Do we need it?

Well, we know that protein is the building blocks of muscle. It helps to support muscle growth, recovery, retention & repair. It is important to note that resistance exercise is the best way or ‘gold standard’ for building muscle mass. After exercise, both muscle protein breakdown & muscle growth occur at the same time, this is a natural response. The inclusion of protein in your post-exercise meal helps to ensure that muscle growth exceeds breakdown allowing for an overall net gain of muscle protein! So when resistance exercise & protein work in tandem, muscle gain is optimised!

So how much protein should I have?

This depends on several factors. While whey protein can be a helpful addition to your diet, we would always recommend opting for a ‘food first approach’. Try to meet your protein intake through whole foods as not only do they contain protein, but they also have vitamins & minerals that are not provided in whey protein powder. Opt for milk, Greek yoghurt, animal meat or eggs for example. If you still struggle to meet your protein requirements, or they are particularly high (e.g. recovering from injury, bodybuilders, team-sport athletes) introducing whey protein powder could be helpful.

Whey protein powder is so versatile! It comes in a wide range of flavours and can be added to anything – from your porridge in the morning to a protein ball snack. It is a useful option to add to milk/water after a gym session to optimise muscle gain, particularly if you don’t plan to have a meal for a few hours, it will help to initiate this process.

We hope that this helps to answer any questions you might have about whey protein powder!