After a lift or resistance training session (assuming an increase in strength or growth is the goal), you need to signal to your body that you want protein synthesis to activate. To do this quickly, most serious athletes use whey protein, partly due to its high concentration of Leucine, one of the three essential branched chain amino acids (additional supplementation of Leucine in the form of a BCAA powder may be necessary to activate protein synthesis). When you ingest Leucine, you activate what is called the mechanistic target of rapamycin or mTOR for short. mTOR is essentially a sensor within cells that gages the availability of amino acids and is highly sensitive to Leucine levels. When mTOR is activated, it alerts your body that an ample amount dietary protein is available and thus turns on protein synthesis.
Oct 20, 22