Why you should take protein shakes and the best ones take – Simplified!

Protein shakes are essential to maintaining a healthy body especially when you are working out; the more so than that they also can help with recovery and prevent you from damaging yourself when you are pushing your body to the limits. So to say that they are super important is a bit of an understatement

Now I’m not here to spin you some shit and tell you stuff that you are already gonna know, but what I am here to tell you is stuff that perhaps you won’t know and stuff that you really should know to get the best from your protein shakes and ultimately from your workouts as well. It’s a simple as that!

What is a protein shake and why should I be bothered about it!

Protein shakes have been around for as long as time and whilst they are getting more and more popular in everyday living for people that might not even go to the gym but as a healthy diet and food supplements you have to know what a protein shake is and what it does to to fully understand why should take one.

I think a lot of people really don’t understand what protein shake is for and therefore take one thinking that they need it just because they have gone to the gym once. 

Protein shakes are a simple and convenient way to increase the amount of protein that you get into your diet easily simply and quickly, and generally there a lot cheaper than meat or another source of protein as well. Although this shouldn’t really come into the equation if you are actually looking to make serious long-term gains in the gym. 

Protein is essential to muscle growth repair and goes hand-in-hand with going to the gym. During a workout or exercise stress is placed on muscle groups within the body and as a result you need to replace the proteins within your diet to allow your muscles to rebuild, recover and become better than they were before. This really is essential to understand when you are starting to make your gym journey. Without it you can seriously damage yourself,

What are the main types of protein you can buy?

On the market now there are seriously loads and loads and loads of different types of proteins which are all good in their own way but some are better for you and some are more gimmicky and don’t really live up to the hype. 

The main types of protein that you will come across our Whey protein and Casein Protein. To make it super simple as to how these two proteins differ, whey protein is generally used straight after a workout and can be absorbed extremely quickly and this is essential if you have just done a workout and you really need to start the repairing and rebuilding process as quick as possible. Whey protein is properly one of the most well known protein shakes you can get on the market today and comes from a byproduct of dairy. Is properly one of the oldest and well known protein shakes available.

Casein protein is a bit of a different beast altogether casein is used when you want a slow release of your protein and therefore drip feed the protein and amino acids into your muscles over an amount of time, generally overnight, and is therefore one of the best proteins you can take before bed. Casein can prove a super important way of making gains when you cannot eat such as at night.

There are tons of different types and manufacturers of these two types of protein shakes and wading through all the technical info on them can be seriously daunting, knowing what to get and what not to get his hard to decide so we have done a big bit of the research for you based on our personal recommendation and what we think works well what works well for us but also what is cost effective and cheap because none of these protein shakes are cheap products and we would not recommend that you go for bog standard cheap protein shakes because the quality of the protein cannot be any good for you at all.

Whey protein

When it comes to whey protein there are a few different types you can get on the market today, we recommend in general that you stick to whey isolate protein as it generally has the highest concentration of protein compared to concentrate which is often seen as the cheapest. Whey isolate protein is also absorbed faster than concentrate so when you are taking after your big workout for the day getting those proteins into your body as soon as possible and digested is one of the most important things so isolate always wins over concentrate here.

There are a whole range of different brands of whey isolate protein but here are a few of our favourites that we personally use and recommend not just because they’re great for you taste good but they are also well priced for what you get. 

Bulk Powders Whey Isolate

When it comes to all things workout supplements there are a few brands that definitely stick out above the rest. And whilst this can sometimes mean that the most expensive brands of the best brands, this definitely isn’t always the case. 

I have been a long-time supporter of bulk powders protein shakes, not only are they seriously good value for what you actually get, but the standards that they hold are extremely high and throughout the whole time that I have been taking protein shakes (easily over 10 years) I have never once been disappointed by any other products I bought in bulk powders (and I have spent a lot of money there!).  Please note that I do not work for bulk powders so this is completely impartial review!

I genuinely think that bulk powders whey protein isolate is one of the best bangs for your buck that you can get when it comes to protein shakes. It has absolutely everything you need an extremely high protein content in it whilst still being really affordable. The flavours are actually really good and whilst that shouldn’t really come into the discussion until if you cannot drink these things then there is literally no point buying it at all I have tried pretty much all of the flavours that they have on offer now but some of the best ones are just the simplest ones which are the strawberry the chocolate and the vanilla. The vanilla is a personal favourite of mine because it is so easy to consume.

