Over 45 and Losing Power? Your Protein Isn't Working Like It Used To

Everywhere you look, someone is telling you to eat more protein. If you are over 45 and your power is going backwards, more protein is not the fix you have been promised. Back in January the US dietary guidelines roughly doubled their protein recommendation, and that was overdue. But guidelines written for a sedentary population are a very different thing to guidelines for an athlete training 10 to 15 hours a week. Something real does change in your muscles as you get older, and the research on masters triathletes makes for uncomfortable reading. What it does not show is that eating more protein fixes it. In this episode I take you through what is actually happening in ageing muscle, what happened when researchers doubled the protein after a muscle damaging session, and the 5 protein levers to pull instead of just reaching for more.

WHAT YOU WILL TAKE AWAY

• What anabolic resistance is in plain English, and why the rules changed at about 35 without anybody sending you the memo

• Inside the Australian study that compared masters triathletes with younger ones, and what happened to their muscle repair and their cycling time trials

• What doubling the post exercise protein dose actually bought masters triathletes, and what it did not • Why your total protein intake stops paying you back once you are in a reasonable range

• The 5 protein levers, and why most triathletes only ever pull number 5

• Why your breakfast is almost certainly the weak link in your day

• Why the same mistake is happening right now with carbohydrate

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Everywhere you look, eat more protein

00:27 Over 45 and your power is going backwards

00:55 The number is the easy part, eating it is not