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[S1162]Supplements To Build Muscle

by Ricky Hussey, Ric

Sports supplements are a big business. They promise to build muscle and improve performance, strength, and speed. Some of these products have been used for years and have evidence supporting their use, while others are new and relatively unknown. In this article, I really feel for newbie lifters. It's such a common thing to see a young person (Sometimes not so young) who is really keen on building muscle mass, but to be absolutely confused about a few things. And so often it is supplements that they are confused about. And this is fair enough. There is so much rubbish out there on supplements that it's really hard to gauge what is correct and what is hype.So I'm going to outline my philosophy when it comes to supplements and list a couple of supplements that I use myself and can personally recommend to you too.Think about the word supplement for a moment. Most people don't actually realise what a supplement is and then feel robbed when they realise they got what they should've expected. You see, a supplement is just that. It supplements your diet and training regime. While supplements for building muscle mass can definitely help, they will only work if the rest of your program is great.I like to call this phenomenon the magic pill phenomenon. People think that by just popping a pill or drinking a special shake that their problems will go away or they will instantly skyrocket their results. A great example is my dad. He takes fish oil every day because he read that it helps prevent heart disease. Now, this is true, fish oil has been shown to decrease the risk of heart disease. However, if my dad was serious about his health, he would improve his diet and exercise more. But by taking a pill each day, he is satisfied that his health is fine and so he goes along with his normal daily routine.And the sad thing is that lots of people do this with supplements for building muscle mass. Taking creatine and not working out is not going to make you more muscular. What you need to do instead is first educate yourself. Once you have done this step, you will be on your road to success.By educating yourself properly, you will learn how to construct a proper diet regime and you will also learn how to train. Once you have these two things in place, you can then start to worry about supplements.I guess now you've heard my little rant about when to use supplements, you actually want to know which supplements to use and which to stay away from. I'm going to give you my 3 favourite supplements. The 3 supplements for building muscle mass that I use myself.First up is whey protein powder. It's great for convenience sake and for getting some extra protein into you before and after a workout. Second comes creatine, it's cheap and is pretty handy for getting a couple of extra percent of results for you. And finally, fish oil is a great way to get your daily fats in you. Since they come in capsule, they are easy to take, so you can monitor how much fat you are getting in your body.Lipoic AcidLipoic acid is also known as alpha-lipoic acid. It is found naturally in the body. One of the things lipoic acid does is to turn blood sugar into energy for the body’s needs. This may help to build muscle glycogen, which is the reason why athletes use lipoic acid. More studies are needed in this area.It is also an antioxidant that neutralizes harmful free radicals. Unlike other antioxidants, it works in both fat and water, giving it a broad spectrum of action.Some other muscle building supplements include various amino acids, protein bars, growth hormone, and a huge selection of multi vitamins, all with varying ingredients used to help promote muscle growth. Growth hormone is released by the pituitary gland and is responsible for our growth, particularly during our teenage years when we hit puberty. In time, this hormone slows down, but by if we supplement with it, we can see a large increase in growth in both muscles and sometimes in bone growth as well. This is a popular choice for muscle building supplements, since the results are very stunning and often surprise people with repeated use. Protein bars are a safe and delicious way to help promote muscle growth. So that's it for this article. By now you should understand how to properly use supplements and which ones get my personal stamp of approval.

No supplement will help you if you are not training and dieting correctly -- they will just give you very expensive urine. All aspects of your program have to be in order for you to get the maximum benefit from sports nutrition supplements. From my experience, supplements enhance your program by:

1. Adding an element of convenience: Using food supplements like Meal Replacement Powders and whey protein help to eliminate the common problem of 'not enough time', by providing you with an quick efficient way to get your required nutrients each day.

2. Increasing strength and decreasing recovery time: Using vitamin and amino acid supplements help to minimize the negative side effects of weight training and speed your recovery.

The Benefit of Convenience

There are many 'old school' trainers and bodybuilders who profess the uselessness of supplements. They are constantly preaching that they don't work, and that you don't need them. Well, to tell you the truth they are correct, somewhat. Remember that not too long ago there were no supplements. Bodybuilders built huge physiques without meal replacement powders, creatine or prohormones.

There was no such thing as exercise 'machines'. They used multi-jointed, compound free weight exercises that not only increased their muscular size, but also make them incredibly strong. So, if you look at that way it can be done and you don't need any supplements. However, the decision whether or not to use supplements should involve the consideration of other factors that may come into play when speaking of dieting today. The first of which is time.

Many people today just do not have the time to live, eat and breathe food. Very few people like to cook, and even fewer cook on a regular basis. When was the last time that you actually had six meals that you actually cooked yourself? Many of those who are against dietary supplements continue to preach that you should get all the nutrients that you need from your diet. 'Eat a balanced diet and you will get all the nutrition you need'. Well, 100 years ago that may have been true, but today this type of advice is questionable.

The fact is, most people's idea of a good meal is restaurant or (even worse) fast food. To ask someone to eat specific amounts of protein, fat and carbs seems like an impossible request considering that most people can't even get their minimum requirements of good fat or fiber. Experts will continue to spout 'eat a balanced diet,' while Americans feast on nutritionless fast food and sugar. Not only do our bodies have to deal with the ever-increasing external stresses of everyday life, they also have to combat nutrient-depleting, tissue damaging exercise.

