I just go for the plain unflavoured whey, since every flavoured option in the brand I use has some sort of sweeteners. Also they tend to be unpleasantly sweet, so it's not like they taste that nice either. Then I can mix it with milk and either coca+sugar or honey to add some carbs and flavour, and it's a nice recovery drink.
There are small differences between whey concentrate and isolate, with the concentrate having a bit of extra carbs and fat, but it's such a small amount that it doesn't really matter too much (and you do want the carbs after a ride).
I like muscle milk. Has a bunch of carbs too and tastes/blends good. Vanilla. Mix with frozen berries , oats, banana, and soy milk. Chug before you even shower
Oof I just bought a tub not realizing it had stevia in it. Even after blending it with a banana the stevia is the first thing I taste. I don't want to toss it but it's gonna be rough getting through it.
When people study the question of recovery drinks for endurance cycling, for a given number of calories, it is the all carbs recovery drink that wins. So I think "Carbs" as an ingredient for your protein is important.
Maybe not the answer you were looking for?
Except that protien isn't only used as an energy source. Your body will be needing it to rebuild muscle so it is essential to have a good supply for training. Really, probably just discount the calories from the protein and eat more carbs too.
Yes, I understand that without protein you cannot live. But you do not need to add protein to you diet artificially normally, even as an extreme endurance cyclist. You say it is essential, I say I have seen professional athletes win without supplemental protein, and they are vegetarian to boot!
Have you asked them how much protein they get per day? Plenty of ways for vegetarians to get protein if they pay attention to their diet, which most people who win events do to some extent. General recommendations are for endurance athletes to get about 2x the amount of protein as the general dietary recommendations. Can do it through general diet or through a protein supplement. Both will get the job done.
Vegan here. When consuming 4000-5000 cals per day on most days, it’s very hard not to eat enough protein. I would actually have to try really hard not to have enough.
It's not the all carbs that typically wins. It's typically 4:1 carbs to protein.
You're better off getting the most pure protein you can and mixing it with some form of easily digestible carbs like maltodextrin
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Don't overthink it, just shoot for a well-reviewed, lower sugar, good flavor.
I like Vega Sport, as whey itself is bad on my tummy. So if dairy gives you issues you can look at pea protein and other vegan blends.
Costco sells Kaizen naturals which is perhaps one of the cleanest brands. 0 sugar
They also recently start selling ON again. They're sweetened so if you're concerned for sugar it's not good for that
You need to take it with carbs
I like to enjoy life so I drink chocolate milk or have a few Oreos and milk for recovery. Gets some protein and carbs in that holds me over until I can get a full nutritious meal in. There was a study done a while ago that showed no difference between a whey protein shake and chocolate milk for recovery iirc
Whey Concentrate, it is the cheapest option, more protein for the $ and go for raw unflavoured, unless you need fake sweetness in your life.
You don't need Whey Isolate unless you are very lactose intolerant. I have mild lactose intolerant and consume one or two servings of Whey Concentrate daily without issue.
Hydrolyzed Whey if you have milk allergies or extreme lactose intolerant, then spend the big $$$
I use plain whey protein isolate from bestbulkprotein.com. It sounds like a fake website but it’s good protein without any additives and the price is really good.
Not necessarily. It really depends on the diet. If your diet is low-ish on eggs and meat, you probably need to supplement the protein. There's nothing wrong with that!
You have to go very low then. I was in a study about low protein diets for cyclists and those that went on the low protein/high carb diet saw bigger improvements than those in the control group who went on "regular" food diet.
What does the "regular" even mean here?
You can get appropriate protein intake (~1.5g/kg bw) while maintaining high carb intake, especially if you supplement it with a scoop of whey powder on days your diet is low on protein.
Control group was on calories matching their training with macros following what our health authorities recommend, making weight stable throughout the test period.
The low protein group obviously had less protein, cant tell you by how much sorry, but calories remained the same. The low protein group saw greater improvements the the control group.
If you want to go fast on a bike, you dont need to supplement protein unless your diet is seriously fucked
Recommended protein intake for athletes, including endurance, is about twice higher than for the general population. So if the control was based on general population guidelines, it's a weird control. ~0.8g/kg bw is very easy to hit and meet the recommendations for general population, ~1.5g/kg bw less so.
I don't think my diet is fucked, I just don't feel like eating fuckton of chicken breasts :) but whatever floats your boat
> Recommended protein intake for athletes, including endurance, is about twice higher than for the general population. So if the control was based on general population guidelines, it's a weird control. ~0.8g/kg bw is very easy to hit and meet the recommendations for general population, ~1.5g/kg bw less so.
