New PowerBar ProteinPlus™ protein powder drink mix — high-quality protein when you need it.
Let’s face it: Most of us don’t make a living on the gridiron, on the pitch, or riding in a peloton. And we’re not vying for big-money contracts or likely to score a game-winning goal anytime soon.
Instead, exercise central for us is the local gym, where we try to carve out 45 minutes to an hour from our busy schedules primarily in order to lift weights, and maybe to ride an exercise bike or jog on a treadmill if time permits.
Granted, our exploits don’t put us front and center in the sports pages, but we’re still very interested in getting all that we can out of the workouts we do. And we’re just as focused on avoiding unnecessary efforts if they’re not going to help.
So a concern common to athletes of our caliber is how best to recover after exercise, especially after resistance exercise workouts such as weightlifting.
Unlike a body builder, who is striving for large gains in muscle mass, your strength goal might be to build some lean muscle tissue. In addition, you might not be interested in guzzling or chowing down on any more calories than you absolutely need, and you want every post-exercise calorie to count.
Post-exercise conundrum
So what should you do post-exercise in order to recover from and maximize the benefits of your resistance exercise workouts? Two recent studies provide some important answers, and both have to do with protein intake. Amino acid building blocks will help repair and build lean muscle tissue after your exercise session. But how much protein do you really need after exercise in order to build muscle?
How much is enough?
The findings of a Canadian study(1) have helped shed some light on that uncertainty. In this research, athletes consumed either 0, 5, 10, 20, or 40 grams of high-quality protein after an intense bout of leg-based resistance exercise. Scientists then measured how their bodies responded in terms of building muscle protein and preventing the further breakdown of muscle tissue after exercise.
Contrary to the conventional wisdom dispensed around your gym’s water cooler, this study points out that more protein isn’t better when it comes to building muscle. The best results were seen when the athletes consumed 20 grams of protein after the workout. Consuming 40 grams of protein failed to stimulate protein synthesis to any greater extent, and less protein failed to maximize the ability to build new protein. The conclusion of the scientists who conducted the study was that 20 grams of high-quality protein after a workout was sufficient for this group of subjects to maximize muscle tissue growth in response to resistance exercise.
Protein alone or with carbs?
It’s well established that endurance athletes benefit from a combination of carbs and protein after a long workout. Carbs help replenish depleted muscle glycogen stores, and protein provides the amino acids needed for the repair of damaged muscle tissue and to make new proteins in order to adapt to the physiological strain of the workout.
But do you need carbs along with your protein after lifting weights?
Not according to a recent study from the Netherlands. In this research(2), athletes completed a 60-minute resistance exercise workout and then consumed either protein alone, protein with a low amount of carbs, or protein with a high amount of carbs. The investigators then measured muscle protein synthesis over the 6-hour period after the workout. It turns out that the addition of extra carbs did not boost muscle protein synthesis after exercise.
This study concludes that as long as you’re getting an adequate amount of protein after strength training, you don’t need to combine that with carbs in order to reap the full benefit from your workout in terms of muscle tissue repair and building. Extra carbs or extra protein could result in extra calories, which is probably something you’re working hard to avoid.
Great-tasting protein when you need it
New
PowerBar ProteinPlus™ protein powder drink mix makes it easy to get high-quality protein when you need it. And it tastes great. Just mix a scoop with water and shake. In seconds you’ll have a great-tasting beverage that can provide the amino acids that you need in order to repair and build lean muscle tissue after your workouts.
PowerBar ProteinPlus protein powder drink mix is an excellent source of protein and has
20 grams of protein per serving. Featuring PowerBar
® TriSource™ protein blend, it combines whey, soy, and casein. These protein sources are absorbed by the body at different rates, so they can deliver a steady supply of amino acids to help reduce muscle breakdown after exercise, help with the repair of muscle tissue, and build lean muscle tissue in response to your resistance exercise.
To help maximize the benefits of your gym workouts, make PowerBar ProteinPlus protein powder drink mix your protein of choice after exercise.
References:
1. Moore DR, Robinson MJ, Fry JL, Tang JE, Glover EI, Wilkinson SB, Prior T, Tarnopolsky MA, Phillips SM. Ingested Protein Dose Response of Muscle and Albumin Protein Synthesis After Resistance Exercise in Young Men. Am J Clin Nutr 2009; 89: 1–8.
2. Koopman R, Beelen M, Stellingwerff T, Pennings B, Saris WHM, Kies AK, Kuipers H, van Loon LJC. Coingestion of Carbohydrate with Protein Does Not Further Augment Postexercise Muscle Protein Synthesis. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2007; 293: E833–E842
Topics:
Post-Workout, Protein, Research, Strength training, Shape, Usage, Muscle
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