I know that at 200mg it will lower my blood sugar levels b/c i feel it. Theoretically it's suppossed to transport the carbs into your muscles, and allow your muscles to fill up w/ more carbs. So your muscles should be fuller, and some would say b/c of this it is also a bit anticatabolic in the sense that you're holding onto more carbs in your muscles so this would be used before the protein in your muscles. I wouldn't take the ALA w/ my post workout shake either, to me it contradicts what you want. You want a big insulin spike and that would transport the nutrients into muscles. Add the ALA and you will (again theoretically) be using less insulin and would probobly lower your insulin spike, which is what you're aiming for. The arginine i'm still trying to find out about.
I would use the ALA just 30min. before a meal to lower blood sugar and shuttle more carbs into your muscles, and prevent those insulin spikes. You're suppossed to have a more steady insulin level w/ ALA, and this is just one reason people use it for fat loss as well.
I can't tell you what's the correct way, i can only tell you the way i do it. And that's the creatine and glutamine as previously stated, followed by 50g dextrose, 50g whey. After 1 hour i'll either have 30g whey again, or a solid meal, and w/ this second postworkout meal i'd take the ALA. I figure to take it at this time to help lower blood sugar, keep shuttling carbs into the muscle, good water and fat soluble antioxidant, and for keeping the liver happy. I'd also take the ALA w/ my preworkout meal. Sometimes muscles feel very full w/ this and you get painful pumps at times. This just indicates to me its effectiveness.