John Phung

Archives For whey protein concentrate

[Case Study]: How Less Than 25 lb Of Whey Protein Concentrate Added Over 50 lb To My Squat, Bench & Deadlift (Yeah Right)

October 29, 2013 — 1 Comment

A few months ago I was running low on whey protein (actually I still have 3 tubs of that yucky MuscleTech Phase8) so I decided to get some bulk protein.

I picked up a 25 lb box of vanilla flavored whey protein concentrate from CanadaProtein.com.

Previously I purchased a 25 lb box of vanilla flavored whey protein isolate + concentrate mix from them last year, but decided to go with the WPC mainly because it was cheaper, and in the long run, in my opinion, there’s probably not going to be much difference between ingesting WPC vs a WPC + WPI mix (or whey protein isolate, whey protein hydrolysate or any other variation or combination) except on my wallet.

I posted this status on Facebook shortly after purchasing (on June 13, 2013):

Post by John Phung.

My PR’s at the time for the 3 lifts are:

So, according to my “math” and Facebook status, I should be at these numbers by the time I’m done ingesting all this powder:

Squat: 530 lb
Bench Press: 395 lb
Deadlift: 572.2 lb

As of September 26, 2013 (which is over a month ago prior to today's post), my PRs are:

I still have about 5 lb of the whey protein concentrate remaining, and I have already added 32 lb to my squat, 15 lb to my bench press, and 7.8 lb to my deadlift.

Overall, I have added 54.8 lb to my big 3 lifts using less than 25 lb of vanilla flavored whey protein concentrate.

Therefore...

Whey protein concentrate works!

For every pound of vanilla flavored whey protein concentrate ingested, 2-2.5 pounds will be added to your total. Not a bad deal if you ask me, especially for this cheaper form of whey protein.

So, if you want to add > 50 lb to your overall total in the squat, bench press and deadlift, pick up some whey protein concentrate and experience the gains like I did:

25 lb Vanilla Whey Protein Concentrate From CanadianProtein.com

JUST KIDDING.

Seriously though, the gains cannot be solely attributed to only WPC.

To be honest, I'm not much of a supplements guy. I tend to think most of the supplements on the market today are not as effective as they claim to be, if they are effective at all, and in general are fueled by marketing dollars in an attempt to take money out of the pockets of those looking for a quick way to get strong/jacked/slim/toned/cut/fit/healthy/etc.

I also think that those who spend a lot of time and money on supplements don't really track their own results to determine if whatever they're taking really produces any measurable results and rely on marketing hype and/or the reasoning of:

"These studies and/or before-and-after pictures indicate it should work, therefore, it's working for me!"

Aside from whey protein (which has a double function for me, not only as a source of protein but as a coffee creamer), a cheap multivitamin, fish oil, caffeine and ephedrine, I don't really take anything else. I'm currently testing out adding coconut oil to my coffee. It makes my lips oily and makes my coffee tastes a bit better, but I don't think I would notice any changes if I suddenly stopped ingesting it.

I used to take creatine, one of the most effective supplements supported by many studies, but since I ran out and stopped taking it, I haven't noticed any negative changes. I was expecting to get weaker and/or not have the stamina to complete my workout, but this wasn't the case.

Much of my progress (and I would bet, most of everyone else's progress) comes from solid consistent training, eating good enough, eating enough, sleeping enough, hard/smart work, persistence, and all those things that marketed as some sort of magic bullet to instant gains.

If I alter any of these things, I'm pretty damn sure they would have a big impact on my progress.

In the end, I'll probably pick up some creatine down the road once there's a sale, just to try it out again. Also, I'll likely continue taking some form of whey protein (likely WPC, because it's cheap) because it's an easy way to ingest and store protein, and it makes instant coffee tastes a million times better.

But, the road to a 600 lb squat, 405+ lb bench press and 600 lb deadlift for me is going to be fueled by consistent hard work, a lot of food, a lot of sleep, and...you know, all that non-sexy stuff that can't be sold in a bottle.

In Blog supplements, whey protein concentrate

MuscleTech Phase8 Review

March 14, 2013 — 6 Comments

Originally I bought MuscleTech Phase8 whey protein thinking that it was a protein powder, similar to that of Optimum Nutrition’s Gold Standard 100% whey protein or Dymatize Elite.

Turns out, it’s not.

According to the “supplement facts”, it only contains a little over 60% protein per serving.

It also contains 7 grams of carbohydrates. Something that I wasn’t expecting because I ASSuMEd it was just a “regular” protein powder.

You know, the stuff that has a ~30 g serving size and a 24+ g of protein per serving with 1-3 g of carbs.

It was listed under the category “protein powder”, and all of the protein powder I had bought previously was the regular stuff I just described.

They say that it contains “only half the carbs and fat of the leading competitor”. I’m not sure who or what product they are referring to.

My mistake, and lesson learned: Read the label before buying

It seems like it doesn’t fit into any category that I’m aware of. It contains too little carbohydrates to be classified as a meal replacement, post-workout powder or mass gainer. But it contains too much carbs to be a pure protein powder. Maybe there’s some new made-up category that popped up recently that I’m not aware of.

