Workout guys: What protein shakes are you taking?

[ALMOSTFINISHED]

If it helps any, for the past 9 months I started at 165lb 5'11". I take no xplode and muscle juice protein shakes. I eat right, don't drink soda and really don't eat any sweets or candy stuff. I'm at 207lbs right now with next to no body fat. I'm not some health freak but I eat right. I have done all of this in my basement with a bench set, pull down bar, free weights and a rowing machine. I follow a strict routine and keep my head in "the game" while working out. I have larger forearms genetically, I rarely do a forearm work out and they are 18" in diameter. My biceps are 20". Go figure... It does help that my brother in law is a personal trainer and looks like he should be on ESPN for competitions. All he does is eat right and excercise and is in amazing shape. He is 6'3" 224lb and RIPPED to shreds. I've tried creatine in the past but it just does not agree with my stomach at all.

Nick

 

[fox racer]

Why take creatine when the body produces and regulates its levels naturally... any extra consumed just ends up being secreted as waste through the kidneys

Very true. But, some people produce less creatine than their muscles can absorb, so adding it in to top off the muscles. But again, your right, if your muscles are absorbing as much creatine as they can, its just going to become waste. Thats why people know if creatine supplelmentation is needed in the first week of use. But, you cannot make the same argument for steroids. I mean, yes, your body produces a certain test level, and more test could potentially help you. And yes, some people are blessed with high test levels already. But, the difference is, you can naturally increase creatine levels through your diet. Test injections aren't part of your diet (haha). I do, however, beleive in naturally increasing test, through adequate sleep (~8hrs of sleep), doing compund lifts (Squat, Deadlifts, Power Cleans, Bench, Military Press, Barbell Curls) and somepeople feel through diet you can even tell the body to produce more test (Although I'm not familiar with the subject).

On the subject of sleep, here are some facts that I ran across on sleep. Decide for yourself if there true or not:
- Sleep is the BEST time for muscles to recover and grow. ~8hrs will permit adequate time to rebuild most muscle tissue.
- During sleep, the body experiences peak test and GH (growth hormones) in the body.
- Sleep timing could also make a possible difference (not sure of the source offhand). Every hour after midnight count as one hour of sleep. Everyhour before midnight, acts as 2 hrs of sleep for the body. For Ex: Sleeping from 12 midnight to 8AM is one hour longer than sleeping from 11PM to 6AM. But the body will experience the same recovery (although the latter was shorter), since one of those hours of sleep was an hour before midnight. [I think its limited to like 9-10PM to see these effects, and I'm not 100% sure and backing of this little tid bit, but I remember reading it in a few articles.]
- Not enough sleep one night? Power nap. Its shown that short, 20 minute naps have the same effect on the bady as one full hour of sleep at night (In a sense you can CATCH UP, not use this as a means of sleep).[Again, I read this tid bit in a few articles, just not sure which. I can find them upon request however.]

 

[fox racer]

View attachment 408005

The radiators your spotter?

 

[bdazzgt]

I take the ON Whey protein and i have to fart all the time, what causes this?

 

[Ozz]

Uh...the protein

Almost Finished; you are abnormal! I envy people like you whose genetics allow for such gains.

 

[Yellowpnoy]

Check out universal nutritions "real gains." I have been taking it for quite a while. I have a hard time gaining weight, and this stuff has put a few pounds on me, but lean mass, not bady fat.

 

[310stanger]

I disagree with the anti creatine use posts personally. They have done plenty of tests on creatine proving its merits vs jus opinions on how much your body is producing. Your body doesnt produce nearly the amounts that help you realize better muscle gains, strength gains, recovery gains from supplementation. If it did, youd see a lot more muscular people walking around. Now of course creatine production will vary from person to person same as test levels. I for one use Gaspari nutritions Size ON creatine, which is the first creatine gluconate supplement on the market. Ive about 20 lbs in nearly every lift I do in my workouts in only a few months, not to mention my muscles are fuller and recovery is improved. So count me as a guy that responds from creatine.

