Drinking muscle milk

A protein shake can be very helpful for working out. If you are woried about calories, I reccomend MuscleMilk Lite as it has less fat and calories. As long as you are counting it in your calories, it should be all right. The other option is to have a small high protien snack about 1/2 an hour before you workout to give you a boost. Most importantly, make sure you drink as much water as you can during and after your workout.

Good luck!

I drink Heed Sports Drink by Hammer Nutrition before and during exercise

That's pretty much what I'm doing Ari, and it works well for me.

Eating protein (or even worse, ingesting some pricey protein drink or powder) beforehand is a very expensive and inefficient way to "fuel up" before a workout.

The research on whether taking a combination carbohydrate/protein supplement during exercise is mixed. Time-to-exhaustion studies have shown some benefit, but they do not replicate the way athletes actually exert themselves in real-world events. A study performed on cyclists in 2006 showed no benefit from a CHO/protein supplement drink (as opposed to CHO alone) during a simulated 80km bicycle race.

It's important to remember that protein provides no "energy" in the way that we commonly think of "energy" during exercise workouts. Under conditions of fasting, starvation, and prolonged exercise, amino acids (protein) can serve as a source of "fuel", but only by breaking them down and using their carbon skeletons to form glucose or glycogen (which is broken down into glucose). So, it doesn't make a lot of sense to use a complicated substrate to make glucose, when you can ingest carbohydrates that provide the same thing, only more quickly, more easily and at less cost (both biochemically and financially).

Protein for recovery--completely different story. A combination of carbohydrate and protein can be helpful after a prolonged or intense workout.

I wouldnt reccomend Muscle Milk. They add alot off bad stuff to make it take so darn good. I make a shake out of Meijer's whey and soy protein. Its not very tasty, but it has 1 gram fat, like 3 carbs, 1 gram fiber, and only 120 calories, and 25 grams of protein. Women should not have more then 30 grams of protein per meal, the rest will most likely turn into fat....I say this because i have seen some Muscle milk that has up to 53 grams of protein! . It makes me feel full too.<

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the Meijer whey and soy protein. Protein will repair torn muscle and help build muscle, but will not give you the energy. Turn to carbs for that, but not like donut carbs. Bananas I think are the best.

I use the Body Fortress whey protein powder they sell at Walmart. A scoop is 26 grams protein. 100 mgs of cholesterol, not wild about that, but otherwise good stuff, and cheap.

I mix it with 2% before I work out and set it in the li'l fridge in the gym and take a break to shake it once in a while between sets. By the time I'm done it's frothy and the grit is dissolved and it's not bad. When I finish this can of Strawberry I'm trying the chocolate next.

Re: strength training esp. mass building. Yep - carbs are fuel for the workout - take some in 1/2 hour before you start to give your system a little time to digest and get the goodies into your bloodstream. Protein is spackle to build/repair muscle tissue after the workout, so get it in there when it's needed during recovery.

Can you give me some different carbs you eat before workout