Q & A With Alex, President of Protein Factory

I answered questions from viewers and customers.

@proteinfactory.com Question and answer time with Alex from Protein Factory. #musclebuilding #bestcreatine #bestproteinpowder #weightgain ♬ original sound – Protein Factory

Alex Rogers:

All right, guys, Q&A time. This is Alex Rogers from proteinfactory.com and yeah, I got a bunch of questions, and I’ll read them off here, and I’ll give you my answers. Okay. “Do I need to take supplements for better results?” Yes and no. Depends on your lifestyle. If you’re busy, you don’t eat good, yes, supplements. That’s what supplements are for. Every day, I take curcuminoids, I take mushrooms, I take raw honey, and I supplement with that. I mean, honey is something you just don’t use regularly in your diet, especially raw honey. And that’s a superfood. Curcuminoids, definitely not. And I think being anti-inflammatory. When you’re inflamed, that’s when bad stuff can happen to your body. Especially cancer. So always take some sort of anti-inflammatory supplement. I like to use my curcumin muscle, and I also use my mushroom supplement, Big Chaga.

Okay, so, “What are the most effective whey protein powders?” Wait, “How effective are whey protein powders and weight gainers? And what are the differences between the two?” Okay, so this is just basic question. I mean, I wouldn’t call it whey powder, probably whey protein powder for sure, because you can buy 35% whey powder if you really want to. But weight gainers? Man, I hate the weight gainers that are on the market today. I can’t stand them. I don’t recommend them. If you want to make a weight gainer, buy some whey protein concentrate like my Mega Whey or my Native Whey. Buy a bottle of flax oil, buy a bottle of hemp oil. There’s another oil out there that I want to carry. Dump it in there and, boom, there you got a better weight gainer than anything that’s on the market today. Yeah, so forget the weight gainers. Oils. That’s where it’s at. You want to use those oils because they contain more than double the calories in protein or carbs.

Next question. “What are some good tasting yet not too expensive vegan protein powders?” I mean, my pea protein. I mean, there was lentin, but that was better than pea. They tested that. That had a higher biological value. PDCAA, whatever you want to call it. DIA. Then, rice protein or pea protein. I was carrying. It was this green powder, but people just did not like it. The manufacturer went out of business, and, yeah, so the next best bet is pea. And pea would be it. That’s it. I mean, you could use rice, but rice I think is pretty much the same price. It tastes a little better, but I still would go with pea.

“What is the most effective testosterone cycle for gaining muscle mass?” Well, again, that all depends. I mean, if you’re a heavy steroid user, it’s not going to be very effective if you take the same amount as somebody who never used steroids before. Number one, I don’t recommend steroids. Okay? Steroids are like… It’s like a double-edged sword because what happens with steroids is they’re very addicting psychologically. Okay? So what happens is you take steroids, you turn into Superman. I am not kidding. You will feel so… The pump in the gym you get is unbelievable. I mean, it’s just addicting to train when you’re taking anabolic steroids. So what happens is once you get off, the body wants to go back to normal. So going back to normal is whatever your regular pump was, whatever your regular strength was, and you’ll lose. You’re actually going to lose.

Before, you might’ve been benching 185 for ten reps or 2 225 for ten reps. You take steroids, and all of a sudden, you’re doing 255 for 10 reps. Then you come off steroids; you’re going to be back down without a doubt. So that’s why I don’t recommend steroids. Yeah, they just suck. And they also have long-term health implications. I just don’t agree with using them whatsoever. Some very smart people know how to use what they call it. Really, now it’s called TRT. One of those guys is Nelson Montana. He’s super smart when it comes to that stuff. He’s like in his 70s. I swear to God, he looks like he’s in his 50s. He’s unbelievable. Unbelievable shape that guy’s in. So check out Nelson Montana if you want to learn more about that subject.

All right. Next question. “How much protein do you need for muscle recovery after a workout?” It depends. It depends on your weight. But we know now that you can use 100 grams of protein post-workout. I mean, the study just came out, I think it was last year that said you could use 100 grams at a sitting, it’s okay. So chug that protein. That’s all I have to say about that one. But minimally wise, if you’re looking to save money, I mean, don’t use less than… Shit, I don’t know, 30 grams post-workout. If you’re a female and you only weigh 100 pounds, maybe 20 grams, but, on average, I’d say about 30 grams of protein.

