If you’ve just started to get involved with strength training workouts, one thing that you’ve likely heard before is the fact that adding some protein to your diet right before, immediately after, and during your workout session is a great way to see faster success.
Why is this? What is it about the protein intake that helps accelerate lean muscle gains and improve your performance?
Let’s take a quick peek at why you should consider taking protein during your strength training workouts so you can see for yourself why this might just be the precise strategy you should start using.
1) Accelerated Recovery
The very first reason why adding some protein during your workout is a wise move is because the protein that you take during this time will help to kick-start the recovery process.
As you move throughout your workouts, you’re going to be breaking down your lean muscle tissues. As such, you’re actually only going to get weaker during that workout – not stronger.
It’s when the muscles begin to rebuild these damaged tissues after the workout that you start seeing noticeable gains in strength and if you’re eating more calories than you burn daily, size as well.
By having the amino acids floating around in the body during the workout, they’re right there when your cells need them to begin that repair and recovery process.
If they aren’t present, then you’re just delaying the recovery and reducing your results.
2) Reduced Chance Of Blood Sugar Lows
The second reason why using some protein during your workout is a smart move is because it can help to decrease sugar crashed mid-workout, which sends your intensity plummeting.
Each and every rep and set you to perform is going to use up precious glucose in the blood and protein is one of the macronutrients that stabilizes glucose levels. If you combine some carbs with your protein shake, you’ll keep a nice steady glucose level the entire way through to ensure that you can maintain your intensity as desired.
3) Enhanced Workload Tolerance
In combination with the above point, with those stabilized blood glucose levels, this is going to allow you to tolerate a greater overall workout load throughout that session as well.
Those who experience blood sugar lows will definitely have to cut their workout short as once it hits a certain point, you just won’t be able to continue.
By using the protein shake you’ll be able to workout longer and harder, thus increasing your progress along.
4) Lower Chance Of Muscle Mass Loss
Finally, the last reason to add some protein during your strength training workouts is that it’ll decrease the risk that you suffer lean muscle mass loss.
If you do take too long to kick-start that recovery process, your muscles may actually start being used as a fuel source, which would then decrease the total amount of muscle mass you have present.
Loss of lean muscle mass is especially likely while on a reduced-calorie diet for fat loss, so if you’re using this approach, make sure you do take in the protein during the workout to avoid it.
So there you have the top reasons why taking protein during your strength training workouts can help you see success. It’s an often-overlooked ingredient of proper workout programming that you can’t afford to miss out on.
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