Whey Protein

Ddemo

Just looking for some advice. I was told by my football manager to take this to give me energy, im just finished my leaving cert im 18 and trying to get up to the level of fitness of all the other players. Iv checked this out on the internet and its not giving me much help. Will this cause me to put on weight? Beacuse i dont want that, as i already have a big enough physique for GAA. Is this for building muscle or just maintaing a good level of energy and good physique? Thanks

An Citeog

From this thread in the Fitness forum,

g'em wrote: »

Whey Protein: The most common protein supplement available on the market is powdered whey protein. Whey is a type of protein that comes from milk, and it is one of the best quality proteins found in any food. It is quick to absorb and contains a full complement of amino acids. In other words, drinking a whey shake will provide you the same protein that an egg or a piece of chicken would, but it’s easier for your body to digest.

As a general rule of thumb, for anyone participating in sports or who regularly engages in strength training, your body will need extra protein to aid in recovery and regrowth and should therefore consume approximately 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight. The protein should primarily come from wholefoods but protein shakes can be used to delivery protein quickly post-workout and to make up for any shortcomings in protein intake throughout the day.

Whey proteins are usually provided as concentrates (whey plasma has all the liquid removed thereby concentrating the protein content into dry powdered form) and isolates (all fats and carbohydrates are removed leaving pure protein) or as a blend of both e.g. Whey from the Supplement Factory, Big Whey from Nutrition X, ON Whey, Pro Matrix from Nutrition X, Unflavoured Whey from BulkPowders.co.uk

Your best bet is to have a read of some of the threads in the fitness forum. The long and short of it is though that the only way to put on weight is to consume more calories than you burn. Whey protein wont make you put on weight by itself. You take it after a training session to aid recovery, so it wont give you any extra energy during the session. Have a read of this thread aswell.

Are you doing any resistance training (weights)?

keane2097

Ddemo wrote: »

Just looking for some advice. I was told by my football manager to take this to give me energy, im just finished my leaving cert im 18 and trying to get up to the level of fitness of all the other players. Iv checked this out on the internet and its not giving me much help. Will this cause me to put on weight? Beacuse i dont want that, as i already have a big enough physique for GAA. Is this for building muscle or just maintaing a good level of energy and good physique? Thanks

Taking protein shakes will not give you extra energy.

Protein is used by your body to build and repair muscles, so having a protein shake after doing a workout (particularly a weights session) will give your body what it needs to benefit maximally from your workout in terms of muscle growth, and it will also allow you to recover better from working out.

As An Citeog has said, gaining weight is dependant on calorie intake, not on what nuitrients you consume.

Pride Fighter

Ddemo wrote: »

Just looking for some advice. I was told by my football manager to take this to give me energy, im just finished my leaving cert im 18 and trying to get up to the level of fitness of all the other players. Iv checked this out on the internet and its not giving me much help. Will this cause me to put on weight? Beacuse i dont want that, as i already have a big enough physique for GAA. Is this for building muscle or just maintaing a good level of energy and good physique? Thanks

Whey protein will not give you energy, it will aid in the repair and growth of muscle. Its great stuff, I take it. All it is is whey, that comes from a cow, I'm sure you've heard about little miss muffet, who sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey. Whey is excellent and 100% natural, I'd recommend you take it.

But you need something else, something for energy. Taurine drinks ie red bull will do this. Caffeine works too and this can be taken in pill form. Go to a supplement store for better advice. There is a load of them in Dublin and most major towns.

keane2097

Avoid taurine based energy drinks like the plague IMO - most of them are pretty terrible for you.

Pride Fighter

keane2097 wrote: »

Avoid taurine based energy drinks like the plague IMO - most of them are pretty terrible for you.

Why's that?

flahavaj

Pride Fighter wrote: »

But you need something else, something for energy. Taurine drinks ie red bull will do this. Caffeine works too and this can be taken in pill form. Go to a supplement store for better advice. There is a load of them in Dublin and most major towns.

I'm not sure Red Bull is a recommended energy drink for sports.

keane2097

Pride Fighter wrote: »

Why's that?

Take Red Bull as an example. It's main "energy" ingredients are Glucose, taurine, caffeine and B vitamins.

B vitamins are grand.

Caffeine is ok in small doses, but only 200mg of caffeine can increase blood pressure by up to 14 points. That's about what would be contained in three normal cans, and if you have 400mg of caffeine in a day it's been shown to increase the risk of palpitations, headaches and even heart attacks.

Taurine is a big joke tbh. No studies exist that link it to increasing energy in fit and healthy humans. On it's own it can lower blood pressure, but just one taurine-heavy energy drink has been shown to increase the risk of blood clots forming. Testing on rats has shown that taurine supplement can actually slow brain activity.

Finally, glucose is grand and will give a short burst of energy provided you're not a diabetic. However you wouldn't want to let it become a habit. Regular large doses can cause your body to stop burning fat and even contribute to the development of diabetes.

All the energy drinks are pretty much the same, and you can find thousands of articles excoriating them with a simple google search. The information I've given here is mostly taken from an interesting article published in Mens Health a few months ago.

There's also an interesting piece on the wiki page for Red Bull which talks about a trial conducted in 2008 which showed the performance of 30 healthy adults immediately deteriorating upon consumption of Red Bull, and their cardiovascular risk went up alarmingly as well.

