Bodybuilding Supplements

My Choices For: The Top Bodybuilding Supplements

Posted by Gain Muscle Mass in Bodybuilding Supplements

When it comes to the wild and wacky world of bodybuilding supplements, it’s hard to separate fact form fiction.  While there are a lot of pretty good supplements out there, there are even more that totally suck! In order to help you make an informed decision here, I’m going to list off my choices for top bodybuilding supplements.

These are the bodybuilding supplements that can give you a muscle building boost that you can actually feel! Not empty promises.

The Top Bodybuilding Supplements

#1. Whey Protein Isolate
#2. Creatine Monohydrate
#3. Whey Protein Concentrate
#4. Whey Protein Blends
#5. Micellar Casenate Protein Powder
#6. Custom Protein Blends
#7. L-Glutamine & Glutamine Peptides
#8. Custom Meal Replacements

Are you beginning to notice a trend here.  Many of the products that I deem the top bodybuilding supplements are very basic. Nothing too fancy, just a few different ways to infuse your muscles with high quality muscle building protein, strength boosting creatine monohydrate and L-glutamine.

You just don’t need anything other than that…period.  So spend some time and find a good solid whey protein concentrate, isolate or blend and grab some plain creatine monohydrate and you’re good to go.

My Picks For The Top Bodybuilding Supplements Manufacturers

#1. AST Sports Sciences
#2. EAS
#3. Optimum Nutrition (mostly just their whey protein supplements)

As far as the best source for pure forms of whey protein, egg protein and casein proteins as well as custom blends…The Protein Factory hands down! If you;re thinking about adding a few bodybuilding supplements to the mix, stick with the proven performers on the list above and you will be able to see some decent results for a fair price.

Why Is Egg White Protein So Good For Your Muscle Building Diet?

Posted by Gain Muscle Mass in Bodybuilding Nutrition, Bodybuilding Supplements

If you’re looking for a way to add additional sources of muscle building protein to your diet without having to choke down more cottage cheese, pork chops or whey protein powder, then egg white protein may be a good choice.  While egg protein has been a staple of a well balanced bodybuilding diet for decades, for some strange reason it seems that egg whites has fallen out of favor in the muscle building community over the past 2 – 3 years. Really strange when you begin to look at the benefits of consuming egg protein.

photo credit: anotherloverholenyourhead

Is Egg White Protein High Quality?

Egg whites are definitely one of the most (and quite possibly the most) complete sources of bodybuilding protein. Combining at least 8 types of protein, you’d be hard pressed to find any other naturally occurring form of protein that can even hold a candle to the diverse protein arrangement of whole eggs. Just to give you an idea of how high the quality of protein found in eggs is, when every other form of dietary protein is analyzed in a lab for protein quality, it’s measured against the high quality protein profile found in eggs!

Aside from simply containing ample doses of protein, eggs and egg whites are an excellent source of vitamins including: vitamin A vitamin E, and vitamin K. As well as various B vitamins such as vitamin B12, riboflavin and folic acid.

Whole eggs also contain all eight of the amino acids which are essential to the rest and recovery process following heavy duty bodybuilding workouts. With high doses of bodybuilding protein being a high priority for everyone who wants to gain muscle mass, egg white protein and egg protein in general, may very well be one of the most complete and versatile foods around.

Why I Like Whole Egg And Egg White Protein

There are certainly a lot of choices these days for both high quality whole food protein sources and supplemental proteins. I always recommend to at least try to include as many different types of protein into your diet as you can.  As far as whole eggs go, not only are they nutritious and easy to cook, but they taste great!  Even when I’m in a cutting phase of a bodybuilding program, I always try to mix in some eggs in the form of omelets, scrambled eggs or simple fried or poached eggs.

As far as egg whites, I really like them because they are a very low calorie source of protein that is also flexible to cook with.  Egg whites can be mixed into oatmeal, whipped into omelets, or hard boiled and incorporated into thousands of dishes easily. If I’m ever in a situation where I need to increase my protein intake but also cut calories, eggs are always my first choice.

