You've Been Using Your Protein Shaker Wrong

Disclaimer: Much gym judgment follows.

We get it: You're huge, your muscles are bigger than everyone else's, and you want everyone to know it. Your muscles need fuel (instead of using a powder, consider eating one of these foods to build muscle), so you brandish your arsenal of different jugs, bottles, and containers bravely in the face of catabolism. Well guess what, bro? We think you're doing a lot of stuff stupidly.

Click here to see the 10 Best Reusable Water Bottles.

Close Your Lid, Doofus
Exhibit B (for bro) heads to the water fountain, neon orange shaker bottle in hand. He fills the bottle with water, turns to walk away while simultaneously raising his arm to begin shaking, and BAM! Protein sludge explosion, one of the absolute worst things that can happen in the gym. Everywhere. Don't be silly — check to make sure the lid is closed before you start to shake shake, shake shake-a shake it.

Earn Your Jug
We have nothing against anyone being in the gym and working on his or her fitness. If you're on a mission to better yourself, kudos! What is quite suspicious, however, is when people who are more sticklike than bricklike decide to tote a gallon-jug full of water. What's even more curious is when the gallon jug is filled with just water (where are the aminos, bruh?) If you're going to carry a gallon jug around, at least look the part.

So Wait, Is It Tequila, Salt, Lime or Salt, Lime, Tequila?
(That was a very paraphrased Always Sunny quote.) Hopefully you're not taking tequila shots before you go to the gym, but there's a very interesting connection between tequila and protein: Which order to you do? Should you put your powder in the bottle and then water? Water then powder? We've learned from experience that transporting an already-shaken shaker filled with liquid protein in it can end in disaster (my gym bag still smells like "chocolate cake batter"), so we urge you to add the water after the lime. Wait, we mean at the gym – yes, add the water to your powder at the gym to cut back on the likelihood of an accident.

You Don't Have to Go Home, But You Can't Mix Here
OK, some of us have done this in our more inexperienced days (this is where the author enters the first person to tell the reader  that I used to do this weird, weird thing), but there's really nothing good that can come from taking your supplements to the gym and putting them in your bottle there.

  1. Your bag becomes identified as "the one full of supps," and is instantly a perfect target for sneaky supplement-thieves and trapezoid thugs.
  2. If you put powder into your shaker at the gym, you're introducing the threat of a whole host of different germs and bacteria. These come from the disgusting bodies of other humans. No thanks!
  3. Powder is powder — opening up containers with powder in the gym can easily result in messy, slightly yellow-tinted pre-workout powder piles near the squat rack.