If I did not have the option to supplement my diet with whey protein, I probably would not have gained as much weight as I have. Now, I'm not saying that the whey protein is why I gained weight, but it did help me a great deal.

I am usually very busy and I just don't have the time, nor the desire to eat six, planned whole food meals per day. Supplements like meal replacement powders and whey protein fill in this gap for me.

I typically have three real food meals and three protein supplement meals -- that makes up my required six meals each day. When I'm away from home, or not able to get an adequate meal, my MRP is always right there when I need it. It gives me a quantifiable amount of protein so that I can keep track of my nutrient intake. In my opinion, this is much better than just grabbing something and then trying to guess at how much protein, fat or carbs you just ate. Getting in all of your required meals and nutrient amounts is crucial to your success.

My mass diet requires a very high daily protein intake -- Over 300g per day. Just to give you example of how much that is, here are some examples of what 300g of protein is equal to:

Tuna -- 50 oz of canned tuna (the average can is 6-8oz.), which is 1,750 calories and 25g of fat

Chicken -- 38 oz of chx breast (equals about seven 6oz breasts), which is 1,313 calories and 38g of saturated fat

Beef -- 43 oz of lean ground beef (about 2.7 pounds of meat), which is 3,214 calories and 215g of saturated fat

Eggs -- 50 large whole eggs, equals 3,750 calories and 250g of saturated fat

Egg whites -- 100 egg whites, equals 1,600 calories and almost no fat

Pure whey protein -- 15 scoops of EAS Precision Protein, equals 1,500 calories 7.5g of saturated fat

It is very possible to get this amount from eating whole foods only -- But it will take work. Also, as you can see from the above numbers, getting all of your protein from regular food will also bring a lot of unnecessary elements like extra saturated fat. Yes, our goal to gain mass is to eat a lot of calories (including fat), but your main fat intake should consist of unsaturated fats that are liquid at room temperature like olive oil, flaxseed oil, sunflower oil and safflower oil. Whey protein supplements will help to give you the extra protein without the fat.

Increased Strength and Decreased Recovery

In addition to a whey protein supplement, I recommend that everyone should be taking a multi-vitamin, plenty of vitamin C, and glutamine. Creatine can also be added if you are over 18.

Multi-Vitamin

Weight training increases the body's need for many minerals like magnesium and selenium. The multi-vitamin ensures that I am not deficient in any major essential vitamin or mineral. Deficiency symptoms include muscle weakness and suppression of the immune system, muscle cramping and fatigue.

I always take a multi-vitamin without iron, because grown men do not need additional iron. We get enough from our food. Men and postmenopausal women should never take iron supplements unless they have iron-deficiency anemia, which is only diagnosed by blood tests. The body has no way to eliminate excess iron except through blood loss. Women who menstruate are protected from iron overload, obviously. Iron is also an oxidizing agent that can cause damage to the heart and arteries, and is a major risk factor in arteriosclerosis.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C essential to prevent free radical damage, which is accelerated after the heavy trauma of weight training. It is also essential is helping to repair connective tissue which helps decrease the amount of time you are sore. I train very heavy and extremely hard. When I train my legs, I am usually sore for about 5-6 days afterwards.

If I do not supplement my diet with vitamin C, I would normally be sore for almost 10 days! So, it really helps me to recover and get back to training. I typically take around 3,000mg in divided doses. That would equal quite a few oranges!

Glutamine

Glutamine is an amino acid that is produced by our bodies, but most of the time our bodies demand so much, that it can't create enough. I supplement my diet with glutamine to increase my levels of glutathione. Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant, which helps to combat the stresses of exercise trauma, and prevent muscle protein breakdown.

I especially believe that it helps prevent my body from breaking down my new muscle while I am asleep, so I never go to bed without taking it. I take about 15g per day (in divided doses), which would be impossible to get naturally.

Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine's purpose is to supply our muscle with energy. It is also found in red meat, but you would have to eat an enormous amount of meat to get the same benefits as taking pure creatine powder. Everyone knows about creatine so I will not go into it here, but I do want to say that the major benefit from taking creatine is that it will increase your strength.

This will enable you to lift heavier weights, which will stimulate more muscle growth. Many people make a big fuss over the muscle volumizing effects of creatine, because if you stop taking it, you lose that extra fluid that creatine brings into your cells. So what! You certainly DO NOT lose the extra muscle creatine helped you to gain.

I can honestly say that I could not have built the body I have today without the convenience and enhancements supplements provide. I simply don't have the time or desire to do it any other way. This is a choice that you must decide for yourself. You will be spending your money on these products, so make sure that you know their place in your program.

Don't get caught up in product hype. Supplements will help, but they will NOT do the work for you.

Article Source : Pg. 6

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Both Ricky Hussey & Anthony Ellis are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Ricky Hussey has sinced written about articles on various topics from Lose Weight, Diet Pills and Japan Car. Read out . Also check out for . Ricky Hussey's top article generates over 450000 views. to your Favourites.

Anthony Ellis has sinced written about articles on various topics from Adware, Social Bookmarking and Lose Weight. Former "skinny guy" Anthony Ellis is the author of Gaining Mass. The most widely used weight gain program in the world. This unique program contains the complete diet, supplements and weight training program he used to gain 32lbs of mass. For more informa. Anthony Ellis's top article generates over 14800 views. to your Favourites.