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I'm trying to gain
muscle but it's coming along slowly. A friend of mine recommended I
drink a protein shake in the middle of the night. What do you recommend?
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 Michael Collins: Waking in the
middle of the night to have some protein is a strategy sometimes used by
bodybuilders to
add precious muscle (and prevent muscle loss during
times of strict dieting)
My take on it is this.
First off, you need to make sure
everything else is in place. Are you eating properly and getting
enough protein the rest of the day? Are you properly stimulating
the muscle during the workout so that the calories you DO take in are
used to rebuild the muscle?
For the sake of this article, I'm going to
assume you are. If not, go back and read some of our
archives where we
go deeper into properly stimulating muscle, and the nutrition that goes
along with it.
So assuming everything is lined up diet
and exercise wise, should
you wake up in the middle of the night to take in some protein?
My advice is to follow what is already
naturally occurring.
If you sleep a solid 7-8 hours, I wouldn't
mess with your sleep patterns. A great majority of people have
incredible troubles trying to get to sleep and stay asleep.
Keep in mind, sleep is also a major
component of muscle building and
fat loss. Some major muscle
rebuilding goes on accompanying the anabolic (muscle building) hormonal
surges of a deep sleep.
If you're sleeping well during the night,
don't mess with it. I'd suggest taking the amount of protein you
would have downed during your middle of the night snack and added it to
meals throughout the day.
However, a lot of people also wake up
naturally between 2 and 4 AM to hit the bathroom. If you're in this
category, and you're getting up anyway, why not slam a quick shake of
30-40 grams of protein? It couldn't hurt... Plus, it'll keep you
in positive nitrogen balance (the state muscle needs to be in to grow)
I'd suggest you sign up for our FREE
Newsletter, and you'll get a ton of valuable tools to improve your
physique, AND... you'll get access to the experts here at MCNewsletters
to ask your fitness related questions! (All you have to do is put
your name and email below. You'll get a confirmation email. Open
the email and confirm your subscription, and you're all set. Pssst...
It's FREE)
Michael Collins
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