Supplements

           I will admit that when I first started working out, I swore I was not going to be “that guy.” I was not going to be that ‘roided up freak who was drinking raw eggs Rocky Balboa style. I wasn’t going to mess with all those protein powders and I wasn’t going to be taking all sorts of different pill supplements. But, the more I kept at it I found I did want certain help along the way.

           I have told you all before, I will not be sugar coating things. So, let me be clear. I am not talking steroids here. I like my “wedding business” far too much to risk messing with that. In one of my picture posts, a friend did ask me (I hope jokingly) if I was on steroids. I can see where that would be a complement but that is not what I am talking about here.

           Guys, I am not wealthy, so I will be the first to admit that I do the majority of my shopping at Walmart. I buy the generic brand as much as possible to pinch pennies, so I cannot speak to the high price brands of products that you can buy online. I am just telling you what I use. Trust me, Big Vitamin is not cutting me a check to hawk their wares, I have just found that this works for me.

           But keep this in mind. Supplements are designed to do just that. Supplement. It is designed to fill in the gaps for your diet and nothing beats solid nutrition. The basic building blocks still need to be in place. If you think of protein, vegetables, water, and good nutrition as your castle stones, let the supplements be the mortar between those granite blocks that makes your castle wall strong. Or if you need a more geeky analogy, think of supplements much like the frog DNA that Jurassic Park scientist used to plug in the holes in the dinosaur DNA code.

SUPPLEMENT PILLS

           Just walking down the aisle in Walmart with all the vitamins can be pretty darn confusing. But after doing a little research, the following is the list of pills that I take. Let’s face facts. Very few people are getting all the nutrients they need from their food and making sure you are getting the correct vitamins is important to general health, not just for bodybuilders.

 

           MULTI-VITAMIN: I take a men’s once daily multivitamin in the morning. I don’t go name brand. I get the “Equate” brand. Obviously, the bigger the bottle you get the more money you save but even if you buy one of the smaller bottles, the price averages about 4-cents a pill. At that price, how are you not taking a daily multivitamin even if you are not lifting weights?

 

           FISH OIL: I don’t know about you but I don’t eat fish. I live in a landlocked state. I don’t like the taste and salmon stinks up the house something awful. I just don’t eat it. I like chicken and that is a nice lean protein for me. But there is significant data out there regarding the heart health benefits of fish oil. I figure anything that promotes heart health and good blood flow has got to be beneficial. I buy the Spring Valley Fish Oil Dietary Supplement Softgels in the 1000 mg capsules. Again, the more you buy, the more you save but these pills are also averaging about 3-cents a pill. Three cents? Yeah, I’ll keep that one on my list. They say an effective amount is 3000 mg per day, which means you take a pill with breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

           VITAMIN B12: B12 helps fire up your metabolism and gives you an energy boost. Be mindful when purchasing these as they do vary in dosage. Some pills are only 500 mg, others are 1000 mgs. I recently upped my dosage to the massive 2500 mgs pill because I didn’t figure it would hurt. Again, you are only looking at about 3-cents per pill. It is not like you are breaking the bank to pump B12 into your system.

           VITAMIN C: Less about my lifting regimen and more about my health, I take Vitamin C just to keep me healthy and so my immune system gets a little extra help. Some scientific research shows that Vitamin C is useful in losing fat so I will munch on a pill in the morning and before bed to help my system out.  Call it coincidence if you want but I cannot remember the last time I was sick and I think the Vitamin C has to assist in that.

           VITAMIN E: Heart Health & Immune Health. Who doesn’t need help in this area? Also costing around 3-cents a pill, hearth health is another way of saying “blood flow.” Healthy blood flow is speeding oxygen to your muscles and “other tissues.” You see what I am saying here, brother? I am not saying that she will be able to do chin-ups from it but healthy blood flow means improved bedroom playtime fun. For 3-cents. Yeah, buddy, put it on the shopping list.

