You’re Doing Protein WRONG! (12 HUGE Protein & Amino Acid Mistakes Limiting Your Gains) ~100 Studies

Do you take your protein after your workout? Do you take your protein with milk? Do you try to hit a daily protein intake goal? Do you always take whey protein? Do you try to get all your protein from whole foods? Do you take nothing before and during your workout? Do you take these? Do you take your protein all at once or in massive doses? Are you failing to include this essential pre-sleep protein ritual? Well, if you answered yes to any of those questions, then you already know that you're committing at least one of the 12 Guys, jokes aside, this will be the single most important video on protein supplementation that you'll watch. And having synthesized close to 100 scientific research articles into this video, I promise you that if you watch through to the end, this will be the only resource that you need in order to become a virtual expert in using protein in all its various forms and use cases in order to maximize muscle growth and to avoid wasting your money on products and product features you don't need and your body can't even use. And to lay the groundwork, we'll start by busting one of the most common protein myths out there. And it's also our mistake number one, which is the belief that you don't need protein supplements if you're already getting enough protein in your diet. Now, don't get me wrong here. Having a healthy diet and getting a good amount of your protein from whole foods is essential. But studies have shown that for weightlifters, protein supplementation significantly increases muscular gains, even if you're already getting well above the recommended amount of protein per day from your diet. One of the reasons why that myth is still so common is because of mistake number two. Which is that people believe what's important is the total daily amount of protein intake, with common numbers such as 0.8 or 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day thrown around. The truth is that when you're specifically speaking about weightlifting-induced muscle growth, studies have consistently shown that the total daily amount you take is far less important than the type and timing of that protein intake. It's even less important than what food or drink you take with the protein. Which takes us to mistake number three, which is the single most common protein mistake that people make. And with mistake 11 coming in as a close second, fixing this will make the biggest difference in your protein-related gains. And it's that people take their primary protein dose after their workout. While multiple studies have proven that taking the same amount of protein in the form of free amino acids immediately before a workout results in far more total muscle protein synthesis. And that holds true even if you've already eaten a high protein meal before the workout. Because as you'll see in a minute, not all protein is created equally. In one study, participants did a high load leg workout and received an infusion of amino acids either immediately before or after their workout. Then by taking muscle biopsies, researchers discovered that those who had taken the amino acids before their workout had more than double the total amount of protein incorporation into their leg muscles. And if you think of it, it just makes sense intuitively. When are your muscles being most infused with blood? It's not after the workout, it's during it. So you need to have ingested the protein before the workout in order for those amino acids to be available for your muscles during the time of greatest blood flow. However, this goes hand in hand with mistake number four, which is that the small percentage of people who do take protein before their workout are almost always taking the wrong type of protein, which is every bit as important as the timing itself. You'll notice in that last study we referenced that the researchers didn't give the participants protein per se, they cut right to the chase and gave them free amino acids. What does that mean? Well, protein is a large molecule that's made up entirely of 22 smaller molecules called amino acids, all bonded together. And from a supplement standpoint, there are four basic types or forms of protein. The first three are concentrate, isolate, and hydroxylate, and that's in order of purity, cost, and most importantly, absorption speed. But to absorb and use any of these proteins, your body has to first break them down into free amino acids. So you can drastically speed up absorption by already having that done and taking free amino acids in the first place. The whole point of taking protein immediately before your workout is to have those amino acids quickly absorbed and into your bloodstream while your muscles are working. So having the fastest possible absorption rate is, by far, the most important factor in how effective that protein will be. And to prove that, studies have shown that taking free amino acids results in up to four times more protein synthesis than any intact whey protein on a gram-for-gram basis, when both are ingested immediately before a workout. And in another controlled trial, researchers found that the boost in the anabolic response of protein before exercise is only statistically better than post-workout ingestion if it's free amino acids ingested and not intact protein. However, as effective as pre-workout amino acid ingestion is, you can still miss out on gains by making mistake number five, which is to not take more protein, again in the form of free amino acids, during your workouts. In one study, participants engaged in a two-hour lifting session where they were given a drink every 15 minutes. Half received drinks with tagged amino acids in it and the other half didn't. Then researchers collected blood and muscle biopsies during their exercise and found that muscle protein synthesis rates were between 30% to 70% higher during the workout in the amino acid group. And it's very important to note here that all the participants had eaten a protein-rich meal immediately before the lifting session. So it was not