Protein Shakes

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Hi, In a bid to get fitter and build my muscles up. I've been hearing about protein shakes. But a google shows that they dont actually do anything? So they seem a bit controversial.

Has anyone here had any experience with building muscle power up and ability with these shakes? Like promax etc? What would you recommend?
 

andygates

New Member
Protein shakes help you get quick, convenient protein into your diet - that's all. They're not a performance-enhancing drug :biggrin: If you train to muscular fatigue -- weights, or hard hill attacks, or running speedwork, say -- then protein immediately after training is good. Shakes are (for some people) easier to manage than a tuna sandwich. I get mine from myprotein.co.uk, 'cos they're cheap and good.
 

battered

Guru
Eat a decent balanced diet. Avoid sugary junk, avoid fatty food, keep the booze down, ensure you have plenty of leafy veg and fruit and you don't need any fancy supplements. A glass of milk and a banana after training will do you more good than some chocolate flavour whey powder concoction.

There may be a case for specialist nutrition for Tour De Fr boys, but they are into a bit more than the odd milk shake.
 

GrasB

Veteran
Location
Nr Cambridge
A protein shake simply gives you a decent protein hit in a relatively low calorie package & if you add a few other things in you have a recovery shake. You can do almost as well with basic food stuffs but ultimately a well made recovery shake will do a better job. As battered pointed out you can do worse than a glass of milk & a banana but also you can do better for not that much more.
 

BSRU

A Human Being
Location
Swindon
Avoid the cheap ones as they tend to have an artificial sweetener called phenylalanine or aspartame known for it's laxative effects and many other potential side effects. I drink protein drinks, a good way of obtaining extra animal protein, I picked up the habit when I used to swim 5000 metres five times a week, it makes a huge difference to how I feel the next day. Optimum gold standard is a good quality powder to mix with milk.

Lack of protein will result in feeling like you have a cold/flu.
 

Rob3rt

Man or Moose!
Location
Manchester
They are ofc good if used right, but they wont give you anything food wont, its just a matter of convenience and what you can stomach after a hard session. I know sometimes after a hard run I can barely stomach a drink of water never mind food. I force half a pint of milk as soon as I get home, then another half pint after showering.

Ive been reading some stuff on running by Matt Fitzgerald (Im going to try his Brain Training Plan for running and supplement it with cycling) and he talks about some research into using 4:1 ratio carbohydrate to protein supplements during hard sessions increasing your recovery meaning if you train every day that you will go into the next workout better recovered. But he also details some downsides such as it is good to go into some training sessions in a fatigued state. There is a load of science talk, I dont fully understand this so I wont pretend I do. But its something to think about.


BTW make sure you understand the difference between weight gain formula's, protein supplements and recovery formula's. They all have different ratio's and calorific contents intended for the given purpose. From memory, because I cba to google, isnt Promax a weight gain formulation for body builders?
 

hotmetal

Senior Member
Location
Near Windsor
BSRU said:
I picked up the habit when I used to swim 5000 metres five times a week, it makes a huge difference to how I feel the next day.

Strewth! How far?! I thought I was a half decent swimmer cos I occasionally do 2500m in one go, erm, every now and then. You were doing 200 lengths every day?!

Interesting to note that you found the protein shakes effective. I've not done such serious training as that, and I tend to stick to the oats/bananas/choloclate milk routine, but that's partially cos I also get confused about which powders are supposed to do what. For what I do, I almost feel a 'fraud' bothering with electrolyte powder but in this heat I find them pretty helpful.
 

ASC1951

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
battered said:
Eat a decent balanced diet. Avoid sugary junk, avoid fatty food, keep the booze down, ensure you have plenty of leafy veg and fruit and you don't need any fancy supplements.
Spot on, Battered. No-one will believe you, unfortunately, because there is a £billion industry devoted to persuading us all to double the cost of our urine.
 

BSRU

A Human Being
Location
Swindon
hotmetal said:
Strewth! How far?! I thought I was a half decent swimmer cos I occasionally do 2500m in one go, erm, every now and then. You were doing 200 lengths every day?!

5000m is quite a straight forward distance, takes a few months to build upto it, but eating very well and drinking lots of liquid helps an awful lot. I bought good quality books on sports nutrition and swimming to ensure I had no problems.
A competition swimmer would swim a lot more than 200 lengths a day, normally at least 40 to 50k a week.
For most people the problem is boredom but not for me for some reason.
I was surprised to find out 5000m is considered the marathon event for swimmers. I did have to stop a couple of times for a drink and the toilet.
 

andygates

New Member
"artificial sweetener called phenylalanine or aspartame known for it's laxative effects and many other potential side effects."

FUD. Cite evidence pls. You'll note the lack of Diet Coke drinkers exploding into giblets as my evidence that it's not eeebil.
 

Rob3rt

Man or Moose!
Location
Manchester
onlineamiga said:
Hi thanks for the useful information on these. So I guess what I need to know is. If doing long hard daily cycle rides. Whats the best stuff to be eating and drinking? To encourage muscle strength and quick recovery?

Milk! Within 20-60 mins of getting home.

And consume carbs as you ride, maybe a little protein since there has apparently been some research showing that 1 part protein to 4 parts carb during exercise has a greater recovery boosting effect than carbs alone.
 

Rob3rt

Man or Moose!
Location
Manchester
andygates said:
"artificial sweetener called phenylalanine or aspartame known for it's laxative effects and many other potential side effects."

FUD. Cite evidence pls. You'll note the lack of Diet Coke drinkers exploding into giblets as my evidence that it's not eeebil.

There is a lots of research into aspartame etc. Some commonly accepted conclusions and some hotly debated conclusions.

I cba to look up references right now, since Im busy looking up references for my own research atm. But there will be many many out there.
 

vorsprung

Veteran
Location
Devon
You'd probably get better results from using a glucose polymer drink or similar high carbohydrate product after hard training

I'm using this

http://www.allsports-online.co.uk/allsports.cgi?name=Amino Load

It apparently has a load of magic amino acids..which is kind of like predigested protein..but the product contains a load of carbs too.

All Sports claim that the idea behind this product is that after training the carbs will get more readily absorbed into the muscles and will carry the amino acids with them, with happy results. I have no idea if this is what is happening but it tastes nice and my legs seem to ache less the next day when I use it
 
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