Why Protein?*

First of all, you need to know a couple things. Training ALWAYS involves 2 distinct phases - one is the "catabolic", stimulant or work phase, the other is the "anabolic", response or recovery phase. Catabolic means "to break down" or to metabolically take apart. Anabolic means "to build up" or to metabolically assemble. Catabolism burns or uses up nutrients, tissue and energy. Anabolism repairs and restores nutrients, tissue and energy.

Increasing your level of fitness then means creating a positive state of balance between anabolism and catabolism with a net gain on the anabolic side of the equation.

Training for "fitness" then, involves 3 things:
1) Exercise
2) Recovery (aka rest)
3) Nutrition

1 is catabolic.
2 and 3 are anabolic.

Exercising increases your protein requirements (sometimes greatly) because exercise itself is catabolic - ie, it uses up energy stores and breaks down nutrients and tissue. The catabolic phase is not a bad thing though because it's what stimulates the desired positive anabolic effects.

But you must supply the necessary ingredients for the desired anabolic effect to take place - namely, nutrition and rest.

Put another way, after an exercise session (and to some extent during), the anabolic process that builds muscle (and thus strength) are enhanced by having more protein (amino acids) available for that process.

Basically, muscle is made mostly of protein and protein is made of amino acids. When you train, one of the things that happens is that you actually damage the muscle cells with microscopic tears. Part of the reason you get bigger, stronger muscles from training is that the "anabolic" repair process gets stimulated and activated because of the damage that occurs during the "catabolic" work phase.

You can't just train by continuously exercising (if you did without eating and resting you would simply wither away). You also need to recover from exercise and restock the nutrients that supply the energy for muscle functioning and repair.

Protein feeds the anabolic process by providing the building blocks for muscle tissue synthesis (aka muscle building or rebuilding).

For these reasons, I use protein supplements daily (when training). Although you could possibly get enough protein from a non-supplemented diet, chances are you are not (for an athlete, need in grams = .75 X lbs in body weight, which is 2X the RDA). I personally believe that protein supplements are almost an essential part of nutrition if you are at all training seriously.

Some cautions and further considerations:

Protein seems to work best when it is combined with carbohydrates as these have a positive effect on slowing muscle protein catabolism and thus aiding protein synthesis in the muscle. Most protein supplements do include some amount of carbs, however, if you take a protein supplement with you to the gym you may want to mix it with some carbs (a carb sports drink for instance) as well. More importantly though, soon after exercise you should definitely consume both carbs and proteins.

High levels of protein ingestion may be a little hard on the kidneys. If you have kidney issues don't do protein supplements without talking to your doctor first. In general, its a good idea to drink more water when supplementing with protein (helps metabolize it) and also to "cycle off" of protein every couple months for a week or 2.

There are different kinds (sources) of protein supplements with the main difference being the speed with which they are metabolized in the body. Fast (Whey Protein) is good sometimes (barring allergies) while slow (Casein) may be good at others. Some people say that a mix (multiple source) of proteins is the best way to go but for me the deciding factor often comes down to "whats on sale".

There are various philosophies when it comes to which protein suppliment is best for which times etc, but generally no conclusive evidence to support them. I usually prefer Whey protein with a lower sugar content.

When to supplement with protein

As mentioned, if you are working out hard at least 3 days a week, then you should be getting at least .75 grams (or more) of protein for every lb of body weight. This is TOTAL protein in your daily diet.

WHEN you ingest it is not as critical as THAT you ingest it. The goal is to have an adequate supply of amino acids available to respond to the stimulus of exercise. There is some evidence however that ingesting a protein drink (and some carbs as well) within an hour or so of finishing your workout will benifit the anabolic recovery process.

If Im in a "bodybuilding" phase, personally I drink some protein before, during and after a heavy weight training session.

A note of caution. Don't expect protein supplements to do anything (except make you fat) unless you are working out hard and seriously. The supplemental protein is ONLY there to benefit the anabolic/recovery effect but if you don't supply a sufficient training stimulus then the only thing you will be effecting is your waste line.

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