My plan was to take this later after I finish my existing tubs of protein, but since this stuff has more carbs than I expected (probably due to the maltodextrin, the 2nd ingredient listed after it’s protein blend), I’m going to drink MuscleTech Phase8 during my workout.

Anyway, I ended up purchasing 2 jugs of each flavor (strawberry, chocolate and vanilla) for a total of 6 jugs because of some buy 1 get 1 free deal. So now I have 27 lb of this MuscleTech Phase8 powder.

What I thought was a little weird was that the weight of the protein was not the same for every flavor.

The strawberry is only 4.4 lb, vanilla is 4.5 lb, and milk chocolate is 4.6 lb.

I don’t know if this is the case with every manufacturer, but I thought it was odd.

Ingredients

According to the product description, it contains a protein blend which is listed as:

1. Hydrolyzed Whey Protein Isolate
2. Whey Protein Isolate
3. Whey Protein Concentrate
4. Milk Protein Concentrate
5. Calcium Caseinate
6. Micellar Casein

Interestingly, the order of the type of protein listed on their product profile is not the same as the order in which they’re listed in the “ingredients” label:

I wish they would show the quantities or some percentage of each type of protein instead of simply listing it out in a bracket under “protein blend”.

I also want to point out something that caught my eye:

Processed in a facility that also processes wheat, egg, fish and shellfish.

I checked to see if my other protein powders had this, and it did not.

I would be interested to see this facility that processes wheat, egg, fish and shellfish…along with MuscleTech Phase8 powder. Maybe there’s a MuscleTech wheat, egg, fish and shellfish product out there?

Sustained Release Protein

The claim in their marketing is “8-Hour Sustained-Release Protein Absorption”.

I’m not sure how I can test this out for myself to see if it is true, but I would bet eating a steak and not chewing it thoroughly would provide me with a longer “Sustained-Release Protein Absorption” than an easily digestible protein powder that contains some “Digestive Enzyme Matrix” to help digest it.

Scoop & Serving Size

The scoop is much larger than I’m accustomed to seeing, but it makes sense because the serving size is much larger than average.

The serving size is a whopping 41 g, and it only contains 26 g of protein per serving. See the comparisons below (the MuscleTech scoop is on the right side).

Mixability

It’s a very fine powder, something similar to that of baby powder. Because of this, MuscleTech Phase8 mixes well, but is a bit messier than other protein powders that I’ve used. It goes everywhere; sticks to my hand and fingers, sticks to the scoop, on the table, on the container and even in the air.

I didn’t bother mixing it in with my coffee, because I did not want to make a big mess and didn’t want the additional carbs first thing in the morning.

Taste

All the flavors are very sweet, and have a slight chemically taste.

Vanilla tasted best, chocolate had an artificial taste to it, and strawberry tasted like strawberry flavored medicine.

Strawberry

Smells nice
White powder turns pink when you combine it with liquid
Taste a bit like medicine
Looks like Pepto Bismal

Chocolate

Vanilla

The scoop was on top when I opened this tub.

Overall

Because of the buy-1-get-1-free deal for the 4.4 - 4.6 lb tubs (which is no longer available), I suppose 27 lb of MuscleTech Phase8 for $157.11 was alright, even though it only contains about ~62% protein (that’s 16.7 lb of protein) by weight.

That’s still $9.41 per pound of protein if my math is correct.

Would I buy at full price? Nah.

I think the next time I buy protein, I’m just going to go with something cheaper with less carbs, like a 25 lb cube of whey protein from CanadaProtein.

I think if they eliminated the maltodextrin (which seems to me like a cheap filler ingredient…not sure why it’s in there) this would be a better product. But there may be some people out there who want the extra 7 g of carbohydrates coming partially from maltodextrin per serving.

Personally, if I wanted extra carbs, I would just eat a piece of fruit, add an extra scoop of rice to my post-workout meal or something like that.

It does have pretty high ratings from other people though (currently a rating of 9.5/10 from 195 reviews). Although from reading some of the reviews, it looks like MuscleTech themselves sent out free tubs to bb.com members to evaluate.

Personally, I give it a 3 out of 5.

25lbs CanadaProtein.com Vanilla Premium Whey Blend Review

June 12, 2012 — 4 Comments

The way I see it, the ingestion of protein can be done the hard way (preparing, cooking, chewing and eating some dead animal...and then wash all the dishes after), or the easy way (scoop, mix, drink).

These days, I do a bit of both.

Why I Take Protein Now

Using whey protein powder is a convenient way to add protein to my diet, especially first thing in the morning when I’m groggy and generally not very hungry.

Also, I don’t like making “shakes” and usually use whey protein for flavoring/creamer in my coffee, and add extra protein and flavoring to the carb-mud also known as oatmeal.

Why Bulk Protein

It’s something I take everyday, so I might as well get the best bang for the buck I can find.

