There is more folklore around the timing of protein than around any other topic in sports nutrition. The best-known story is by now outdated.
The anabolic window is far wider than thought
For years the advice held that you had to take a shake within thirty minutes of training, or your session would largely have been for nothing. That idea, the anabolic window, is not entirely made up, but the timeframe is wrong.
Research shows that the window in which your body responds more strongly to protein spans several hours, not thirty minutes. The urgency that advice created was unnecessary.
What does matter
More important than the exact moment is your total intake across the day, and how you distribute it.
Your body can only use a limited amount of protein per eating occasion for building muscle. Anything above that adds little for that purpose. Spreading it therefore works better than taking it all in one meal: three to five moments of roughly twenty to forty grams of protein.
Where it goes wrong in practice
Many people eat little protein at breakfast, somewhat more at lunch, and take in the largest share only at dinner. That pattern is unevenly distributed.
A solid protein source at your first meal helps to even that distribution out. Eggs, quark, skyr, or a shake if you have no time or appetite for a full meal in the morning.
The practical conclusion
Take your shake whenever it suits you. For many people that is after training, simply because it is practical and you have a moment then anyway. But if it suits you better at breakfast or halfway through the afternoon, you lose nothing by it.
What counts is that you reach your daily total and spread it reasonably across the day.
The anabolic window is much wider
Around timing there is more folklore than on almost any other topic.
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