Over 45 and Losing Power? Your Protein Isn't Working Like It Used To

Everywhere you look, someone is telling you to eat more protein. If you are over 45 and your power is going backwards, more protein is not the fix you have been promised. Back in January the US dietary guidelines roughly doubled their protein recommendation, and that was overdue. But guidelines written for a sedentary population are a very different thing to guidelines for an athlete training 10 to 15 hours a week. Something real does change in your muscles as you get older, and the research on masters triathletes makes for uncomfortable reading. What it does not show is that eating more protein fixes it. In this episode I take you through what is actually happening in ageing muscle, what happened when researchers doubled the protein after a muscle damaging session, and the 5 protein levers to pull instead of just reaching for more.

WHAT YOU WILL TAKE AWAY

• What anabolic resistance is in plain English, and why the rules changed at about 35 without anybody sending you the memo

• Inside the Australian study that compared masters triathletes with younger ones, and what happened to their muscle repair and their cycling time trials

• What doubling the post exercise protein dose actually bought masters triathletes, and what it did not • Why your total protein intake stops paying you back once you are in a reasonable range

• The 5 protein levers, and why most triathletes only ever pull number 5

• Why your breakfast is almost certainly the weak link in your day

• Why the same mistake is happening right now with carbohydrate

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Everywhere you look, eat more protein

00:27 Over 45 and your power is going backwards

00:55 The number is the easy part, eating it is not

01:22 Welcome

01:43 What actually changes in your body as you get older

02:10 Anabolic resistance, in plain English

02:41 Inside the study: masters versus younger triathletes

03:40 What happened over the 3 days

04:04 It is not your fault, the rules changed at 35

04:43 So should you just eat more protein?

05:08 The follow up study: double the dose

05:57 What doubling the protein actually bought them

06:43 Why simply more is not the fix

07:17 The bit that is genuinely hard for an age-grouper

08:01 What happens in the real world, week by week

09:14 The internet gives you a number and walks away

09:51 The barbecue study, Episode 141

10:14 You are a human, not a snake

10:51 Masters swimmers: the total was fine, the pattern wasn't

11:28 The 5 protein levers

12:17 Eating more is not a strategy

12:48 The recap

13:22 What to actually do about it

ALSO MENTIONED

• Episode 179 with Joe Friel on how masters athletes can get fast and stay fit after 50: https://www.dietitianapproved.com/podcast/episode-179

• Episode 141, affectionately dubbed the barbecue study, on large protein doses in one sitting: https://www.dietitianapproved.com/podcast/episode-141)

STUDIES MENTIONED

• Doering, T. M., Jenkins, D. G., Reaburn, P. R., Borges, N. R., Hohmann, E., & Phillips, S. M. (2016). Lower integrated muscle protein synthesis in masters compared with younger athletes. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 48(8), 1613-1618. [https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000000935](https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000000935)

• Doering, T. M., Reaburn, P. R., Borges, N. R., Cox, G. R., & Jenkins, D. G. (2017). The effect of higher than recommended protein feedings post-exercise on recovery following downhill running in masters triathletes. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 27(1), 76-82. [https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.2016-0079](https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.2016-0079)

• Santos de Souza, M., Zaleski Trindade, C. D., de Souza Castro, F. A., Buss, C., & Schneider, C. D. (2025). Protein intake by master swimmers: Implications for practice in sports nutrition, a cross-sectional study. Nutrition and Health, 31(3), 1095-1101. [https://doi.org/10.1177/02601060241276918](https://doi.org/10.1177/02601060241276918)

READY TO STOP GUESSING?

Knowing what to eat and when, around your own training program, is the whole game as you get older. That is exactly what I teach inside the Triathlon Nutrition Academy, and then troubleshoot with you every week in our Power Hour calls, so you are still doing it in 12 months time.

Register your interest for our next cohort at https://www.dietitianapproved.com/academy.

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