Should I get whey protein?

Dtp1979

ironclaw wrote: »

@Aidia, its generally accepted, at least in my research formally and from myself, that you should be aiming to get protein into you as fast as possible after your workout e.g. Within 30 mins. This is normally fast acting protein, slow acting proteins e.g. Casein are only generally taken during sleep periods e.g. Last thing before bed.

You shouldn't take protein during a workout. I would however recommend some BCCA blends like Xtend and Kinetica have a new product on the market, both of which I found beneficial during heavy cardio and empirically, I could certainly push a lot harder with them on board e.g. ~30 mins before, during and finish during the work out.

Lastly, as I'm sure you aware, heavy cardio and weight lifting are counter intuitive without strict adherence to diet and program. You can't build mass and cut at the same time without a regime to suit.

Why take protein with the first 30 mins? I thought that myth was done away with years ago

Alf Veedersane

You don't really need to get too bogged down in the timing, per se. It will still be valid 2 hours after the run so you don't need to panic if it's been 31 minutes since your run and you haven't ingested protein.

It it's convenient, you can have a shake after your run. If it isn't, have it the next time it is convenient.

And some simple carbs. Doesn't have to be much.

Alf Veedersane

ironclaw wrote: »

You shouldn't take protein during a workout.

Why?

Zillah

ironclaw wrote: »

You shouldn't take protein during a workout.

Why not?

I would however recommend some BCCA blends like Xtend and Kinetica have a new product on the market, both of which I found beneficial during heavy cardio and empirically, I could certainly push a lot harder with them on board

Sounds like a placebo to me. Your energy systems are mostly influenced by sugars, other carbs, oxygen levels, and stimulants like caffeine, etc. Amino acids don't really come into it.

Funny that you would tell them to avoid protein during workout but recommend amino acids (which is what protein is made of).

Please do correct me if I am wrong but you seem to be labouring under a lot of bro-science popular myths.

Dtp1979

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Why?

Because the anabolic window hasn't opened yet so in fact your muscles will shrink

Zillah

If you open the anabolic window too early all of the gains will escape.

Mr. CooL ICE

And you'd deserve a right anabolicking

Macy0161

ironclaw wrote: »

This is normally fast acting protein, slow acting proteins e.g. Casein are only generally taken during sleep periods e.g. Last thing before bed.

There was a recent sigma nutrition podcast that had a (Dutch?) researcher on whose studies supported taking protein before bed, but found it didn't matter what type of protein it was. i.e. there was no difference between casein and whey.

Alf Veedersane

Macy0161 wrote: »

There was a recent sigma nutrition podcast that had a (Dutch?) researcher on who's studies supported taking protein before bed, but found it didn't matter what type of protein it was. i.e. there was no difference between casein and whey.

Jorn Trommelen.

Taking it before bed is in keeping with the idea that you get a decent amount of protein at every meal and before a 6/7/8 hour window of sleep, it makes sense to get protein on board.

But yeah, they tried adding leucine to casein to mimic a fast digesting protein and there was no difference versus casein.

LincolnHawk

The whole absorbtion window of opportunity thing is total and utter horse sh1te.

Mellor

The anabolic window is broscience's 101.

There's nothing wrong with protein during (or before) a workout. BCAA's are essential protein broken down.

Supplementing with protein for 3months and seeing how it affects your recovery is a pretty weak as a test. Your diet contributes much more protein than the supplement.

BadBannana

ironclaw wrote: »

@Aidia, its generally accepted, at least in my research formally and from myself, that you should be aiming to get protein into you as fast as possible after your workout e.g. Within 30 mins. This is normally fast acting protein, slow acting proteins e.g. Casein are only generally taken during sleep periods e.g. Last thing before bed.

You shouldn't take protein during a workout. I would however recommend some BCCA blends like Xtend and Kinetica have a new product on the market, both of which I found beneficial during heavy cardio and empirically, I could certainly push a lot harder with them on board e.g. ~30 mins before, during and finish during the work out.

Lastly, as I'm sure you aware, heavy cardio and weight lifting are counter intuitive without strict adherence to diet and program. You can't build mass and cut at the same time without a regime to suit.

Which research are you referring to there mate?

The anabolic/metabolic window exists but it's as long as up to 24h not 30 minutes

https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-10-53

ironclaw

BadBannana wrote: »

Which research are you referring to there mate?

The anabolic/metabolic window exists but it's as long as up to 24h not 30 minutes

https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-10-53

Gonna put the hands up here and say I can't find the articles I researched at the time (About 2 years ago now) but I believe it came off the back of a study for indoor running at a world championship level. I've since lowered my running distance owning to a knee injury but this thread has given me the kick to go and read up on the more recent trends. Thanks folks.

Mellor

BadBannana wrote: »

Which research are you referring to there mate?

The anabolic/metabolic window exists but it's as long as up to 24h not 30 minutes

https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-10-53

From the conclusion;

However, an expanded regression analysis found that any positive effects associated with protein timing on muscle protein accretion disappeared after controlling for covariates. Moreover, sub-analysis showed that discrepancies in total protein intake explained the majority of hypertrophic differences noted in timing studies. When taken together, these results would seem to refute the commonly held belief that the timing of protein intake in the immediate pre- and post-workout period is critical to muscular adaptations [3, 4, 5].

Perceived hypertrophic benefits seen in timing studies appear to be the result of an increased consumption of protein as opposed to temporal factors. In our reduced model, the amount of protein consumed was highly and significantly associated with hypertrophic gains.

mart_in

I was wondering myself, take proteins or not... For years I've been working 7 days per week, long hours... I got really overweight. Obviously, I tried to go back to the gym but it's difficult when after years of negligence you try to force your body to do something.

So I decided to cheat a bit with supplements. Proteins and fat burners mostly. And pre workout. Mostly for energy and better recovery. You can imagine my cardio was sh*t...

I didn't go after any of the big brands but got stuff from little known company that was recommended to me. Mostly because of the taste of their products (well, most brands don't really give a damn sh*t about taste). It was a month ago and I'm still workig out. I lost 3kg in 2 weeks and my cardio improved.

Obviously, it's not only about supplements. But they help... or maybe I cheated my brain to think so

Aidia

Thanks to everyone that replied (and apologies if it caused a few discussions!). I take a whey protein shake pretty much once I've done my workout so although it's up in the air about the 30 minutes following your workout, I'm walking home anyway at that time so easy to take.

Also I know some people will say running followed by weights is the wrong combination but honestly I do the running cos it clears my mind and the weights cos it tires my body out. I'm not in it for weight loss/muscle gain or anything like that - I just find this combination tires me out and after a stressful day at work, it's either this or fall back into the bad habit of  opening a bottle of wine and I know which one I'd prefer to stick with! :D