Mark: What is the best protein and supplements for body building?

Hi Kenny

First of all, the two keys to your success are:
1. Spend most of your time doing heavy, basic, compound exercises - deadlifts, squats, leg press, bench presses, barbell rows and shoulder press. To gain muscle, do sets of between 8 and 12 reps and only take 45 to 60 seconds of rest between sets. You have to train like a bodybuilder to gain mass effectively.
2. EAT - you have to eat more calories than you are burning and if you are a young, active, male, then you may have to eat 4,000 to 5,000 calories per day to make good gains. For a quick overview of how to develop a diet for muscle gains, read my article - http://fitnessinventor.com/articles/652-how-to-gain-muscle-it-s-the-calories-stupid

Part of your diet should be a whey protein powder. this makes getting in extra protein convenient and whey protein provides the best combination of essential and branched chain amino acids. So have a shake an hour or so before training and one after. You can also have a shake as the protein component of your snacks or even to add extra quality protein to your meals.

The next best supplement is creatine monohydrate. You can mix it into your shakes after training or take it just before your biggest meals. Have four 5 gram (a teaspoon) servings per day for the first five days and then take 3 grams twice daily thereafter.

If you are a young, active male who has trouble putting on weight and muscle, try a product like Cell-Tech or Mutant Cre-X12. These products enhance creatine retention in the muscle and provide extra calories that won't fill you up. They are perfect after training following a protein shake (or if the flavour is appropriate, mixed with the protein shake). You could also just mix your whey protein with creatine and 75 to 100 grams of maltodextrin and maybe add 200mg of lipoic acid or some cinnamon if you wanted to get fancy.

Many people use Jack3d because it has a powerful stimulant effect and if you feel this contributes to a better workout, then that's fine. However, Jack3d contains a controversial stimulant ingredient called geranium (also known as DMAA and 1,3 dimethylamylamine), which has been associated with two deaths and a stroke and is the subjects of class action lawsuits in the USA.

It also substantially increases blood pressure by constricting blood vessels. This is the opposite effect to that which you want before training because it results in less nutrients being delivered to the muscle cells during training and less waste being removed from the cells. It could also be dangerous - especially in hot weather or in people who have high blood pressure or other conditions or susceptibilities.

So the bottom line is it makes you feel energized but it is unlikely to increase actual exercise performance (and has some effects that may actually decrease exercise performance).

Hi Mark,

Thats great advice. Thank You I really appreciate it!!

I've chucked the jack3d. Don't like the sound of it much. Also made me feel like my heart was gonna burst out my chest! Could do without that.

Thanks again Mark

Kenny

Ken