just the presence of protein in the body that stimulated this boost, it was specifically the rapid absorption of the free amino acids taken during the workout. Taking rapidly absorbing amino acids during exercise has also been proven to increase stamina, boost testosterone in men, and significantly improve recovery times, particularly after eccentric weightlifting, which just happens to be the most effective contraction type for stimulating muscular hypertrophy. However, amino acids are assembled into muscle by the body in a very specific order. So which amino acids you take at what quantities and ratios relative to each other is also extremely important. Which brings us to mistake number six, which is that many people who understand the power of free amino acids will just take branched chain amino acids, which are very heavily marketed because the branched chain amino acids, leucine, isoleucine, and valine are used the most in protein synthesis, with leucine being particularly important since it activates mTOR, the primary enzyme involved in protein synthesis. But, and this is a big but, they still can't do it by themselves. Your body still needs the rest of the nine essential amino acids, which are the ones that your body can't create for itself in order to synthesize any of them into muscle. Think of building a brick house. The material you use the most are bricks. But if you don't have the other required materials for a roof, windows, and a door, those bricks are pretty useless by themselves. Ingesting all of the essential amino acids has been shown to be at least twice as effective at increasing protein synthesis compared to branched chain amino acids alone. And on top of that, studies have also shown that if there's too much of one or two of the amino acids relative to the others, competition at the intestinal wall will make it so that the less concentrated amino acids won't be absorbed at all, making your body incapable of using any of them to build muscle. So, taking branched chain amino acids alone can actually backfire, which is why the International Society of Sports Nutrition says that acute doses of protein should include at least 700 milligrams of leucine and a balanced ratio of all the other essential amino acids in a rapidly digestible form in order to maximize muscle protein synthesis. Now, that's a lot to look for in a pre- and mid-workout supplement, and the industry is filled with misleading advertising and opaque labeling. I have done a lot of research on the supplement market, and I know that many of you will ask which ones I use, so I'll be happy to give you my specific recommendations and my reasoning behind them. But I'll be going over those at the end of this video, because I don't want you to think they influence the content I'm going over in this video in any way, shape, or form, because they do not. My recommendations are always based on the science, not the other way around. And really, any product you get that follows what I outline in this video will work for you. And you can use the key timestamps I put in the video description below to jump to those and come back if you'd like. However, the final piece to the puzzle of optimizing both the before and during workout supplementation is what you take with the protein. Remember that we want these amino acids to be absorbed as quickly as possible, but for that to happen, you need to avoid mistake number seven, which is to take your protein with other food, especially carbs, and specifically with milk, which studies have shown will delay the absorption of any amino acid or protein taken with it. So be sure to only take your amino acids with water, and the absorption will be as fast and effective as possible. But know that this only applies to immediately before and during a workout, and the opposite is actually true for after a workout. Which takes us to mistake number eight, which is a huge one, and is that many people try to take their entire daily protein supplement dose all at once. And they do this in part because of that myth again, that the body can only process about 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day, regardless of when it's taken. But that original number was reached by using people who weren't weightlifting, More recent and accurate studies referenced by the International Society of Sport and Nutrition have confirmed that weightlifters can use as much as 3 grams of protein per kilogram per day, or even more. To put that into perspective, I weigh a little over 190 pounds, or 87 kilos, so my body can use more than 260 grams of protein per day. But only if, one, there's an acute dose of rapidly absorbing amino acids taken immediately before and during your workout, and then two, if the rest of the protein intake is spread throughout the day. The body can only efficiently synthesize about 20 to 30 grams of protein in one meal. Now, a small portion of protein intake above that will still be used, but the returns are vastly diminishing. For example, doubling the protein intake from 20 to 40 grams in one sitting only results in about 20% more protein synthesis. So most of it will be peed out, wasting your money. So to put all of that science into practice and easy steps that you can follow, I'm going to give you four different post-workout time frames, or anabolic windows, that will maximize protein synthesis and your money. Anabolic window number one is the first four hours after a workout. The studies show is the max amount of time that your body can recover protein from inside your small intestines. In this first post-workout window, you do want to still get some of the protein into your bloodstream relatively quickly, but it does not have to be immediate. So mistake number nine would be taking 100% isolate or anything faster absorbing any time after your workout. You'd be wasting your money, since you'd be paying for high absorption speeds that you don't need, and you actually want to have most of the protein intake during this time frame to be slower absorbing, so that you can spread it out across those four hours. The best way to do that is to take a