Gone are the days of forcing down terrible tasting protein shakes to get enough muscle building protein before intense workouts. Several products are out on the market that not only make protein supplementing palatable, they make it down right tasty. The important thing, of course, is to focus on what nutrients are making their way in to your body but there is nothing stopping you from having a nutritious protein shake that tastes good.

Whey Chocolate

When I am putting together a muscle building shake I generally start with a chocolate flavored whey protein powder. Out of the standard 'Neapolitan' flavors readily available (strawberry, chocolate, vanilla) chocolate generally has the most natural/least chemical flavor across all brands. Chocolate can also be mixed with a wide variety of nutritious/natural ingredients to up the protein content and help maximize muscle gains.

Whey Chocolate

By far, my favorite protein shake consists of 2 scoops of chocolate flavored whey protein powder, one ripe banana, 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter, 12 ounces of 2% milk and two ice cubes. I put all of this in a blender and blend to a thick shake. This protein packed shake can push 75-100 grams of protein depending on how potent you mix it and can keep you full for hours. The banana adds a good deal of potassium to aid in workout recovery. There is good fat in the peanut butter and the milk both of which add additional protein.

If you don't have the time or ingredients available to assemble your own protein shakes, General Nutrition Centers (GNC) offers a wide variety of pre-mixed flavors beyond the standard and a little trial and error will reveal which one you like best.

One last thing I would like to add about protein shakes is they are a great time to add in your other vitamins for the day to make sure you remember you get your daily intake of all. I have started purchasing all of my daily multivitamins, creatine and glutamine from GNC and mixing in to my daily protein shake. The addition of these ingredients does not alter the flavor much (in fact, the multivitamins are available in chocolate powder) and the powder form makes its way in to the bloodstream faster than taking pills.

I continue to use protein shakes based on high quality whey protein powder as part of my daily workout regimen. They continue to keep me moving forward on muscle gains and when mixed with the proper ingredients they offer a very tasty, lower calorie alternative to animal protein.

Protein Shakes: Quick and Easy With Whey Protein Powder

Whey Chocolate