Honestly I has had some awful protein shakes in the past and that has always been down to the flavouring of them. Whilst it might seem a lot cheaper to buy an unflavoured protein shake is almost never worth it you just cannot drink it. 

I tend to always buy these protein shakes from Amazon, the delivery is always next day and just seems to be a lot easier than ordering from bulk powders themselves and the prices are almost always the same but with Amazon’s customer care if anything goes wrong (including having a split protein packet in the pas!!) Then they take care of everything for you.

THE PROTEIN WORKS Whey Protein 80 (Concentrate) Powder

Another jewel in the crown and one of the best protein powders that I would actually recommend that also happens to be quite cheap is this concentrate whey powder from The Protein Works. 

These guys perhaps aren’t as old as some of the other more established names on the market such as my protein and bulk powders, however that doesn’t mean that the quality isn’t there. Whilst this is a concentrate rather than isolate which I know I recommended more so in the article above, this is 82% protein whereas isolate generally has around 90% so for the price difference this actually is a really good protein powder to take.

The taste on these is really good and are one of the best tasting protein shakes I’ve ever had I think actually so you definitely end up looking forward to taking this after your workout.

For the price and these ones a 2 kg bag flavoured protein, generally ends up being around £37 which is seriously good value, however when I purchased this from Amazon, they almost always seem to have some sort of voucher or offer on them at the time which means that they always end up cheaper than buying from the protein works website themselves. Currently at the time of posting they have a 30% voucher on your first subscribe and save order with them, so deathly ends up making it much better to buy through Amazon themselves.

I found this protein powder to be really really good quality I definitely thought it stacked up to some of the more expensive brands and I could feel the effects of it after taking it without any problems at all I would recommend it highly to anyone I know.

Reflex Nutrition Instant Whey Pro Protein Powder Shake 80% Protein Content Amazing New Taste Protein Powder

Reflex protein was one of the first proteins I actually ever tried myself, but then of course I didn’t actually know that it was any good but it was just one of the first ones I ended up picking up off the shelf that seemed to be on offer. But actually reflex protein has been a long well respected and established name in the protein industry and genuinely is well received by everyone that uses it.

Reflex protein has a good 80% protein content and whilst it isn’t the cheapest protein that you can buy on the market and certainly not compared to the ones that I have listed above, sometimes it is not just about the price it’s about the taste and the performance of the protein itself.

I always found that when I take reflex protein that I always have a great reaction to it and I generally feel they have a lot more energy stamina and I feel more recovered from when I am taking it compared to when I am not, or if I am taking a similar but cheaper protein from a different brand.

I think one of the best things about reflex instant whey protein powder is that it is one of the few that I have seen contains digestive enzymes which are friendly bacteria which are perfect for those who consume protein but have but perhaps have a bad stomach like myself in the past. I deftly found it easier to digest compared to some of the harsher cheaper proteins that are on the market today. So that’s deftly worth considering when you think of what you’re putting in your body as the fuel for your future workouts in your every day to day life. I have always found reflex protein to be much much easier to consume.

So do without what you will but I genuinely think this is a big contender in the game and anyone who has taken reflex nutrition I know personally has always come back with great feedback on it and generally thinks that is one of the best proteins out there today. Even if it isn’t the highest protein content compared to some of the others the quality of the protein that you are getting is generally received as one of the best. 

But don’t take my word from it the link above will take you to the Amazon listing of the protein I recommend as well as the chocolate flavour which I think is definitely awesome and really really easy to consume. There are tons and tons and tons of really really good reviews on this protein and all of the other reflex products actually so it’s definitely worth considering as a good contender to be your new protein fix!

Is it better to get your protein from food rather than protein shakes?

Short answer yes long answer maybe. 

I think that everyone knows in an ideal world we would all be eating perfectly our diets will be on point and we would be having steaks three times a day for every meal and our gains would be perfect and there will be absolutely no point the protein shakes. However this is not an ideal world and that just isn’t the case.

