Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Stepping it up with protein!

It seems as though it's time to step my strength training up again - last night I completed the most demanding workout of the week (besides Hell Night) and at the end I hadn't broke a sweat! It's obvious that Hell Nights are truly doing great things for my body but it's becoming harder and harder to challenge my body on the other nights that I focus on conditioning. I may need to invest in the 20kg weighted vest as I don't think the 10kg version is tough enough now for pushups, pullups, chinups etc.

I think another contributing factor to my increased strength and recovery is that I've started taking whey protein shakes after my workouts to maximise muscle recovery and feed my muscles with high quality protein when they need it most. I highly recommend investing in a tub of whey protein if you take strength training and conditioning seriously. I bought mine from Holland and Barrett for about £20... if you wait until there is a sale (usually every two months or so) and stock up then apparently you can get the same big tub for as little as £8. I started taking the supplement a week ago and there's no doubt I'm recovering faster and gaining lean muscle mass and definition with no side effects.
If you're worried about taking supplements to boost your training then there's no need with whey protein, there's no steroids or 'weight gain' involved, all it's doing is whacking 40g of protein into your bloodstream to feed your muscles after a workout. It also comes in four flavours; strawberry (I can vouch for this one being gorgeous), banana, vanilla and chocolate to suit your personal tastes.

So if you're struggling to eat enough chicken, turkey, eggs etc. during the day to keep your protein levels high, then consider looking into protein shakes - you won't be dissapointed.

Video Update: It's 90% done. I have 2.5 minutes of edited video ready to go and with another 30 seconds of footage and some polishing off, I'll whack it all together and release it. ETA - 1 week.

-Blane

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

You need to invest in a dipping belt and 10/20kg plates so you can keep stepping up the resistance on your pulls and chins, and you can put the plates on you back when doing push ups :P I dont think this would be recommended though!!!

Looking forward to seeing that video Blane, hopefully it'll inspire me to get back into things after about half a year out :(

Anonymous said...

Hey blane,
nice to see you're still making good progress...
i am looking forward to see your video!
but where's your diary :D ?
would really like to read it...

regards ole

Anonymous said...

Hm, I'm still waiting for my back to recover after a muscle strain/tear.... and after that we are going to have Hell Nights here too :) BTW I'm from Bulgaria, one of the countries that joined the EU, just a month ago (or so).

So this whey protein is going to help my muscles recover faster and I'll will be able to train at full power sooner? Interesting.. I should check it out!!

Anonymous said...

Yeah where is the diary!
Looking forward to the vid man, and i may invest in some whey cos i dont recover as fast as i want to and its hard to eat enough protein in natural form i find, so yeah as long as you vouch for it i may well give it a go,
roll on the vid

Chris 'Blane' Rowat said...

Hi all, my diary isn't online anywhere I'm afraid... it's all on paper in a big book.

Bainio - Yeah I'm thinking of adding more weight but for now I might just add more reps... I think I'll maintain my current strength level for a while and improve my muscle endurance.

crysiss - Nice to hear you're planning on starting your own Hell Night in Bulgaria, I've had a LOT of people contact me from all over the world for more details and advice to start their own. If you have any questions then contact me and I'll do my best to help you. An increase in protein will help your muscles rebuild and recover sooner so I do recommend the whey protein if you can't eat 5 chickens every day. :D

Jin - I completely approve and support the stuff, I was dubious and a bit worried about any other effects it would have on my body besides fuel it for maximum and accelerated recovery but that's all it's done for me. I actually feel guilty drinking something so damn gorgeous, I keep wondering how it can possibly be good for me! Haha. Truth is, it's just a fast absorbing version of what you find in chicken, turkey, eggs etc. Totally natural.

Filming should be finished this weekend then i'll lock myself in the Batcave to edit.

-Blane

Phily D said...

Can't wait for the vid at all lol, those protien shakes sound good but quite expensive also do you think it might be worse for younger people? (because of hormones or something)

Max said...

hey phil, i just read your comment, and after reading blane's post, i emailed holland and barrett asking about protein supplements affecting teens (I'm 15) and they said that it's fine, just make sure you don't over do it. (so probably around 30 grams tops).
As for blane, it's just more and more impressive to read about your progress-can't wait for the video

Max

Chris 'Blane' Rowat said...

Nice one checking with H&B Max, it's cool that they care for their customers and take time to give out good info. As they said, it's fine for younger people as it's a natural substance for the body found in food. =)

*B*

Phily D said...

Awesomeness thanks a lot max and blane, i should definately invest in some very soon

Anonymous said...

Hey Blane,
My name is andrej, i am from moscow, russia. I have been reading your blog for a while, your training is very good. :) Great respect for the conditioning you do.

About whey.
I have been taking whey for around 5 monthes and then stopped.
I haven't noticed significant gain in muscle mass, the only benefit was a little bit faster recovery.
The funniest thing is that I started gaining more mass after i stopped taking it.
Very starnge - i guess it works different for different people. ;)

Regards,
andrej from moscow.

Anonymous said...

Loving the stuff! Definately recovering after intense strength training much quicker.
I wasnt so sure about trying out the chocolate or banana flavours so I stuck with your advice on the strawberry... chrz!

Mike...