What About Egg Protein Powders?

Egg white protein powders are a great way to incorporate the full range of proteins found in eggs without the hassle of actually having to prepare them beyond mixing them into a shake.  Keep in mind that supplemental forms of protein can never live up to the nutritional value of whole food sources simply because they have been processed and refined into a powder.

That said, it’s awfully hard to find a more convenient way to get in some extra protein throughout the day. If you’re one of those people who just doesn’t like to eat eggs or mess around with the inconvenience of separating your egg whites each day, then egg white protein powders may be a good choice for you.  I personally like to use egg white powders whenever I’m traveling or get too busy to prepare my meals. Whey protein and egg protein powders can be a lifesaver whenever you start to slip off of your bodybuilding diet.

If you’re attempting to throw together an efficient bodybuilding nutrition program and you understand the importance of incorporating different sources of whole food and supplemental protein powders into your diet, then whole eggs, egg whites and egg protein powders should get some serious consideration.  Not only are they delicious and easy to prepare, but they are affordable and contain the “gold standard” of naturally occurring protein quality!

Best Bodybuilding Supplement

Posted by Gain Muscle Mass in Bodybuilding Supplements

The Best Bodybuilding Supplement For Strength Gains

Do you know the best bodybuilding supplement for blasting through strength plateaus and skyrocketing your muscle gains into the stratosphere?  If not you’re definitely leaving some muscle mass on the table! When you hit a wall in your training where you’re just not able to increase your training weights for an extended period of time, it can be a very frustrating experience! Not only will your muscles begin to atrophy and waste away, but your confidence level will plummet and your attitude will start to slide as well.

Is Creatine The Best Bodybuilding Supplement For Getting Through Training Plateaus?

Whenever I hit a plateau in my training, I like to immediately incorporate pure creatine monohydrate into the mix. After only 2 -3 days of loading, I begin to notice a huge increase in my strength levels.  I can lift heavier weights for more repetitions than I was currently able to, and my muscles begin to feel fuller and bigger.

This allows me to blast through a plateau with an attitude – and continue on my way focusing on my nutrition plan and workouts.  Before I started using creatine supplements this way, I could spend weeks if not months tweaking my workouts to get my strength levels back to where they needed to be. Now with a few days of creatine supplementation and rest and recovery I can usually increase my strength by quite a bit depending on the lift.

In my opinion, (when used properly) plain old creatine monohydrate is the best supplement for blasting through strength related plateaus and getting your workouts back on track.  Forget about all the fancy creatine supplements flooding the market these days and invest in some high quality plain creatine monohydrate powder.

Bodybuilding Nutrition Supplements

Posted by Gain Muscle Mass in Bodybuilding Supplements

The Best Bodybuilding Nutrition Supplements

If you’re in the market for some bodybuilding nutrition supplements, but you’re just not sure which ones are actually worth the money keep on reading.  Instead of trying to inflict my bias on you about the best bodybuilding supplement brands, I’m just going to give you a short list of the supplements that I feel are essential to the muscle building process.

While there are thousands of different formulas on the market these days, there aren’t really too many bodybuilding nutrition supplements that I would consider essential. Most of them can help you out, but you really don’t need them in order to gain weight and build muscle mass.

Even saying that, I still feel obligated to provide full disclosure so here’s my disclaimer – the bodybuilding nutrition supplements that I’m listing on this page are the ones that I’ve personally experienced tremendous results from incorporating into my muscle building program. You absolutely do not need to use any bodybuilding supplements in order to build muscle mass or gain weight, it just helps to make the process a bit more efficient and helps you get results a bit quicker.

