Recommend me a good protein shake...

I would recommend MetRx - has some extra (good) calories, good quality protein and tastes reasonably good. You might also consider lifting less than 4 - 5 times weekly, especially if you have a hard time gaining muscle.

 

I Swear by this product. It is one of the most highest grade proteins. I use it after workouts and I mix only one scoop right before I go to bed. Your body recovers during sleep. If you don't feed it aminos and protein, your body will find it's source thru your muscles and eat away at them. By drinking this protein (or any HIGH grade protein) it will feed your muscles. I swear I have a pump when i even wake up in the morning. Plus it has no lactose or dairy. Lactose/Dairy will bloat you by morning time. Use what ever protein you need to after a workout but do try one scoop of this with WATER right before you go to bed (no need to do 2 scoops your body cant digest 60grams over night.) Compare the nutritional facts to ANY other powder. It's one of the most lean high quality powder I have researched. Expensive but there is a reason it is.

Boy i sound like a salesman for this company... I not!


http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/magnum/quattro.html

 

I buy the Cytosport whey protein from Costco. 6 lbs. for $40, tastes great with milk.

 

they owe you a ride in this:
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Don't mind if I do!

 

I like Visalus, they have a whole system of different products

 

My son has been using Chike for over a year now.

Amazing results, I think you can order a free sample from their website. I have tasted it- much better than most products.

http://www.chikenutrition.com/

 

one of the trainers at the gym recommends regular store bought chocolate milk. supposed to have good amount of protein.
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This is what I do when I can't make my regular protein shakes.

 

isopure zero carb shakes. purchase from bodybuilding.com

 

Back when I was playing ball, I took this stuff very seriously. So seriously that I had all of my protein supplements tested for quality and purity at a major university. While our team was sponsored and got free product from a "to remain unnamed" major name in the supplement industry I was sceptical as the FDA doesn't test it.

So, I had it tested at a university in addition to bringing a lot of supply to a major protein blender located in the boonies of northern Wisconsin.

There are few raw material suppliers of protein and specifically milk and whey variants in the US. The largest one as of a few years ago was a company up in the Dakotas. They supplied to everyone and their largest purchaser of the raw materials was Optimum nutrition. I have toured Optimums plant personally back in the day.

Anyway, the results were surprising. Many of the companies I tested probably aren't even around anymore or may have changed hands (happens a lot). When a company changes hands previous results mean little to nothing anymore as the new owners will choose the raw ingredients that go in. Often product quality goes down as the new owner buys the company's good name and now can put cheaper materials in and see higher profits. It's standard in the industry.

For example when Scott Connoly started MetRx back in the day, they had the best protein profile that has ever been put into a formula. And it worked. And it was crazy expensive. The it was sold and less expensive proteins were put in. Then sold again and it got worse. Was a shell of a product of what it once was. when I had it tested, it was garbage. I have no reason to believe the quality has improved.

Same with EAS. Great product when Bill Phillips started it. Then he sold it for millions. The company that took it over put in horrible quality proteins. Then it was sold again and the product got worse. Not too long ago Abbott Labs (huge pharma company)Nutrition division bought it. They bought it for the name and had to drop some lines and redo the formulas in others to make them legit. Prices have gone through the roof compared to before but they are 100% legit.

So the products that tested well were
Optimum Nutrition 100% whey And Pro Complex
Ultimate nutrition whey
Muscle factory protein

Products that were below what they claimed
Designer whey
MetRx
Eas (now is great)
Gnc brand

Products that were horrible
Isopure
Muscletech
Muscle milk

I know I'm leaving some out. Will try to remember.

 

For the record, I take ProComplex from Optimum Nutrition and EAS/Abbott Whey. This is based on my results before and touring of the Optimum facility. In addition to that my friend who was an IFBB Pro bodybuilder also took that. While the amount of drugs he took probably would have enabled him to grow eating cardboard, he took his supplements seriously.

Abbotts Nutrition division wouldn't think of using lesser raw materials than their label claims. They are one of the worlds largest pharmaceutical companies an don't screw around. My wife has worked in their pharmaceutical division for 8 years. They are legit.

 

Interesting. Would muscle milk include all cytosport products or just the stuff labeled Muscle Milk?

 

Muscle Milk. It was a very low grade (food grade) whey concentrate and had a TON of sugar in it. More than the label.

My gut tells me that, of a company is going to screw their customer on their flagship product, their other stuff probably sucks too. Can't say for sure but just a hunch.

 

I've tried EAS recently and really like it a lot.

 

Thanks for posting this - great information. A friend of mine works for probably the largest manufacturer of supplement ingredients and we used to have everything tested by them as well and I've been a MetRx guy ever since. Of course it was more than 15 years ago that we did this and the genius that I am never thought that over the years they might change (cheapen) their formula........great and very interesting post.

 

+1 Any of the whey proteins from Optimum Nutrition are solid. Extremely well priced, great content and free from marketing BS (i.e. MuscleTech).

 

We used work with Bill Phillips and EAS. He invited some of us out to his factory in Colorado. It was eye opening. The got in huge containers of raw materials and simply mixed them to come up with the supplement. The did little on-site manufacturing, it was more like blending. I don't doubt that all the supplement manufacturers use the same suppliers and processes to come up with the product. In EAS' case they spent tons of money on marketing and I personally think that is why they were highly regarded.

 

When I was doing the protein thing I always used Optimum Nutrition "ON" products.

 

That's cool. That's their standard line. While I can't speak to the quality of their other products their protein is solid. One would think that their other lineup is of similar quality but I can't say for sure.

 

Interesting. Cool post. Yeah the company I went up to in northern Wisconsin was a blending company for the big manufacturers. It was a bit comical. I brought all my stuff up there and the guys came out all I'm jeans, flannels etc. It certainly wasn't the lab coats that you see in the ads. Anyway they took me into their office an I laid my stuff out on the table. They all attacked it like vultures and started reading Labels. Next they were opening the lids and pinching some and saying "oh no way. Scott look at this they are claiming hydrolyzed whey and look at this.". Then the other guys would come over and they would all comment and pinch it. One guy started laughing about the blend and pinched some and blew it into the air and was like "look at how that dispersed. No way". It was like I unleashed the nerd in them.

These guys blended for damn near everyone including a few I'd brought. They would get the raw materials shipped in and then blend each recipe per the company spec. From there, they would put it into something that looked like a dog food bag and huge unmarked brown cardboard like barrels. They wouldalap a shipping label on it and off it would go to Weider or MetRx or wherever. From there those companies would put it into their own container and label it.

It was pretty cool seeing these farmer looking guys be able to tell what was in it by touching it or blowing it in the air. But that's all they did all day wad blend protein.

I got to know them well and they would hook me up with THE best instanizes whey and milk isolates. They'd sell me a dog food bag of the raw materials formula $90. And it was like 30lbs of the best stuff on the earth. Or they'd blend me a mix to my specs. It was awesome. Of course it tasted like total crap since it wasn't flavored. Just Raw materials. But ad pure as it gets.

 

If you have the money and want the best, no offense to anyone here, but, this is pretty much the best product on the market. Compare the nutritional numbers. it is expensive (but for a reason).