Monday, March 16, 2009

Protein shake or Meal Replacement


Any assumption about a protein shake
before sleep is correct.

As for post-workout, this is not entirely true. There is no sudden burst of muscle-making after a workout. Building muscle tissue is a 24-hour process, so getting adequate protein throughout the day is far more critical than the window after a workout
. You simply need a few grams of protein to replace what was burned as energy and you're good to go. The most important nutrient after a workout is carbohydrate. While muscle rebuilding takes place over 24 - 72 hours following a workout, there is a window of a few hours where your muscles are "primed" to take in carbohydrates that were depleted during training. For this reason, you'll find the more superior-formulated post-workout shakes (i.e. Top Form Meal Replacement) contain about a 2:1 carb-protein ratio to supply just enough protein but plenty of carbohydrate to refuel your muscles.

Aside from perhaps extra protein (and again, getting it from whole food sources is superior, but if you are having trouble consuming adequate protein from whole foods, then supplementing is certainly fine) a quality multi is beneficial, not a topic for this thread, if you search, you'll see tons of conversations about this (Men's and Woman's Mutlivitamin).

For your protein before bed, I do Top Form Only Whey combined with some sort of fiber or high quality fat. You want something slower-relasing, like a whole food protein or if you get a shake, a blend that contains some casein, perhaps hydrolyzed beef plasma, etc. We use a brand from Top Form Nutrition Supplements, a top quality blend that tastes incredible.

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