           CLAs: Also known as Tonalin Safflower Oil, CLAs are labeled as “Body Shaping Support.” The goal of CLAs is to take your fat stores and convert them into energy. At Walmart, a bottle of 50 gels is $12.88, meaning around 26-cents per pill. Experts recommend getting 3000 mg per day. They come in 1000 mg capsules, so you are basically taking one pill with breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is helpful to spread out the dosage over time, instead of taking 3000 mg all at once. Now, this means 75-cents a day and is one of the more expensive supplements that I take. And it is one of those scenarios where I cannot be 100% certain that it is even doing anything. So, you can take it if you feel it will help. Try it for $13. Don’t like it? Quit taking it. But you can imagine my joy when I found the GNC Brand at Sam’s Club for literally half the price. So, if you shop smart, this is something easy to add to your pill box.

 

           HYDROXYCUT: I do have reservations about recommending this one. I have taken this in the past. I was switching on and off between these pills about every month but have currently been off of them for a while. I think with any “diet pill” I am dubious. If you read the packaging, they tell you take 3 pills a day, 30 minutes before you eat, don’t take a pill within 4 hours of going to bed, and then after the first week, they want you to start doubling up your dosage. Again, going off Walmart pricing at the date of this writing, it was $17.88 for 60 pills, which is 30 cents per pill. Based on the recommended dosage, that may be more money than you want to spend. Personally, I was taking one right when I woke up, which gave me that 30 minutes to get up and around, get dressed and cook breakfast. I would then take one 30 minutes before lunch. And I was only taking on days I worked out. So, those 30 pills were lasting me 6 weeks. In that regard, I found it was a nice little boost to the metabolism. It didn’t mess with my heartrate. I don’t really feel much different being off of them then on them. If you think you want that extra boost and want to plunk down $18, go for it. 

 

 

           Seriously, guys, that’s it: Multi-vitamin, Fish Oil, B12, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, CLAs, and occasionally some Hydroxycut. It is not breaking the bank. You are not spending a fortune and the biggest inconvenience is the amount of counter space all these big vitamin bottles take up in your bathroom.

           Also note that most of these vitamins are water soluble which means your body is going to take what it needs and flush out the excess. I don’t think anyone has ever OD’ed on too much Vitamin C.

           Take your doses in the morning. Get you one of those Pill Carriers, so you can take a Fish Oil pill, a CLA, and a Hydroxycut pill with you for lunch. Then before dinner, take more Fish Oil and a CLA. This is what works for me. Take from this lesson what you will. 

 

PROTEIN POWDERS – WHEY PROTEIN

                The ingredient that builds muscle the most is protein. You will see as your diet changes that your whole world becomes about protein. Now, most experts will tell you that to build muscle mass, you need to be taking in a gram of protein per pound of body weight. Ummm, dude, as of today, I weigh 245 pounds. A chicken breast or a hamburger patty is about 30 grams. 1 egg is 6 grams of protein. Do you realize how much I would need to eat to match 245 pounds? So you become obsessed with how you can meet your protein goals. One of the easiest ways to do this is via protein powders.

                After a heavy workout, you have roughly a 30 minute optimal window (between 15 and 45 minutes after your workout) to get whey protein into your system. Thankfully, for me the commute time from gym to home is 25 minutes. I always do one shake in a blender with milk. I just do one scoop to try to make one tub of this stuff last a month. This gets me 20 grams of protein plus the protein that is in the milk (16 grams). 36 grams of protein is basically a fourth meal in one drink. 

 

PROTEIN POWDERS – CASEIN PROTEIN

                Casein protein is absorbed and processed very slowly into your system. Whey protein is absorbed very quickly but casein is digested slowly. The purpose of casein is to give you a slow release of protein over the course of eight hours, so you take it just before you go to bed. Your body absorbs the protein as you sleep, so you are building muscle and you also wake up feeling less famished because you have been slowly “eating” over eight hours.

 

To Be Continued...