Supplements:
Okay I am going to address a few things regarding supplements. This is going to help lead into the skinny guy section, and fat guys you are gonna get something from this too. Ideally we want most of your calories coming in the form of whole foods though while you are losing weight. There are a few reasons for this, but the best reason for you getting started is to keep from getting hungry. Shakes and shit are filling for a little bit, but eventually it goes away. Chances are you are going to pick up a few muscle or fitness mags when you get started. They are great for keeping your mind in the game, but they are also full of advertisements for supplements that are mostly useless or overpriced. I keep mine basic, but I do get crazy every once in awhile and try out new shit. The most important supplements are typically the cheapest, and most basic. These were wrote down in no particular order, and I will try to do my best to describe what they are for, and what (if any) use it has for both the skinny guys and the fat guys.
Vitamins: This one should be obvious, but I will go ahead and explain my reasoning behind taking them. I fucking hate veggies. It's my weakness. I never ate my peas or carrots at dinner, and my dog growing up probably got more vitamins than I did ( RIP Taz, you little annoying bastard
). Everyone should be taking a mult-vitamin at least. GNC is my favorite brand. With vitamins you have to be careful, the best ones are actually pretty cheap. The reason behind avoiding the wal-mart kinds is quality. Cheaper vitamins are often packed together to hard, leaving a ton of it unused while it passes through your digestive system. This actually ends up costing you more money than if you just ponied up the cash for the good shit up front. I suggest GNC's sport packs. They are handy, relatively taste/odorless, and they really are GOOD. It's the only gnc product I'd suggest really. I also through in some others by themselves depending on a few things. If I drink on a friday I will load up on b12 that night and saturday/sunday. Booze depletes the fuck out of you, and this helps not only with the hangover, but helps get your body and system back into normal mode. I also take a Vitamin C by itself pretty regularly. When your going to the gym you need that boost to your immune system. Your already breaking your body down, but now your also rolling around where a bunch of people sweat, spit, and fart. Some of those people are sick, and almost all of them are carrying germs and shit around with em. Another tip for this is always take advantage of the sterilizing foam most gyms offer. Mine has em up all around the gym so USE em!
Protein:
You can't get swole without enough protein. There are a few different types readily available via supplements. Here is a quick summary of the two important ones you want to focus on. I am not going to go into a ton of detail, as a lot of this has to do with opinions over facts. Most of you beginners will be good starting out just worrying about supplementing your diet with Whey. It's cheap, it works, and it's proven. I will get into more detail soon about how to use it, when to use it, and all that. Keep in mind this is really all about opinions. There are studies that come out every day proving one protein to do something better, blah blah, pretty much going back and forth about the benefits of each. The important thing is nobody in there right mind will ever try to say whey is anything but number one.
Whey Protein: This is the most popular, and touted form of protein powder. It digests faster than Casein, and is pretty much the cornerstone of any trainers **************. I suggest a brand called Isopure for your fat guys. It has nothing but protein in it. I use optimum nutrition myself, and it has a few carbs in it, it's priced right on sites like
www.dpsnutrition.com , and it's made with good shit. You don't want to cheap out on protein. Trust me. You will get the protein farts, and it will pretty much be impossible to hide. Trust me I've done it. It's not worth it, especially since your gonna be doing some heavy lifting here soon.
Casein: This is a slower digesting form of protein, and I never fully appreciated it until recently. I started using it in my shakes before bed. If I understand it correctly (this stuff is pretty new to me as far as specifics go, I used to just take whatever my mentors would tell me), It forms a gel in your stomache. It's digested slowly over a longer period of time then whey, and will help keep you from becoming catabolic during your fast. It's supposedly has it's place in pre/post workout shakes, but like I said a lot of this is opinion based. Most Meal Replacement shakes (muscle milk etc.) will have casein in it, usually with whey. I've read it helps keep you full as well, which is great for you fattys. I'd strongly suggest picking up a jug of it and mix in around 1/3rd of a scoop (10-15 grams) with your shakes containing whey throughout the day.
Soy: I've never taken this hippy shit, and I heard it's caused men to lactate. Fuck leaky nipples. I can't say if it's good or bad, but I don't personally know anyone outside of hardcore vegans who use the shit. Google it if that applies to you (good luck though, it's rough to put on mass as a vegan, there are a few exceptions and I'd imagine those guys have it in them to be monsters genetically speaking.
