Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey Protein Powder, Rocky Road, 5 LB

First off, I'd like to say that I'm not a nutritionist, or a health nut / fitness bro. Just a regular dude who eats right and works out / runs a few times a week. That being said, this is a great Whey Powder and I am very subscribed to this brand alone. I used to use Muscle Milk Protein Powder, but under the advice of my friend (who is a health/lifestyle adviser) I dropped the MM Brand and switched to ON. To keep it short and sweet, I will list some things to note followed by my personal experience / tips with using this great product. Things I've Noticed: 1. ON Brand has a much more basic ingredient list, with no nonsense or 'padding' to increase their profits. It's mostly Whey Protein, and a few other things for taste and texture. 2. Speaking of taste and texture, this stuff is the real deal. I've only tried two flavors so far, Rocky Road and Strawberry, but they are both excellent. The flavor is very light and palatable, in the sense that you can go through the 5 pound tub without getting sick of the flavors and having to choke them down. It's also not sludgy at all, it mixes so easily you could probably use a spoon, though I use a Blender Bottle. The powder is extremely fine and flour-y when compared to my past protein powder choices. 3. It also doesn't clump together after initial blending. For example. I'll pre-mix my drink before I leave for work at 2:00, and I store it in the cooler until 6:00 or 7:00 and it is just as new. 4. The only downside I've noticed about ON is the price. It is a little pricey at just under 60 dollars for 5 pounds, but I think that with something you put in your body to support your health, it is better this way than to settle for inferiority. Personal Tips: So, in my few months of using ON Brand, I've also found that it does wonders in the mornings when you need a quick protein shot but don't have the time. Often on these mornings, I will mix the whey powder into shakes / smoothies. Like I said, I've only used the two flavors, but here are the smoothies I make with them if you are interested: Strawberry -> 1.5 Cups Whole Milk, 1 Banana, 4 - 6 Strawberries, 3 Ice Cubes, Strawberry ON Powder Chocolate PB Banana -> 1.5 Cups Whole Milk, 1 Banana, 2 - 3 Tbsp. Peanut Butter, 3 Ice Cubes

First of all... I'm not a juice-head (nothing against those guys... I have friends like that... so please don't beat me up), I'm an average middle aged guy who is exercising more (cardio, some weights and I play ice hockey 1-2 times per week) and watch what I eat. I'm trying fix what sitting on my butt at a desk for the last 15+ years has done to me. So far I've lost 60 pounds over the last 18 months, slowly but surely <applause break>. Did you guys know eating half a pizza isn't good for you and having two bagels on "Bagel Friday" isn't such a hot idea either? Who knew? So... I've added this to my workouts. I have a scoop with a cup of low sugar vanilla almond milk within a half-hour of either working out or playing hockey and I've noticed a huge improvement in not being sore as hell the next day... that alone makes this worth it for me. It makes it a ton easier to go exercise the next day, which is good. I work out or play hockey in the late evenings after work, so having this when I get home fills me up so I don't go around the kitchen "grazing" on junk before I go to bed. I've also looked at the label to see what's "in it" and the bulk of it is the protein. There is lots of junk out there where less than half is protein and the rest is filler. Plus I could ACTUALLY pronounce the other ingredients. That and so many good reviews of this product encouraged me to give it a shot. Make sure you think out where this container is going to go... it's big. The first couple of times I used a spotter to make sure I didn't fall in... I'd hate to read about any of you have some "Baby Jessica in the well" incidents with this... I just dated myself didn't I? So... I think you should give this a try.. also did I mention it tastes great too? I love this stuff! Do it.

Industry standard and more versatile than conventional uses may lead one to believe- during a month long power-outage off-range, made "Muscle-Pudding" (steamed jasmine rice, 2%\Whole, 1 cup purified drinking water, and approximately 3 scoops per yield: Feeds 4-5 comfortably) I recommend the strawberry anything

Great tasting chocolate flavor with cleanest ingredient list of all the chocolates. Serving size mixes perfectly in my 1 cup of Fairlife skim milk that has 13g protein. I get a great protein boost of just under 40g in one shot. Its fine texture allows it to easily mix in one cup. Great value for the money buying in the 5 lb size.

