Weight gain powders offer
a quick, high calorie solution for hardgainers. They are high in
protein and carbohydrates and very convenient. However, not all
weight gain powders are the same, and being able to identify which
ones are the best for good keys is a good attribute for a
bodybuilder.
To determine the quality
of a weight gain, a good place to start is by determining the
quality of the protein itself. The quality of a protein is
determined by how well your body can use it, a factor termed
"biological value," BV for short. This rating is calculated by
taking the total nitrogen retained from eating a protein and
dividing that by the total nitrogen absorbed by eating that
protein. Basically, it refers to how well and how fast your body
actually gets and uses the protein. So a whey like whey isolate (BV
159) is the most readily absorbed, while a milk protein like casein
(BV 77) is absorbed less readily and is said to be pf less quality.
Now, sometimes it's good to eat lower BV rated proteins because you
want to absorb it slowly, like before you go to bed. But generally,
you want protein with a higher BV rating, because you're body is
getting more of the protein you're ingesting, and more quality
products use higher quality proteins. Here's a list of some common
proteins with their BV:
Whey Protein Isolate 159
Whey Protein Concentrate 104 Whole Egg 100 Egg White 88
Chicken/Turkey 79 Casein 77 Soy 74
Keep this information in
mind whenever you buy a gainer, because you'll be an informed
customer when buying it.
Another thing to consider
is how much sugar is contained in the gainer. Excess amounts of
sugar have been shown to give an insulin spike, as well as increase
levels of seratonin. This has been shown to give most people a
feeling of drowsiness, irritability, and headaches. This doesn't
affect everyone, but some people are more sensitive than others.
Plus, the insulin spike sets your body to storing fat. Look at the
nutrition label on the gainer, and see how much sugar it contains,
listed under the carbohydrates. Somewhere in the 30-60 gram range
is pretty good.
This brings up the
question of what you want in the carb/protein/fat ratio. You need
carbs to help protein absorption, and you know you need the
protein. Fats are definitely your friends in a gainer (though not
saturated fat), as they seriously up the calorie content. A general
rule of thumb is twice as much protein as fat, and twice as many
carbs as protein.
Don't want to spend the
money on a supplement and want to try to make your own gainer? It's
quite possible and effective. The easiest thing to do is get a
regular protein powder, and mix in a few tablespoons of flax or
canola oil and some fruit for flavor. You can also throw in some
peanut butter or processed egg whites for more calories and
protein. Be creative, you'll be surprised how decent some of it
tastes. Here's an example recipe:
16 oz. 2% milk 2
tablespoons canola oil 3 tablespoons peanut butter 1 banana 1
serving whey protein (example Optimum Nutrition's 100%
Whey)
Approx. Total: 820
calories 95 g carbs (40g sugars) 48g fat (but only 10g sat fat,
plus lots of Omega 3) 53g protein
You don't even have to buy
a whey powder, you could use an egg substitute for protein, but
whey powders are pretty affordable and I'd recommend
that.
Now to look at some
specific weight gainers. I've examined some of the more popular
ones for the qualities I've talked about, and given my opinion on
them.
Supplement Links!
Links!
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