Protein powder or bcaa

Personally, neither. You can’t out train a bad diet in my opinion so clean eating is the way forward and I don’t think we need as much protein as we think. Diet for weight loss, exercise for fitness.

I mix a scoop of good quality protein (Bulk brand whey) with some low fat Greek yogurt and a bit of high protein granola. Have it just before I go to bed. Combined with a good diet of course.
Train weights 4x weekly with cardio between sets. I’m managing the holy grail of building muscle mass (slowly) while losing fat.
I’m sure it’s not optimised but it’s working.

In reply to Edward2000 my diet is pretty good and clean so im just after some responses out of intrest and i must say as a genral rule im pretty sceptical about all these powders and potions.

Rugby academy dieticians will aim to build up teenagers with loads of muscle mass whereas you're trying to get fitter and healthier, but is your goal the same as when you played rugby to a high standard?
If the answer is no and you're under 40, just eat better and let your body do it's thing.

I have no intrest in getting big! Im a pretty big guy even when i was lean and fit i was still 100kg. Im now a 40 year old who has a tubby belly.

Im after losing the extra pounds, the weight training is mainly a way to keep myself strong and a bit of protection when i crash on my bike or skis. And most of the cardio is zone 2 at the miment trying to build the old engine back up

If that's the case, just keep up what you're doing right now. It sounds like you've got a good balance, you don't really need any extras apart from something tasty to eliminate any immediate tiredness! Enjoy!

Thats what i feel and food tastes better than a baby bottle of formula. Just need to moderate the single malt

If your diet is good you don't need supplements, monitor your food intake using something like myfitnesspal and aim to run at 1-200 calories under your maintenance calories per day.
If your diet is bad then you still don't need supplements, you need to fix your diet.

Personally, neither. You can’t out train a bad diet in my opinion so clean eating is the way forward and I don’t think we need as much protein as we think. Diet for weight loss, exercise for fitness.

this

even on my big bike ride I ate far less protein than folk advise when exercising.

However everyone in the UK should be taking Vit D - thats well proven.

BCAA's are just a subset of proteins, whey is about 25% BCAA's for example so those supplements in Holland an Barrat where they're in 500mg capsules are just expensive and pointless. You can buy it by the kilo though if needed. It tastes absolutely bloody disgusting though.

Depends on your training load. It's entirely possible to just train normally and see if you plateau eventually without it. You might get bored before you plateau, or just not be that fussed about progression (i.e. if you're happy just swinging a kettle bell about for 30minutes and have no desire to deadlift multiples of your bodyweight) in which case it's just a cheap milkshake. Yea, it's not free, but unless you're setting yourself an unrealistic target for protein in your diet then it's cheaper than a mars bar and definitely healthier.

Yeah never going to be chasing big numbers on the lifting (though did get competitive with myself the other day and manage to do 1.5 body weight deadlift)

But im just after being fit again and want to make sure that when im 50 ill be able to play with my kids and go biking skiing whatever

Nahh

No harm in a protein shake, not much cost and IMO beneficial for recovery. Have it within 30 minutes after exercise and don't get a powder with loads of artificial sweeteners in.

Half a story here, or maybe more of a question. I watched that Cafe Stop video with Phillipa York, she said that there was no point having more than a certain amount of protein at a time as your body can only take on so much at once. Presumably, this is why bodybuilders eat all the time.

We need to chew food in order to stimulate the salivary glands, releasing some much needed enzymes to kick off the digestive process.
Shakes are inefficient in that sense, you will be consuming more protein than your body is able to digest, not to forget that many of us as we grow older have a lower tolerance for dairy in such concentrations.

Most people eat less protein than they should be so I wouldn't worry about having too much unless you're really trying.

A protein shake as an added supplement is an easy way to get more protein and they've been proven over and over again to be very beneficial for recovery (helps with DOMS) and feeling full. They're never intended as being a replacement, but as an additional easy, quick source of protein you can't go wrong.

BCAA contains 3 amino acids: leucine, isoleucine and valine.

According to at least one study, A high whey protein-, leucine-, and vitamin D-enriched supplement preserves muscle mass during intentional weight loss in obese older adults.

So in that respect, as you get older and fatter it does make sense to use whey protein and leucine, and BCAA is a reasonably cheap way to get a good dose of leucine.

In my case breakfast in the autumn/winter morning is usually porridge with berries and a multivit on the side. If I have done a hard ride or a resistance workout the day before then I will add a dessert spoon of whey protein, a tea spoon of BCAA and half a teaspoon of sugar (to mask the bitterness of the BCAA). The whey protein makes the porridge a bit thicker & creamier, so I usually add some more milk too (yes, I have porridge with milk instead of water - apologies to the Scots reading 😛).

you will be consuming more protein than your body is able to digest

To maintain muscle mass the recommended daily protein intake is 1g per pound of bodyweight. If you're training for growth, about 1.5g per pound.

