I started a new thread because the old one was too big, and now we have a new forum also!
I see a lot of protein questions on here, and I also get quite amount of PM's about supplements and weight training, so I decided to make a quick quide to help out with any questions one might have on protein (creatine soon to come).
So let's make this one quick, as you can go and read forever and ever about protein and the types, but who has the time? Due to my huge budget on supplements and my 10+ years of compeition powerlifting I know some about it
, but if you think I left anything out, feel free to add, or if anything is unclear or not mentioned don't hesitate to ask in this thread or via PM. Mind you this thread is for begginer lifters who do not know much about protein, and need to be informed as protein supplements is one of the most important supplements one can invest in (notice I said supplements, you must still eat, eat, eat).
So let us begin.
There are three major types of protein that you can buy, and as a begginer you should know your options. I will not mention Meal Replacement Powders in this thread as I beleive they are a waste (as they can be made) and many are quite frankly not that good, but if you have any MRP related questions ask away, but most begginers do not need them anyway.
Whey Protein: Yup this is the protein you see and hear everywhere, the most common type and the most wide spread type. This is the kind that belongs in every active person's supplement aresonal. Whey Protein is made from milk (so lactose intolerant will have to look towards egg proteins), and is readily absorbed into the body and skeletal muscles. it contains heaping amounts of esential and non-essential amino acids which aid in repairing muscle and growth, something every weight lifter wants. This protein is the quickest absorbed protein you can buy (hydrolized whey especially), so it is great for dropping the weight and picking up the shake to get some essential protein into your body immediately after a lift. Remember, you still need a lot of protein from foods, but this can help you reach the around 1-1.5gs/lb of protein per pound of bodyweight that a begginer should ingest. There are two major forms whey can come in, Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC), and Whey Protein Isolate (WPI). WPC is cheaper to process and is absorbed well but in some it causes gas and possible bowel irritations. WPI is abosrbed very quick and is a very pure form of protein, and causes no bowel irritations, but WPI is more expensive. Most common whey proteins contain both, but mostly WPC. WPC is fine do not get me wrong, but WPI is still better, kind of like Premium Gas (WPI) for your car as opposed to regular (WPC). So look for proteins with higher percentages of WPI. They will list either one first depending on the ratio on the ingrediant label. Best brand? Almost all will agree on Optimum Nutrition's Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein. It contains a lot of WPI, is still relatively cheap, tastes great (choclate, rocky road, and strawberry are great, avoid vanilla), and offers a great bang for your buck. It also contains aminogen (mostly a gimmic, but hey it cannot hurt) that is supposed to help the body break down the protein to be used. If you have more money to spend, look into Synthrax Nectar, it is almost 100% WPI and is the best protein you can buy for the most part, it is also the best tasting, and the fruit flavor (fuzzy navel, you will not be dissapointed) allows one to get away from the usual choclate or vanilla for a while. When to take: 1-2 scoops in the morning, 1-2 immediately after a workout (most important dose), and 1-2 before bed (if not taking casein). The amount and how many scoops per day depends on your diet and how much you can afford to take. Remember that the body can only absorb around 50g's of protein at once (some more, some less, and it depends on how long one has been supplementing with protein), and the rest is excreted out, so two scoops is plenty (most proteins have 23-24g's per scoop).
Casein Protein:
This protein is a bed-time protein. When you sleep you cannot eat, meaning your body does not get the protein it needs at night, so you can begin to go into a catabolic state (as opposed to anabolic) (protein synthesis wise, growth factors are at their high at this time), and the muscle can begin to slowly break down. This is why many body builders eat a meal right before bed. Casein can help. There are two types: beta and alpha casein, and you can only buy them together, and both are pretty much the same, so do not worry. Casein once digested gels in ones stomach and creates a slow digesting protein that slowly seeps through to ones intenstines and into your blood stream. It can take up to 7 hours for 15gs of casein to digest (perfect), feeding your body with a continous stream of protein as you sleep keeping you anabolic. Wait? So you are saying I have to buy a seperate protein before bed? No, many feel that the catabolic state of the body at night is not that bad (remember you grow when you sleep), and you can get by with whey. You can also mix your whey with milk instead of water to make it slow digesting. Milk contains almost all casein protein and when mixed with regular whey it slows down the whey (the whey molecules get caught in the casein gel), creating the desired effect. So what kind do I buy? Optimum Nutrition as 100% Casein protein, which is cheap and gets the job done, but it is extremely chalky and tastes bad. Your best bet is Xtreme Formulations Ultra Peptide, which has a great high quality blend of casein and tastes great, but is expensive for the amount you get. Synthrax Matrix 5.0 claims to be a bed-time protein, but does not have enough casein to justify this (they won't release the exact amounts, for good reason), so stay away. The same goes for Designer Nutrition's Sustain and other propritary blends.