whey blend that has 5 to 10 grams or so of isolate for some fast absorption, but then 20 to 30 grams of concentrate for slower absorption. The blend will not only be more effective, but also much cheaper. And again, I'll recommend some specific products for this use case at the end of the video if you're interested. But this time, you should take it with milk, because you now want to delay or extend the absorption window. And studies show it also boosts amino acid uptake when taken after exercise. Anabolic window number two is for the next eight hours after that, because studies show that muscle protein synthesis rates are still significantly elevated for at least 12 hours after a workout. However, remember that any protein you took right after your workout would only be available to your body for up to four hours. So mistake number 10 is to not take some form of protein every three to four hours for at least 12 hours post-workout. I try to get most of my protein during this window from whole foods. But again, studies show benefits from supplementation on top of a high-protein diet. So I'll also take some slow-absorbing whey concentrate every three to four hours during this window. Now, the next anabolic window, despite being third, is actually more important than the first two. And in fact, only your pre- and mid-workout supplementation will make a bigger difference in your protein-related gains than this will. And to highlight some mistake number 11, which is a sin of omission, and is to not take protein right before you go to bed. And not just any type, but specifically casein protein. Your body does a significant amount of its muscle recovery and regeneration while you're sleeping, so much so that a single night of sleep deprivation will induce anabolic resistance and reduce muscle protein synthesis by at least 18%. And so, not surprisingly, studies have shown that weightlifters can achieve up to twice the increase in muscle size as those who only take protein after a morning workout over a 12-week period. And interestingly, the biggest difference seems to be with type 2 muscle fibers, which I will cover in depth in a future video. But what is surprising is that dozens of recent studies have shown that taking casein protein before sleep is even more effective than taking any other form, including whey. This is likely because casein is much slower-absorbing than whey, so it gives your body a bigger window with which to use the ingested protein through the night. Taking between 30 to 40 grams about 30 minutes before you go to bed seems to yield the best results. Studies have also shown that pre-sleep casein also inhibits protein breakdown, reduces inflammation, and even boosts your basal metabolic rate the next morning, making you burn more calories throughout the day without having to do a single thing. And I covered the BMR and its critical importance in depth in a separate video that I'll also link in the video description. But you get all of those benefits just by taking some casein before you go to sleep. That's incredible. And again, I'll give you specific details on the casein product I use with the others here in a minute. But to wrap up, we have our final mistake number 12, which is not taking protein on your rest days. You should have rest days, first of all. No days off is an excellent way to develop over-training injuries and not give your muscles sufficient time to recover and grow. But on top of that, our final anabolic window lasts for up to 48 hours, which studies show is the amount of time that muscle breakdown is still elevated after a workout. And an increase in muscle mass is only possible if more amino acids are being brought to the muscles that are being broken down. So it's essential to continue getting a surplus of essential amino acids to your muscles for at least two full days following a workout, which will inevitably include off days. However, it does not have to be anything fast-absorbing. In fact, it shouldn't be. That would be a massive waste of money. You can get most of it from high-protein foods and supplement with a slow-absorbing protein like whey concentrate or casein spread throughout the day. Now for my specific product recommendations. And you'll note that due to everything we just went over, I recommend different products for different use cases and different times of the day. But while you may initially think that buying multiple different products will cost you more money, the opposite is actually true. Yes, you'll spend more upfront, but only using the right product for the right scenario will actually save you money in the long term because you'll go through each product at a much slower rate, making them all last longer and making what money you do spend far more effective because your body will actually be using the protein you take to build muscle instead of just peeing it out. For the use case of immediately before and during your workout, which is the single most important window for boosting muscle protein synthesis, a product I found that meets all of the requirements I went over and then some is called Perform from AminoCo. And in fact, it's the only amino acid supplement I have found that is specifically designed for this pre- and mid-workout use case. As a company, they're probably the most rigorous I've found when it comes to the science behind their products. With over 500 medical research papers published, Perform itself meets the ideal requirement of at least 700 milligrams of leucine per serving, but also has relatively high amounts of all the other essential amino acids in a research-based and patented ratio. This is extra important for supplementation during exercise because remember, the reason leucine is so important is that it activates mTOR, but exercise itself already activates mTOR, so less leucine is required to do so. So an extremely high ratio of leucine here would actually backfire, creating competition at the intestinal wall and preventing sufficient absorption of the less concentrated essential amino acids. On top of that, Perform is also designed to improve mental focus and endurance during