Which Protein is best?

First of all, thank you to the individual for asking this question. I am going to try to answer as many of the various questions that come through my social media channels by posting them on my blog, that way anyone with a similar question can at least benefit from the answer rather than just the individual.

So, without going into too much detail, this person is asking which protein supplement from the Maximuscle range is best for increasing bodyweight exercise reps.

Supplements are supplements

The first thing I have to say is that supplements are what they say in the name: supplements! They “supplement” quality training, good nutrition and sound habits like sleeping enough and drinking enough water. Taking the most specific and expensive supplement to increasing bodyweight reps in the world but not bothering to train or eat well will not help increase bodyweight reps.

The most important thing to get right first is training: a good quality, specific training programme that ensures progression. My Gainers tuition is an obvious example:

As are my 30 Day programmes, like my 30 Days to 50 press-ups.

With training sorted, nutrition needs to be correct to support the goal, in this case, supporting an increase in muscular endurance to help improve bodyweight reps. A well rounded diet with adequate protein, carbs and fats is needed to help recovery after training and sufficient glycogen stores for training. For help with nutrition and understanding what your body needs for your specific goal, look no further than my complete nutrition guide Successful Eating

Understanding that supplements simply supplement and that training and nutrition are so much more important than which protein supplement of a range you pick, you can probably appreciate that the answer to this question is in some part irrelevant. However, to provide an answer I would have to say (and this is of course without specific studies) that one protein supplement when compared to another will have very little difference in terms of which will lead to higher reps of bodyweight exercises. As long as overall macro needs are met post training and daily, then the type of protein supplement is unlikely to make much of a difference. If however, macros aren’t met well from food intake, specifically carbs, then Cyclone (which has far more carbs than Lean) could be the better option. Again, this is a supplement, so it depends what (in terms of diet) it is supplementing. I prefer to obtain my carbs post workout from fruit so will have a whey like Promax and add a banana. Other people prefer the all in one nature of Cyclone.

Other Supplements

Beta-alanine and caffeine have supposedly been shown to help with muscular endurance, which high numbers of press-ups would fall into, so there’s an argument that a supplement containing them could help. Equally for many people pull-ups (a bodyweight exercise) are a tough exercise requiring strength increases which creatine has been shown to help with in nearly every study it’s been a part of, thus a supplement like Cyclone (which contains creatine) would be favourable.

At the end of the day, to increase bodyweight repetition numbers, supplements MUST be the last consideration. Training should be first, a good all-round diet second, enough rest, sleep and water third. Supplements only supplement this for any given goal.