Anabolic Window

You’ve probably heard the gym wisdom: slam a protein shake within 30 minutes of finishing your workout, or you’ll miss the anabolic window and waste all your hard work. This advice has dominated fitness culture for decades, spawning an entire industry of post-workout supplements and creating anxiety around training nutrition timing. But what does the actual science say? Is protein timing really the difference between gaining muscle and spinning your wheels? And if timing matters, what’s the optimal strategy for distributing protein around your training sessions?