What are ESN Protein Spikes?

For the stimulation of muscle protein synthesis (MPS), and the associated muscle building, sufficient protein intake throughout the day is very important.

Like our ESN athletes, bodybuilders and other strength athletes seek to maximize muscle growth and optimally stimulate MPS through various nutrition and training strategies to achieve their personal goals.

The most efficient strategy to promote muscle growth is the combination of strength training and adequate protein intake.

Here, the type and amount of protein source, timing of intake and distribution throughout the day play an important role. Special attention is paid to the distribution of protein throughout the day, the so-called protein spikes.

First and foremost, it is important to understand that the total amount of protein we consume per day is much more important than the amount of protein in our individual meals. You can't go wrong with 2g per kilogram of body weight per day! For a 100kg athlete, that would be about 200g of protein a day.

Important: Food supplements are only ever a supplement to a balanced and healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle.

Protein Timing with the ESN Protein Spikes.

One study (Moore et al. 2012) compared 3 groups with different protein timing strategies. The results show that it is beneficial to spread the total protein amount over about 4 meals a day, with regular intervals (3-4h) between each meal. Depending on the total protein amount, 3-5 protein spikes may also be beneficial. Thus, one meal with one protein source equals one protein spike. Here is a small example from Benni aka Smartgains, who himself makes sure to achieve 4 protein spikes a day! You can follow his protein timing and the adherence to the 4 protein spikes, in his Instagram Story: Smartgains

This way you stimulate your MPS optimally every few hours. Installing even more protein spikes (>6) does not bring any further advantage.

Amount of protein per ESN protein spike

Another important role plays the amount of protein per protein spike. As mentioned above, the total amount of protein plays a bigger role, yet an even distribution per meal or protein spike is optimal to boost MPS in the best way possible.

Protein timing strategies, where moderate amounts of protein (20g-40g) are fed every three to four hours, best support muscle growth. 40g of whey protein increases MPS more than just 20g in this regard (MacNaughton et al., 2016). However, even higher amounts have no further advantage. Here, the MPS is maximally exhausted.

Digression: Protein intake before bedtime

Protein intake right before bed is a controversial topic in bodybuilding. Several studies with casein-containing meals consumed 30 minutes before bed confirm a positive effect in terms of MPS, muscle recovery, and overall metabolism (Kinsey and Ormsbee 2015, Trommelen and Van Loon 2016).

In a similar vein, in another study (Madzima et al. 2014), 30g of whey protein, 30g of casein protein, and 36g of carbohydrate intake before bedtime in young athletes resulted in increased resting metabolic rate in the morning.

So taking 30-40g of casein 30 minutes before bedtime , which can increase MPS rates and increase resting metabolism in the morning, will provide you with optimal protein overnight. This is where our Bedtime Protein helps you best.

Short Reminder: To optimally stimulate your muscle protein synthesis and thus maximize your muscle growth you should:

• consume at least 2g of protein per kg of body weight per day
• divide your total protein intake into about 4 protein spikes
• optimally consume 20-40g of protein per protein spike
• about 30 minutes before going to bed, rely on a combination of whey protein and casein protein
• remember that the total amount of protein is the most important for your success!

FAQ Protein spikes

Is casein protein inferior to whey protein? What about the biological value?

Whey and casein are basically both ‘by-products’ of the dairy industry. The body can utilise casein just as well as it can utilise whey. It just takes longer to absorb.

The biological value is actually no longer used as the ‘gold standard’. Nowadays, the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score is used. And there casein is just as high quality as whey.
However, when it comes to studies on protein quality, it must always be said that a protein source is rarely consumed in isolation and is carried out on ‘average’ people. As strength athletes, we already have an increased protein intake, which changes the whole thing somewhat. Therefore, we should look at empirical studies to see what they say about protein quality.

Whilst whey protein is superior to casein protein in stimulating MPS (muscle protein synthesis) peaks, casein protein is more effective in reducing protein breakdown. In fact, whey protein is not very effective at preventing catabolism at all. So if you look at total muscle protein balance, not just MPS, it shows that over a 7 hour period, casein leads to a greater net muscle protein balance. And that's what we want as strength athletes.

We have listed some studies below.

So we can say that whey and casein are at least equivalent.

While it's true that faster proteins (whey) lead to higher spikes in muscle protein synthesis (MPS), they don't stimulate MPS for as long as casein. So while there are significant differences in the concentration of amino acids in the blood over a longer period of time, the total amount of net protein synthesis is generally similar for whey and casein proteins (or in favour of casein as described above).
In most studies suggesting that whey is superior to casein, MPS was not measured over a sufficient period of time, biasing the results in favour of whey.

Conclusion: In practice, casein is just as high quality and even better than whey in some cases.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22569072/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15570142/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24149728/