I've been in the dark ages for the past week and a half, with no internet, luckily for you I'm back. I always said one of the two most frequent questions I get asked is, "what supplements should I take? Right now I'm taking protein and this and that ....".
My first question to these people is do you eat? Simple question, huh, and of course I get the answer "yeah!". However, once we start talking I quickly find out that these people usually fall into one of two categories.
The first category of "supplement seekers" are the people that eat, but what they eat is junk. They may be getting in plenty of calories (i.e. 2000+) but these calories are from horrible sources. These calories are usually from carb heavy diets, heavy on the bread and pasta and extremely low on protein. The second category of "supplement seekers" don't eat enough. They starve themselves taking in extremely low calories causing there bodies to hang on to as much of their fat reserve as possible and burn off a lesser fuel like muscle. Both groups of "supplement seekers" may workout/train very hard but see little results in the form of body composition or strength gains.
If you fall into one of these two categories my advice to you is simple eat first supplement second. There is no "supplement" for real food. Eating whole, unprocessed food is key to getting stronger, feeling better and looking better. Here is a simple rule when looking at food, "If you can't kill it, catch it or grow it DON'T EAT IT!"
If you are eating properly, then you must look at two other variables in the fitness equation. Are you training effectively? Are you doing minimal weights, low intensity, single joint movements? If so quit, do some research and find out how to train. The other variable is recovery. We must do an equal part recovery work for all the training we do. So what do I mean by recovery work? Well recovery can include everything from getting adequate sleep to foam rolling to special exercises such as sled dragging...
Ok, ok, ok you say that you are eating clean and taking in plenty of calories, training heavy with multi joint movements, getting plenty of sleep and doing recovery work so what supplements would you recommend? Well I would start with a quality whey based protein that is low in carbs. Stay away from soy based proteins. Soy is an inferior protein source that can cause a host of problems. Branch chained amino acids are also a good investment there are plenty of benefits of BCAA's. Check out the link to learn more about BCAA's http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/791/The_Benefits_of_BCAAs.aspx
Now another supplement that I really think is beneficial are ZMA's (zinc magnesium aspartate). ZMA's help you sleep allowing muscle recovery. http://www.livestrong.com/article/283647-what-are-the-benefits-of-zma-supplements/
So to recap, before you spend money on expensive supplements you need to ask yourself three very important questions.
1) Are you eating enough of the right foods?
2) Are you training properly for your goals?
3) Are you doing your recovery work?
If you answered yes to all three then look into starting with a protein supplement, some BCAA's, and some ZMA.
Until next post be safe and be strong.
Ford
