Why dietary protein is important for endurance athletes

University courses Physical Sciences
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Increasing nutrient availability in the post-training recovery period is crucial, to help athletes replenish substrate stores and facilitate repair and remodelling of skeletal muscle. Endurance athletes should focus on refuelling, rehydrating and repairing after training!

  • Amino acid oxidation can provide up to 10% of total energy during endurance training
  • Endurance athletes performing moderate intensity exercise have a resulting estimated total body leucine loss of ~1.2g over 2 hours - this needs to be replaced!
  • Periodised protein ingestion shows to augment remodelling of muscle and whole body protein with endurance training

After endurance training, muscle protein synthesis can be increased with as little as 10g of protein. Ingestion of protein in the first 30-60min after endurance exercise is recommended to maximise protein synthesis and enhance recovery.

Recovery from relatively short, high-intensity endurance exercise can be enhanced with pre-exercise protein ingestion. Increased protein intakes are also associated with a decrease in self-reported URTI in athletes when undertaking intensified training loads.

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It’s fascinating to see how targeted nutrition plays a crucial role in optimising recovery for endurance athletes. Do you have any specific recommendations for protein sources or supplements that work well in these scenarios?

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Great question! I would always say that making sure you’re getting enough protein in your diet is the best place to start. So for non-vegetarian / non-vegan endurance athletes, this might include lean meats (chicken, turkey, lean beef), fish, eggs, dairy (greek yogurt, milk). Plant-based proteins like lentils, beans, quinoa, and tofu are great for those who don’t eat meat (and even those who do!!).

If then you’re looking to supplement, if you just can’t reach the protein requirements through your diet, whey protein is the best protein supplement (proven to be more effective than casein and soy - casein digests slower than whey so best taken overnight).

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thank you!!

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