Mixed Blends: This is your Muscle Milk and your BSN's Syntha-6, and your myoplex etc. my thoughts on these are they are a waste. They can be considered an all purpose protein because they contain protiens from whey, casein, egg, etc., except you do not want an all purpose protein, you want your protein shake to be absorbed right away not slowed down by egg and other blends, and many contain fats and extra calories that you could get from foods. Syntha-6 is the best tasting protein powder you can buy, but it is expensive and I do not really have a use for it. EAS' sMyoplex is scientifically sound, but too expensive and does not offer and real advantages over regular old Whey.
A note about Muscle Milk. First of all, it is extremely popular, due mostly to good marketing. For those that know about it, 18gs of fat is too much unless bulking and while it tastes great, it really is not worth it. And, against common belieft, MM does not contain creatine, it contains a creatine precursor called glyocamine which in stuides has caused long term alzheimer's and possible heart problems. Due to a long uprising at bodybuilding.com (I am Scott, a Gaspari rep there) CytoSport has now listened and taken GA out of MM, so if you must have it, look for the new containers. Other products like BSN's NO-Xplode contain GA also, but I would not worry too much about it, just watch how much you get from some products.
So for those confused or looking for some beggining info to help you dive into the world of weight lifting, or know enough to ask questions, I hope that helps. If you have any questions ask, or a specific question about a product feel free to post it here (I have just about tried them all).
I see a lot of protein questions on here, and I also get quite amount of PM's about supplements and weight training, so I decided to make a quick quide to help out with any questions one might have on protein (creatine soon to come).
So let's make this one quick, as you can go and read forever and ever about protein and the types, but who has the time? Due to my huge budget on supplements and my 10+ years of compeition powerlifting I know some about it
, but if you think I left anything out, feel free to add, or if anything is unclear or not mentioned don't hesitate to ask in this thread or via PM. Mind you this thread is for begginer lifters who do not know much about protein, and need to be informed as protein supplements is one of the most important supplements one can invest in (notice I said supplements, you must still eat, eat, eat).So let us begin.
There are three major types of protein that you can buy, and as a begginer you should know your options. I will not mention Meal Replacement Powders in this thread as I beleive they are a waste (as they can be made) and many are quite frankly not that good, but if you have any MRP related questions ask away, but most begginers do not need them anyway.
