I sometimes get very lucky and come home to a little package from different supplement or nutrition brands to try out their products for my little fitfam!
I was contacted by the very lovely Daniel in Protein Active, a company based in NI in Belfast, to try out a sample of their- VERY affordable- product line.
I was give a range of protein shakes in three flavours- strawberry, vanilla and chocolate, a few Paleo protein bars and some energy gels.
For me the protein bars are a god send- I loved the texture, they don’t taste too ‘proteiny’ and they are not as sweet as their counterparts- they are also a lot cleaner in terms of ingredients too, which is always a plus. You can read more about them here. I would normally have at least one protein bar in my bag at any given time so if I’m ever caught out at a meeting or have to stay late at work and can’t make it to a shop or don’t have food with me I always have a protein rich option- these little babies pack a mean punch at 25g of protein a pop- whoop!
I also got a few of the energy gels to try. I don’t normally go for these unless I’m doing something horrible like the prowler as a little HIIT killer session and can’t handle eating too much pre-workout- I do tend to feel quite ill on HIIT days 🙂
SO these little guys are ideal as they are designed to keep your protein levels high within the body whilst keeping calories to a bare minimum. Small amounts of fast acting sugars drive high BV protein to muscles to assist in repair and regeneration of tissue caused by heavy training. They can also promote fat loss and offset muscle breakdown during arduous training sessions- all in all perfect for a day full of burpees too- uagh!
These are a lot thicker than I would have thought and might be a bit weird for any first timers to energy gels- I found them a lot more palatable for this reason though as the taste didn’t linger for long after eating/drinking them. I also managed a PB in my squat session when I tried them so maybe I’m biased!
Finally, I got to try the protein shakes- these come in their own little bottles that you just add water to which is really handy, if like me, you’re stuck at a desk for the majority of your day! My favourites were the chocolate and vanilla- but then again I hate anything strawberry flavoured unless it’s actually a strawberry so I’m probably not the best to comment on that. One shake contains 34g of protein though- my coach at my gym actually stole one of my test shakes and gave it a 10 out of 10 so that’s one big fat thumbs up as he is forever trying new products! I have to say the chocolate one was definitely my favourite out of the two but I find a tub of vanilla gets a little boring after a while normally, but as these come in individual shakes it’s a nice way to mix up your flavours!
If you’re interested in trying any of these, you can now buy them online here:
