Supplements

Ok, since I haven’t talked about supplements much in past couple of months, I’ve decided to write something up. I’ll share with you the supplements I’ve used, what works, and what doesn’t

Whey protein

Probably the best food supplement you can ever ask for. I don’t care if you’re a bodybuilder or not, you would be better off taking in a scoop or 2 of this stuff everyday to make sure you get some good quality protein in your system. Now, if someone would want to take in more than 250 grams of protein per day, he’d better have 2 or 3 tubs of protein in his kitchen or else he’s in for a severe case of indigestion and the s***s (don’t count incomplete sources, and actually know how much protein is in food… I’ve seen people write down that 250 grams of chicken breasts have 100 grams of protein and they actually count the protein from oats). Whey protein is easily digested and absorbed in your body, which makes it great for post workout nutrition, and breakfast (great for breakfast if you’re gonna eat another meal an hour or two after that).

There are many kinds of whey proteins out there… concentrate, isolate, hydrolyzed, hydrolosate, ion exchange, super duper 100 internation micro filtered kryptonite plutoniumized chemically engineered whey protein… they’re all almost the same to me… I’ve tried most of them… no difference… just gas… ofcourse, the better it’s filtered, the easier your body will absorb it, but come on! The difference is almost 5 times in price! I’d opt for a combination of concentrate/isolate/hydrolyzed. Cheap, effective, and sometimes tasty. Remember, if you get gassy, change the product… unless you’re eating over 250 grams of protein, then you will be gassy no matter what.

Creatine

So many different kinds these days, and they do basically the same thing. They fill your muscles with water and make them use a lot more energy. Good product. Very cheap (DO NOT BUY CELL TECH!!! it’s expensive as s*** and it his an ass load of sugar in it). Buy in bulk, and if you don’t mind the taste, buy bulk CEE (creatine ethyl ester). Why? Because you don’t need as much carbs to shuttle it in the muscle, no loading phase, you only need to take in a couple of grams a day instead of 20-40 grams, and it’s as cheap as hell. Ofcourse, if you opt for something like cellmass by BSN, you’ll burn your wallet quick. I get mine for around 350 riyals a kilo… that’s a lot of CEE =) … ofcourse, you have the Creatine Di Malate, Kre-Alkalyne creatine, and I don’t know what else… I haven’t tried Kre-Alkalyne, but Phil says it’s good… hell, if Phil told me to take a piece of s***, sprinkle some cinnamon on it and eat it, I’d do it…

Ephedrine HCL

The s***heads put so many regulations on buying this crap, it’s not worth buying these days. I love this stuff. But it’s hard to come by. It’s a good fat burner… I hate that word… fat burner… it just slightly raises metabolism, makes me sweat like hell, and gives me an extra boost while I’m working out. It used to be as cheap as hell. Now, since regulating the s*** like it’s heroin, the price got jacked and they sell it in packs of 24, 12.5 mg per tab. And I think the maximum amount you can buy is 3 packs a month or something… that’s like a two week supply for me… so screw it, I’m down to my last 4 tabs now (probably be done by Wednesday) and I won’t buy that stuff again (unless I find a good quantity for a good price). Oh, don’t use it for more than 8-10 weeks… that stuff’s really heavy on the prostate… If you’re going “oh my god oh my god oh my god”, don’t worry, it’s just to be safe. People who used it for 5 years straight at heavy doses got slightly enlarged prostates. So, I don’t think a couple of months per year is going to be a problem (I’ve been using it for around 4 years now… not straight, but a lot… no problems… my PSH is fine)

Ginger root, Bromelein, and Papaya extract

You never thought I’d mention those, did ya? =) … I’ve been using them for the past 2 months and my digestion has improved IMMENSELY!! (thanks to massive G on promuscle). Really, if you have a lot of food to process, I’d advise you to use these three.

Fish oil

If you don’t know the benefits of fish oil, you’re missing out on a lot. The benefits can be summed up in these words: “it’s probably the healthiest thing you’ll ever put in your mouth”… and, seriously, some people don’t get it. I tell most people to take fish oil and when they do they say “yeah, I take 1 in the morning, and 1 at night”… WHAT THE HELL!!!?? What I’d suggest is to calculate how much fat you need (say 100 grams), get half of that from the food you eat, the other half from fish oil, olive oil, and flax. Hell, I take in about 30 of those 1 gram caps of fish oil per day!... I wish I can substitute the olive oil with more fish caps (yeah, I drink the olive oil straight… tastes like ass, but it’s quicker that way), but it gets expensive with time…

Yohimbine HCL, and Senepherine

Remember when I talked about fat mobilization? Yeah, these are the guys that mobilize that fat. BUT THEY HAVE TO BE TOPICAL!!! As in cream or gel, and not oral. You don’t want a systematic release of these supplements because it defies the whole point. (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, please read my “Fat Mobilization” post). Remember, they aren’t fat burners (they might slightly raise metabolism), they’re fat MOBILIZERS… as in they’d release fat FOR YOU TO BURN… if you don’t burn it, it goes straight back to where it came from. I’ve tried 2 products for this… lipoderm-Y (and ultra), and Chizeled. Lipoderm-Y wasn’t that impressive… nothing major… lipoderm ultra was very good, but it doesn’t even stand close to chiseled. Too bad they stopped making chiseled cuz I’m down to my last bottle =( … but, it really burned the s*** outta my love handles. If you’re cutting, this would be a nice addition to get lean all over.

Multi Vitamin

Oh come on!!! I don’t need to explain this

Vitargo

This is some gooooooood s***!! But it’s very hard to come by. Vitargo is a heavy moleculed sugar… perfect for post workout. It’s designed in such a way to released a sustained release of insulin in the body and it fills the muscles up real good. If you are allowed lots of carbs in your diet, I would seriously recommend that you invest in this supplement. The only problem is that it gets expensive… and shipping costs make it worse. But, I say it’s worth it. (this supplement is sometimes referred to as waxy maize).

Cranberry extract

Good for cleaning up your kidneys without the extra cals from the cranberry juice

Milk thistle

Very good supplement for liver health

HMB

A bunch of crap

Muscle tech products

A bunch of over priced crap

MRP (meal replacement)

These are very good for people who don’t have much time to cook and don’t like the taste of tuna. The only problem with these are the carbohydrates. They’re mostly dextrose or maltodextrin… so you won’t get much quality carbs with this product… or fat… the good thing about MRP though, are the flavors… damn, there are like 2 billion flavors! It’s been years since I’ve had an MRP… but I remember the Met-Rx vanilla MRPs were to die for!!!

The best supplement you’ll ever find (if you can find it)
Liquid Aminos made out of Beef Extract

These are my secret little protein that Phil told me about =). They’re very expensive, and extremely hard to come by. Cost me 2000 riyals for a 2 month supply… but it’s worth every penny. It’s basically liquid steak =) … the best kind of protein out there. The problem with your body is that it digests and absorbs beef very poorly. Beef has the best amino acid ratios for building muscle. Solution? Liquid beef extract aminos!! Very light on the stomach, easily digested, and absorbed really quick and efficiently. If you’re wondering about the taste, well, it tastes exactly like hershey’s chocolate syrup. Yup =) .. bodybuilding made easy.

Well, that’s it for supplements I guess… I’ve tried many more (wasted so much money on this crap when I was in college) but I can’t remember any.