Q About Muscle Milk from a Beginner

[uncleezno]

Hi guys,

I'm a former distance runner who has lurked here for a while on account of my interest in fitness. I hurt my knee pretty badly last year, and now I'm post-rehab, and lifting to stay in shape in lieu of three daily hours of running : )

I've fallen in love with Muscle Milk and Cytogainer. They're delicious and mix quickly and easily in water with just a spoon. On my lifting days, I use one scoop of muscle milk 30 mins before I work out, and three scoops of cytogainer immediately afterwards. I read today (at t-nation, mind you) that MM contains some nasty chemicals that can cause long-term health issues.

Here's the Q - is t-nation talking bull? I know they always talk up their own products and crap on others, but if it's a legitimate problem, I'll dump the MM. Or, even if MM and cytogainer are ok, are they what I should be taking? Besides the taste and the easy mixing, they're also lactose free, which is a requirement for me.

Thanks!

 

[xjsynx]

That is no bull. However, I believe Cytosport took out the Glycocyamine out of MM. So you should be good to go. Also, the MM RTD's never contained Glycocyamine.

 

[uncleezno]

Glad to hear it. Thanks.

 

[bigschmidt821]

i recomend not using muscle milk before workout cuz the high fat content actually inhibits the rise of natural GH during your workout

 

[oafyc]

Yea pre WO you could try EvoPro or Muscle Milk Collegiate

 

[uncleezno]

I've got one and a half containers left; I'll pick up one of those two when I'm running low. I appreciate the advice.

Also, am I the only person who gets lightheaded when I workout if I don't have gatorade? Same thing always happened after 15 or so miles, my metabolism kicked in and blood sugar dropped. Not a problem or anything, I just drink gatorade and wondered if it was just me :think:

 

[oafyc]

I've got one and a half containers left; I'll pick up one of those two when I'm running low. I appreciate the advice.

Also, am I the only person who gets lightheaded when I workout if I don't have gatorade? Same thing always happened after 15 or so miles, my metabolism kicked in and blood sugar dropped. Not a problem or anything, I just drink gatorade and wondered if it was just me :think:

Do you get a weird taste in your mouth at the same time? It would probably be lack of carbs. Muscle Milk Collegiate is loaded with carbs so that may help. I would personally get EvoPro and separate carbs such as maltodextrin, dextrose, or waxy maize starch so that I could control when and how much I take.

 

[uncleezno]

No weird taste, but I'll def try the collegiate stuff when I'm done with the regular MM. I spent a good ten minutes on the cytosport site trying to figure out the differences between their proteins :blink:

 

[uncleezno]

lactose intolerance?

So I was browsing cytosport's website again, and I've got one more question - is MM collegiate lactose-free? It's not advertised as such on the website, and considering that regular MM and cytogainer are listed as lactose-free, I'm thinking that collegiate probably isn't.

If it's not, does it make sense to use cytogainer instead for pre-workout shakes? I can do 2 scoops before, 2 scoops after, and there's my pre-workout and breakfast all set.

 

[oafyc]

Looking at the ingredients MM Coll is very similar to CytoGainer. The protein in Cytogainer is mostly concentrate while MM Coll is Casein and then concentrate. This would make me think that they would be fairly similar in lactose. If you are worried about lactose I would definitely check out EvoPro. It has zero. It may look more expensive, but just looking at the amount of protein you get per dollar, they are about the same. Cytogainer and Muscle MIlk Collegiate are mostly carbs. You could pick up EvoPro and some Maltodextrin and you may spend a little more per gram of protein, but Evo pro is definitely a better quality protein then the concentrate in Cytogainer.

If you are ok with more fruity flavors I would also take a look at Giant Nutrition I-Pro, it's cheap, tastes good, and is very high quality. I had other recommendations but it seems like just about everything else has either gone off the market or gone way up in price.

 

[ahsbaseball08]

Ive heard good and badd about muscle milk, the good... is the taste, and the wide veriety of flavors, and some nice mass gains. But i have also heard, mostly its all bad mass, like fat.

Iso-pure seems to be pretty decent in both.