FITNESS MYTH #1: THE ANABOLIC WINDOW

I’ve had the fortune of starting out in this industry almost 20 years ago alongside the wealth of experience I’ve been privileged to access.

I’ve also had the misfortune of starting out in the industry almost 20 years ago, when fitness myths prevailed as gospel and no one really had a reliable way to question them...

One such myth – the anabolic window – still persists today and has been especially hard for the hardcore gym bro, and others, to close (pun intended)

Simply put, the anabolic window is the immediate time period after a workout where your body is magically primed to capitalise on all of your workout efforts.

The idea being any protein you eat during this (30-60mins) window counts for significantly more gains – some even saying it accounts for MOST of your workout gains!

I still remember viral videos of influencers like Rob Riches having secret stashes of protein in his car, just in case he forgot his all-important post-workout protein shake.

My very first coach also told me, that I really should be hitting my shake the second after my last rep.

As every second that followed was haemorrhaging my potential results.

But even at the time, this made zero sense.

Because it isn’t as if you down a protein shake and then all of that nutrition is immediately in your muscles, working its magic.

In reality it goes through a long process of being broken down into individual amino acids and then entering your bloodstream over a number of hours.

Even “fast acting” whey.

With this logic, you’d think the PRE-workout protein shake would have more impact, and actually, you’d be right (PMID: 28070459)

And pre workout protein was found to have the same, if not slightly better, impact on muscle gain.

As nutrition science and zealotry has evolved over the years, we’ve actually even seen a shift away from this kind of thinking entirely.

Modalities like intermittent fasting, where the window is confined to a few small hours and not necessarily anywhere the time you train, has demonstrated that there’s a

difference in gains even when compared to the traditional approach.

And what all of this really boils down to, is minutia that doesn’t even need to be discussed by 99% of the population.

“Majoring in the minors” so to speak, and something that maybe only the most diligent, dialled in athletes on the planet should even consider (in pursuit of aptly named marginal gains)

In practicality, the most important thing you can do on this front to build muscle, is to simply eat enough protein.

It doesn’t matter when it’s eaten, whether all at once or over a number of separate feeds (more on this later)

Because if my experience in this industry has taught me anything, it’s that people are willing to look anywhere to except the basic big levers that truly earn your progress.

And the farther they look the more absurd their ideas truly become.

Jordan