It is really hard to get our diets on point all the time and what’s more so is it super super hard to actually consume enough protein from the food that we are taking in to be able to work out hard and still maintain your muscle mass. So whilst in an ideal world it would be great if everything was from our food protein wise, it’s just not the case for 99% people. 

So we definitely recommend protein shakes is a great way to increase your protein content from your diet easily without the restrictions of having to eat prepare and monitor all of the protein is coming in via your food. And what’s more so protein powders and shakes super super easy to get hold of now and whilst it shouldn’t come into it at all like we have discussed in the past they are a lot cheaper than food and can actually provide the same protein content that you would get from good quality meat as well.

More so over the last few years, the choice to have vegetarian or vegan proteins has become a much much bigger movement within the industry. As a lot more people decide to eat less meat in their diets and their everyday life, protein shakes and powders have become more and more utilised to be able to maintain a high level of protein intake whilst people are working out harder and more than ever. 

How much protein you actually need?

No one can answer that for you without knowing your whole workout plans your diet and what you are hoping to achieve from working out and trying to make gains, however there are a few simple tips and tricks to be able to calculate how much protein you need. 

If you are doing absolutely nothing you should be taking in around 1 g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight every single day, but obviously if you are working out and looking to make some gains and build muscle or become more of an athlete then this amount of protein simply is gonna cut it and you can only start taking in more.

To build muscle a good rule of thumb is you should be taking in 1.5 to 2 g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. Higher protein intake especially when you are working out is gonna make all the difference to your endurance just strength and also the time it takes to recover so it’s not a factor that can be overlooked at all. 

You really need to make sure that you spread your protein intake throughout the day, and this is where your diet will need to be re-evaluated to ensure that you are evenly getting enough protein throughout the day which is easier said than done. 

This is where protein shakes enter the fray, they can be an easy and simple way of getting more protein into your body without having a huge meal each time. Typically from protein powders you can get around 25 g protein per shake which is a huge amount really considering you would have to eat a lot to be able to get the same amount from your food so they can be a perfect top up for these moments when you just can’t eat or don’t have the time.

Should you be taking more than one protein shake per day?

Again this is something that cannot be answered simply, but really depends on what you are trying to achieve and how much you are working out and how active your lifestyle is as well as your job.

Using the calculations above you should be able to see just how much protein you actually need to intake to be able to achieve your goals. So it might be that you work out how much protein you need safe for instances 200 g per day. Then you might find that your food intake is only bringing you up to 150 g of protein, so here it will be clear that you are gonna need to take more than one protein shake per day to be able to reach your goal. While this might not be the case every day some days you may need to take even more than two protein shakes a day. 

We always recommend your protein shake right after working out, but a lot of people needing to reach their protein intake goals per day will often take them before bed such as casein protein, or even in the morning as a way of boosting your intake early in the day. 

Conclusion

Do you need protein powder? Yes yes yes.
Are protein powders give you? Yes when taken in the right way.
What the best types of protein powder for you? This really depends on what you are trying to achieve but we recommend Whey protein, Casein protein and if you are vegetarian or vegan we absolutely recommend soy or Pea based proteins
Can you take protein powders more than once a day? Yes you can to support your diet, but they should be accompanied with a good food intake where you should be getting most of your protein.
Are protein powders better than food? No, but sometimes not always possible to get as much protein as you need from food so protein powders can be a blessing in disguise. It’s better to get enough protein be it from protein shakes if that’s the case rather than no protein at all.
Where can I get some? Check the Amazon links that we have given you above these are what we personally recommend and have tried extensively so we know that the quality is bang on!

Disclaimer:  Everything we have said here is based on our opinions and the information that we have gained from working out for over 10 years. However this isn’t the case for everybody and it is imperative that you use this as a guide and not advice. And that you doublecheck everything with a trained doctor before undertaking any sort of exercise or protein powder intake. 

I'm a healthy and fitness nut! Been in this game over 10 years. If it's fitness, i've done it! Name a sport, i've invested silly money into it! Let me share my knowledge with you!

We will be happy to hear your thoughts

Leave a reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Home Gym Equipment Supplier
Logo
Enable registration in settings - general
Compare items
  • Total (0)
Compare
0