As far as what Im reading from you guys on protein shakes. Protein shakes are good and have merit, some are better then others etc. But the key is to buy a whey protein isolate product. Its higher quality and easier digested. But protein shakes are not gonna jus make you bigger. Its only purpose is to be able to let the user get their protein intakes up higher easier. Your best sources of proteins is from whole foods. For most working people getting a gram of protein per lb of bodyweight is difficult from just eating food, whey protein shakes come in. I use the optimum nutrition 100 percent whey.
My 2cents

 

[Ozz]

I guarantee you if you ate more food in place of that stuff (I checked it out, seems fine aside from being high in maltodextrine which is an unofficial sugar that still has sugar properties - people use it to spike insulin after workouts - which is usually not good for any other time!), you'd get the gains you got with it. At $30 you can do it cheaper w/food. I always advocate it for that reason, although obviously it's much easier to snag a shake sometimes

Just mentioning that to point out it's the easy, drinkable calories in the stuff that's doing it. Just like weight gainers, that's all they are

 

[Ozz]

I disagree with the anti creatine use posts personally. They have done plenty of tests on creatine proving its merits vs jus opinions on how much your body is producing. Your body doesnt produce nearly the amounts that help you realize better muscle gains, strength gains, recovery gains from supplementation. If it did, youd see a lot more muscular people walking around. Now of course creatine production will vary from person to person same as test levels. I for one use Gaspari nutritions Size ON creatine, which is the first creatine gluconate supplement on the market. Ive about 20 lbs in nearly every lift I do in my workouts in only a few months, not to mention my muscles are fuller and recovery is improved. So count me as a guy that responds from creatine.

For every pro-creatine study, there's an anti-creatine study too. We can go tit for tat if you want. But all in all like most say, it comes down to the person

As far as what Im reading from you guys on protein shakes. Protein shakes are good and have merit, some are better then others etc. But the key is to buy a whey protein isolate product. Its higher quality and easier digested. But protein shakes are not gonna jus make you bigger. Its only purpose is to be able to let the user get their protein intakes up higher easier. Your best sources of proteins is from whole foods. For most working people getting a gram of protein per lb of bodyweight is difficult from just eating food, whey protein shakes come in. I use the optimum nutrition 100 percent whey.
My 2cents

Welcome to page 1 (and hello fellow ON user!)

 

[310stanger]

For every pro-creatine study, there's an anti-creatine study too. We can go tit for tat if you want. But all in all like most say, it comes down to the person



Welcome to page 1 (and hello fellow ON user!)

Hah, sorry. I have a habit of jus skimming through long threads. But I dont mind parroting people that actually know what they are talking about in hopes of conveying the truth to help people.

The creatine studies no doubt theres probably going to be both sides of spectrum. But I will say this, the nonsense of creatine supplementation reeking havoc on your kidneys is nonsense. The fact that some people claim they even notice a difference with their kidneys from takin creatine is even more nonsense. I also find it real funny when the same people will talk about how much alcohol they drank one night and thats never the contributor. It must be the creatine.

Ps. Im not directing this to any particular individual in here. The stuff you hear in the gym sometimes is crazy. Which reminds me that I really need to get an ipod to tune these people out lol

 

[Ozz]

Just kidding with ya, I wouldn't have read thru all this either. Whenever the goofy stuff has already overpowered the 'real' knowledge, I never play damage control. No need to take on the masses.

 

[ALMOSTFINISHED]

Uh...the protein

Almost Finished; you are abnormal! I envy people like you whose genetics allow for such gains.

Hey, thanks for the compliment. I was lucky in that aspect I guess. I used to work out a decent amount then get lazy but it got the the point where I wanted to pack on some decent size and finally got into it a little less then a year ago and have stuck with it. My goal originally was to hit 180 and coast from there, I finally ahd gotten a chance to weigh myself and I was 197 and was very surprised, so of course I upped my goal to 215, so we'll see what happens from there.

Nick

 

[Ozz]

You have no idea how hard and long people have to work to get not even near that. That's certainly some unreal proportions for your weight though.

 

[ALMOSTFINISHED]

I do all heavy weight lifting, not to much for cutting. I eat fresh tuna, chicken, rice, steak, egg whites/hardboiled eggs, oatmeal, peanut butter, and of course veggies and fruits. Plus a boatload of dedication. A few of my buddies juice and were of course bigger then me in the beginning but now I am either right on there tail or just about past them. It makes me feel good knowing I've done it naturally and with my own effort. Plus I don't have to drive to the gym every day. IMO its all about eating right and excersizing correctly. Of course genetics play a roll to. I am however having a bit of trouble with my left 4 arm, I may have over worked it and haven't really let it heal all the way. My own fault of course.

