With all the nutritional supplements available on the market, should triathletes use protein shakes?
Often associated with gym bros and people looking to put on large amounts of muscle, I always used to associate protein shakes with loud, brash men who chug these artificial shakes nonstop. That wasn’t the kind of culture I wanted to belong to.
However, you will see protein supplements aimed at endurance athletes. So are these a good idea after all? Should triathletes use protein shakes?
My answer is yes. Many endurance athletes don’t consume enough protein to help them achieve their goals. Protein is not simply for big muscles, it’s what our body needs to actually get fitter. Without sufficient levels of protein our body will not actually get any fitter. We’ll just run ourselves down.
What is the role of protein in endurance training?
Protein is the building blocks of life. We want bigger lungs, a more powerful heart, and stronger (if not necessarily bigger) muscles.
Most endurance athletes understand that they need to eat during longer sessions, as without enough carbohydrate our body cannot function. We will get light headed, feel weak and come to a grinding (or wobbling) halt.
The same is true for protein when it comes to our adaptation to exercise. Without sufficient protein and sleep, we won’t actually get any fitter.
How much protein do triathletes need?
The numbers vary in scientific literature, but most agree that endurance athletes should aim for 0.9g of protein per KG of bodyweight each day. Let’s break that down into plain English.
For every kilogram of bodyweight you need 0.9KG of protein. To keep the maths simple, let’s take a 100KG athlete as an example. They would need 90g of protein a day. When you consider that a chicken breast has around 30g of protein in it, that’s actually quite a lot of protein!
A 75KG athlete would still be looking at 67.5g of protein a day. That’s two chicken breasts worth and then some.
The kicker? I generally recommend athletes aim for closer to 1.1g or protein per kilo of bodyweight each day. This is because 0.9 is the minimum. If we aim for 1.2 grams and come up short at 0.9g, we’re still hitting our minimum. If we aim for 0.9 and only get 0.7, we have a problem. Especially if they have completed an especially demanding session that day, when they may need closer to the 1.1 I recommend my athletes.
How much protein is in a protein shake?
This varies from product to product. but you can expect around 20-25g in most shakes. If we take our example of a 75KG athlete, a protein shake would account for around 1/3 of their protein requirements in a single hit.
This helps give them a lot of flexibility with the rest of their diet. They don’t need to look at every meal through the lens of protein content, they can afford to focus more on convenience, taste or social factors. If they’ve been invited to someone’s house for dinner, they don’t need to get stressed about the meagre helping of fish they are served and wondering how they can make up for that shortfall when they get home.
It’s worth mentioning at this point that while protein levels can be fairly similar across the board, there is a distinction between bulking shakes, and regular protein shakes.
A bulking shake will be used by bodybuilders when they are looking to build as much muscle as possible. These often include carbohydrate in the form of potato starch to help bodybuilders hit their calorific targets. While we need to ensure that we are eating enough as triathletes, we probably don’t need to get to the point where we are using these shakes.
Many protein shakes designed for athletes will include sugar, to help replenish our depleted glycogen stores. You don’t need to worry about the sugar here (outside of dental health concerns), as your body will turn it into glycogen very quickly.
Alongside these, there is your classic non bulking protein shake which is what most in the general fitness space will use. These contain zero (or a negligible) level of carbohydrate.
Whether you get a straight protein shake or one with sugar in it is entirely up to you, and can depend on factors such as taste, and how long your session was.
What are the downsides to protein shakes for triathletes?
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows of course. While it can help take the pressure off of the volume of protein we consume in a day, a protein shake can in some cases cause us to get lazy about our nutrition. Where before someone might have had a steak with lots of vegetables and mash for dinner, they could find themselves opting for picking up a takeaway pizza or a ready made pasta sauce for their mean meal because they don’t need to worry about hitting their protein targets.
There is a huge amount more to nutrition than protein. If we get tunnel vision and neglect other areas of our diet, our performance will definitely take a hit.
There is also the price. While the powder itself is relatively affordable (and probably cheaper than other form of protein), if you buy pre-made shakes these can be very expensive. You are definitely paying for the convenience.
The taste isn’t amazing either. This is definitely a functional product rather than something most people would choose to consume. Depending on the product they can be slightly gritty, so make sure that you try a variety of different shakes before buying a big tub.
Should triathletes use protein shakes?
If an athlete is having difficulty hitting their protein targets, then protein shakes are a perfectly legitimate way of achieving them. However, they should be viewed strictly through the lens of a supplement to a healthy diet and other protein sources, not replacing whole foods on a larger scale.
The ideal scenario would be an athlete getting all of their protein from whole foods, but this isn’t feasible for those of us who work in the office, travel a lot or live alone.
I would definitely describe protein shakes a as a necessary evil rather than an essential, but they are preferable to getting insufficient levels of protein.
If you are looking for some help from a nutrition coach check out my nutrition consultation here, or if you’re looking for a complete training package, check out my online coaching here.
