Protein Before Sleep Increases Muscle Mass and Strength Gains during Prolonged Resistance-Type Exercise Training

Protein helps boost your body’s metabolism according to many experts, and having higher amounts of lean muscle mass will cause you to burn even more calories. But when it comes to muscle growth and post-exercise repairs, protein is the ultimate nutrient you need.

Consuming it before bed will not only boost your body’s metabolism while you sleep (and all through the next morning!) but provide you with greater muscle mass and strength gains in response to resistance exercise as well – the results of a brand study from The Netherlands published in the Journal of Nutrition have just proven what bodybuilding veterans knew all along!

Although other studies have already shown that consuming protein before bed significantly stimulates muscle growth, these guys wanted to check what will be the specific response of muscles trained with resistance exercises to the increased bedtime intake of protein.

The main researchers, Snijders, Res, Smeets and Van Vliet recruited 44 young men and assigned them to two groups – one received 27.5 grams of protein (casein hydrolysate) every night before sleep during a 12 week period which included regular resistance training, and the second one received placebo while following the same exercise program.

The results came loud and clear: consuming protein supplements before sleep in combination with prolonged resistance training lead to greater gains in skeletal muscle strength, specifically in terms of leg extensions and leg presses, compared to consuming placebo-supplements paired with the same training.

The effects of the protein supplementation before bed were dramatic even though the participants in both groups already followed a high-protein diet plan and received protein snacks after each training session.

This study proves yet again that dietary protein supplementation is the ideal strategy for massive gains, so take this scientific advice seriously and step your game up!


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