The Best Protein Supplement to Build Muscle – The Forgotten Protein

Most of us trying to pack on slabs of muscle know the importance of feeding our muscles with protein at regular intervals (and if you didn’t know…good morning! 😀 ) but a question I get asked frequently is “What is the best protein supplement to build muscle, Altug?”

It seems that we’ve all been bowing down to Whey as the best protein supplement to build muscle since..well..forever! It makes sense – I mean whey protein has the highest bioavailability of any protein source and the highest yield of all of the amino acids to help our muscles recover and more importantly, GROW!

But this has left a VERY important protein for muscle building in the dark as a result – This protein is CASEIN!

Why Casein Protein?

“Why not?” is a better question! Why wouldn’t you want a nice slow releasing protein that gradually nourishes your muscles with protein over the course of a few hours? I don’t know about you but I don’t like getting out of bed to eat every 3 hours just to keep my muscles happy! (I get wound up just having to getting up in the middle of the night to go for a pee let alone food!)

Casein is the next best thing! It provides a steady release to your muscles while you catch those all important ZZZ’s! (Waking up in the middle of the night is counterproductive to your growth hormone levels anyway, which peak in a deep sleep..GH also helps your body to recover and build muscles!)

The great news is that studies have shown that Casein can keep amino acids (protein) slowly releasing into your bloodstream for up to 7 hours! That’s a good night’s sleep right there!

Casein vs Whey

Comparing the two initially may seem foolish – Whey has a higher bioavailability which means more of the protein can be used by your muscles for repair.  However, the body uses this protein quicker than you can say “muscles please!” (ok maybe not quite THAT fast 😉 but you catch my drift.

So why would you take this before bed? Or at any other time in the day when you would rather have a sustained release of protein to your muscles? Not to mention there are now talks that whey protein actually causes a spike in insulin..something you don’t particular want during the day (not a huge spike anyway).

So Casein, which is derived from milk (Around 80% of milk is Casein protein!) for me is looking like a surprise winner here.

Now there is a time when our muscles SCREAM at us if we don’t give them access to protein quickly (I spoil mine, I really do!)  and that is straight after a workout.

You should know this already but a quick lesson in what happens when you train with weights with any kind of intensity – You create micro-tears in your muscles and empty out the muscles protein and glycogen (energy) stores. Your MOST important meal of the day (yes, more important than breakfast but ALL meals are important for muscle building!) will be your post-workout shake which MUST consist of fast acting whey protein isolate (preferably, but concentrate will do also) and a high amount of fast releasing carbs (we’ll talk about types of carbs on a whole new post).

This is the situation when whey is the best protein supplement to build muscle.

At all other times, I’ve started using Casein where I wasn’t before. Incidently, since I’ve started replacing whey with Casein I’m the biggest I’ve ever been. Coincidence? Maybe, but I’m positive the extra muscle is being built while my muscles get smothered with protein while they sleep!

Ultimately?

Ultimately, my supplement cupboard now consists of both whey protein for my all-important post-workout shake and now Casein for the rest of the day.

This is what I recommend you do as well to keep your muscles getting an optimal stream of protein all day long..and therefore giving yourself the best chance to grow.

On a final note, whilst they’re both as important for different reasons the best protein supplement to build muscle for me is Casein – Simply for the fact that it should be the protein supplement of choice for most of the day (when you’re not consuming whole food of course and apart from post-workout) but both should be in your supplement cupboard!