before Bed? A Simple Science-Based Answer

Episode Date: November 7, 2017

When it comes to getting fit, or getting good at anything, really, there are two distinct phases: 1. Learning and applying the fundamentals. 2. Learning and applying ways to optimize your results. And if you want to build muscle and strength faster, eating protein before bed can help… …but it’s not nearly as important as some people would have you believe. You see, eating protein before bed falls squarely in bucket #2 above. If you don’t have the fundamentals in place, such as… - properly calculating and counting your calories and macros… - emphasizing heavy, compound weightlifting in your training… - following a sensibly designed workout program… …when you eat protein simply won’t matter. And nor will many other things, like what types of supplements you take, how many carbs you eat, how “clean” your diet is, how often you change up your workouts, and much more. Once you have #1 squarely in place (fundamentals), though, and you’re looking for ways to get more out of your training, then it makes sense to start dipping into #2 (optimization). And this episode will help. Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

Hey, this is Mike and welcome to another installment in my in five minutes or less series where I answer one common question quickly and simply because while long form content is great, sometimes it is also nice when someone just gets right to the point and tells you what to do and how to do it in five minutes or less. And that's what I do in these episodes. I'm asked frequently whether you should eat protein before bed or not, if you want to gain muscle. And the quick answer is yes, you should, but probably not for the reason that you think. You see, most people think, and I myself used to think that you needed to eat protein before you went to bed to prevent muscle loss. Because let's say you eat your final meal

at 6 p.m. and it's fully processed by midnight. You go to bed, seven or eight hours, no nutrients, you're going to lose muscle, right? Sounds pretty bad. Well, the short answer is no, you're not going to lose muscle because that's not how it works. Studies have shown that the body simply doesn't cannibalize muscle tissue that easily. And so you don't have to eat protein before you go to bed to preserve your muscle. The real reason you should eat protein before you go to bed is because it helps you gain muscle faster. Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread the word about it? Because no amount of marketing

or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth. So if you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it. It really helps me. And if you are going to post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say thank you. You can find me on Instagram at Muscle for Life Fitness, Twitter at Muscle for Life me on Instagram at Muscle for Life Fitness, Twitter at Muscle for Life, and Facebook at Muscle for Life Fitness. So if we go back to the previous example of eating your last meal at 6 p.m., it is fully processed by midnight, and then you have your six, seven, eight-hour stretch, no nutrients.

The reason why this isn't optimal from a muscle building perspective is muscle growth requires two things. It requires a stimulus and it requires raw materials. When you train your muscles, that is a stimulus. And when you eat protein, that is also a stimulus. Both of those things tell your body to build and repair muscle tissue. Now that's the stimulus half of the equation. The raw materials half is simply amino acids and particularly essential amino acids, which your body has to get from your diet, has to get from the protein that you eat. These amino acids are what muscle tissue is built from. Simply put, no matter what might happen in terms of a muscle building stimulus, if there are no raw materials available, if there are no amino acids available,

then no muscle growth will result. And that's why research has shown that if no protein is eaten before you go to sleep, that your protein synthesis rates are going to be quite low. The amount of proteins that your body is going to be able to create, including muscle tissue, is going to be very low. That then leads us to how eating protein before we go to bed can help us gain muscle and strength faster, which is exactly what was found in a study conducted by scientists at Maastricht University. When we eat protein before we go to bed, we are giving our body a muscle building stimulus because remember eating protein stimulates protein

synthesis, stimulates muscle growth, and we are giving it the amino acids, the raw materials that it needs to build muscle tissue. And as most of us spend about a third of our lives in bed, you can see how this can add up over time. Now, in terms of how much protein you should eat before going to bed and when, I would say 20 to 30 grams of a high quality protein about 30 minutes before bed is good. And if you want to just do food, I would say something like cooked egg or cottage cheese or maybe low-fat Greek yogurt are good choices. And if you're like me and you'd rather do a powder because it's easy, you can do casein, but I don't personally like casein. I don't like how it tastes. I don't like how it feels in my

mouth. I don't like how it feels in my stomach. So what I do is I use a blend of pea and rice protein because those proteins, and particularly when they're together, are well digested, slowly digested, which is what we want for our purposes here, well absorbed, and are rich in essential amino acids. Now, in terms of specific products, I use my own. It's called Thrive, and it is a blend of pea, rice, hemp, and quinoa protein. It is 100% naturally sweetened and flavored. It doesn't contain any unnecessary fillers or any chemical junk. And it also contains 10 additional nutrients that many people's diets tend to lack and many vegans and vegetarians in particular. And so if you want to learn more about that, simply click on the link

in the description. And if you like what you see, you can also save 10% on your first order. Hey there, it is Mike again. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it interesting and helpful. And if you did, and don't mind doing me a favor and want to help me make this the most popular health and fitness podcast on the internet, then please leave a quick review of it on iTunes or wherever you're listening from. This not only convinces people that they should check the show out, it also increases its search visibility and thus helps more people find their way to me and learn how to build their best bodies ever too. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then just subscribe to the podcast and you won't miss out on any of the new goodies.

Lastly, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscleforlife.com and share your thoughts on how you think it could be better. I read everything myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback. So please do reach out. All right, that's it. Thanks again for listening to this episode and I hope to hear from you soon. And lastly, this episode is brought to you by me. Seriously, though, I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe

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