Protein powders & supplements: Men and women can boost their training and muscle strength with protein power

Women are packing a powerful punch in the gym, embracing weight liftinginto their exercise routines, but they’re slower off the mark when it comes to harnessingthe power of protein.This is paid for content, readers are encouraged to seek NHS advicebefore taking any supplements.

Protein powders & supplements: Men and women can boost their training and muscle strength with protein power

And it’s not Yorkshire women who are sceptical whenit comes to taking protein supplements and worry about ‘bulking up’.

A recentsurvey of over 1,000 people, which included quizzing over 200 people fromYorkshire and the Humber, showed that more than a quarter (28%) of women haveavoided or hesitated using protein powder because they’re concerned aboutgaining too much muscle mass.

But, says nutritionist Kate Withington, nothing could be further from thetruth. She is passionate about the power of protein and says far from puttingon weight it can help women tone up and lose weight.

Crunchingthe numbers

The statistics come from a surveycarried out in October last year on behalf of British sports nutrition brand SCI-MX  whichwas carried out by Censuswide Research Consultants.

The goodnews was that half (50%)of Brits said there had been a positive shift in societal attitudes towardswomen who engage in strength training or weightlifting, with 55% saying there’sbeen a shift in celebrating physically stronger women.

And morethan two-thirds (67%) of women questioned said they were likely to pick upweights in the gym than a few years ago and almost a third (31%) said liftingweights was part of their exercise routines.

But with morethan two-fifths (42%) ofBrits believing there are misconceptions when it comes to protein powder andits impact on women’s bodies, we wanted to debunk the myths and find out whatthe benefits could be.

Proteinpower

Kate, who hasteamed up with SCI-MX, said: “It’s amazing to see that so many women now feelcomfortable using weights within the gym – it’s been a long time coming! Ithink the societal shift in celebrating physically strong women has reallyhelped with this change, although we clearly have more work to do when it comesto nutrition given the research from SCI-MX reveals a clear gap in knowledgewhen it comes to protein.”

Matt Durkin, product developer at SCI-MX said for the general population, eating 0.8g of protein per kg ofbody mass was recommended. But, he said, that should increase to around 1.2kgto help preserve that muscle mass – and even more if you’re wanting to build orstrengthen muscles.

“Protein is only one part of the equation, everyone should be performingmuscle-strengthening exercises frequently to stimulate the body to build ormaintain muscle,” he said.

So, weasked nutritionist Kate to come up with an example of what a good protein-richdiet might look like.

Kate’s protein diet tips

Includeprotein-rich foods in every meal and include protein as additional snacks. Forexample, a day of eating could look like this:

Breakfast:protein smoothie made with one scoop of strawberry protein powder, frozenberries and milk.

Lunch:tuna and sweetcorn baked potato with salad. I love to use Greek yoghurt insteadof mayo to increase protein content further and reduce calories.

Afternoonsnack: cottage cheese on rice cakes with some mixed seeds.

Dinner:salmon goodness bowl. Salmon fillet with quinoa, broccoli and edamame beans.

Eveningsnack: Greek yoghurt with berries.

Tryto stick to snacks which are high in protein – these could include hard-boiledeggs, tuna lettuce cups, cottage cheese, edamame beans and beef jerky.

Find out more

To findout more about SCI-MX and its range of high-protein products visit the website here