Matt's weekly Top 5 takes a deep dive into all things protein, from the best ways to squeeze more into your day to the emergence of protein's role with GLP-1 use.
Today is a special issue of my Top 5: all protein, top to bottom.
Why? Because if you're asking yourself whether you might need more protein, you do. I know I do. We break down muscle every single day, and most endurance athletes are running a deficit without knowing it. Five things, two minutes, and you'll fuel smarter than 90% of your group ride.
1. THE PIÑA COLADA OF PROTEIN
Clear whey is like showing up to a party where everyone brought beer, and you brought Piña Coladas.
It's whey that's already partially broken down, so it digests easier and mixes lighter, which cracked open a whole world of flavors. Protein no longer means a heavy vanilla or chocolate shake. Think Creamsicle over Rocky Road. My house recipe: Ascent Clear Whey, frozen pineapple, half milk, half water, blend — that's the Piña Colada. When I just want fast, I shake Arrae with water; it mixes as quickly as hydration and tastes amazing.
The nugget: if thick shakes are why you skip protein, clear whey removes your excuse.
2. PROTEIN SHAKE OR RECOVERY SHAKE?
The difference is one word: carbs.
A protein shake doesn't need many. A recovery shake adds serious carbs on purpose, to refill your glycogen (stored energy) tank after you've emptied it. So the question isn't which is "better." It's: how depleted are you?
After a multi-hour session, go recovery. Skratch Recovery is truly delicious, partly because it carries 35g of carbs, which is exactly why it shouldn't be your everyday shake. My functional favorite splits the difference: SwissRX Total Recovery — protein, carbs, and nutrients aimed at calming post-workout inflammation.
The nugget: big workout, big carbs. Easy day, protein only.
3. THE THREE Cs
Beyond your shake, three ingredients earn a spot in an athlete's protein routine.
Collagen: it IS protein, plus tissue-repair support. The most compelling study says to take it an hour before intense training, which dramatically increases how much your body puts to work. When my daughter was ski racing, I insisted on it. Did it help? I don't know, but she didn't get hurt. SwissRX Collagen outsells every other collagen we carry by 3x.
Colostrum: the first milk mammals make for their newborns. (You had it as a baby. Yes, most supplements come from cows or goats. Yes, I'll wait while you process that) Athletes take it for the same three reasons babies do: gut lining, immunity, and overall resilience. There's also Revitalize, the pricey version engineered to be identical to human colostrum, which athletes are using to help support healthy iron levels, something female athletes especially struggle with. And before you hit reply: it's not from a human. Just identical.
Creatine: all the same molecule, whatever Instagram tells you. I saw a brand (we don't carry them) claiming "3rd generation creatine." That's just a lie. What matters is purity. So I made you a $15 one: The Feed Lab Creatine, 60 servings, highest purity we could find, NSF Certified for Sport.
The nugget: collagen an hour before training, colostrum for your gut, creatine daily, and never pay for creatine marketing.
4. ONE POUCH INSTEAD OF 30 PILLS
Now, the obvious question after all that: who's actually going to take collagen, creatine, gut support, AND a peptide every single day?
That question is why Foundation exists. I had this idea for years with Dr. Sprouse: put every daily boost we want an athlete on into one pre-measured pouch, because the #1 reason boosts fail isn't the ingredient; it's that athletes stop taking it. It can't work if you don't take it. So we made Foundation, everything every athlete could use daily: creatine, collagen, Synthesis (PeptiStrong®), Gut Defense (L-Glutamine and more), and taurine in one scoop-free pouch. It's the equivalent of 30 pills a day at half the price of buying each separately.
And it has ZERO protein, on purpose. It's the boost; you add it to whatever protein you already drink. The original Swiss chocolate flavor is great in classic shakes, but it wasn't made for Clear Whey, so I made Neutral, my favorite, which disappears into anything (yes, even your Piña Colada from #1).
The nugget: consistency beats optimization. One pouch makes consistency automatic.
5. PROTEIN-MAXXING
If you think athletes aren't taking GLP-1s, you're kidding yourself. Frankly, from what I know of the science, I lean pretty hard to the "pro" side, not just for weight loss, but for the other health benefits that keep emerging.
But if you're an athlete on one, you should be doing what the kids call protein-maxxing, because three things are happening at once. You're eating less, so every calorie needs to carry more micronutrients. You're burning fat AND muscle, unless you keep mTOR activated (the switch that tells your body to build muscle, and exactly what Synthesis, aka PeptiStrong®, flips). And you need more protein to fuel that rebuilding.
The new Kyoku was formulated for precisely this: 30g of protein, 5g of collagen, plus creatine, Synthesis, and micronutrients from real food like kale and broccoli.
The nugget: on a GLP-1, the goal isn't losing weight. It's losing fat while keeping muscle, and that takes protein plus mTOR.
