We’ve previously taken a deep dive into whey protein and discussed how it’s one of the most effective high-quality protein sources you can consume in order to boost your workouts and maximize your gains.
This time, we’re zeroing in on one of the offshoots of whey, which is hydrolyzed whey protein. Can you use it as a supplement? Is it a better post-workout source than regular whey? Yes, and you’re about to find out why.
What’s Hydrolyzed Whey Protein?
Hydrolyzed whey is actually whey that’s been partially digested. Scientists add enzymes to whey that break it down into individual amino acids and short chains of amino acids called peptides.
Anyone who knows anything about building muscle knows how important amino acids are. Essentially, amino acids are the building blocks of muscles. The interesting thing is that studies show that you can absorb even faster than individual amino acids or whole proteins.
Hydrolyzed Whey As a Post-Workout Supplement
After you workout, assuming you’re training to grow and not just going to the weight room in order to maintain your muscles, your muscles actually get damaged. That’s why you feel that soreness the next day.
In addition to muscle damage and soreness, your strength, power, and energy plummet after an intense workout session, and it tends to take several days to recover. However, hydrolyzed whey has been proven to speed up your recovery process and to help repair muscles faster than normal whey.
The reason your body loses energy after a heavy workout day is because it’s had to use a lot of its fuel–your carbohydrate stores. If your body’s a car, then you’ve just dropped your fuel tank from 100% full to 30-50% full after your session, and your body needs time to refuel.
Hydrolyzed whey helps your body replenish your carbohydrate stores much faster. That’s because it helps your pancreas perform better. Your body is able to shuttle carbohydrates back into the muscle more easily because your pancreas’ function is improved, allowing it to more easily produce insulin.
Hydrolyzed Whey and Fat Burn
There’s actually cutting-edge new research that shows how hydrolyzed whey lowers your body fat at a higher rate than regular whey protein.
That’s because the peptides found in hydrolyzed whey stimulate certain gut hormones known as glucagon-like peptide 1, which accelerates fat burning! So you can take hydrolyzed whey when you’re on a cutting cycle as well.
During a cut, hydrolyzed whey will help speed up your fat-burning process, and since you’re using protein to build your muscles back up after an intense working session, you’ll be able to make more gains while losing more fat, a win-win!
Summary and Recommendations for Whey Consumption
We recommend taking anywhere from 20-40g of hydrolyzed whey as a post-workout supplement in order to maximize its effectiveness.
To summarize:
- Hydrolyzed whey is pre-digested whey that is absorbed faster in the body.
- Studies show that hydrolyzed whey helps speed up recovery from muscle damage, in addition to speeding up the recovery process for strength and power.
- It’s been proven to help get you back out onto the workout floor that much faster.
- Hydrolyzed whey helps speed up fat burning.
- We recommend taking 20-40g of hydrolyzed whey post-workout.
We hope this article helped you in understanding what hydrolyzed whey actually is and how it can help you as a post-workout supplement.