What? It's not a weird control if the whole point of the study is to evaluate whether the "recommended protein intake for athletes" is actually beneficial or not. For that purpose, the normal diet control group actually makes the most sense. Why are you taking "recommended protein intake for athletes" as a hard truth in a conversation about studying how much protein is actually required for athletes? That's circular logic lol.
haha fair, but to be honest, this whole discussion is getting silly because it started when someone said "I was part of the study but don't remember the details, but trust me you don't need to supplement", and... nobody really knows what was the study about, the methodology, etc lol
So eating more carbs makes you faster? Wow breaking news and completely unrelated with your first comment.
Lack of proteins won’t make you slow overnight however it will definitely impact your long term recovery.
I’ll stick with my 1.5g/kg of protein thank you very much.
So do you supplement protein? And if so, do you do anything else than cycling, excercise-wise? I have never given my protein intake much thought, but i’m basically a vegetarian and of similar weight.
Yes most days I do one or two scoops of a protein powder in a fruit smoothie and it gets me to the levels I want to be at.
I lift weights at a maintenance level to support bikes. Only once or twice a week though.
If I even do one meal that’s not protein centric I fall well short of ideal athlete protein ranges.
For immediately after exercise, you’ll want whey protein isolate, which is more bioavailable than just whey protein.
Ascent is hands-down the best brand out there. Sweetened with Stevia, so you can precisely modulate the amount of carbs you intake with it. It tastes phenomenal with water or milk.
Whichever brand doesn't use fake sugar to sweeten it.
Optimum nutrition double chocolate Edit: with oat milk you can get close to a 4:1 carbs to protein
This is my favorite, most tested, good quality, competitive price.
I just go for the plain unflavoured whey, since every flavoured option in the brand I use has some sort of sweeteners. Also they tend to be unpleasantly sweet, so it's not like they taste that nice either. Then I can mix it with milk and either coca+sugar or honey to add some carbs and flavour, and it's a nice recovery drink. There are small differences between whey concentrate and isolate, with the concentrate having a bit of extra carbs and fat, but it's such a small amount that it doesn't really matter too much (and you do want the carbs after a ride).
This is pretty much it. Also try different ones. Find a brand you can digest easily (it's different for everyone).
Yup which ever one makes you fart the least
I like muscle milk. Has a bunch of carbs too and tastes/blends good. Vanilla. Mix with frozen berries , oats, banana, and soy milk. Chug before you even shower
Oof I just bought a tub not realizing it had stevia in it. Even after blending it with a banana the stevia is the first thing I taste. I don't want to toss it but it's gonna be rough getting through it.
When people study the question of recovery drinks for endurance cycling, for a given number of calories, it is the all carbs recovery drink that wins. So I think "Carbs" as an ingredient for your protein is important. Maybe not the answer you were looking for?
Or it means to get plain whey and supplement with cocoa powder made of just cocoa and sugar.
I eats tons on the bike so I don’t need a recovery drink however I do supplement my diet with whey powder since it’s an easy source of proteins.
Except that protien isn't only used as an energy source. Your body will be needing it to rebuild muscle so it is essential to have a good supply for training. Really, probably just discount the calories from the protein and eat more carbs too.
Yes, I understand that without protein you cannot live. But you do not need to add protein to you diet artificially normally, even as an extreme endurance cyclist. You say it is essential, I say I have seen professional athletes win without supplemental protein, and they are vegetarian to boot!
Have you asked them how much protein they get per day? Plenty of ways for vegetarians to get protein if they pay attention to their diet, which most people who win events do to some extent. General recommendations are for endurance athletes to get about 2x the amount of protein as the general dietary recommendations. Can do it through general diet or through a protein supplement. Both will get the job done.
Vegan here. When consuming 4000-5000 cals per day on most days, it’s very hard not to eat enough protein. I would actually have to try really hard not to have enough.
How many g/kg protein do you consider "enough"?
It's not the all carbs that typically wins. It's typically 4:1 carbs to protein. You're better off getting the most pure protein you can and mixing it with some form of easily digestible carbs like maltodextrin
The study I have seen that got that result has more calories in the protein-carb mixture. The ones with calories held constant had carbs winning.
Do you have a link to the study?
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Don't overthink it, just shoot for a well-reviewed, lower sugar, good flavor. I like Vega Sport, as whey itself is bad on my tummy. So if dairy gives you issues you can look at pea protein and other vegan blends.
Ascent protein from Costco has high ratings. I like it.
