Someone asked me this at a market stall last month, holding a tub in each hand: “before or after?” It is probably the most common question I get about training, and it is nearly always asked as if there is a right answer written on the lid. There is not one. What I have found useful is to stop thinking about the shake and start thinking about the gaps — the gap before the session and the gap after it. Once you know where the empty stretch in your day sits, the timing answers itself.
The question underneath the question
When people ask about timing, what they usually mean is: am I wasting this? And the fear is that a shake taken at the wrong moment does nothing at all. That is not how eating works. Your body is not running a stopwatch that voids everything at the buzzer. Food and drink taken across the day all count towards the same total, and the total is what your training is actually built on.
So the useful version of the question is not “when is the magic moment?” but “which end of my session is currently unsupported?” For a lot of people that is a genuinely different answer depending on the day, and it is why one fixed rule tends to fall apart within a fortnight.
Before: this is about turning up fuelled
A shake before training earns its place when there is a long empty stretch in front of the session. Training at six in the evening after a sandwich at one is a five-hour gap, and that is the sort of gap where people find the last twenty minutes of a class much harder than they should be. Something light beforehand is not a supplement trick, it is simply eating.
The practical constraint is comfort. Most people do not want a full meal sitting in them while they move, so a smaller amount an hour or so ahead tends to work better than a large one twenty minutes ahead. If your session is early morning and you train fasted quite happily, you do not need to fix something that is not broken.
After: this is about what the session took out
The after slot is the one everyone worries about, and it matters most when the session was long, hard or sweaty, and when your next proper meal is still some way off. That is the honest test. If you finish at half seven and dinner is on the table at eight, dinner is your recovery — a shake on top is a choice rather than a requirement.
What you reach for depends on the demand. For ordinary gym sessions a few times a week, a straightforward protein option like Protein Drink Mix is usually all the extra anyone needs. For genuinely hard or long training, Rebuild Strength is the one built for that slot, because it pairs protein with carbohydrate rather than protein alone. I have gone into the difference between those two jobs in more detail in what to drink after training.
Both: sometimes sensible, often just two shakes
Both is a reasonable answer for a small number of situations — a very long session, two sessions in one day, or a day where the whole afternoon is a gap with training dropped into the middle of it. Outside of those, doubling up usually means you have simply added a second drink to a day that was already fed, and the money would be better spent on the meals either side.
My honest rule of thumb: if you cannot say which specific gap the second shake is filling, you probably do not need it yet.
A quick way to decide, session by session
- How long since you last ate? More than four hours — something before is worth it. Less than two — you are fine.
- How long until you next eat? If a meal is close, let the meal do the work.
- How hard was it, honestly? A gentle half hour and a two-hour effort are not the same withdrawal.
- Did you drink enough during? Timing questions often turn out to be hydration questions in disguise.
- Can you keep it up? The timing you will actually repeat every week beats the perfect one you manage twice.
What I would tell a friend
Pick one slot, the one that fills your genuine gap, and stay with it for a month before you complicate it. Consistency across a week does far more than precision on any single evening — a point I make at more length in protein shakes before or after your workout. And keep in mind that shakes sit alongside your meals as part of a balanced diet and an active lifestyle, not in place of them. Food supplements are not a substitute for a varied, balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.
If you are still deciding what belongs in your gym bag, have a browse through the Energy and Fitness range — and if you would rather just tell me what your week looks like, message me and I will happily point you at the one thing worth starting with.