Okay so that's the basics on protein, and I'd strongly suggest you hit up google to get some more educated facts about it. It's important to all of you, fatties and skinnys. I personally feel like what I take % wise of each is perfect FOR ME. I know this from keeping logs of everything I put in my body, along with gains in lifts, mass, +/- bodyfat, etc. It's something your going to have to feel out as you go, so stick with whey as your main protein, and supplement casein TO whey if your making a meal replacement shake, or for your pre-sleep shake. Casein is definitely underrated in my eyes, but it's not a must for beginners. Any start is a good start for you at this point!
Creatine:
This shit has a pretty bad rep with some non-trainers. It's something I avoided for my first couple of years because of the retarded spin about it. It's also one of the only supplements I'd suggest not buying name brand. Creatine is pretty simple in it's purest form, and your really just paying for advertising and a bunch of other shit from the other companies. Most name brand companies will tell you to get on a "load" stage at first. where your taking 3-5 times the normal dosage. Their reason is clear. You use more of there supplement, and since an effect (and benefit) of creatine is water retention in your muscles, your gonna think the 5-10 lbs of water weight you put on is because of their awesome product. I take 5-10grams in my pre-workout shake, and rarely deviate. I can't say for certain that the load phases are completely useless, but I've never heard anything else from experienced trainers. Google creatine to find out it's exact benefits, as it's got many uses. I would suggest it to anyone who starts lifting though. I used some crazy off brand, but DPS has some good deals on this. I don't even know what brand I'm taking right now, my buddy and I went
in halfsies on this ginormous tub of it we found for cheap as hell online a few months ago. Buy Celltech if you hate money. There was an article floating around
awhile ago teaching you how to make damn near the exact same thing as celltech, for about 1/3rd (I think) of the price.
BCAAs (Branched Chain Amino Acids):
These do a little bit of everything, and it's definitely a must in your shakes. They do so much I'm not gonna bother listing it here, check out
this wiki to get all scientific! I take 5-10 Grams with my morning shake, and my pre-workout shake. I like the instantized powder form from
optimum nutrition. I've recently learned (or was told rather) to try and find one that's got
More on protein....
This is one of the most debated supplements as far as dosage goes, but hardcore gainers swear by the 2+ grams of protein per pound of bodyweight a day.
This is widely debated, and you will find everything from .7 Grams per day to to 2+. It's not something I am going to say one way or another
since your mileage can and will vary. Remember this is also counting what you eat in whole foods. If your on a weight loss diet you probably won't need
to supplement your protein intake all that much (if at all), but I'd still suggest a 12 to 24 grams of casein before bed.
About Grams and shit!
It seems overwhelming at first glance, telling you x Grams of this, and x Grams of that... but it's really not tough. Almost every supplement comes with
a scooper, that is pre-measured for their suggested serving. Protein is typically 24 grams a scoop (Isopure is 25 grams of pure protein).
Balla on a budget section:
If you are just starting out you can skip the creatine and bcaa's for now, and you can get by without casein. Your gains won't be as solid, but as
a beginner your need for that extra little help is nowhere near as big as someone whose been training for a few years. I did (and you can) get by on
just a multi-vitamin and some whey protein. It was more ignorance than being cheap, but yeah. You can pick up a huge bag of whey on dpsnutrition.com
for about half the price they charge in store. The last time I placed an order I think it came out to about 39 cents a shake for whey, but I buy so
much at once that it could be way off by now.
Do not cheap out on your multi-vitamin! It's seriously pissing money away. Cheap vitamins can be packed too tight to digest all the way, if at all, and
can also contain heavy metals and shit. I'm no scientist but presumably that shit can fuck your shit up right quick!If you already eat alot of fruits and
veggies and shit, and you really can't afford the 15 bucks or so a month it costs to take GNC brand multi's, then you get a pass for now, but really...
it's 15 bucks. That's like one trip to a plasma center if your really that hard up.
I know this shit may seem a little scattered, but like I said before supplements are my weak point. I know what works for me, and I tweak shit all the time, but I cannot HONESTLY say what the best stack is
for you. Jump into it with an open mind, and try to avoid buying shit because theres a hot chick in their advertisement. Pure Protein bars always has some smoking hot chick in their ads. Like in a thong, perfect ass, etc. I mean that shit was very boner inspiring. If they could make my wiener get swole with one page, I figure that shit's gotta get me jacked. I bought that shit
ONCE and I was passing gas like I was running auschwitz or something. NEVER AGAIN!
Sorry for the delays, but I've been having to work on this shit a paragraph at a time over the past few days. I am going to be getting more into working out
on here, since most of my aim's from this thread have been asking about that. Smart dudes with more supplement knowledge than me (not hard to do), feel free to tear this post apart, as long as it's constructive I promise not to get too butt hurt about it. Always looking for leaks in my knowledge!
