Beyond Muscle Growth: The Critical Role of Dietary Protein in Endurance Training, Recovery, and Adaptation
Date
2-19-2025
Faculty Mentor
Majid Koozehchian, Kinesiology; Gina Mabrey, Kinesiology
Files
Submission Type
Conference Proceeding
Location
11:00-11:10 am | Houston Cole Library, 11th Floor
Description
Please note: no video is available for this presentation.
While dietary protein is commonly associated with muscle growth, its importance for endurance athletes goes beyond that. It aids in muscle repair, facilitates recovery, and promotes performance adaptation. Recovery from endurance training is crucial for maximizing physiological adaptations and improving performance. Prolonged endurance exercise induces significant metabolic stress, including the depletion of energy stores, fluid and electrolyte loss, and muscle protein damage. Protein is widely recognized for its benefits in resistance training, yet its crucial role in endurance exercise, promoting muscle repair and supporting mitochondrial function, is often underestimated.
Dietary protein is essential for muscle protein synthesis and remodeling in endurance athletes. Prolonged endurance activity depletes energy stores and damages muscle proteins, making effective post-training nutrition crucial. Protein supplementation supports muscle repair, enhances mitochondrial function, and promotes adaptation, even during periods of high metabolic demand, ultimately aiding optimal recovery. Specific attention is given to factors such as the amount, type, and timing of protein ingestion, which critically influence the efficacy of protein supplementation. Recent findings suggest that consuming 20–25g of high-quality, rapidly digestible, leucine-rich protein within 30–60 minutes post-exercise significantly enhances muscle protein synthesis, aiding muscle repair and promoting endurance adaptations.
Co-ingesting protein with carbohydrates can enhance glycogen resynthesis, especially when carbohydrate intake is suboptimal or recovery time is limited. Emerging evidence highlights the potential of dietary protein to mitigate catabolic conditions, optimize muscle quality, and improve endurance performance. However, the article notes that further research is needed to refine protein recommendations tailored to endurance athletes' unique metabolic demands and explore the long-term effects of protein supplementation on performance metrics such as muscle power and aerobic capacity.
Recent studies highlight protein’s vital role in endurance training, enhancing recovery, adaptation, and performance. Optimizing intake guidelines could further amplify these benefits. Protein supports muscle repair and growth and contributes to immune function, which is often compromised in endurance athletes due to prolonged physical stress. Furthermore, understanding the optimal timing, type, and amount of protein intake remains a critical area for future research, as these factors can significantly influence performance outcomes.
Keywords
student research, kinesiology
Rights
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Disciplines
Kinesiology
Recommended Citation
Humphries, Lillian, "Beyond Muscle Growth: The Critical Role of Dietary Protein in Endurance Training, Recovery, and Adaptation" (2025). JSU Student Symposium 2025. 32.
https://digitalcommons.jsu.edu/ce_jsustudentsymp_2025/32
