Intra-workout protein intake

You need to consume protein while working out to maintain and gain strength while training.  The question is what is too much and what is too little?

The answer is it's a yin yang dilemma.

On the one hand, if you drink too much protein shake while working out you'll be crapping out your expensive protein down the toilet.

Alternatively, if you drink too little you'll be missing out on strength gains.

If you look at the body as a closed loop system, you input a variable into your digestive system and what comes out is a function of that variable.  The variable is protein intake.  The body's strength performance is the function.

And your body will give you cues as to how much protein to take in.  

The first cue for too much protein is upset stomach or a gurgling in the large intestines. Take in more protein, you will urinate or maybe fart(protein farts).  Still take in more and more protein, you will most likely have to empty your bowels and expensive protein down the toilet.  Not only does this cost a lot of money (protein shake is not cheap), but also it will add more time to your workout and break the rhythm of your routine. So the lesson here is at the first tingling of upset stomach, no matter how small, cut out the protein intake.  Wait until after you complete a couple more sets and then maybe take a small bit of protein in.  If you're going to err, it's best practice to take in only enough to barely get you through the workout.

Now here's how to tell if your intra-workout protein is too little.  My first and most important cue to insufficent protein intake:  I usually get a trembling weakness in my quadriceps when I stand or in my glutes and hamstrings when I bend over.  If you keep going with deficient protein, you will be missing lifts you could otherwise make had you digested enough protein.  At its most extreme, you'll be risking rhabdomyolysis -- a condition in which your body breaks down skeletal muscle that could lead to kidney damage. So when I get this trembling weakness, I drink protein shake but not too much. 

It's definitely an art form to tell when you had too much or too little protein.  Hopefully you master it quickly enough to give you those most sought after gains.