National Bodybuilding Co. Full Prep Vegan Protein Review

October 2, 2020

Welcome to our National Bodybuilding Co. Full Prep Vegan Protein Review.

In this review, we’ll see how National Bodybuilding Co. Protein compares to other protein supplements in terms of muscle repair, strength building and optimal nutrition. Key highlights:

20.5g of highly bioavailable protein per scoop
Healthy for daily use
117kcal per serving – easily used regardless if you’re bulking or cutting
Rich chocolate flavor from 100% natural ingredients
Naturally sweetened
Contains leucine that absorbs 30% faster into the muscle than whey [1]

Before diving deeper into how National Bodybuilding Co. Protein works and what it’s made of, let’s see why protein is the most crucial macronutrient for bodybuilders.

Why is Protein so Important?

There are many reasons to keep an eye on your daily protein intake. Protein consists of amino acids that are essential for living beings. Without these amino acids, your body wouldn’t have the building blocks to build tissues. If you’re a bodybuilder, getting enough protein can mean the difference between being stuck with no progress, and achieving your goal physique. Even if you’re just a recreational gym goer, you’ll want to hit your daily protein needs to feel stronger, recover faster from injuries, and be your healthier self in general. On the other hand, not getting sufficient protein will make maintaining or building muscle impossible. If you don’t consume enough protein while exercising, you may also:

Start going catabolic – a lack of protein will force your body to use muscles as your primary energy source.
Regress in your lifts – in order to keep progressing and set new PRs, you’ll need to continually feed your muscles with the key macronutrient.

Truth be told, no one wants to train their butts off in the gym without results. Or worse, see a loss in their strength. The good news is, a quality protein supplement like National Bodybuilding Co. Full Prep Vegan Protein can give your gym efforts a major boost.

Try Full Prep Vegan Protein Here

See where Full Prep Vegan Protein landed on our list of the Best Protein Powders!

How Does National Bodybuilding Co. Protein Work?

National Bodybuilding Co. Protein is specifically designed to help bodybuilders progress faster in the gym, and get better quality nutrition. Being 100% natural and plant-based, it offers a side-effect-free way of reducing the amount of fat you accumulate while bulking, but also reducing bloating. The latter being a common side effect of whey protein. National Bodybuilding Co. Protein works by:

Increasing the rate of muscle protein synthesis – retain muscle on a cut, build strength faster while bulking.
Optimizing nutrient utilization – directs more protein into the muscle.
Boosting metabolic efficiency – increases calorie burning throughout the day.
Enhances athletic recovery – assists in optimal circulation, helps lower post-exercise inflammation.

When we first got our hands on National Bodybuilding Co. Protein, we were very impressed with how fast we felt the benefits. Not just in terms of muscle building, but also how easy it was on our digestion. We later found out that National Bodybuilding Co. Full Prep Vegan Protein was designed to assist in nutrient absorption from foods, which is one of the reasons why it works so well.

Vegan Protein vs Whey Protein: What’s Better for Gains?

Chances are you tried whey protein in the past and it may worked great for you. But there are also many legitimate reasons to steer clear of certain types of protein powders. Whey, Pea, and Soy protein can all have questionable origins. They may be genetically modified or sourced from animals who ate an unnatural diet and were treated with antibiotics, estrogens and other chemicals. Needless to say, this can negatively impact your health. And of course, there’s the issue with being allergic to whey and soy. So, what’s exactly inside National Bodybuilding Co. Vegan Protein? Is it cleaner than your typical whey or soy protein powder? We have a look below.

Ingredients

The main ingredients on the list are organic rice and pea protein. Both are excellent sources of the anabolic amino acid leucine, along with other BCAAs that stimulate robust muscle growth. Interestingly, rice and pea proteins are shown to have at least the same effect as whey protein on muscle maintenance and growth. In some cases, the efficiency of amino acids in these high-quality plant proteins was even higher than in their whey protein counterpart. [6] Research also shows that rice protein stimulates lean body mass during resistance training as effectively, or better than whey protein. Not only that, pea protein has been shown to improve blood circulation, lower blood pressure, and enhance digestion. Therefore, using National Bodybuilding Co. Full Prep Vegan Protein will increase lean muscle hypertrophy and fat loss at a faster rate. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] However, the biggest advantage of using organic rice and pea protein is that they don’t produce inflammation, nor do they contain allergens or harmful chemicals that you’ll typically find in protein supplements. Not only that, they’re also more bioavailable than dairy. Having increased bioavailability means more of the protein actually ends up in your muscles. This leads to superior recovery and performance in the gym. Lower quality whey proteins often don’t get absorbed as efficiently, with most of it going down the drain (literally). As for other ingredients you’ll find in National Bodybuilding Co. Protein, some of them include:

