I don’t take any supplements, but I’ve recently re-started weight training at the gym, and many people on the interwebs recommend whey protein shakes/powders as an excellent source of protein for building muscle. I’m having trouble finding useful unbiased information. The Wikipedia article cites several obviously biased web pages as their “sources.” :rolleyes:
Anywho, is it actually useful to consume supplemental protein after a weight session? My diet already includes meat and other high-protein foods.
Of course it’s useful - pretty much any bodybuilder or weightlifter, even casual ones, drink protein shakes. If you’re serious about increasing your muscle mass you want to be taking in at least a gram of protein for every pound of your body weight. The best way to do this is by drinking a very concentrated powder with as little carbs and other unnecessary crap as possible. GNC’s Wheybolic Extreme 60 is IMO the best kind, with the most protein per serving, and also by far the best tasting I’ve tried.
Steer clear of the mainstream stuff with the fancy flashy packaging that advertises 24 grams of protein per serving (as if that’s some great deal) - it’s overpriced crap. Just get a big tub of the GNC store-brand stuff, with 60g of protein per serving - I like the banana flavor. It’ll last you a long time and you WILL get stronger if you take it consistently, while lifting as hard as you can.
Consuming quickly-absorbing carbohydrates and protein immediately after a workout is one of the cornerstones of modern strength training. It is well established that consuming carbs and proteins post-workout enhances the training response. Whey protein has a higher “biological value” than any other commonly available source, and combined with e.g. maltodextrin (a very quickly absorbed carb) halts the catabolic state heavy resistance training induces and quickstarts the repair mechanisms that lead to bigger, stronger muscles. Does one need whey and malt? The supplement industry sure wants you to think so. Most everyone offering online information on strength training gets a paycheck from one of those companies. That’s where the money is.
For years I fought against the billion-buck supplement scam and only consumed real food but eventually bowed. Ever-increasing food prices helped here - it was cheaper to buy a tub of whey to reach the 150+ grams of daily protein intake than get it all from meat. I honestly feel the recovery meal now digests faster and easier, compared to real food. Can’t objectively tell if there is a real difference in the end product.
So, how soon after working out do you scarf this stuff? I’m wondering if I should bring some to just dump in my water bottle after I shower. My gym is far away and I won’t get home to my blender for a while afterwords.
They say within 30 minutes. I personally prefer Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey. It’s delicious just with water in a shaker bottle. No blender needed. Good luck and stick with it.
And yeah, it’s absolutely useful. There’s a reason why everyone does it. Like Toxylon, I held out for a while but you can only eat so much tuna and chicken.
The guys at t-nation.com (another bunch of knowledgeable guys on the payroll of a supplement company) say to down a post-workout drink before the sweat cools. That soon. I train at home so that’s no problem.
Various sources say different things: straight away, within 20 minutes, within 30 minutes, etc. Some say that it’s better to have one before the workout so that the protein’s ‘at the ready’ for your muscles the second you finish. To be honest I suspect it doesn’t matter too much: your muscles use the protein most when they’re recovering from a session, so obviously you’ll want to get the protein into your system fairly soon after a workout. But I doubt leaving 10 or 20 minutes is going to make much difference.
As far as the protein shakes themselves, everyone seems to take them. Personally I don’t believe the blurb about how it’s a ‘better type’ of protein they’ve developed in the lab etc, but it is protein, and when you want to add an extra 30g of protein to your diet I find it’s much easier and cheaper to drink 300ml of milkshake than it is to buy, cook and wolf down a bunch more chicken breasts or tins of tuna or whatever.
Oh, if you do want to take the protein as soon as possible, most people I know bring their protein mixers (these things: http://www.nwssportsuk.co.uk/images/MIXER.jpg) to the gym with the protein powder already in, then add water from the drinking fountain at the gym when they’ve finished. Personally I think flashing a shaker full of powder around the gym and drinking it in front of everyone makes me feel like a bit of a poser, so I just wait til I get home. I only live 10 mins away though
Here’s a great source for protein and other nutrient shake powders. Lots of information as to when you should consume what, the pros/cons of various sources of protein, etc. You can even create a custom mix based on your goals. http://proteinfactory.com/shop/home.php
Note: I’m not affiliated with this company in any way, have just used their products and info and have been very pleased.
Little ridiculous it is, but it does make taking protein shakes much easier. I don’t know what type of bottle you have, but most water bottles either have necks that are too thin to fit scoops of protein powder into, or they have caps like this: http://www.supplierlist.com/photo_images/25564/water_bottlesport_water_bottle.jpg, that are too fine for the thick protein shake to get through properly. Also I’ve found some of them don’t seal tightly enough to deal with the shaking when you mix the powder with the water, so it spills over your hands. Most of them cost less than $5.
Well, maybe. It seems to me that you’re making the mistake of looking at protein-per-serving rather than protein-per-gram-of-powder, or protein-per-dollar spent.
Let’s compare your “most protein per serving” GNC with my powder that advertises only 18 grams of protein per serving. All figures are taken from the product labels.
Here are the relevant details for your GNC stuff:
Serving size: 82g
Servings per container: 16
Protein per serving: 60g
Price: $59.99 (regular price)
Here are the details for the whey protein powder i buy at my local Henry’s Farmer’s Market:
Serving size: 21.5g
Servings per container: 42
Protein per serving: 18g
Price: $29.99
So, your GNC stuff has a total of 960g of protein for $59.99, and my Henry’s stuff has a total of 756g of protein for $29.99.
You are paying 6.25c per gram of protein; i’m paying 3.97c per gram of protein. Even if you buy your GNC at the $47.99 Gold Card Price, you’re still paying 4.99c per gram of protein.
