if they want to capitalize on their muscle gains.

Eating within the feeding window of 1 hour after workout is a must if you want to build muscle.

But does this window actually exist or is it all "bro science"?

The feeding window belief stems from research showing that immediately after workout,

insulin levels spike rapidly for a few hours, priming the body for synthesizing new muscle,

limiting exercise-induced muscle loss, and restoring energy levels.

By eating while insulin levels are highs,

the body will theoretically maximize the digested nutrients to take advantage of these benefits.

Fortunately, it's not bro science at all.

Multiple studies showed that consuming 20-40 grams of high-quality protein within 2 hours following workout

indeed significantly increased muscle growth compared to consuming more than 4 hours later.

Along with muscle growth, strength and energy levels increased as well.

However, there might be some problems with these studies.

Nutrition and fitness experts Alan Aragon and Brad Schoenfeld

found a couple of alarming problems.

They pointed out that in the majority of these studies,

the subjects consisted of only elderly males or untrained young males,

making the results unsubstantial for any other demographic.

Another problem they found is that in most cases,

tested subjects were consuming way more protein than their controlled counterparts,

skewing results in their favor.

On top of these problems,

there are also several studies that do not show any benefit to a post-workout meal.

With all this being said, having a post-workout meal still isn't really a bad thing.

Just having any sort of planned protein consumption can improve your fitness results.

Whether you plan to have a post-workout meal or not, just know that,

at the end of the day, it wouldn't hurt!

Let us know your opinions about post-workout meals in the comment section below.

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