<p>So for the past few days, I've been seriously considering working out and lifiting and hoping to get jacked. Today I brought some whey protein but am not sure on how to 'use' it. For example, when should I take it? How much should I take? Should I take it on an empty stomach, should I take it before or after the workout? Please help...I want to get huge.</p>
<p>Drink them 2-3 times a day. On days that I work out, I drink one in the morning, one before the work out and one after the work out. On regular days I drink them after meals. Drinking protien shakes is not a subsitute for eating. You should be eating protien heavy meals as well. I like it mixed with milk. With water its even nastier. Hope that helped - DAN</p>
<p>You should take whey protein immediately before and after each of your workouts; taking it with milk is fine. Whey protein is far superior than any other type around your workouts because it is digested and distributed very quickly throughout your body; it helps your muscles immediately recover. Another type of slower-digesting protein wouldn't be a bad thing to try for other times throughout the day; casein protein is probably the best for this. Your pre-workout protein shake should come at least half an hour after the last time you ate.</p>
<p>The key to getting "jacked," though, is eating a lot. Take in more calories than your body can burn each day, with lots of good carbs and proteins (including your shakes) throughout the day and you'll be set; your diet is far more important than your lifting regimen. Treat it that way.</p>
<p>braves: thats also the path to getting fat.</p>
<p>protein shakes are nasty so i have steak and eggs more often instead. and it gave me hives cause for some reason im allergic to the whey.</p>
<p>You don't need protein supplementation to build muscle. That is a myth.</p>
<p>I take whey protein with a strawberry/banana smoothie and it tastes good.. I make it in the morning drink and drink about a glass then drink another glass right after I workout (before I go home and eat)</p>
<p>I take the vanilla 100% whey protein from GNC by the way :)</p>
<p>riptide: People do not gain muscle and lose fat at the same time; it just does not happen. If you want to get jacked, you first have to put on the weight; no matter how strict your diet is, you will gain some fat along with the muscle. If you do not injest enough calories to satisfy your body's daily requirement, your body will look to other sources for the energy, namely fat and muscle. It is impossible to gain muscle without taking in more calories than your metabolism burns naturally for energy. If you want to keep the fat gains to a minimum while you are adding weight, do light cardio or plan a cutting period after a few seasons with the bulking. </p>
<p>That is the most basic and fundamental rule of weightlifting, riptide; if newcomers can't understand that, they'll never be able to make any gains.</p>
<p>why is this question on CC? ever heard of google?</p>
<p>there is a lot of confusing information on google, particularly on this subject.</p>
<p>just go to bodybuilding.com</p>
<p>lifting gives your body impetus to grow, eating provides the materials your body needs to get big. that's the rule of lifting to gain mass, braves is right. your body will not build muscle if it is constantly underfed.. why would it? this causes an increase in the basal metabolic rate and hence a larger caloric deficiency. would a rational person buy a porsche on installment if they only made 1k a month? same difference. </p>
<p>cavalier, you are right to say that whey protein supplementation is not necessary for someone to get big, if that person is consuming at least 1.5g of protein per pound of body mass. even then, most of these protein sources are slow-digesting compared to protein, and would be less effective in windows like the 45 mins after you work out where protein uptake is the highest.</p>
<p>DMADL, whey is at its most effective in the 45 minutes after you workout. of course make sure you consume some simple carbs too to spike your insulin. idea is, simple carbs right after workout, whey about 30 mins after. second to that, whey is most effective before you lift.</p>
<p>Yes, sixsixty hit it on the nose... the best post workout (immediately after you workout, within minutes ideally) drink will combine 1/3 of whey protein with 2/3 of simple carbs, like sugar/dextrose. A really good thing to eat right after a workout is a nice glazed donut and drink a pint of chocolate milk with whey protein mixed in.... or just take a 12oz. serving of powerade/gatorade and mix 2 scoops of whey powder in it... shake it up, and perfecto!</p>
<p>About an hour/hour in a half after your workout, switch the portions to 1/3 carbs, 2/3 protein... and your body will love you and the results you are looking for will come if you are diligent and disciplined.... </p>
<p>Oh, and always remember that "you are what you eat." You can't ever be any bigger than the amount of food you take in, and you can't ever be any healthier than the health of the food you eat. So, keep that in mind next time you gulp down a 32oz. coke with a big mac and fries...</p>
