Picture a trainee standing in the supplement aisle, looking at six categories of protein powder, each promising to do something the others don't. "Anabolic." "Lean." "Recovery." "Pre-workout." "Night-time." "Plant blend for variety." Cumulative cost: roughly £120 per month. Cumulative additional benefit over a single whey tub plus whole-food protein: roughly zero.
The protein supplement industry is one of the largest segments of the fitness industry, and most of it is unnecessary. The science on protein for resistance trainees has been settled within practical margin for thirty years. What hasn't been settled is the marketing layer, which produces new categories of "essential" protein every year.
Inside this one
- The settled prescription: 1.6-2.2 g/kg/day, 3-5 meals, with the meta-analysis behind it.
- Whole-food protein quick table — chicken, fish, eggs, yogurt, lentils, tofu equivalents.
- The "30g absorption ceiling" myth examined and buried.
- Context adjustments for cutting, bulking, older adults, endurance, plant-based.
- Pocket reference card. Master Bibliography with peer-reviewed citations.
The standard it is held to
Every factual claim in this volume names its source, and every claim carries a confidence grade — settled, strong, emerging or contested. Where the evidence is thin, the text says so. How it’s made, in full → · What we’ve got wrong →