The anabolic window might be real

You may be able to think back to a time when the anabolic window was believed to be vital for maximal muscle growth and strength gains, but this has seemed to of died out, but maybe it has now finally made its great return. The anabolic window is the period of time after exercise where nutrients, particularly protein, is believed to host more benefits to muscle growth and strength gains, than other periods of time.

A symptom of diabetes is a loss of muscle strength and size, due to the desensitisation of insulin, which inhibits protein from entering cells and building muscle, as insulin is essential for allowing protein to enter cells, and protein is essential to building numerous components inside of the muscle. 70% of the US population is believed to be desensitised to insulin to some degree, which is largely caused by consuming large amounts of carbohydrates throughout their average day-to-day life, this makes it more difficult for them to get the optimal muscle strength or size gains. This is where the anabolic window comes in. Within the first hour after exercise and during exercise people become more sensitive to insulin, increasing the amount of protein that they can let into their cells, therefore, increasing recovery, but this is likely minimal as most recovery occurs 24 hours after exercise, so you should mostly be focused on what you consume over the 24 hours following exercise and make sure to eat a meal within 3 hours before exercise, so your body has the nutrients necessary to recover. But to get the benefits of being more sensitive to insulin, you first need to get the secretion of insulin, by consuming some healthy whole food carbohydrates. A great meal for this is oats, whole milk and a scoop of whey protein. I will only recommend eating after you have exercised, in order to not cause any feelings of nausea, and during the exercise, your body can just utilise the carbohydrates and protein already circulating in your bloodstream from your previous meal. 
 

In conclusion, we shouldn’t revert back to the days when it was believed that if the anabolic window was missed you just wasted a whole workout, but there is somewhat of an anabolic window where you can optimise the results of your workout, to what is likely an unnoticeable degree, but the placebo effect may cause more of a stimulus towards improvements in muscle size and strength. It is also important to stay sensitised to insulin by only consuming 2-3 meals per day which are fairly clustered together, with no snacking, leaving a 13+ hour fasting window. mTOR is an enzyme that can be signalled to increase protein synthesis, therefore increasing muscle size and strength, IGF-1 is a hormone necessary for healing the damaged muscle after exercise, these both rely on insulin to perform their functions, so by eating only 2-3 meals per day you only get 2-3 spikes of insulin and therefore only 2-3 spikes of mTOR and IGF-1. This is beneficial as elevated mTOR and IGF-1 may significantly decrease life span. You may be concerned though that by limiting the number of times mTOR and IGF-1 are spiked you may not be getting the optimal increases in muscle size and strength that you desire, but this is probably not the case as when you become more sensitive to insulin, the effects of mTOR and IGF-1 should be expedited when they do spike following the phew meals you do consume. Consuming the oatmeal described earlier, as a meal, may not be filling enough if you're eating only 2-3 meals per day so this meal may not be right for you, instead try to include some whole food carbohydrates and plenty of protein in the meal you have after exercise, whatever meal that is. The meals can include breakfast, lunch and dinner and should consist of mostly fat and sufficient protein for those gym goers, aim to eat until you are satiated every meal and no more, the fat will help you do this, but when you consume fat with large amounts of carbohydrates, particularly sugar and starch (from foods such as lentils and grains), the satiating effects are mitigated.