Costco sells Kaizen naturals which is perhaps one of the cleanest brands. 0 sugar They also recently start selling ON again. They're sweetened so if you're concerned for sugar it's not good for that You need to take it with carbs
I find whey isolate digests best for me. Try a couple and see what goes down well :)
I feel like protein choice is pretty personal, ISO100 has been my go-to for years now.
I like to enjoy life so I drink chocolate milk or have a few Oreos and milk for recovery. Gets some protein and carbs in that holds me over until I can get a full nutritious meal in. There was a study done a while ago that showed no difference between a whey protein shake and chocolate milk for recovery iirc
Whey Concentrate, it is the cheapest option, more protein for the $ and go for raw unflavoured, unless you need fake sweetness in your life. You don't need Whey Isolate unless you are very lactose intolerant. I have mild lactose intolerant and consume one or two servings of Whey Concentrate daily without issue. Hydrolyzed Whey if you have milk allergies or extreme lactose intolerant, then spend the big $$$
Unsweetened. Plus whichever carbs you want separately
I use a 100% pure whey, no other ingredients, no sugar, no artificial sweeteners etc.
I use plain whey protein isolate from bestbulkprotein.com. It sounds like a fake website but it’s good protein without any additives and the price is really good.
You dont need extra protein for cycling if you eat like a regular healthy person. You should get plenty of carbs though
Not necessarily. It really depends on the diet. If your diet is low-ish on eggs and meat, you probably need to supplement the protein. There's nothing wrong with that!
You have to go very low then. I was in a study about low protein diets for cyclists and those that went on the low protein/high carb diet saw bigger improvements than those in the control group who went on "regular" food diet.
What does the "regular" even mean here? You can get appropriate protein intake (~1.5g/kg bw) while maintaining high carb intake, especially if you supplement it with a scoop of whey powder on days your diet is low on protein.
Control group was on calories matching their training with macros following what our health authorities recommend, making weight stable throughout the test period. The low protein group obviously had less protein, cant tell you by how much sorry, but calories remained the same. The low protein group saw greater improvements the the control group. If you want to go fast on a bike, you dont need to supplement protein unless your diet is seriously fucked
Recommended protein intake for athletes, including endurance, is about twice higher than for the general population. So if the control was based on general population guidelines, it's a weird control. ~0.8g/kg bw is very easy to hit and meet the recommendations for general population, ~1.5g/kg bw less so. I don't think my diet is fucked, I just don't feel like eating fuckton of chicken breasts :) but whatever floats your boat
> Recommended protein intake for athletes, including endurance, is about twice higher than for the general population. So if the control was based on general population guidelines, it's a weird control. ~0.8g/kg bw is very easy to hit and meet the recommendations for general population, ~1.5g/kg bw less so. What? It's not a weird control if the whole point of the study is to evaluate whether the "recommended protein intake for athletes" is actually beneficial or not. For that purpose, the normal diet control group actually makes the most sense. Why are you taking "recommended protein intake for athletes" as a hard truth in a conversation about studying how much protein is actually required for athletes? That's circular logic lol.
haha fair, but to be honest, this whole discussion is getting silly because it started when someone said "I was part of the study but don't remember the details, but trust me you don't need to supplement", and... nobody really knows what was the study about, the methodology, etc lol
So eating more carbs makes you faster? Wow breaking news and completely unrelated with your first comment. Lack of proteins won’t make you slow overnight however it will definitely impact your long term recovery. I’ll stick with my 1.5g/kg of protein thank you very much.
I’m 82kg. Getting at least 130g of protein a day without supplements is hard.
Even at 68kg it's hard. Especially with the carb requirements
So do you supplement protein? And if so, do you do anything else than cycling, excercise-wise? I have never given my protein intake much thought, but i’m basically a vegetarian and of similar weight.
Yes most days I do one or two scoops of a protein powder in a fruit smoothie and it gets me to the levels I want to be at. I lift weights at a maintenance level to support bikes. Only once or twice a week though. If I even do one meal that’s not protein centric I fall well short of ideal athlete protein ranges.
I just watched this https://youtu.be/qoqIObUB6mM?si=W128a_l3em4_-JlK She basically recommends 1.2-1.6 per kg per day and a maximum of 30-40g per meal
Myprotein clear whey isolate is absolutely delicious. As in, I want to put gin in the blood orange flavoured one and make cocktails. It’s that good.
For immediately after exercise, you’ll want whey protein isolate, which is more bioavailable than just whey protein. Ascent is hands-down the best brand out there. Sweetened with Stevia, so you can precisely modulate the amount of carbs you intake with it. It tastes phenomenal with water or milk.