As we’ve stated many times before Crossfit athletes have different priorities than athletes of other sports and generally care much more about what they ingest compared to the average gym-goer.
When it comes to protein powder things are especially important as most Crossfitters may have 2-3 shakes a day depending on their routine. Even if you only consume one shake a day you still want to demand the best.
So what would the ideal protein powder have?
GRASS-FED
Ideally the first thing to look for in a superior protein powder is making sure that the whey-protein is from grass-fed cows.
Theres a couple reasons to this, mainly having to do with the composition of the present fatty acids.
First off grass-fed protein powder contains up to 5x more Omega-3 than regular grain-fed.
Omega-3 has multiple benefits for the recreational or competitive Crossfitter including:
- Improved sleep. “Studies in both children and adults reveal that supplementing with omega-3 increases the length and quality of sleep” – PubMed. Sleep is the number one performance enhancer in every area of health and fitness, including promotion of HGH, muscle recovery, speeding up your metabolism, etc.
- Fighting inflammation. Inflammation comes with exercise and it is necessary, but the faster you can reduce inflammation the faster you can recover.
- Improved bone and joint health. Omega-3s improve bone strength by boosting the amount of calcium in your bones.
Grass-fed protein also contains 2x more of a fatty acid called Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) than regular grain-fed protein.
CLA is also associated with a couple of worthy benefits:
The primary reason why someone would be interested in CLA is due to its ability to burn fat and boost the immune system.
“It’s one of the magic ingredients that make grass-fed butter and meat so incredible for boosting your physical performance.
CLA helps your body build muscle rather than store fat and has anti-inflammatory properties. “
Bulletproof
Compared to grain-fed protein, grass-fed is much higher in both Vitamin A and Vitamin E as well.
Vitamin A and E
Along with CLA, Vitamin A and Vitamin E also support bone health and your immune system, both important for building strength, speeding up recovery, and reducing chance of injury.
BETA-ALANINE
Your ideal protein would also contain a large amount of beta-alanine, which happens to be perhaps one of the best if not the best performance enhancing supplement for athletes and fitness addicts.
“Beta-alanine is a non-essential amino acid.
Unlike most amino acids, it is not used by your body to synthesize proteins.
Instead, together with histidine, it produces carnosine. Carnosine is then stored in your skeletal muscles. (1Trusted Source)
Carnosine reduces lactic acid accumulation in your muscles during exercise, which leads to improved athletic performance (2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source).
Healthline
Beta-alanine reduces fatigue and increases endurance. Is that not exactly what we try to work towards everyday in our Crossfit training? The less fatigue and more endurance, the better the scores and faster the times.
This study found that after four weeks of taking a beta-alanine powder a group of cyclists increased their total work capacity by 13%! And after a total of 10 weeks their capacity improved another 3.2%!
Still not believing? Here’s another trusted study: 20 men on a comparable cycling test increased their time to exhaustion by 13–14% after four weeks of beta-alanine supplements.
Imagine a 13% improvement in your work capacity and time to exhaustion. That is the difference between average and elite.
So Which Is The Best Protein?
Which protein powder is both grass-fed and contains a large amount of beta-alanine while being custom made for Crossfit athletes?
XWERKS GRASS-FED WHEY PROTEIN ISOLATE
- Made from grass-fed, pasture raised cows in New Zealand
- 100% whey protein isolate
- Cold pressed, non ion-exchange filtering
- No artificial sweetners, flavors or coloring
- Soy and Gluten free
- Processed acid and bleach free
- Amazing rich flavor with no aftertaste
Raw whey is rich in protein substances, called native micro fractions. These include; alpha lactalbumin, beta-lactoglobulin, glycomacropeptide, immunoglobulins, serum albumin, lactoferrin, lactoperoxidase.
XWERKS micro filtration process helps preserve these important biological nutrients while removing unwanted fats and carbohydrates (such as lactose).
This means their whey has the following benefits and more:
- Muscle growth and repair
- Strengthens and boosts the immune system
- Anti-oxidant properties
- Easily digestible, no bloat
- Fantastic flavor
- No clumping
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