I see a lot of you posting about your recovery drinks having 40-60 grams of protein in them. If we can only absorb 30 grams at a time, is it a waste to drink more? Or can you absorb more after a workout?

You sip, wait, sip and wait. You don't drink it all at once. It's 40 -60 grams over a 24 hour period, not all at once. My instructions say never drink more than 4 ounces in a 15 minute period for the 1st month. I also can only have clear, thin liquids for the first week. So... no shakes. I'll be using the Isopure liquid and Unjury chicken broth to make sure I get all the protein in... along with SF jello, SF popsicles, and plain water.

I'm sorry. I don't think I wrote that clearly. I meant recovery shakes after workout. Fiddle? Mark!?

I think Amy is responding from perspective of new post op, as in less than 1 month post op. Her advice is sound if you consider that perspective. You and I are much further out and said advice would not help people like us. For the record, I usually slam my 10 oz water-based Protein shakes in 5-10 seconds. Makes no difference in how fast or slow that I drink them.

Back to your original question...

From my research and talking to different people about recovery shakes after workouts, men and women of average frame size can consume 40 g and 30 g, respectively, without having to worry about the body converting excess to stored fat. These are considered optimal thresholds to maximize uptake by your body. Your body can process about this amount of protein over 2-3 hours of time. It is bet to be aware of this in order to maximize results from time spent working out. If you play the fitness and nutrition game right, you can be in and out of your workout in 20-40 minutes with warmup and cool down, yet still make incredible gains in fat reduction, strength and lean muscle growth,

Consuming an extra 10 g above those limits is questionable. Definitely more then that could either be a waste of money or lead to weight gain ( in a bad way). It is ideal to drink your recovery shake within 20 minutes of working out, but sometimes you can extend the window of opportunity with certain pre workout supplementation.

It is questionable if pre work out claims of extending this window are true or not, but you are welcome to try. There are many pre workout drinks on the shelf. I like c4 and hyde, but have not tried jack3d yet. Maybe i will try original jack3d in the future (original formula) before they are gone from the shelves (darn FDA), but am already on another fat burner for cutting fat, so need to be careful. You can also consider taking creatine before and after a workout to help with getting nutrients to your muscles for repair. In the recovery shake, I mix the creatine powder of 10 g directly into the Blender Bottle. I have noted really good results from the use of creatine monohydrate after increasing the dose to 10 g (thanks again mark).

Anecdotally, I always take 40 g of synth 6 after a workout for recovery shake. I also try and take 40 g whenever drinking a shake different from the recovery shake. My real food meals tend to be at noon and at 6 pm ( lunch and dinner, respectively). All my other meals (6am - Muscle milk whey, 9am - isopure, 3 pm - isopure, 9 pm - ON casein) tend to be shake or maybe Protein Bar. On m,w,f i have extra synth 6 shake at 10:30am (follows workout). On t, thur, i have extra synth 6 shake at 5 pm ( follows workout). Works well for me. You will want to put together your own plan based upon fitness levels and goals.

Thanks for all the info! Anyone hear of or tried Fusion 7, ISO - 100 or Blox?

I've not had fusion 7 before but I like the protein matrix and BCAA listed on the ingredients list. Actually, the ingredients look a lot like synth 6, my current general protein powder of choice. If you like the flavor, consistency, etc, then it looks like a winner. See if you can order a sample or perhaps try an RTD before investing in a big tub for 50+ dollars. Let us know what you think.

Can you get too much BCAA? If so, how much is too much and what are the effects?

Not sure about that, but interesting question. Hopefully Mark or some with this knowledge will chime in. I do know that more is jot always better when it comes to supplementation and one should be careful about toxicity if there is a potential for it. BCAA are just the building blocks of protein, so do not know if it is possible to have too much of it unless there are negative effects on the kidneys like eating too much protein without not enough water. Not sure. Again, need the supplementation gurus to chime in on this.

That was kinda my thought too about possible renal effects. Waiting to hear from other gurus.

In my exprerience, I've never seen any reports or anything stating that too many BCAA's would harm you. You could worry about gluconeogensis, but that's a complicated ordeal of in itself and would take a lot of over dosing to get to that point. I would however, stick to the recommended dosage on BCAA's. The only thing I've ever got good returns from overdosing is creatine.

Taking more will just end up as glucose. Even if you end up in a catabolic state briefly, the BCAA will help with retention of muscle mass.

I'm sorry... I am new to this. What is sf jello/ Popsicle? And the unjury broth?

I am now convinced BCAAs are where a lot of muscle gains can be made when combined with lifting and clean diet high in protein. Been drinking a lot of BCAA ( 20 g) before and after cross fit heavy weight workouts this week in addition to on and off on other days. I am noticing today, on my day off, that the circumference of my chest has increased a bit and my t shirt is stretching across the chest where it was not last week. Good stuff. I am going to keep drinking this in relatively high amounts and see how it affects my cross fit workouts this next week. Aiming for an extra 20-30 lbs on deadlift, bench and squat above my max 1 reps. Here is to hoping. creatine has not given me this type of fast progression yet, but has helped overall with increasing strength over last couple months.

Thanks Fiddle and Mark for the great info! You guys rock!!!

You are welcome Curvy!