Nick

 

[Ozz]

For sure. I know plenty of people who compete and live for this, one of whom is an aspiring pro (well on his way too!) and all the intracacies involved aren't even yielding such results. Normal people like us, we stop being strict for a week and we get flat, etc. Feel lucky!

 

[ALMOSTFINISHED]

Haha you nailed that on the head. Although I'm not in for competitions such as yourself. I can only imagine what thats like, but I couldn't have said it better myself-if I take a week off or even a few days I feel ike crap. My body almost goes in to shock I guess. There are some days where I just feel like doing nothing, thats when the NO XPLODE comes in handy, it gives me motivation and the boost of energy to crank out some good sets.

Nick

 

[ALMOSTFINISHED]

Crap, double post


Haha you nailed that on the head. Although I'm not in for competitions such as yourself. I can only imagine what thats like, but I couldn't have said it better myself-if I take a week off or even a few days I feel like crap. My body almost goes in to shock I guess. There are some days where I just feel like doing nothing, thats when the NO XPLODE comes in handy, it gives me motivation and the boost of energy to crank out some good sets.

Nick

 

[vikingpower]

Very true. But, some people produce less creatine than their muscles can absorb, so adding it in to top off the muscles. But again, your right, if your muscles are absorbing as much creatine as they can, its just going to become waste. Thats why people know if creatine supplelmentation is needed in the first week of use. But, you cannot make the same argument for steroids. I mean, yes, your body produces a certain test level, and more test could potentially help you. And yes, some people are blessed with high test levels already. But, the difference is, you can naturally increase creatine levels through your diet. Test injections aren't part of your diet (haha). I do, however, beleive in naturally increasing test, through adequate sleep (~8hrs of sleep), doing compund lifts (Squat, Deadlifts, Power Cleans, Bench, Military Press, Barbell Curls) and somepeople feel through diet you can even tell the body to produce more test (Although I'm not familiar with the subject).

On the subject of sleep, here are some facts that I ran across on sleep. Decide for yourself if there true or not:
- Sleep is the BEST time for muscles to recover and grow. ~8hrs will permit adequate time to rebuild most muscle tissue.
- During sleep, the body experiences peak test and GH (growth hormones) in the body.
- Sleep timing could also make a possible difference (not sure of the source offhand). Every hour after midnight count as one hour of sleep. Everyhour before midnight, acts as 2 hrs of sleep for the body. For Ex: Sleeping from 12 midnight to 8AM is one hour longer than sleeping from 11PM to 6AM. But the body will experience the same recovery (although the latter was shorter), since one of those hours of sleep was an hour before midnight. [I think its limited to like 9-10PM to see these effects, and I'm not 100% sure and backing of this little tid bit, but I remember reading it in a few articles.]
- Not enough sleep one night? Power nap. Its shown that short, 20 minute naps have the same effect on the bady as one full hour of sleep at night (In a sense you can CATCH UP, not use this as a means of sleep).[Again, I read this tid bit in a few articles, just not sure which. I can find them upon request however.]

Of course they have different effects, creatine is passive (nutrient) and test is a hormone that relays commands from the brain. From what I've read, creatine only does you any good if your body doesn't produce enough to meet your demands, and that is why its prescribed in medical practice. During a physical exam it would be a good time query your physician about what your urinalysis results indicate about your creatine levels. Then go from there to decide if supplementation is appropriate, and even get another urinalysis to observe any difference it makes after a few weeks.

 

[slvrvert91]

You have no idea how hard and long people have to work to get not even near that. That's certainly some unreal proportions for your weight though.

I can agree with this, I started lifting in 1997 at 5'10 165, and almost ten years later I usually hang around 225-230lbs. In some respects I think I appreciate how important it really is for me not to miss a meal. I have found that alot of guys with these superior genetics often do nothing with them,and the people who have to work for every pound usually have greater longevity in the gym.

 

[bvav22]

i take NoXplode, and 100% whey, along with a nice multi vitamin, it works nice