Whey Protein: Yup this is the protein you see and hear everywhere, the most common type and the most wide spread type. This is the kind that belongs in every active person's supplement aresonal. Whey Protein is made from milk (so lactose intolerant will have to look towards egg proteins), and is readily absorbed into the body and skeletal muscles. it contains heaping amounts of esential and non-essential amino acids which aid in repairing muscle and growth, something every weight lifter wants. This protein is the quickest absorbed protein you can buy (hydrolized whey especially), so it is great for dropping the weight and picking up the shake to get some essential protein into your body immediately after a lift. Remember, you still need a lot of protein from foods, but this can help you reach the around 1-1.5gs/lb of protein per pound of bodyweight that a begginer should ingest. There are two major forms whey can come in, Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC), and Whey Protein Isolate (WPI). WPC is cheaper to process and is absorbed well but in some it causes gas and possible bowel irritations. WPI is abosrbed very quick and is a very pure form of protein, and causes no bowel irritations, but WPI is more expensive. Most common whey proteins contain both, but mostly WPC. WPC is fine do not get me wrong, but WPI is still better, kind of like Premium Gas (WPI) for your car as opposed to regular (WPC). So look for proteins with higher percentages of WPI. They will list either one first depending on the ratio on the ingrediant label. Best brand? Almost all will agree on Optimum Nutrition's Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein. It contains a lot of WPI, is still relatively cheap, tastes great (choclate, rocky road, and strawberry are great, avoid vanilla), and offers a great bang for your buck. It also contains aminogen (mostly a gimmic, but hey it cannot hurt) that is supposed to help the body break down the protein to be used. If you have more money to spend, look into Synthrax Nectar, it is almost 100% WPI and is the best protein you can buy for the most part, it is also the best tasting, and the fruit flavor (fuzzy navel, you will not be dissapointed) allows one to get away from the usual choclate or vanilla for a while. When to take: 1-2 scoops in the morning, 1-2 immediately after a workout (most important dose), and 1-2 before bed (if not taking casein). The amount and how many scoops per day depends on your diet and how much you can afford to take. Remember that the body can only absorb around 50g's of protein at once (some more, some less, and it depends on how long one has been supplementing with protein), and the rest is excreted out, so two scoops is plenty (most proteins have 23-24g's per scoop).
Casein Protein:
This protein is a bed-time protein. When you sleep you cannot eat, meaning your body does not get the protein it needs at night, so you can begin to go into a catabolic state (as opposed to anabolic) (protein synthesis wise, growth factors are at their high at this time), and the muscle can begin to slowly break down. This is why many body builders eat a meal right before bed. Casein can help. There are two types: beta and alpha casein, and you can only buy them together, and both are pretty much the same, so do not worry. Casein once digested gels in ones stomach and creates a slow digesting protein that slowly seeps through to ones intenstines and into your blood stream. It can take up to 7 hours for 15gs of casein to digest (perfect), feeding your body with a continous stream of protein as you sleep keeping you anabolic. Wait? So you are saying I have to buy a seperate protein before bed? No, many feel that the catabolic state of the body at night is not that bad (remember you grow when you sleep), and you can get by with whey. You can also mix your whey with milk instead of water to make it slow digesting. Milk contains almost all casein protein and when mixed with regular whey it slows down the whey (the whey molecules get caught in the casein gel), creating the desired effect. So what kind do I buy? Optimum Nutrition as 100% Casein protein, which is cheap and gets the job done, but it is extremely chalky and tastes bad. Your best bet is Xtreme Formulations Ultra Peptide, which has a great high quality blend of casein and tastes great, but is expensive for the amount you get. Synthrax Matrix 5.0 claims to be a bed-time protein, but does not have enough casein to justify this (they won't release the exact amounts, for good reason), so stay away. The same goes for Designer Nutrition's Sustain and other propritary blends.
Mixed Blends: This is your Muscle Milk and your BSN's Syntha-6, and your myoplex etc. my thoughts on these are they are a waste. They can be considered an all purpose protein because they contain protiens from whey, casein, egg, etc., except you do not want an all purpose protein, you want your protein shake to be absorbed right away not slowed down by egg and other blends, and many contain fats and extra calories that you could get from foods. Syntha-6 is the best tasting protein powder you can buy, but it is expensive and I do not really have a use for it. EAS' sMyoplex is scientifically sound, but too expensive and does not offer and real advantages over regular old Whey.
A note about Muscle Milk. First of all, it is extremely popular, due mostly to good marketing. For those that know about it, 18gs of fat is too much unless bulking and while it tastes great, it really is not worth it. And, against common belieft, MM does not contain creatine, it contains a creatine precursor called glyocamine which in stuides has caused long term alzheimer's and possible heart problems. Due to a long uprising at bodybuilding.com (I am Scott, a Gaspari rep there) CytoSport has now listened and taken GA out of MM, so if you must have it, look for the new containers. Other products like BSN's NO-Xplode contain GA also, but I would not worry too much about it, just watch how much you get from some products.
So for those confused or looking for some beggining info to help you dive into the world of weight lifting, or know enough to ask questions, I hope that helps. If you have any questions ask, or a specific question about a product feel free to post it here (I have just about tried them all).
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