T Nation

Surge Recovery vs Metabolic Drive vs Grow!

Supplements and Nutrition
#1

I do intense Fartlek 3 days a week in the morning. Hit the weights 4 or 5 days a week. I’m small 155lbs and my lifts are modest, 160lb bench, 230lb squat, 260lb deadlift, 70lb curl… I’d like to increase these numbers of course! Get bigger!

On the other hand I need to be able to keep up with the Fartlek which is running 4 miles and doing all sorts of bodyweight exercises along the way, military and such.

Anyways, I’m about to run out of my store bought protein powder that I was that impressed with so want to buy from TMuscle instead. I’ve always taken a protein powder with bcaa in the powder. Which of the 3 listed should I order today? I don’t see if Grow! has BCAA in it otherwise I’m thinking the added carbs will help me put on some much needed size.

On the other hand I’m not sure when lots of products are listed in two categories Surge Recovery is NOT listed as a Protein when it has 23g of Protein in it, which is more than Grow! or maybe I should go with Metabolic Drive Complete which has a wooping 40g of Protein?

Any advice on which would help me the most on gaining some size without losing the ability to cross train Fartlek would be great. I’ve already waited to long and going to run out of Protein powder today without having more at hand. (I have protein bars but no more powder)

#2

[quote]Enders Drift wrote:
Anyways, I’m about to run out of my store bought protein powder that I was that impressed with so want to buy from TMuscle instead. I’ve always taken a protein powder with bcaa in the powder. Which of the 3 listed should I order today? I don’t see if Grow! has BCAA in it otherwise I’m thinking the added carbs will help me put on some much needed size.[/quote]

All dairy proteins (whey and casein) contain BCAA, which means they are found in Surge Recovery, Metabolic Drive, and Grow! Whey.

[quote]Enders Drift wrote:
On the other hand I’m not sure when lots of products are listed in two categories Surge Recovery is NOT listed as a Protein when it has 23g of Protein in it, which is more than Grow! or maybe I should go with Metabolic Drive Complete which has a wooping 40g of Protein?

Any advice on which would help me the most on gaining some size without losing the ability to cross train Fartlek would be great. I’ve already waited to long and going to run out of Protein powder today without having more at hand. (I have protein bars but no more powder)[/quote]

If you want protein powder, go with Metabolic Drive or Grow! Whey. Surge Recovery with a peri-workout carb/protein recovery formula. It’s very good, but it’s not a protein powder.

#3

[quote]Enders Drift wrote:
I’ve always taken a protein powder with bcaa in the powder.[/quote]

This statement is more true than you realize. Like HK said, every protein powder has BCAAs. Some may have higher concentrations than others, but if you’re having a protein shake, then you are having BCAAs.

Surge Recovery is made with a fast absorbing protein source and a fast absorbing carb source, making ideal for a workout shake because it spikes insulin levels to better deliver those nutrients ASAP, but spiked insulin levels aren’t something you want during the day.

It was originally designed for post-workout, but the latest research has been shifting the emphasis to peri-workout nutrition, before and during training. Check out the old Double Dose Surge Protocol:

This type of plan eventually developed into the current Anaconda Protocol. Since you’re looking for maximum size in a situation where your training is making it tough, I’d definitely look into something along this line.

Metabolic Drive Complete is a great, higher calorie shake. It’s something you’d have during the day either between meals as a nutrient-dense “snack” or along with meals to bump up the calories and protein. Depending on how much you’re currently eating, this could be a good call.

You can obviously train any way you want/need to, but you should realize that the long distance fartlek training will burn a bunch of calories, making it even harder to gain size. The best way to counteract this would be to focus on peri-workout nutrition, with something like Surge Recovery.

It’s always a fine line, trying to balance training have to do with goals that are pretty much opposite. To gain size, you need to eat more. Simple enough. If you notice your Fartlek work starting to suffer, scale back on the calories just a bit. But I expect that, if you get the right calories at the right times (around your workout, as well as during the day) you’ll be able to get closer to where you want to get.

You might also benefit from tweaking your weight training program. Lifting 4 or 5 days a week plus running 3 days a week is burning through a lot of calories. Rearranging things so you’re lifting just 3 or 4 days might be even better, giving you more time to recover and progress.

#4

Hmm thanks very much for that wonderful reply. One of the most insightful ones I’ve gotten.

I can’t really afford multiple supplements for every day use but I could perhaps offset costs. But I might be able to buy both Metabolic Drive Complete and Surge Recovery. Take Surge Recovery before the Fartlek and the Metabolic Drive Complete after the weights. No way can I afford two servings a day of any combination of supplements, just can’t at the moment. Likewise I can’t afford the ANACONDA Protocol. I’ve got a few job applications in and if I can land one of them then I can consider taking it to the next level.

Upon closer inspection though I noticed that unless I’m missing something Metabolic Drive Complete seems to just be 3 servings of Metabolic Drive Low-Carb? Metabolic Drive Low-Carb is 1 scoop compared to Metabolic Drive Complete’s 3 scoops and has almost 1/3 of all the things that Metabolic Drive Complete has. I must be missing something on this one?

#5

[quote]Enders Drift wrote:

Upon closer inspection though I noticed that unless I’m missing something Metabolic Drive Complete seems to just be 3 servings of Metabolic Drive Low-Carb? Metabolic Drive Low-Carb is 1 scoop compared to Metabolic Drive Complete’s 3 scoops and has almost 1/3 of all the things that Metabolic Drive Complete has. I must be missing something on this one?[/quote]

Metabolic Drive Complete and Metabolic Drive Low-Carb Protein Shake are completely different formulas.

Metabolic Drive Complete is higher in carbohydrate and fat than Metabolic Drive Low-Carb Protein Shake.

#6

Hmm I think a closer look is in order…

3 scoops of Metabolic Drive Low-Carb = 87grams, 3 scoops of Metabolic Drive Complete = 81 grams: analysis:

3 scoops Metabolic Drive Low-Carb :: 3 scoops Metabolic Drive Complete
87 grams :: 81 grams
300 calories :: 310 calories
45 fat :: 70 fat
15mg Cholesterol :: 100mg Cholesterol
12 carbs :: 23 carbs
60g protein :: 41g protein

I see, when looking at it this way it makes more sense to me. I don’t know where the fat and cholesterol is coming from which is the biggest difference. Seems like if the goal is gaining mass while remaining lean enough to do Fartlek the 10 calories and 11 carbs isn’t a huge difference in energy to account for that much excess cholesterol?