Introduction
It seems like there are more and more athletes taking protein in some form or another to assist with performance or sport performance.
One of the better ways to get the amount of protein that your diet requires is through a well planned diet, but as I am sure many of you would agree, it is not always easy to get all of their protein though diet due to a number of factors. This is where the use of protein shakes of supplements becomes an attractive proposition.
The Benefits
At a basic level, protein is used in the production and support of muscles. Proteins are also used to manufacture hormones, enzymes, cellular messengers, nucleic acids, and immune-system components. Without adequate protein, our bodies can’t effectively provide the structures that make up every cell, tissue, and organ, nor can it generate the biochemical substances needed for cardiovascular function, muscle contraction, growth, and healing. Without an adequate amount of protein our muscles would not be able to heal efficiently and there would be an increased chance of overtraining and injury.
Following (ideally within an hour), training is one of the best times to get protein into the body so that it can be delivered to your muscles, to begin healing any tears created during training in the muscle (these are natural and part of training / adaptation to demands placed on the muscle).
Also, after a workout is one of the best time to get protein into the body so that the protein can be delivered to your muscles, to begin healing the "micro tears" (very small tears in the muscle tissue, caused by intense contraction of the muscle during workout) in the muscle.
Because solid food takes more time to digest and to break down the protein and send it to the muscles, it can be best to take a protein shake immediately following a workout, since protein shakes only take about 30 minutes to reach the muscle after ingestion. Definitely, we can see the advantage to taking a protein shake in this instance.
Which Protein Supplement Is The Best Choice?
Whey is a complete protein with a very high Biological Value (BV) and this means it contains all the essential and nonessential amino acids and boasts the highest branched-chain amino acid content found in nature. The BV of whey is approximately 104, while the next highest BV is 100, for whole egg. In contrast, the BV of whole milk is 91, the BV of casein is 77, beef is 80 and so on - remember we are looking for the highest concentration of protein, its a numbers game!
How Much Should You Take In?
The minimum amount of protein that you should take in for building muscle is 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight (for instance, if you weigh approximately 90 kilos then the minimum amount of protein you should take in is 200 grams of protein for muscle growth). Any additional protein that exceeds the daily minimum for muscle gain just helps to speed up the healing process - if healing is an important factor consider a supplement with added collagen.