When I started Crossfit, I also started down the path of the Paleo diet, and I started examining more closely what I was putting into my body. A buddy of mine who could be described as one of the ‘firebreathers’ of Crossfit recommended Beverly protein powder, so for a while, that’s what I used. Then I embarked on a Whole 30 challenge, and gave up protein powder all together.
I’m a huge believer in eating real whole foods post WOD, even when I’m on a work trip, so even when I’m not doing Whole 30, I wasn’t adding protein shakes back into my diet. Another buddy of mine, Diego Centeno, convinced me to give Progenex a try. Progenex has two kinds of protein powder; Recovery for immediate post WOD and More Muscle for a mid-day shake. (Although I’m told you can really take either of them whenever). As of today, Progenex Recovery comes in a full canister or in a 10 individual pack, so I decided to give it a 2 week try and ordered the 10 pack.
Of course, in true Jaimie fashion, I tweeted about my new experiment and lots of people have been asking me my opinion and experience on Progenex. So here’s my opinion :)
Taste: Belgian Chocolate – yum! Normally I like to mix my shakes with whey powder, unsweetened almond milk, frozen banana and instant espresso powder, so even some of the not-so-tasty powders out there aren’t so bad in the end. But for the purpose of this review, I made a shake with just Progenex recovery, water and ice. And it was still tasty! I do recommend, however, that if you don’t have a special shaker (which I don’t), use a blender if you want it mixed well.
Digestion: Progenex Recovery was pretty easy on my stomach; however, my stomach is like an iron case for pretty much all foods so I don’t know if I’m the best subject for this experiment. I started back on paleo and the first couple of servings of Progenex, I noticed minor gas a few hours later. At first I thought it might have been the protein powder but I noticed it even on the two straight days that I didn’t have a shake. Thank you, paleo. I blame this one on you.
During Workout Recovery: I am really bad at gauging this factor, as I believe there are many factors that can play into this; how much sleep did I get the night before, what I ate the days leading up to the work out, what is my overall mental mood, etc. And since I normally WOD in the a.m. and don’t drink shakes before that, I really don’t know if I’m the best person to give my opinion on this.
Post Workout Recovery: This is where I noticed the biggest gain. My diet is usually pretty clean, I take my daily fish oil, and I like to do a nice warm up/cool down/roll out every time I work out, so I don’t normally get sore from my Crossfit WODs, whether it’s a strength or a MetCon. However, as lots of people have asked me about this, I’ve started pushing even harder and heavier on some of my work outs, or going for 2 – a –days (Crossfit in the a.m., running or ballet in the p.m.) to see if I could make myself sore. Impressively, it took a lot to make my muscles sore.
Sooooo…..long story short; did I like Progenex? Will I continue to use it? Hell yeah. When my 10 pack of Recovery ran out, I bought a big bag of More Muscle. I’ve had some folks on twitter message me and say that yes, Progenex does have a superior blend of protein, but you can buy a lesser known name of the same blend for cheaper. This may be true, but I can say that the customer service I get from Progenex is well worth what I pay for their superior blend.
My only suggestions to Progenex is my wish that they would make all of their products available in the 10 individual pack orders, which would make it a lot easier for when I travel. (Which, for me, is all of the time). Also, drinking the same ol’ shake every day could get old. If they were to make More Muscle in a Vanilla flavor, I’d be a happy camper! I’ve recently experimented with adding a few drops of different flavored extracts (ie…mint, cinnamon, etc) to my shakes to change up the flavor, which would be easier with a Vanilla flavored powder.
