Protein shakes are a necessity for anyone interested in Muscle building or simply just exercising.
This is mainly because protein is the building block of muscles and global
diets are often lacking in the amount of protein needed to keep the body in fat
burning mode as against fat storing mode. For fat burning, the percentage of
protein has to be the highest in your meal whereas for muscle building, you
might want to maintain a balance between your carbs and protein. Your carbs
would provide energy for the weight and strength training, while the protein
taken before and after workout would help with the muscle building.
Before workouts, protein shake would help to burn up your
energy reserves and after workouts, the protein shake would help repair and
build the muscle. While setting up your home gym, you should also set aside some money for protein shakes.
The amount of protein daily requirement for men and women is
between 0.5 to 0.8 grams to each pound of body weight.
Protein calculator
Meaning, say you are
77kg in weight or about 180 pounds, you would be required to take 90 to 144
grams of protein daily. For a regular guy with little or moderate exercise
routine, 0.5grams to one pound would be okay, while an intense body weight
lifter might want to take up 0.8 grams.
Contrary to popular opinion, 1 gram to one pound of body
weight is too much for the body and the body would simply convert the excess
protein to fat. A lot of times, you would come across these body builders in
the gym with the bouncer kind of look, which makes it impossible to tell if the
guy is really pumping iron or just licking butter. A lot of times, these guys
workout a lot and then go the route that Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Mackie went
in preparing for their roles in Pain and Gain
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| The Rock is the only one with actual muscle right here |
. They take too much protein and
they became bulky as against having proper muscle definition and being ripped.
Of course, genetics also has a major role to play in how your muscles are
formed and shaped , but back to protein shakes.
To effectively measure the amount of protein you consume per
day and ensuring that you don’t overdo it, it is important to have a little
food weighing scale. Rounding up grams and pounds in your head while you eat is
synonymous to filing your taxes in your head.
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| Now we know why flo rida looks like this. |
The RDA for men and women of 77kg is about 61 grams, so with
your workout you are taking a little above the recommended amount. Remember
this should make up at least 35% of your
calorie intake with carbs and others taking the rest
Why take protein shakes?
Simple. Most of our
foods, the world over, don’t serve enough proteins. At times, when they
do, it comes from animal sources which
in most cases comes with its own share of problems. With animal protein such as
beef, you now have to start worrying about the state of the cows killed , if they
were organic or not, if they were killed because they got sick or if you are a
PETA member , why they were killed at all. With animal proteins, especially red
meat you have a higher risk of heart disease or cardiovascular disease, kidney
stones and even cancer. Protein shakes then come into the mix.
The best protein shakes are the plant based protein shakes,
although most of them are usually left in the back burner for whey and casein
protein shakes.
What is the difference between whey and casein and which is better?
Whey and Casein are simply biological brothers, with one
taking all the shine. WHEY!. Whey digests quicker and comes in handy
immediately after workouts as it can be quickly absorbed by the body and has a
biological value of 104, casein digests slowly and is not efficiently used by
the body , the fact that it stays in the body longer might also be good for
curbing appetite. However both whey and casein promote muscle growth with no
remarkable difference between them. Protein shakes that combine whey and casein
is preferred. In milk , for instance, 80 % of the protein in it is whey (the
liquid portion) while the rest is casein (the curd).
The Best Protein Shakes.
This is not by popular opinion, but this
plant protein shake is good. It’s comparatively cheap and actually contains
protein extracted from plants with digestive enzymes in tow. Okay no BS! It
tastes like sawdust and doesn’t mix well without a blender bottle. For me the
chocolate flavor is worse, but this protein shake is by far the healthiest and
clean especially if you have issues digesting protein.
1b. Amazing Grass Green SuperFood:
Okay, this is actually not a protein shake , it’s a blend of fruits and a lot
of herbs but it goes well with smoothies, revitalizes, alkalizes , detoxes and
helps with good skin.
2 2. Optimium Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard:
3. 3. BSN SYNTHA Protein Powder.
If you have a sweet tooth and taste plays a
major determinant for putting anything in your buccal cavity, then this protein
shake is for you. The peanut butter is one of the sweetest. What you have to
know though, is peanut butter is 25% protein and 50% fat, so in addition to
your protein a lot of fat is added just to make it taste good for you. It comes
in about 9 flavors and several variants and can also be pricey.4. 4. MUSCLE TECH NITROTECH
Nitrotech is a protein shake that is as
good as it sounds, not very soluble but well prepared and remarkable good for
muscle growth. Within weeks of taking this, mixed with appropriate diet and exercise,
you would see remarkable muscle definition, which is exactly what you wanted in
the first place.
5. .5. MUSCLE PHARM COMBAT POWDER
Great tasting protein shake, takes like
cookies and cream, it goes a long way in curbing appetite and it is also very
easy to blend, with glutamine added to aid muscle recovery. It is one protein
shake that give optimum nutrition a run for it’s money. It however seems to
live a little after taste.
