ON's New HydroWhey
Just last week I ran into an old buddy at my gym. He’d just finished his workout, and was guzzling down a protein drink in a can I’d never seen before. I asked him the usual questions: where he got it, how much did it cost, and how much protein was in it. Even though it was a cheap knock-off brand, it had 35 grams of protein per can. And to my surprise, that was the second can he had drank in the last 20 minutes. For those that lack math skills, that’s 70g of protein in 20 minutes. And even more surprising, he was grinning ear to ear because he thought it was all going straight to his muscles. Apparently, he also lived by the mantra “more is better.”
Now if you read my article a couple weeks ago about protein pulsing, you probably have an idea where I’m going with this. Anything in excess is unhealthy for you, even water. So guess where almost 50g of that 70g of protein went? Fat and oxidation. No one needs 70g of protein at one sitting. In fact, according to the majority of clinical studies out there, no one really needs more than 20-25g of protein at one sitting. 70g of protein at one sitting is no more anabolic than 25g of protein at one sitting. The only benefit the extra protein provides is extra calories. And for many of us, that’s not really a benefit.
20-30g of protein is more than enough protein to switch your body from a catabolic state to an anabolic state. Rarely will a clinical study use more than 25g of protein. Why? Because that’s all that’s needed to turn on muscle protein synthesis. Anything more than that, and it’s not being used for its intended purpose: muscle protein synthesis. A study I had in the protein pulsing article looked at the correlation between the amount of protein consumed and muscle protein synthesis. The result: 40g was no more effective than 20g. And anything excess was oxidized.
Why do people consume more than 30g in one sitting? Why do manufacturers put 40g of protein in one serving? I have no idea. Stupidity maybe? Ignorance?
It makes entirely more sense to split up the 40g shake. Take 20g now, and then 20g 2 hours later. You’ll get a much longer anabolic response. And I’d be willing to bet, you’ll also lose a little fat.
Stop wasting your money. Train smart. Eat smart. Supplement smart.
Tags: how much protein do i need, how much protein should i take, Muscle Milk, nitrotech, protein, protein consumption, Syntha6