Okay, next question. “Are there any supplements other than creatine that make a difference? Or nutrition and creatine are all that matters?” I mean, to this day… See, if you’re going to take a supplement that’s not, I’d say, generally recognized safe by the FDA, then it becomes a drug, and that’s a drug claim. So as far as creatine goes, man, creatine… So far, nothing has beat creatine. I mean, creatine came out the early ’90s, mid ’90s, and just nothing has stopped it. Other than that, I don’t know any supplements out there that work like creatine. The next best bet… I mean, I always believe in a pump. To me, a good pump, similar to a pump if you’re taking anabolic steroids, will drive those nutrients into the muscle. Man. And I don’t know, man, I have to give a little bit to some high GI carbs, some sodium. What gives you that pump? Inorganic nitrates, like Tectanic Red.

There’s a section on my website right off the home page. It’s the body building supplement pyramid. And you look at that and I list what supplements are like no-brainers, I call them. Curcuminoids, Titanic Red, creatine. Those are the supplements that you want to make sure you have. And as you go higher up the pyramid, they get more experimental on whether they work or not. Okay? So, if anything, get that first level of supplements that I recommend. The bodybuilding pyramid that I invented. “Does creatine cause hair loss?” No, it does not. We already went over this. I did a podcast with Will Brink. It’s on my TikTok page. And he debunked that. He debunked that theory or… Not theory. Whatever. He debunked that. Oh, this is a good question right here.

“What is the most over-hyped supplement ingredients in the fitness industry today? And why do they persist despite lacking scientific backing?” Well, before I named the supplement, “Why do they persist despite scientific backing?” Because it’s easy money. I mean, the supplement industry is greedy. But what are the most over-hyped supplement ingredients? Oh, he said ingredients so that I can name. Okay, so I just don’t have to name one. That’s interesting. Interesting question. I would say branched-chain amino acids because every major supplement company sells those. I mean, when whey protein came out, it made them obsolete. I don’t know why people still use them. Freeform amino acids are just trash. So, BCAAs and amino acids. We’ll say freeform amino acids, including branched amino acids. Second, I would say probably testosterone boosters that are made up of kitchen sink supplements. So you’ll see a testosterone supplement will have a whole list of ingredients. They don’t raise testosterone high enough or long enough to create an effect. They don’t. They’re worthless.

The ones that I sell, Unleashed, that’s not based on a testosterone booster. And LJ 100, yes, that is a testosterone booster, but it’s one ingredient, and it’s the only one. If you’re going to have one. If you’re going to use a testosterone booster, it’s going to be LJ 100. Okay? So you’re going to use that one. So, okay, so testosterone boosters, branched-chain amino acids. I hate CLA. CLA for fat loss is terrible. Don’t even bother with it. I think supplements geared towards women, except for menopause and anything related to women’s menstrual cycle and hormones, but a protein powder or a pre-workout made for women, that’s the stupidest thing. There’s no difference between a man and a woman when it comes to building muscle. What else? I’m sure I could think of other things. I’ve seen some bad ones come out there. Stuff like Gamma-O or just stupid stuff. But, yeah, I’d say those three are probably my top ones.

“I use protein bars often. They aren’t the healthiest, but should I feel guilty for enjoying it?” Protein bars have come a long way. They used to be terrible. There are some really good ones out there with minimal ingredients. I sell them on my website. I don’t actually sell them, but I do a favor for another company. They’re called Muscle Up Bars. It’s just really good healthy bars and they’re good. So just make sure you choose the right one. Stay away from sugar alcohols like xylitol. Stay away from artificial sweeteners like acesulfame or sucralose. Stay away from corn syrups and fructose. Just look at the packaging, and if you don’t know anything, just go to my website and look up the muscle-up bars. Those are the ingredients you should use or should be in your protein bar. Yeah. I have no issues with protein bars.

Okay. Last question… We’ve got 45 seconds left… Is, “Why don’t you sell protein with creatine?” Well, yeah, you could. I mean, I used to sell something called Big Blast. I put creatine in there, put protein in there and carbs in there. It was a good formula. But problem right now is with creatine, is it’s a protein spiking ingredient. So the one that’s still out there that I consistently see is from Aldi. Aldi sells a protein powder that’s spiked with creatine. So if you want to see what a spiked protein powder looks like, just go to Aldi and you’ll find their protein powder in there, and you’ll see creatine in there. So don’t buy protein with creatine. Get your creatine separately at all times.