So I have been taking Surge Recovery for about 8 months now. I love the stuff and have actually been drinking it during workouts, which is a huge bonus for me. Anyways my budget has become tight and I may have to drop it and use just a cheap protein powder instead. My major question is this; is there a huge difference between Surge Recovery and a cheap protein powder?
As long as I’m hitting my protein requirements will I even notice a difference? Like I said I love Surge, just facing a bit of a financial situation. Hopefully this doesn’t seem like I’m bad mouthing Biotest’s products or anything like that. Thanks
Honestly I think it’s worth it to get the best you can, even the more expensive protein powder is the cheapest source of protein there is on a per gram basis. I say cut down the quantity and/or quality of your whole food protein sources and increase what you spend on powder.
Yes there is a difference because Surge uses hydrolyzed whey.
You can purchase other proteins out there that are hydrolyzed whey, but they usually aren’t “cheap” (cheaper priced proteins tend to be blends).
Looking at the label, surge recovery also uses carbohydrates, so make sure your new concoction has some carbs in it as well.
If your workouts aren’t extremely intense or if you aren’t working out everyday, using a blended protein as a pre-workout should be fine as well. But this really depends on your level training and volume and your diet up to the workout.
I think if you had asked about replacing Surge Recovery post workout with cheaper protein and carbs or even whole food protein and carbs, my answer would be the difference wouldn’t be very noticeable. Surge Recovery might hit you faster, give you a better amino spike, and be more convenient, but as long as you aren’t training truly fasted, you already have aminos in the blood stream.
However, since you said during workout, I would say no. A cheaper (and slower) protein isn’t going to be absorbed fast enough to benefit you during your workout. I would rather go 1hr pre and 1hr post if that was the case. Otherwise, try to stick with a bcaa/eaa/hydrolyzed protein for intraworkout.
BCAA w/ creatine during your workout. I use 2 scoops Xtend and 5g creatine each workout, including intervals.
Pre-workout: Protein blend and nuts
Post-workout: Usually whole food meal (10oz protein, ~200 cals worth of carbs, 2 serv veggies, 1 tbsp of added fats) if I eat within an hour, otherwise protein blend and some carbs.
I know the peri-workout window is important, but from my experience so far, I’ve gotten just as good of results with the above than I did using Anaconda and Finibars. I think a lot has to do with how “elite” you are and how much you workout.