Top 9 Supplements


1. A Multi-Vitamin

When eating a diet meant for mass, you will no doubt be targeting the foods that can pack the most calories on from the needed macro-nutrients. In turn this can lead to a deficiency in Micro-nutrients, meaning vitamins and minerals. Such a deficiency can impair optimum functioning of the body and consquently hinder your growth. Minerals are building blocks, they are used for cellular actions, building bone, transporting nutrients and so, whilst vitamins provide enzymatic functions in digesting foods and and protect the system against damage from the outside and inside. Levels of these substances must be kept above a certain level to maintain proper health, but kept a great deal higher for optimal functioning of your system. That's why supplementing with a multi-vitamin above all else makes sense: you get at least your daily minimum of all these nutrients avoiding anything going wrong with your quest for growth, and together with the rest of the vitamins and minerals found in every food to some extent, you are bound to be on the road to getting everything you system needs.

2. BCAA's

Three essential amino acids--valine, isoleucine and leucine--are active
forms of branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) and make up one-third of the
muscle's protein levels. They act to prevent muscle loss while increasing
muscle mass. BCAAs seem to also have a beneficial effect on protein stores, according to Danish researchers. Research indicated that BCAA supplementation either had a protein-sparing or protein-inducing effect.

Leucine, in particular, stimulates protein synthesis in the muscle, and the
consumption of BCAAs (with 30 percent to 35 percent leucine) prior to and
during exercise has been found to prevent or decrease the net rate
of protein degradation in muscle. It has also been found to have a sparing
effect on muscle glycogen degradation and an ability to induce a significant
reduction in fat levels while maintaining high performance levels.

The BCAA most affected by exercise is leucine--an important piece of
information to remember when faced with the endless number of sports
supplements today. Studies feeding amino acids or leucine soon after
exercise suggest that post-exercise consumption of amino acids stimulates
recovery of muscle protein synthesis.

3. Vitamin B-Complex

B-vitamins have many anabolic properties separately and have often been the subject of supplementation. Hereby I think of Niacin (B3), Pyridoxine (B6) and Cobalamin (B12). But people often forget that for a lot less money they can get better gains by getting a B-complex which combines all of them in optimal doses (50-100 mg, there is no way you need 500 mg of Niacin). This harnesses the synergistic effect of B-vitamins which means better digestion and absorption of carbs, protein and fat and the fact that they comport themselves as enzymes in many bodily functions. You can't overdose on them anyway since water-soluble vitamins are readily excreted if you have too much.

4. Glutamine

Blood and muscle levels of glutamine do tend to fall as a result of exhaustive exercise and other physical stress. So, working up a good, prolonged sweat theoretically could cause this chemical to slip below a critical point. As a result, muscle mass may decrease, exercise recovery may be prolonged, and risk of illness may rise. To provide insurance here --or to actually enhance muscle mass and exercise recovery and to ward off illness -- some people take glutamine supplements and swear that they work. I didn't use to take this, but now that I'm older and my muscles take longer to rebuild this is a must have supplement.

5. Vitamin C

Vitamin C still shines for its antioxidant properties, and in other reports suggesting benefits in the fight against cancer, heart disease and other conditions. Vitamin C has been linked to numerous healing properties over the years, and put forth as potential cure for anything ranging from the common cold to cancer.

6. EFA's

Recent sciencific research has shown just how much people need essential fatty acids (EFAs) to survive. Since many EFAs are not readily found in foods, you need to supplement your EFA intake. EFA oil supplements should uniquely combine Omega-3, 6 and 9 fatty acids and provides a balanced combination of Borage Oil, Organic Flax Oil and Fish Oil. This unique combination of nutritional oils helps promote healthy skin, healthy joints, memory function, fat loss, formation of steroid hormones such as testosterone and a host of other benefits.

7. Creatine

Creatine is an all-natural and perfectly safe compound that has the amazing ability to regenerate ATP stores in the body. ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate) is the primary energy currency of the body and when short-term anaerobic energy is produced ATP splits into ADP (adenosine-diphosphate) and an extra phosphate ion. Creatine can recycle the ADP to ATP again, ensuring a short-term burst of energy that can increase your strength levels 10-20 percent easily. Creatine also has a strong water retention effects. Meaning that for every bit of creatine stored in a cell, a large amount of water is also stored. This gives you a temporary size increase but also draws more nutrients, like protein, in the cell, which can, long-term, lead to real muscle growth.

8. A Weight Gainer

What better for packing on mass than a WEIGHT gainer. The main thing when bulking, next to getting your needed share of macro and micro nutrients is of course packing on all the calories you can handle without turning into a balloon. Since you will be expending quite a bit of calories while bulking, trying to add all that muscle, sometimes it will be hard to make your calorie-count every single day from nutritious self-prepared meals. Your family will not always be as supportive of an 6-meal a day habit. Take it from me. That's where weight gainers come in. Ranging from 600 to 3000 calories these gainers allow you to add serious additional calories from quality sources without having to spend hours behind a stove. Just mix and you have an instant high-calorie meal... and cost-effective too.

9. ZMA

ZMA is a patented mineral formula that is turning a lot of heads. Minerals you say ? Well, if that just turned you off, think again. The statistics show that the majority of athletes is deficient in both of the minerals contained in ZMA: magnesium and zinc. This has many reasons, often that there are other factors in the foods we eat that inhibit the minerals from being absorbed. Calcium for one, is a mineral that will block the uptake of zinc. And most zinc supps use a calcium filler. So now the idea was to bond it (a process called chelation) with an amino acid, in this case methionine and aspartate. This would facilitate absorption and aid the minerals in their intended function, which is improving recovery and raising natural hormonal levels. Testosterone was shown to increase overnight by almost 100 percent.

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