wUsing supplements is a great way to accelerate your progress in the gym. Find out all you need to know about supplements and make the most of what they have to offer.
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Guide to Supplementing Your Diet
If you are looking to build maximum muscle, then what you put into your body is just as important as the workouts you put in at the gym. Of course, a good, muscle-building diet is the foundation of good bodybuilding nutrition, but supplements have an important role to play, too.
Bodybuilders push their bodies to the limits, and you need exactly the right mix of nutrients to fuel optimal muscle growth. After all, you don’t want to spend hours pumping iron, only to find that your body is building muscle slowly because it lacks vital fuel.
The problem is, the choice of supplements available to bodybuilders is bewildering. If you tried to take doses of every supplement offered in your local bodybuilding store, you would be both broke and drugged up to the eyeballs.
So what’s the solution? Which supplements do you really need to optimize your results in the gym? Let’s look at the most important options available to you.
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Whey Protein: The King of Supplements
When it comes to bodybuilding, whey protein is the top choice for a reason. It’s extracted from cows’ milk and offers many benefits. Here’s why it’s so popular:
- High bioavailability: Your body can easily convert whey protein into new muscle.
- Fast absorption: Perfect for quickly replenishing protein levels before and after workouts.
- Branched-chain amino acids: These play a crucial role in fueling muscle growth.
- Improved blood flow: Whey protein helps relax blood vessels, allowing more nutrients to reach the muscles.
Whey Isolate v. Concentrate: What’s the difference?
There are two types of whey protein: isolate and concentrate. Isolate is purer (around 90% protein), while concentrate has varying protein levels (29% to 89%) and more fat and lactose.
Read more here:
Optimal Timing for Protein Intake: Pre or Post-Workout?
Timing matters when taking whey protein. Research shows that bodybuilders who consumed whey protein, glucose, and creatine before and after workouts saw impressive results. They experienced a 30% increase in muscle growth and an incredible 80% increase in muscle mass compared to those who took the same supplements in the morning and at night. Plus, they also lost body fat.
The optimal timing for protein intake before or after a workout can vary depending on individual factors such as body size, workout intensity, and fitness goals. Generally, it is recommended to consume protein within 30 minutes to an hour before and after a workout for maximum benefits.
In summary, adding whey protein to your routine can greatly enhance your muscle-building journey. Just remember to time your intake strategically and ensure to meet your daily protein goals.
Creatine: A Great Way to Build Muscle Mass
Want an easy way to add an extra ten pounds to your muscle mass? Try creatine…it has a great track record of delivering results. Creatine is a nitrogenous organic acid that occurs naturally in our bodies.
Bodybuilders love it because it increases the formation of ATP, which supplies energy to our muscle cells.
Creatine also pulls more water into muscle cells, which makes them bigger and increases your overall muscle mass. This additional fluid stretches your membrane muscle cells, which in turn sends signals to your body which result in greater muscle growth.
You already have creatine working for you inside your muscle cells. The point of taking creatine supplements is to increase the availability of creatine in your body, to promote faster muscle growth and avoid creatine deficiency during intense workouts.
Creatine gives you the energy to get more reps done in a single set – pushing your body just a little harder to get optimal results from every workout.
Take 1-5 grams of creatine along with your whey protein both before and after workouts. Research clearly shows that this combination can produce killer results.
Casein: The Slow-Burning Protein Source
Like whey protein, casein is a by-product of milk production. However, it differs significantly in the way it is absorbed by the body.
The human digestive system has a much tougher time breaking down casein molecules, and it make take 7-8 hours for casein to be fully processed. This makes it perfect for times when you need to pace protein delivery.
Many bodybuilders take casein supplements before going to bed. Because you fast while you are sleeping, the body has usually run out of protein to process when you wake up eight or so hours after retiring.
This may result in your body switching from building muscle to breaking down muscle – not a result that bodybuilders want at all! Taking casein is one way to provide protein that digests slowly and provides a food source throughout the night.
Research also suggests that taking casein along with whey protein after a workout can result in greater muscle growth. This is because casein inhibits the protein breakdown which happens after a workout, as your body tries to restore glycogen levels in a hurry.
You can either buy casein as a commercial supplement – or you can simply mix cow’s milk into your whey protein shake. Because 82% of the protein in milk is casein, this is a quick and easy way to get results.
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BCAAs – Branched-Chain Amino Acids
Muscles are built from protein, and proteins are built from amino acids, so it makes sense to supplement these essential factors in your diet.
As human beings, we use no less than 20 different amino acids in building our bodies. However, the branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are the most critical ones when it comes to building muscle.
BCAAs are so named because of the unusual branch hing-shape of their molecular structure. They include leucine, isoleucine, and valine. All of these have a key role to play in muscle growth, but leucine is particularly important.