The Rocky Road flavor by far is the best flavor out of all the flavors offered by Optimum Nutrition. I have tried double rich chocolate, extreme chocolate and vanilla but all of those have that metallic artificial sweetened taste to it. It was hard to drink with water especially on a cut. On the other hand the rocky road flavor is really good and doesn’t have that metallic taste to it, the flavor tastes original similar to the ice cream and with milk it’s even better. 10/10 would HIGHLY recommend rocky road over all flavors if your not so sure about which to pick. This does keep me full with one scoop to eliminate that craving for food or sweets post workout if you’re looking to cut and get lean. Pros: - Best tasting - Easy to drink with water - No after taste - Tastes like the real deal Cons: - Slightly clumpy (Usually all powders have this con) - On the sweeter side - Might make you want more (Tastes like a desert which is a pro for me)

Shopping for whey? The first question you should ask yourself is what's more important to you, taste or results? Hopefully the lot of you chooses the latter. However if you chose the former I wouldn't recommend this product and would instead recommend "Syntrax" nectar protein. That stuff literally tastes as good as Koolaid. I have been taking Gold standard Whey for about 6 months and I have appeared to have gotten better results. I know for sure my arms have grown in size. As far as taste goes, a majority them taste OKAY, but nothing thus far has been amazing. I will update my reviews as I try more flavors. ****Note**** I drink my protein with water only so it may or may not taste better with milk/almond milk. Chocolate Mint - 6.5 out of 10. After suffering through a 5 lb tub of Cake Batter I next tried Chocolate Mint. I would say the of the flavors I have mentioned thus far this is my favorite. The chocolate flavor is definitely more pronounced than the mint, which is subtle. Rocky Road - 6 out of 10. For me Rocky Road was a tad better than tolerable. It definitely wasn't scrumptious or anything, but I thought it was much better and sweeter tasting than chocolate malt. Chocolate Malt - 5 out of 10. I couldn't say this tasted like a chocolate malt truthfully. It tastes about as close to a chocolate malt as the bubble gum flavored medicine did back in the day. There are worst flavors though. Cookies and Cream - 4 out of 10. I thought the flavor was slightly tolerable. There are small granules that I suppose act as the replacement cookies in this. Sometimes you notice them, sometimes you don't. That was really the only unique thing about this flavor. French Vanilla Creme - 4 out of 10. I thought overall the flavor was slightly tolerable, but definitely wasn't one of the better tasting ones. Also wasn't the worst so I guess that's something right? I will say it definitely was closer to an actual French Vanilla Creme flavor than Cake batter was. Cake Batter - 1 out of 10. Not sure what cake-batter flavor they were trying to replicate here, but they swung and missed greatly with this attempt. I would say the initial taste was slightly tolerable, but the impending aftertaste is horrendous. I would liken the aftertaste to soap. Unfortunately I just bought a 5lb canister of this flavor. My goodness this is going to be a LONG wait till I finish this off.

This stuff is the best I work as a server and have to move and walk and go up and down stairs all day. I may not get to eat if Im too busy at times and when you move around 8 hours straight its very taxing while famished and can leave you aching the next day. Every day before I leave I make a bullet blender of this, milk, oat meal, pb, berries, banana, hemp seeds and creatine and it keeps me going all day. As well as for when I work out but even if your not a gym bro this is an excellent source of calorie and nutrient dense ways of getting what you need everyday regardless of your regiment.

After trying different brands, this seems to be the best one I've had so far. I tried two different flavors and they taste great. No chalky aftertaste, which I love. Can be a little hard to mix, but not a deal-breaker. Overall it's worth a try. Pretty good value for the money and I will continue to use them and buy more flavors.