Like I said, I'd strongly advise anyone against the use of these so-called energy drinks and would further suggest that people should be extremely cautious about anything they use to fuel their bodies.

Pride Fighter

keane2097 wrote: »

Take Red Bull as an example. It's main "energy" ingredients are Glucose, taurine, caffeine and B vitamins.

B vitamins are grand.

Caffeine is ok in small doses, but only 200mg of caffeine can increase blood pressure by up to 14 points. That's about what would be contained in three normal cans, and if you have 400mg of caffeine in a day it's been shown to increase the risk of palpitations, headaches and even heart attacks.

Taurine is a big joke tbh. No studies exist that link it to increasing energy in fit and healthy humans. On it's own it can lower blood pressure, but just one taurine-heavy energy drink has been shown to increase the risk of blood clots forming. Testing on rats has shown that taurine supplement can actually slow brain activity.

Finally, glucose is grand and will give a short burst of energy provided you're not a diabetic. However you wouldn't want to let it become a habit. Regular large doses can cause your body to stop burning fat and even contribute to the development of diabetes.

All the energy drinks are pretty much the same, and you can find thousands of articles excoriating them with a simple google search. The information I've given here is mostly taken from an interesting article published in Mens Health a few months ago.

There's also an interesting piece on the wiki page for Red Bull which talks about a trial conducted in 2008 which showed the performance of 30 healthy adults immediately deteriorating upon consumption of Red Bull, and their cardiovascular risk went up alarmingly as well.

Like I said, I'd strongly advise anyone against the use of these so-called energy drinks and would further suggest that people should be extremely cautious about anything they use to fuel their bodies.

Nothing you said is wrong. I just know many people who swear by it, some take it as a powder supplement in combination with other things, others I know drink red bull. Many I know say its a great energy booster for them, although everything you posted is bang on. I know GAA, soccer players and martial artists who swear by it as an energy booster. Just saying what I've heard off people I know. Different strokes for different folks I guess. Works for some, not for others. It does not work for me I'll add.

keane2097

Pride Fighter wrote: »

Nothing you said is wrong. I just know many people who swear by it, some take it as a powder supplement in combination with other things, others I know drink red bull. Many I know say its a great energy booster for them, although everything you posted is bang on. I know GAA, soccer players and martial artists who swear by it as an energy booster. Just saying what I've heard off people I know. Different strokes for different folks I guess. Works for some, not for others. It does not work for me I'll add.

If you're talking about taurine then your friends are simply benefiting from the placebo effect, since as I said there is no evidence at all that it has any impact whatsoever on energy levels in healthy humans.

Plenty of people swear by plenty of things, it doesn't make them healthy or unhealthy, beneficial or detrimental.

The fact of the matter is, every credible study I've seen is pretty scathing about the effects of drinking these drinks, and anecdotal evidence of what people think they do to them really doesn't stand up to the body of evidence that exists in the food science domain on this matter IMO.

rebel girl 15

Sorry for going slightly off topic, but for energy, it is extremely important to be fully hydrated - if you are under hydrated by 5%, your energy levels and ability to perform can be affected by up to 20%. Eating right as well - carbohdyrates are what are broken down to provide energy first.

Read up on the stuff on the fitness forum - some excellent posters over there!

El Horseboxo

For energy maybe try maltodextrin. It's a complex sugar and slow releasing carbohydrate. Taking some before and during a workout or training session mixed with water will give you an extra burst of energy. It's relatively cheap online and lasts for ages.

www.myprotein.co.uk have cheap bags of it.

nice_guy80

keane2097 wrote: »

Taking protein shakes will not give you extra energy.

Protein is used by your body to build and repair muscles, so having a protein shake after doing a workout (particularly a weights session) will give your body what it needs to benefit maximally from your workout in terms of muscle growth, and it will also allow you to recover better from working out.

As An Citeog has said, gaining weight is dependant on calorie intake, not on what nuitrients you consume.

that technically is not true.
the body also uses protein and fats for energy, but only with carbs have been depleted

anyway get over to the fitness forum and do some reading

keane2097

nice_guy80 wrote: »

that technically is not true.
the body also uses protein and fats for energy, but only with carbs have been depleted

anyway get over to the fitness forum and do some reading

It's a three line post - obv it's fairly surface-level.

nice_guy80

fair enough

SomeFool

Hi OP,
Not a GAA player but I have background in endurance sports. I use high five, might be suitable for you. You'll find it in any cycling shop, most sell individual sachets if you just want to try it out first before you spend on a large amount. There are LOADS of these type of products on the market, this just happens to be the one that works for me.

Pappy o' daniel

Your manager hasn't a clue, protein is for building muscle like the others said.

Just eat plenty of pasta, spuds or rice. Those energy drinks are a bit of scam IMO

nice_guy80

SomeFool wrote: »

Hi OP,
Not a GAA player but I have background in endurance sports. I use high five, might be suitable for you. You'll find it in any cycling shop, most sell individual sachets if you just want to try it out first before you spend on a large amount. There are LOADS of these type of products on the market, this just happens to be the one that works for me.

GAA are not endurance sports though (- maybe handball is)
you need good anaerobic energy pathways - that is energy stored in the muscles themselves as GAA sports require mutilple sprinting
the best way to improve this is to train the muscles to work as you do in a match.