You'd be surprised how difficult it is to consume even 1g per lb. I'm eating meat with every single meal of the day, and still only hit about 75% of the maintenance target via those meals.

Most people don't eat enough protein as our traditional western diet is heavily carb based. If you're training, a protein shake is an easy, quick and convenient way to boost protein intake on top of a good, balanced diet.

I hit 1.8 x bodyweight deadlifts yesterday, and my body was definitely grateful for the post workout protein shake.

BCAA's are a bit of a waste of time, amino acids are the building blocks of protein, so to over simplify it, amino-acids are the bricks, proteins are the walls they make.

Best way to think of it i find, is after exercise especially weight training, your muscles are like a rung-out sponge, ready to absorb nutrients, so after exercise you want to be taking in a fast-absorbing protein source such as whey.

if you are doing a lot of training, then it is also useful before bed to take in a slow absorbing protein, something such as greek yoghurt, or in powder terms, casein powders, that continues to feed muscle whilst asleep.

But as above, unless you are training hard, then taking in 20g of protein 4-5 times a day including after exercise should be fine... take in much more than 20g in one go, and you're just paying for an expensive wee...

I started exercising 5 months ago. Have lost 13kgs and put on a load of muscle. I sorted my diet out so i am definitely in calorie deficit (Most of the time) and i hardly eat any processed food anymore. I dont weigh myself much as my weight is now not altering even though my fat is reducing. I use fat calipers and it is confirming my tummy is going so hopefully in another 5 months i will have gotten rid of the man tits and tummy completely 🙂

I was finding that i was struggling to find something to eat before exercising (After work) that didnt load my belly up so i started having a protien shake with a banana mixed in. I use the voom nutrition belgian chocolate mix which is delicious. Means i can do a 1-2hr workout without any hunger and i tend to have a proper meal after. I used to get terrible acid tummy when i didnt watch my diet etc but no longer have any issues.

Voom also do a fudge proptien bar which i have if i feel like eating rather than drinking. Pretty much everything i see from protien youghurts to these voom products have about 20g in them and it would take a huge effort to make too much difference outside of a balanced diet so i just regard it as a nice habit which actually tastes lovely.

How old you know? I've asked for conservative plan with similar goals to you. Told BCAA is not essential for every day but to focus the below to get most value with least effort / cost.

* Sleep, hydration and diet while training.
* Vit D + Magnesium before sleep.
* Protein in food or shake (Organic whey) shortly after training, with option to add creatine. If having big meal straight after can drop the shake.

Was sceptical on supplements but cycling on / off during training def makes a difference to sleep, recover and energy levels to me.

Biggest mistake I made prior was calorie deficit while training both weights & cardio. You will drop weight but kill performance and recovery.

Presumably, this is why bodybuilders eat all the time.

That's as much to do with the calories required to grow muscle, and if your goal is to grow muscle you can't do that in a deficit (unless you're a beginner or very obese).

There's a couple of fairly well understood plateaus that most athletes hit, you can't have a lean* BMI over 25 without steroids. And you definitely won't get close to that without some sort of protein supplement. Just have a look at portion sizes you would need to eat to get >200g protein per day, it's about £15 of chicken.

Which is why meals tend to be 5-6 per day, and all contain a full portion of protein.

The metabolic window (i.e. eat within 30 min of exercise) has been shown to be mostly false, it does have an effect in that for athletes you don't want to be spending the next couple of hours in a calorie deficit, but if the goal is a deficit anyway then it's of less consequence when in the day you have your protein. There are other issues around satiety, having something healthy as you leave the gym will make you less likely to buy a treat when you get home.

*defined as your bodyweight minus the fat, divided by height squared. Which is why even the likes of Hoy and Kenney topped out with BMI's around 26-27. If someone has a BMI higher than that and a low body fat%, they're on something.

To maintain muscle mass the recommended daily protein intake is 1g per pound of bodyweight

https://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthy-sustainable-diets/protein/?level=Health%20professional says 0.75g per kg of bodyweight. That's for a sedentary adult. This they say equates around 56g/day for an adult male of average weight.

Most people don’t eat enough protein as our traditional western diet is heavily carb based

The same source says in the UK the average intake of protein is around 76g/day (equates to around 1g/kg/day).

Other sources for athletes suggest 1-2g/kg.

I have about 40g of vegan protein powder in a shake a day. But then I'm vegetarian and work my body very hard bouldering and training for bouldering.

It is also useful as a way or curving post exercise carb cravings.

But TBH if you're not really pushing it and you eat meat/fish then I wouldn't bother