Protein will not stop the ache after training, but it is what your muscle repairs itself with

The ache a day or two after training has a name, and it is normal

That stiff, tender feeling that turns up after a workout is called delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS. You often feel fine leaving the gym, and the ache arrives later. A review in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research describes the usual pattern: pain and tenderness peak one to three days after the session and fade within about a week.¹

It is most likely after movements you are not used to, and after eccentric work, which is when a muscle works while it lengthens, like lowering slowly into a squat or running downhill. A review in Sports Medicine lists six proposed causes, from tiny damage in the muscle to inflammation, and concludes it probably takes two or more together.²

Soreness is also a poor guide to how much damage was done. The authors of the first review write that the pain may be more linked to the body's inflammatory response than to the damage itself.¹ Strength dips too, mostly in the first two days, and full recovery after a hard, unfamiliar session generally takes more than five days. The good news is that the body adapts. In one study in that review, people who repeated the same session three weeks later were less sore the second time, which researchers call the repeated bout effect.¹

Protein does not reliably stop the soreness, and three reviews agree on that

A 2014 systematic review in Sports Medicine, which gathers every study on a question that meets set rules, found 27 studies of healthy adults under 50 who took protein before, during or after endurance or strength exercise.³ There was not enough evidence that protein after a single session reduced soreness or the blood markers of muscle damage. Protein did boost muscle building in the hours after exercise, but that did not translate into faster recovery of muscle function.

A 2019 review in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine looked at team sports: 10 studies and 150 men with an average age of about 23, most of them footballers.⁴ Soreness did not change with protein, whatever the dose or timing. Markers of muscle damage were lower in six of the ten studies, and performance recovered better in three. The authors could not draw a clear conclusion either way.

The largest is a 2023 meta-analysis in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which pools the numbers from many trials into one result. It covered 29 studies and 763 people after strength training, about 94% of them young men.⁵ Protein made no difference to soreness at any point up to four days after. It did help some measures of strength hold up better in the days that followed, and it lowered creatine kinase, an enzyme that leaks out of strained muscle, at 72 hours. Several of those results leaned on a single trial, and women were barely studied.

So protein will not stop the ache. It may help the muscle get its strength back, and the evidence for that is mixed.

Protein is what muscle builds with, and the total across the day counts most

Where protein clearly earns its place is in what training builds. A 2018 meta-analysis in the British Journal of Sports Medicine pooled 49 randomised trials, where people are given protein or no extra protein by chance, with 1,863 adults whose average age was 35.⁶ They strength trained for six weeks to a year, 13 weeks on average. Those given extra protein gained 2.49 kg more on their one-rep max, the heaviest weight they could lift once, and 0.30 kg more fat-free mass, which is everything in the body that is not fat, muscle included.

The hour you eat it matters less than many people think. A 2013 meta-analysis in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition compared people who had protein within an hour before or after training with people who did not, across 23 studies of muscle size and 20 of strength.⁷ Once the total protein people ate across the day was taken into account, the timing made no significant difference. Total protein was the strongest predictor of muscle gain.

A joint position statement from American and Canadian sports nutrition bodies suggests protein after key training sessions and then every three to five hours across the day's meals.⁸ A plate with protein after you train is a sensible home for some of the day's total. Many of us under-eat protein, so that is where the focus goes.

Before you train, a small and easy snack is enough

Before training, the aim is a little fuel that sits lightly. The same position statement says carbohydrate in the one to four hours before exercise can keep topping up glycogen, the store of carbohydrate in your muscles and liver.⁸ It names foods low in fat and fibre, with low to moderate protein, as the preferred choice, because they are less likely to upset your stomach. Toast with jam or honey, or a banana, fits that well. A heavy meal or a bowl of oats, richer in fat or fibre, is better eaten earlier in the day.

For a strength session, the snack is a light touch. A 2022 systematic review in Nutrients looked at 49 studies of carbohydrate and strength training.⁹ For sessions of up to about 10 sets per muscle group, eating more carbs when you were not fasting was unlikely to change performance. The benefits mostly showed up against training on an empty stomach, and in longer, higher-volume sessions. The authors suggest about 15 g of carbohydrate with some protein in the three hours before training.

At the far end of the scale is a marathon. Sabastian Sawe ran the London Marathon in 1:59:30 on 26 April 2026, the first man to break two hours in an official race.¹⁰ He told the press his breakfast was two pieces of bread and tea with honey. During the race his plan was 160 ml of sports drink at every station from 5 km to 40 km, with one gel at 20 km, though some bottles were missed.¹¹ For a strength session, the part worth borrowing is the breakfast: small, simple and easy on the stomach.

After you train, protein shares the plate with carbs and fat

After training, protein brings the building material and carbohydrate refills the glycogen the session used. The position statement says fast refuelling matters most when there are fewer than eight hours between two hard sessions, and suggests 1 to 1.2 g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per hour for the first four hours in that case.⁸ Outside that, it points back to your usual daily needs, which your normal meals cover.

Fat belongs on the plate as well. Fat stored inside muscle is one of the fuels used during exercise, and the statement advises against eating very little fat, below 20% of your energy, over the long term.⁸ Rice with fish and vegetables cooked in a little oil covers all three. That is what we mean by more protein, not protein alone.

Muscle is built slowly, over months of training. Feed the muscle, give it rest, and the soreness tends to ease as your body gets used to the work.¹

Muscle soreness after a workout eases as you adapt

Muscle soreness after a workout, called DOMS, usually peaks one to three days after the session and fades within about a week. Three reviews found protein did not reliably ease the ache, but it clearly earns its place in what training builds, and the total across the day counts most. Eighty Thirty works out your daily protein and keeps count for you, so your training has what it needs to rebuild. Start with our free macro calculator.