What are the best brands of protein supplements and when should I use them?

Hi Don,

We have no problem giving our honest opinions on supplements but I have worked for and with most of the top 10 supplement companies in the world in some capacity or another and have a tighter relationship with some than others and while I truly believe that I'm being completely honest and genuine with my recommendations, I can't actually claim to be totally unbiased.

Not to belabour the point but you're not going to find too many genuine whey protein experts who haven't worked for one or more of the companies and don't have relationships in the industry.

Anyhow...as far as brands, as long as you choose a reputable company and find a product that is at least 70 or ideally closer to 80% protein (just check the label, which should list the nutrients per 100 grams), the only other considerations are the quality of the protein and the taste.

Probably the best-selling whey protein product is Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey. It is certainly of good quality but somewhat expensive. Myofusion tastes great (especially the banana and the chocolate) but it is higher in carbs and fat. Syntha-6 and Muscle Milk both taste great but are very high in carbs and fat compared to other products...they really shouldn't even be called "protein products". Other good brands are Dymatize Whey and MuscleTech's Nitro-Tech - it contains other ingredients designed to improve the use of the protein for muscle building and it has been proven in research to be superior to other protein products for building muscle and strength but is also more expensive.

As far as when to take whey protein, although for optimum muscle-building purposes you should take essential amino acids before training (as discussed several times here on FitnessInventor), for most people's purposes, you'd be fine to take your whey protein about 30 minutes before training and then immediately after training...ideally you'd take it with carbs when you use it after training and the amount of carbs depends upon your goals - weight gain, lean muscle gains, fat loss, etc.

Whey is also great to have in the morning when you wake up. I have it with a 100% pure fruit, berry smoothie, extra virgin olive oil and creatine (a muscle-building supplement)

Oh, ya, Don...I was going to write one more whey article but now I'll tack on an extra one the following week that just looks at the basics and ties everything together in a really simple, easy-to-understand format...It will be kind of like a "prequil". My initial articles assumed that everyone already knows something about whey protein but you make a good point, Don, that there are probably a lot of Fitness Inventor readers who don't.