As well as turning on muscle-protein synthesis, it causes a spike in insulin levels that brings glucose, amino acids and creatine into the cells. In addition, it shifts the balance from muscle breakdown to muscle synthesis, which obviously increases muscle mass.
However, all three of the BCAAs are used by muscle cells as sources of energy. This is particularly true during the course of a workout, so a good supply of BCAAs is essential if you want to train harder and for longer.
It’s a good idea to supplement your body with BCAAs first thing in the morning, before workouts and immediately after leaving the gym.
Fast Carbs: Restore Your Energy Levels Fast
A good workout session severely depletes the glycogen stores in your muscles. As well as giving you the energy to workout, glycogen (which gets turned into glucose) also fuels the muscle-building process.
So when you finish a workout, you need to rebuild those glycogen levels quickly while your body is in heavy-duty muscle building mode.
To do this, you need to consume carbohydrates with a high glycemic index. That is, ones that digest very quickly. You can buy supplements such as Vitargo (the fastest-acting option) or dextrose/sugar powder supplements.
Alternatively, you can get dextrose in a hurry from candies such as Haribo’s gummy bears, or from white bread or potatoes. Whichever way you do it, around 50 grams of fast-digesting carbs taking shortly after working out will get you good results.
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Fish Oil: Benefits for Bodybuilders and Gym-Goers
Fish oil’s Omega-3s reduce inflammation, promoting muscle growth and strength gains. Bodybuilders should consume 2-3 grams daily of EPA and DHA from fish oil for maximal muscle-building benefits. The anti-inflammatory effect is key.
The lubricating Omega-3s in fish oil ease joint discomfort, enabling heavier lifts and longer workouts. Fish oil’s anti-inflammatory properties speed recovery between workouts, allowing for harder training without overtraining. Improved recovery optimizes workout gains.
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Green Tea Extract
Green tea extract can aid fat burning and recovery after tough workouts. The catechins in green tea, like EGCG, boost metabolism and increase fat oxidation during exercise, helping to reduce body fat.
Green tea extract’s high concentration of antioxidants combat the free radicals produced during strenuous training, speeding muscle recovery. The caffeine in green tea extract also provides energy to power through intense workouts.
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Caffeine: Give Yourself a Boost
We all know that a strong cup of coffee or two can get us kick-started in the morning. But caffeine does more than just wake you up.
Possible benefits of using caffeine as a supplement include:
- sharpens focus
- increase alertness
- boosts tolerance for pain
- helps burn fat by speeding up metabolism
- improves endurance
All of these are qualities that we need when undertaking a workout. One of the great benefits of caffeine is that we know it to be relatively safe when taken in sensible qualities.
Taking a caffeine pill before you start working out can help you get more done. It can also increase your calorie burn both during and after your gym session.
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A Sensible Approach to Supplements
The bodybuilding supplements mentioned in this article are the most popular and most important ones to bodybuilders. However, they are just a few of many thousands of supplements available to bodybuilders.
You can buy a whole host of products that promise to help you with building muscle, losing fat and just about everything else you need to achieve a toned and muscular physique.
Every individual is different, and the mix of supplements that is right for you may be very different to the ones that work for your best friend. But remember that although supplements can be very useful, they are not essential.
If you eat a good, balanced diet that is high in protein and includes lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, you are probably getting all the nutrients you need. Supplements should be seen as just what the name suggests – a way to supplement an already nutritious diet.
With so many brands of supplements available on the market, it is hard to know which ones to choose. Is this brand of whey powder really better than the generic brand which is half the price? Remember that bodybuilding champions are often paid huge sums of money to promote a particular brand of supplement.
However, that does not necessarily mean that they used that product themselves to build their award-winning body. Rather than going for the brand that is currently getting the heaviest promotion in the media, choose products that have been around for a while and have proven their worth.
The Use of Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Bodybuilding
Certain bodybuilders resort to using stacks of supplements and drugs like anabolic steroids, human growth hormone (HGH), and insulin to accelerate their bodybuilding progress. While these substances can produce significant results, they come with considerable drawbacks.
To begin with, these products are now illegal in many countries, making their use or possession a legal offense. However, the legal consequences are just the beginning of the issue.
Numerous bodybuilders have suffered severe health complications, and some have even lost their lives due to the use of these product stacks. Even if you manage to avoid the most severe consequences, you can still expect unpleasant side effects such as acne and a distended belly.
It is essential to question whether the benefits obtained from these products truly outweigh the risks they pose. Additionally, the financial cost is significant, with competitive bodybuilders typically spending over $10,000 on such drugs when preparing for major competitions.
The truth is, that you can achieve remarkable results by focusing on a nutritious diet, intense workouts at the gym, and incorporating regular supplements that support your goals.
Putting it All Together
It’s wise to carefully select supplements for bodybuilding. Proper use of supplements combined with a clean and purposeful diet with some hard work can yield incredible results.
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