exercise. And while the vast majority of claims of improving mental focus are completely bogus and usually just mean massive amounts of caffeine, their claim is actually legitimate. The ratio of essential amino acids in Perform maximizes the availability of the amino acid precursor of dopamine, the excitatory brain neurotransmitter, and decreases the precursor of serotonin, the neurotransmitter that creates the perception of fatigue. So alertness and focus is improved and the sense of fatigue is suppressed. So in addition to filling the role of your primary protein dose, it also fills the role of a pre-workout supplement, giving you two in one, and does so without the massive amount of caffeine that other pre-workouts have. And as icing on the cake, it also has creatine in it, which not only enhances muscle growth, but as I explained in a different video, I'll link below, has also been scientifically proven and prevent the breakdown and loss of muscle that comes from a calorie-restricted diet. So due to all the above, I reached out and asked if they wanted to sponsor this video and offer a discount to my audience, and luckily they did. So you can now use the code DRGAINS at the link I'll put in the video description to get 30% off your order, which frankly is a much better discount than I was expecting. We also went over the incredible benefits of taking casein before sleep, and the product I recommend for that is the Casein Plus from Legion. But this time it's not necessarily because it's any better than any other casein product out there, although it is one of the few that uses 100% grass-fed micellar casein, but it's more because of the company itself. Legion is fully transparent about all their ingredients, which is rare in today's market, and always includes them at clinically effective doses, which they provide scientific research to prove. Their products are all made in the US, and they still have them all third-party lab tested for purity and contaminants, which is an extra cost and step that most supplement companies do not do. And consequently, an alarming percentage of them are found to have a significant number of contaminants in them. And to top it off, they offer free shipping and a 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee with no questions asked and no return necessary. So with all of those benefits, they earned my business, and I decided to partner with them a while back now, so you can use the code DRGAINS to get 20% off your Casein Plus and any other Legion product that you order. We also went over the benefits of taking away concentrate and isolate blend right after your workout, and a product that I often use for that is the Gold Standard Whey Blend. Frankly, the specific ratio here doesn't matter nearly as much as it does with the amino acids, so any blend you get will do. And this one just happens to be easy for my wife to pick up at Costco. I also reached out to them about sponsoring this video, but didn't get an answer, so unfortunately, I don't have a discount code for you on this one, but I'll still include the link of the Amazon listing in the video description below. However, one alternative to buying an actual blend is to buy a 100% isolate product and a cheap concentrate product separately, then take some from each after your workout. And that's actually what I do most of the time, because there are two other benefits to doing it that way. For one, you want to take the cheaper concentrate by itself later in the day and during off days, when fast absorption doesn't matter and you want to spread it out. Again, it'll be more effective and save you money. For that use case, I use and recommend the Whey Concentrate from NutraCost, which is only 70 cents per ounce, making it among the very cheapest on Amazon, yet is still very pure and doesn't have the massive amounts of carbs and fat in it that many of the Whey Concentrate products do. They're not a sponsor either, so don't have a discount code for you, but I will include the Amazon link in the video description below for you as well. Then the second benefit to this mix and match method is that some studies have shown that taking a small amount of whey isolate with your free amino acids immediately before a workout can boost total protein synthesis slightly more than just the free amino acids by themselves. And that is actually what I personally do. If you go that route, the protein isolate I recommend is the Whey Plus Isolate from Legion. Again, not necessarily because it's any better than any other 100% isolate product out there, but because of everything I've already mentioned about the company. And I get a couple other products from them already, including the Casein Plus and their post-workout recharge product. So it's quick, easy, and reliable to bundle them. And they have given you guys a discount code. So again, 20% off with the code DrGains and the link I'll put in the video description below. And guys, if you want a protein cheat sheet that summarizes everything we've discussed today, we'll be able to download it from the DrGains All Access basic membership platform. The membership provides access to hundreds of hours of exercise, science principles, techniques, and theory, including my breakdowns of other key supplements, along with over 1,500 science-based lifts covering every muscle group in the body, complete with video tutorials and comprehensive anatomy breakdowns, and much, much more. So get started today via the link I'll leave in the video description below. And if you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to Fitness Tip Friday, my free weekly newsletter that is always short, significant, and science-based, along with inspirational quotes and deals of the week that are exclusively offered to subscribers. Guys, if you liked this video, please let me know by hitting that like button, leaving me a comment, and be sure you're subscribed and have those new video notifications turned on because I have an incredible lineup of videos planned over the next several months that you are not going to want to miss. Mahalo, my friends. Until next time.