Cocoa
Sweetly Stevia ^® and StevioPure™
Natural, organic flavors

Allergen Information: National Bodybuilding Co. Protein is made for vegans or anyone wanting to lead a healthier lifestyle. It contains no eggs, fish, shellfish, wheat, diary or soy. National Bodybuilding Co. “Full Prep” Vegan protein is non-irritated and non-GMO, as well. It’s free of artificial colors, banned substances, harmful additives, and has no added stimulants (including caffeine).

Dose – How to Take

Supplying over 20g of easily digestible protein per serving, along with vitamin D, calcium, and other essential vitamins and minerals, National Bodybuilding Co. can easily be included in your meal plan at all times – whether you’re cutting, maintaining, or bulking. Simply mix 1 scoop in water or your beverage of choice and drink it before, during or after your workouts. If you need to amp up your daily protein intake, you can take National Bodybuilding Co. Protein multiple times per day.

Flavors

At the moment, National Bodybuilding Co. comes exclusively in chocolate flavor. The taste is rich and delicious, but not too sweet. It doesn’t have any artificial aftertaste either. Overall, we rate the flavor and texture as excellent. Pros

100% organic protein
Naturally sweetened with patented stevia extract
Cleaner and faster absorption
Improves digestion, circulation, and fat loss
Eco-friendly (doesn’t require as many materials as, say, whey protein to make the final product)
Manufactured according to strict cGMP and FDA standards
Free detailed guide to building more muscle with every order

Cons

Only 20 servings per bottle
You can only get it directly on the official website
Available exclusively in chocolate flavor

Conclusion

Many people complain about having bloating or indigestion after drinking whey protein supplement. Not that we’ve dispelled the ‘myth’ that vegan proteins can’t be as effective as whey protein for muscle growth, there’s no reason not to give it a try. Each tub (600g) of National Bodybuilding Co. Protein costs $50. Considering the quality of its ingredients and their advanced manufacturing, National Bodybuilding Co. Protein is an excellent value for money overall. We currently rate it as one of the cleanest, most effective plant-based protein powders for muscle retention and growth. And, according to many users, it’s great tasting too.

Try Full Prep Vegan Protein

References

Joy, J.M., Lowery, R.P., Wilson, J.M. et al. The effects of 8 weeks of whey or rice protein supplementation on body composition and exercise performance. Nutr J 12, 86 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-12-86.
Kalman DS. Amino Acid Composition of an Organic Brown Rice Protein Concentrate and Isolate Compared to Soy and Whey Concentrates and Isolates. Foods. 2014;3(3):394-402. Published 2014 Jun 30. doi:10.3390/foods3030394
Banaszek A, Townsend JR, Bender D, Vantrease WC, Marshall AC, Johnson KD. The Effects of Whey vs. Pea Protein on Physical Adaptations Following 8-Weeks of High-Intensity Functional Training (HIFT): A Pilot Study. Sports (Basel). 2019 Jan 4;7(1):12. doi: 10.3390/sports7010012. PMID: 30621129; PMCID: PMC6358922.
Li H, Prairie N, Udenigwe CC, Adebiyi AP, Tappia PS, Aukema HM, Jones PJ, Aluko RE. Blood pressure lowering effect of a pea protein hydrolysate in hypertensive rats and humans. J Agric Food Chem. 2011 Sep 28;59(18):9854-60. doi: 10.1021/jf201911p. Epub 2011 Sep 2. PMID: 21854068.
Overduin J, Guérin-Deremaux L, Wils D, Lambers TT. NUTRALYS(®) pea protein: characterization of in vitro gastric digestion and in vivo gastrointestinal peptide responses relevant to satiety. Food Nutr Res. 2015 Apr 13;59:25622. doi: 10.3402/fnr.v59.25622. PMID: 25882536; PMCID: PMC4400298.
Joy JM, Lowery RP, Wilson JM, et al. The effects of 8 weeks of whey or rice protein supplementation on body composition and exercise performance. Nutr J. 2013;12:86. Published 2013 Jun 20. doi:10.1186/1475-2891-12-86