If you think the highest quality protein powder is “muscle milk” I suggest you pay close attention. When it comes to protein powder selection – there are some incredible ones and some horrible ones.
If you take a trip to your local health food store you will likely see some really good and really bad options staring at you in the face. So how do you decide which protein powder to select for optimal muscle growth? That is exactly what I’m going to break down in this article. No more guessing games – time to feed your muscles the anabolic muscle building fuel they deserve.
As you guys know – protein is vital for building muscles. Your body needs to maintain a positive nitrogen balance and stay in an anabolic state for you to maximize your muscle growth. This is achieved by consuming protein regularly. By consuming protein regularly throughout the day you are drip-feeding your muscles the amino acids and necessary fuel they need to repair and re grow bigger and stronger.
The problem with a lot of the protein powders available on the market is that they contain a ton of “filler ingredients” that do you way more harm than good. Most of these filler ingredients will make you fat, and are bad for your health. Why do the supplement companies put in all of this “filler crap?” It’s all about the “dollar-dollar-bills, yall!”
Seriously – this is just a strategy for them to save money. They don’t care about you being the most ripped you can be, because if you were 100 percent satisfied with your body then you wouldn’t be buying their product anymore!
Lets get right into 3 things you need to consider when picking up the perfect protein powder for your muscle building needs.
Less Is More
When it comes to selecting a high quality protein powder – the less ingredients on the label the better. When a nutrition label lists over 20 ingredients on the back of the protein powder tub I would run the other way.
There are only a few ingredients that should be added to a protein powder. The good additions are essential amino acids, non-essential amino acids, BCAA’s and L Glutamine.
When a protein powder has a very long list it means they have added a ton of unnecessary sweeteners, artificial ingredients and “fillers” to make the cost cheaper to manufacture. When you are looking at the ingredient label stick with a protein powder that has between 5-7 ingredients listed. If it has double digit ingredients find a better option – your beach body will thank you later.
Protein Percentage
This one is the most important on the list. What percentage of your protein powder is actually lean protein? You should make sure that you are picking out a protein powder that has close to an 85 – 90 percent protein percentage. This means that 85-90 percent of the mixture is “pure protein.” If you can find a protein powder at this rate – there isn’t much room for junk or filler ingredients, and it also assures you that there is very little fat and carbohydrates.
To calculate the protein percentage, find the number of grams of protein per serving, and divide it by the serving size. For example, in my Dymatize Protein Powder it has a serving size of 30 grams and contains 25 grams of protein per serving. This means that it has pretty close to an 84 percent protein rating, and since it only contains 6 ingredients it is a high quality protein powder. Some of the cheaper protein powders have closer to a 60 percent protein percentage. This means that the mix is almost half full of complete junk that won’t do anything for your muscles and recovery.
Price Per Serving
Now that we have narrowed down how to spot an unhealthy protein powder versus a healthy protein powder – you need to make sure you are picking up a product that you can afford to stay on every month. If you are a serious weight lifter – you probably consume protein shakes every single day. You want to make sure that you can afford to stay on your protein powder every single month – so I’m going to help you figure out the best protein for the price.
When I am looking at protein powders – I figure out the price per serving relative to the protein content. I multiply the amount of servings times the grams of protein per serving and compare the price.
For example – say a protein powder has 30 servings in the tub and contains 25 grams of protein per serving and costs 33 dollars. I will multiply 30 x 25 – which equals 750 grams of protein in the entire tub. I will do this for a few of my top choices, and whichever protein powder has the most grams of protein and the cheapest price is the winner (assuming it has a good protein percentage and not a long list of ingredients of course.) So if I find a tub of protein powder that contains 795 grams of protein and costs 30 dollars, and compare it to another that has 712 grams of protein and costs me 36 dollars – it is pretty easy to see which one will last me longer and give me the better price per serving. Many labels trick you with more servings per container –b but actually have a smaller serving size. The total protein count is the only way to accurately determine which is the best value.
Conclusion On The Best Whey Protein
Protein shakes are an easy and convenient muscle builder. Hopefully this article will help you select a high quality protein powder for future use so you can get the most out of your workouts.
A few of the protein powders that I recommend are Dymatize, Gold Standard, and Isopure. When you are shopping for your next protein powder make sure to remember the tips in this article, and you will find yourself a proven winner!
One last thing is to remember that your protein shakes should not replace whole food nutrition – but rather serve as a convenient complement. You should be getting your protein from a variety of sources for optimal muscle growth.
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