Why protein matters in the muscle recovery story

Whether you’re competing for the championship, racing to the finish line, or looking to increase your one-rep maximum, you might think your workouts are training your muscles to deliver peak performance. But the idea that muscle gains happen in the gym is a misconception. In fact, exercise is just the trigger for muscle growth and adaptation – because recovery is when the muscle magic really happens. Andy Holwerda, Senior Team Leader Muscle at Danone Research & Innovation and expert in sports nutrition, discusses what good recovery looks like and explains how the right quantity, quality, and distribution of protein can support muscle tissue and set athletes up for success. 

“Whether you prioritize explosive power for short sprints or snatch lifts, a leaner body composition for long-distance events, or a balance between strength, endurance, and power for team sports, muscles respond to the demands placed on them,” Andy explains. “Muscle tissue is constantly breaking down and rebuilding. As well as repairing itself after it’s been put under stress, our muscle can grow in size and even adapt to perform better in the future.” 

What athletes might not realize is that the muscle growth and adaptation they train for doesn’t happen during their workout. While it’s true that the gains are stimulated by hard work on the pitch or in the gym, it’s only during the subsequent recovery period that muscle tissue can repair, grow, and adapt.

The protein we get from our diet is what enables the body to rebuild muscle tissue, which is why this biological mechanism is known as muscle protein synthesis (MPS). Since the rate of protein turnover accelerates after exercise, athletes can support MPS – and thereby build muscle mass and promote muscle adaptation – by consuming higher quantities of protein.

In the muscle story, and in today’s social media landscape, protein certainly has main character energy. But forget the hype: how much protein do we really need?

“As a rule of thumb,” says our expert, “the recommended daily intaketo meet a person’s everyday needs is around 0.8 grams for every kilogram of bodyweight.¹ But to repair or grow muscle tissue post-exercise, the goal is to ensure more synthesis than breakdown: a positive net protein balance. For that, the average protein requirement increases to at least 1.2 grams.”²

Depending on your activity, you might need to consume more than twice as much protein as a non-active person: “Someone lifting heavy weights, for example, won’t only have high energy needs in terms of overall calories, but also high protein needs in particular, even up to 2 grams per kilo per day.”³

The big picture shows that total protein intake matters. But Andy also zooms in on two important nuances. 

First, the benefits of high protein intake aren’t linear: after a certain amount, MPS levels off, meaning that consuming extra protein won’t have any further benefit. And second, anyone who wants to maximize their gains should focus on protein quality as well as quantity.

“Many people today are concerned about getting enough protein, and that’s definitely important, especially when they’re active,” Andy says, “but they don’t always realize that not all proteins deliver the same benefits. Only some sources including animal-based dairy and plant-based soy are ‘complete’ proteins, containing sufficient amounts of all nine of the essential amino acids we need from our diet. For MPS, the amino acid leucine is particularly important, so eating complete proteins that are high in leucine, like dairy, can help recovery. Bioavailability is also a factor in protein quality: eggs and lean meat are good examples of easily digestible sources.”

When refueling with protein, it’s not just a question of how much and what kind: the ‘when’ matters, too. Our muscles are extra sensitive to protein for a surprisingly long window of time after we exercise – at least 24 hours, and maybe up to 48 hours. In other words, you don’t need to worry if you miss your post-gym shake; there’s still plenty of time to hit your protein targets.

“Recent research into muscle recovery suggests that the amount of protein matters more than the distribution of intake,”⁴ says Andy. “Still, we recommend that athletes spread out their post-workout protein consumption to promote recovery and support steady MPS.”⁵

Other prime times for protein consumption are before going to bed and after getting up. “It seems that protein is digested and absorbed while we sleep and increases overnight MPS,”⁶ Andy notes. “Typical dietary patterns also reveal that most people, including athletes, don’t eat much protein for breakfast, when they could be using that as an opportunity.”^7,8  

Recovering from a workout might feel like taking it easy – but the reality is that our bodies are working hard behind the scenes to build back stronger. 

“We should think of muscle recovery as an active process,” says Andy. “From resting to hydrating, we can help muscle repair, growth, and adaptation in between training sessions, improving our future performance capacity.”

And when it comes to protein? “It’s not just about ‘the more, the better’; it’s also about creating an enjoyable exercise and recovery routine, because that will be more sustainable in the long term,” he concludes. “Whichever sport we choose, we can set ourselves up for success by getting enough high-quality protein to fuel our body. But we’ll be more like to succeed in reaching our muscle goals if we choose varied, tasty sources of protein and consume them at times that fit the rhythm of our individual lives.”

Learn more from Andy and our other protein experts in this video, and discover how Danone R&I is helping to fuel strength, endurance, and recovery through the science of sports nutrition.

1. Protein and amino acid requirements in human nutrition: Report of a joint FAO/WHO/UNU expert consultation, 2007 (WHO technical report series; no. 935).

2, 3. High-Intensity Resistance Training Enhances Strength, But Not Muscle Mass and Physical Functioning Gains During Total Knee Arthroplasty Rehabilitation. Monsegue, Alejandra P; Wilms, Esther JC; Kramer, Charlotte S et al. In: Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, Vol. 58, No. 8, 01.08.2026, p. 1651-1663.

4. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. Morton RW, Murphy KT, McKellar SR, et al. In Br J Sports Med. 2018;52(6):376-384. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2017-097608.

5. Timing and distribution of protein ingestion during prolonged recovery from resistance exercise alters myofibrillar protein synthesis. Areta JL, Burke LM, Ross ML, et al. In J Physiol. 2013;591(9):2319-2331. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2012.244897.

6. The Impact of Pre-sleep Protein Ingestion on the Skeletal Muscle Adaptive Response to Exercise in Humans: An Update. Snijders T, Trommelen J, Kouw IWK, Holwerda AM, Verdijk LB, van Loon LJC. In Front Nutr. 2019;6:17. Published 2019 Mar 6. doi:10.3389/fnut.2019.00017.

7. Dietary Protein Intake and Distribution Patterns of Well-Trained Dutch Athletes. Gillen JB, Trommelen J, Wardenaar FC, et al. In Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2017;27(2):105-114. doi:10.1123/ijsnem.2016-0154.

8. Dietary protein intake in community-dwelling, frail, and institutionalized elderly people: scope for improvement. Tieland, M, Borgonjen-Van den Berg, KJ, van Loon, LJC et al. In Eur J Nutr 51, 173–179 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-011-0203-6.