I assume that with brand name protein powders such as Optimum Nutrition, Gaspari Nutrition, MusclePharm and others you’ll find advertised in bodybuilding magazines is that part of the price of their products goes towards advertising costs and packaging.

I already have enough containers and I’m sure many of the models advertising these products are digitally enhanced.

So that’s why I went with a huge 25lbs BAG of whey protein from CanadianProtein.com.

That’s not to say I won’t be trying any proteins from brand names again. If the price is right, I’ll try it out in the future.

Shipping

Shipping was free and FAST. I ordered it on Monday, May 28, 2012, shipped out the same day and it arrived at my door 2 days later, on May 30th.

Unboxing

This thing arrived in a box with a warning sticker attached to it.

Opening the box I saw this:

The 25lbs of whey protein is inside not 1, but 2 clear plastic bags. The opening of the bag is twisted and is sealed with 2 re-sealable plastic tie straps. The re-sealable plastic tie straps are a bonus because I can reuse it for something else, maybe organizing cables or sealing a bag of oats.

Anyways, I felt the outside of the bag and discovered there were 2 plastic scoops inside.

When I took out the bag of protein from the box, it held it’s shape and looked like a cube of whey protein. It reminded me of the cubed watermelons that are sold in Japan.

Anyways, I weighed it on my scale to verify that this is in fact 25lbs of whey protein powder. The protein along with the bags, plastic tie straps and scoops is 25.75lbs.

Good enough!

Storing

I have some empty containers that used to hold 5lbs of whey protein from different manufacturers. Good thing I didn’t throw them out, because now I can store the whey protein in those jugs.

I used a mug to scoop the whey protein powder from the bag into each container. I filled 3x5lbs containers worth of protein, and the rest (about 10lbs worth) is still sitting in the bag, inside the box.

Nutritional Profile

Serving size is 30g

Protein per serving is 25.5g

This works out to be 85% protein per serving.

According to their website:

“Premium Whey Blend is made up of a blend of 50% cold pressed whey protein isolate, and 50% high quality whey protein concentrate”.

I like how they state the percentage of the different types of whey protein they use. Many companies have some proprietary blend of various proteins on the label, but do not show the percentage of each type. I usually assume that it’s mostly the cheaper protein taking up the bulk of their proprietary blend.

Personally I like whey protein isolate simply because it doesn’t contain any lactose. I don’t want any surprise explosions while I’m in the hole trying to hit a new 1RM.

Unlike Optimum Nutrition’s 100% Whey Gold Standard, it doesn’t contain the digestive enzyme “lactase”. But even with 50% whey protein concentrate, it doesn't give me any excess bloat, gas or stomach issues.

Sweetener Used

CanadianProtein.com’s Premium Whey Blend is sweetened with the artificial sweetener “sucralose”.

Taste

This is the best tasting protein I’ve ever tried. Note, I’ve only started using whey protein recently, and have only tried:

Whey-factory.com whey protein isolate vanilla flavor
Whey-factory.com whey protein isolate chocolate flavor
Whey-factory.com whey protein isolate natural flavor
Optimum nutrition 100% Gold Standard coffee mocha

Also, I find CanadaProtein.com’s vanilla whey protein taste very sweet.

I have a bit of a sweet tooth (and no cavities!) so this added sweetness is great for me.

I normally add whey protein to my coffee. I find with this protein, I don’t need to add any additional sweetener. With the previous whey protein powders I’ve tried, I always had to add a little extra sweetener to satisfy my taste buds.

Mix-ability

Mixes fine in coffee, leaving no clumps at all. The same goes for adding it in oatmeal.

I’ve also mixed it with only water, and the protein powder mixes just fine. It tastes pretty good too even with plain water, a bit like a watery vanilla milkshake.

Value

This is where bulk protein really shines.

$8.37/lb

$41.83/ 5lbs

I suspect that it’s cheap because I’m buying in bulk (duh). Also, unlike many of the whey protein supplements you see in magazines, there are no advertising costs that I know of.

It’s reasonable to believe that the higher priced brand name proteins are more expensive partially because of the advertising costs.

Cons

It’s in a bag.

But, at 25lbs, it’s understandable. It would probably be more expensive if it were in 5 separate plastic containers. But at this point, I already have containers, and I don’t want to spend extra money on packaging.

It’s also a bit of a hassle to dump the protein from the bag into the old containers. But the cost of this (assuming that you don’t spill protein on the floor) is only time.

And heck, I buy bags of rice, so bags of protein powder is not foreign to me.

Overall

CanadaProtein.com’s Premium Whey Blend (vanilla flavored) is a simple, cheap, no frills whey protein powder composed of 50% whey protein isolate and 50% whey protein concentrate.

It smells delicious, very sweet (compared to the other proteins I’ve tried) and it tastes great with coffee, oatmeal or even plain water.

I’ll probably try cookies-and-cream or chocolate and peanut butter next time. But 25lbs will last me a few months, so it’ll be a while before I order my next batch of whey protein again.

In Product Reviews bulk protein, bulk whey protein, canada protein, canadian protein, whey protein concentrate, whey protein isolate