<p>80-85% of body transformation is based on your diet. you are what you eat. that means no coke, alcohol, or anything fried. eat lots of chicken, salmon, and broccoli, fruit, and whole foods (they are a bit more expensive) and results will show rather quickly. a few double scoop whey shakes each day helps out quite a bit too. you really do have to alter your lifestyle and your thoughts on food. it can be hard at first but you get used to it after a week or two.</p>
<p>The bottom line is your body can only metabolize a certain # of grams of protein at at any one setting--anything over that threshold is eliminated. As I tell my patients, taking lost of met-rx or other high protein shakes per day is a great way to make expensive urine!</p>
<p>Have a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread with a glass of chocolate milk and you will get the same result and save alot of $</p>
<p>All of these tips are fine and dandy for getting "jacked", but fact of the matter is, noone knows if these will work with YOU, your body type and the way your body responds to certain foods. My personal trainer and nutrionist had to create and rip up several programs because they were not working for me.</p>
<p>(When I started working out seriously I was a bit chubby...14-15 years old 5'3 155ish)</p>
<p>Originally my goal was to get cut and lose the fat, they had me in the gym 2-3 hours a day, switching up from cardio then lifting on odd days and lifting then cardio on even days. Everything was taken slow. Everything I ate was monitored. A lot of chicken, vegetables and water. It wasn't really working. I'd lose perhaps 3 lbs a week of fat and add one lb of muscle. So a net loss of 8 lbs a month wasnt doing much at all for me. I was on this program for 3 months before we killed it.</p>
<p>Then I hopped on a HIIT(High Intensity Interval Training) program. The results were absolutely monsterously good. I was going to the gym an hour a day now. However, I was getting the 2-3 hours of work in still. Except now I worked on a 40 minute cardio/20 minute lifting on odd days and 40 minute lifting/20 minute cardio on even days. My results nearly doubled. I'd lose about 6-7 lbs a week of fat and add back on 3-4 in muscle. Eventually, I hit my ideal weight of about 145(by age 16...yea the numbers dont quite add up, but trust me those were the numbers). Now my sports were becoming more serious so I needed to add the weight the right ways like muscle...so I continued the HIIT training, but my nutrionist threw away the food log and told me to eat just as I wanted to as long as I stayed with HIIT. My caloric intake jumped from about 2250 calories to about 4200 calories a day. Alot of fast food and yummm chips. With HIIT and a tiny addition to my gym time(55 minutes lifting 25 cardio was the steady program) I got up to 170 lbs comfortably on my 5'5" frame by age 17.</p>
<p>I'm currently 19, about 5'5" 180 lbs, I don't look a lb above 150(and my frame isnt even close to filled out) and I'm a strong as an Ox, all thanks to HIIT training. Some people are critical of HIIT training for muscle pulls and such, but I look at it as you don't know until you try. I workout with large weights in a fast pace(I rest less than a minute between sets and less than two between changes of exercises), a lot of people think I'm nuts and will get hurt, but it's never happened.</p>
<p>hoke, what does the cardio portion of your HIIT training look like? i'm just curious because i've been meaning to make up an interval workout. do you just do interval running? or other things like bike, elliptical, etc?</p>
<p>During a 20 minute cardio HIIT program it's...</p>
<p>(all numbers come from the treadmill...)
2 minutes walking to loosen up. (3 MPH)
3 minutes jogging (say 5 MPH)
2 minutes walking (3 MPH)
3 minutes sprinting (7-8 MPH)</p>
<p>repeat twice. Then of course there is the "cooldown" on the treadmills which is usually between 3-4 MPH for two minutes...I don't include that in the 20, but I don't like finishing from an extreme heart pumping exercise to doing nothing.</p>
<p>When I'm doing 25 minute programs...</p>
<p>15 minutes on the bike as fast as I can</p>
<p>Then the first four steps of my treadmill work.</p>
<p>hokegoalie, the OP had initially asked about nutrition, not programs. as far as programs are concerned you're right, to each his own. HIT worked for you, but the OP might be more responsive to volume training methods like GVT, or even hybridized ones like OVT. It's up to you to find your groove DMADL! For starters I would recommend reading Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe.</p>
<p>I touched on nutrition a tiny bit...but noone knows your nutrition, metabolism and body like yourself(or a nutrionist...). All these tips are great, but if his body doesnt respond to whey protein(like mine doesn't...) all these $6 smoothies and shakes are nothing but a hole in the wallet.</p>
<p>I was just listing my experiences in getting "jacked".</p>
<p>The knowledgeable people in this thread aren't suggesting that whey protein be used to replace proteins from whole food sources. Hydrolyzed whey protein is useful for pre and post workout when your body needs it most and fast. In addition to whey protein pre and post postworkout, I also eat slow digesting casein protein found in cottage cheese shortly before going to bed to minimize catabolism during my sleep/fast.</p>