If i want to get 60g of protein from my powder, all i have to do is take bout 3.4x the recommended serving size, which is about the same amount of powder (in grams) as a single serving size of your GNC powder.
So, basically, there are two main differences between our two products:
[ol]
[li]the label on mine recommends a much smaller serving size, probably because it’s marketed at vegetarians and others who want to supplement their daily protein intake, rather than at hardcore bodybuilders.[/li][li]mine is 20-35% cheaper than yours, on a gram-for-gram protein basis.[/li][/ol]
Oh, and the Henry’s powder also has less than half the cholesterol, half the sodium, and one third the carbs. The GNC does have more iron.
The only problem I have with whey protein is - it tastes horrible.
I have read that whey is the best viable form of protein, but egg protein is almost as viable - and IMO it tastes much better. The down side is, it is much more costly.
The stuff i get has a vanilla flavor added, and it really is pretty tasty. I usually blend it with non-fat milk and half a banana. The half banana adds some flavor and thickens it up a bit. It’s good stuff.
I don’t need to take mine to the gym with me, because the gym is close to home. I timed my ride home today, and from walking out of the gym to downing my protein shake was 12 minutes. I’m not obsessive enough to worry about whether drinking my protein shake a few minutes earlier than that might help me build more muscle.
I’ve always wondered – does it work okay if you just eat the protein powder without mixing it with water? I don’t like the taste of the drink, but the powder itself is delicious.
Sure, you can use any protein and see results, but whey protein is the most easily and rapidly absorbed form. I used to mix it in oatmeal and it tasted pretty good actually.
If you’re really looking for taste, and overall quality isn’t so much a concern, check out Muscle Milk. Honest to god, tastes just like a milkshake, even if mixed with water. It’s got a bit more fat and carbs than I’d like in a protein but it is certainly tasty.
I managed a GNC for years and I can tell you that regardless of what the employees there tell you (what, you mean they’re not HONEST? :eek:), the Wheybolic Extreme is a bit of a rip-off. Sure it will work… some… but much of your money is getting literally pissed away. First off, unless you’re massively muscular, you can’t absorb 60g of protein at a time anyway. You’re better off staying in the 25-30g range for minimum wastage. Wheybolic also adds crap like 7 grams of Leucine which doesn’t do jack but can justify a 60 dollar price tag. For the best value, go for the Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey (or the GNC 100% Whey. They’re identical.) and take it within 30 minutes after a workout. If you’re really feeling froggy, you can take 10-15g before a workout as well (providing you are doing predominately strength training as opposed to cardio).
It’s also important to realize that protein like the building block of muscle. You do your building in the hours and days after a workout, not during, as your muscles repair the damage you cause during your lifting sessions. Thus, you must consistently supply it with adequate protein as you are rebuilding. I had great results when I was taking 2-3 shakes a day of about 20g each. One upon waking (you’ve been fasting 8 hours in your sleep) another after my workout (or around lunch, if it was an off-day) and one right before bedtime (you do the majority of your repair [read: building] in your sleep). You can use the 100% Optimum Whey for this, but I had better success using the ON 100% Whey Complex (it’s more of a time-release protein, allowing for absorption over an extended period of time). Most people won’t want to pony up for two different types of protein though, so just normal Whey would work fine.
A buddy of mine used to set his alarm to wake him up at night so he could chug down a shake. To me, this seems… excessive. Though he is friggin’ ripped.
I think the best way of doing it is to look at the percentage protein. When he said ‘24g per serving’ that usually means a 30g serving, which is 80% protein, that’s what my current shake is as well. I find most of them are around the 70-75% mark - some of them are as low as 55%, the highest I’ve seen is 92%.
I think that’s the best way of judging it because if all you do is work out price-per-gram of protein, you could end up drinking a liter of 55% instead of just over half a liter of 90%, and if you’re doing the former you’re likely to be taking in a lot more sugar, carbs, etc.
Sure. The only reason i focused on price is that he specifically claimed that other products are “overpriced crap.”
Not only is the stuff i buy at Henry’s cheaper than the “most protein per serving” GNC stuff that he was touting, it also has a higher percentage of protein.
GNC: 60g of protein in an 82g serving (73% protein)
Henry’s: 18g of protein in a 21.5g serving (83.7% protein)
No they aren’t needed. It’s a gimick, to make you buy things. I have a kick ass body and can run rings around the guys who drink that crap.
Your body uses about 1 gram of protein per KILOGRAM (not pound) of weight. So I weigh 172 now or 78 kilograms. I need about 78 grams of protein per day. My daily calories are 1800 per day.
Protein has about 4 calories per gram so I need to get about 78 X 4 = 312 calories from protein. Any extra protein I eat will not be used, the body will convert it to sugar and use it for energy or if I don’t need that energy it’ll store it as fat.
It matters if you’re a professional bodybuilder but I would guess no one who reads this is an actual bodybuilder.
I always get a kick out of these fat people that think they are muscular with 36" waists. Once you lost the fat you’re so called muscles would be gone too.
Protein suppliments are needed for bodybuilders 'cause their diets are actually honed to the LAST calorie. They need to know EXACATLY what each gram of food they injest is going to convert into, be if fat, muscle or energy.
The difference between first and second place in a bodybuilding contest is so slight but the first place winner gets $10,000 the second gets $1,000 and no endorsements. So the need for exact nutrition is needed in bodybuilding as the difference between win and place is money.
I have seen people in my gym for five years that don’t look any different than they did five years ago, even though they are in the gym most every day. They don’t know how to work out, and spend all their time pouring over bodybuilding mags. You’re not a bodybuilder, you don’t work out like them so nothing they do applies to you.