The Best Bodybuilding Nutrition Supplements

1.    High Quality Creatine Monohydrate
2.    High Quality Whey Protein Isolate
3.    High Quality Whey Protein Concentrate
4.    A High Quality Multi Vitamin / Multi Mineral Supplement
5.    High Quality (Or Custom Made) Meal Replacements
6.    High Quality Glutamine Peptides

That’s it, the bodybuilding nutrition supplements that I use on a regular basis to help me blast through training plateaus, recover faster form my workouts and infuse my muscles with the right nutrients throughout the day. I’ve found that by sticking with the basics of muscle recovery and nutrition, you can achieve amazing results.

The Best Bodybuilding Protein

Posted by Gain Muscle Mass in Bodybuilding Nutrition, Bodybuilding Supplements

Do you use whey protein to help give you that extra nudge towards packing on some muscle mass? While there are certainly a lot of good whole food sources of bodybuilding protein out there, whey protein supplements are a great way to give your diet an extra muscle building boost!

Instead of going overboard here and completely excluding whole food sources of muscle building protein form your diet, you need to realize that the human body was made to ingest whole food protein. Even though whey protein is a more digestible and nutrient dense form of dietary protein, you still need to make sure that you are eating ample amounts of real food each day.  While in theory it sounds like a good idea to dump everything except for whey protein, I guarantee you’ll have a very hard time building muscle mass that way.

That said I consider whey protein to be some of  the best bodybuilding protein around.  It’s efficient (digests quickly), light weight (wont bulk you up), easy to take with you and generally speaking tastes great!

If you want to add some extra protein to your diet, there are a few different high quality whey protein supplements that seem to make sense…

I personally like AST’s VP2 it’s affordable, tastes great and has led to some unbelievable muscle gains for me over the years.  The only problem with VP2 is that it’s extremely efficient and is absorbed very quickly.  This makes it ideal for situations where you need to get nutrients into your body fast, like after your workouts.  I like to use VP2 for my post workout recovery meal, I just mix it with a scoop of tang (for carbs) and viola…a complete hard hitting muscle building post workout meal.

When it comes to a bodybuilding protein that you can use in between meals and as more of a utility protein supplement, I like to buy buy a high quality whey protein concentrate blend from the Protein Factory. I can buy it in bulk there and blend it with any flavor I want!  The quality is top of the line and the price is much lower than any off the shelf brand name proteins.

That’s all there is to it.  Whenever I’m in the market for some supplemental bodybuilding protein, I either grab a container of Vp2 or head off to the protein factory to make my own custom muscle building protein blend.

Get The Most From Your Creatine Supplement

Posted by Gain Muscle Mass in Bodybuilding Supplements

If you’ve been thinking about using creatine monohydrate to help you achieve your bodybuilding goals quicker, you’ve no doubt hear about the loading phase.  When creatine supplements first came on the market, they were distributed with the understanding that you must first load your muscle cells with mass amounts of creatine in order to saturate them.

It was universally accepeted that this is what you had to do to achieve the full benefits of taking a creatine supplement. While there is indeed some truth to the idea of a creatine loading phase, the supplement companies went nuts recommending extremely high doses of creatine monohydrate during the loading phase.

As I mentioned in the first part of this creatine series, I get most of my creatine supplement information from Dr. Franco-Obregón’s Creatine A Practical Guide . It’s an easy read and it’s full of excellent creatine  information, tricks and tips. Shell out the $20 this ebook costs and you will save hundreds of dollars on ineffective supplements while learning how to squeeze the most from your creatine supplementation!

Here’s how the creatine guide defines a loading phase…

A creatine loading phase is designed to quickly fill your muscles creatine stores in a few days. This requires a higher dose of creatine for a short period of time. While it is true that you will need to consume higher amount of creatine during the loading phase, you will not need to take in excessive amounts.

Here’s what the creatine guide says about effectively dosing out creatine monohydrate for a muscle building loading phase…

Keep in mind that when it comes to creatine supplementation, taking more than necessary will not lead to better gains. Simply oveloading your body with an unnecessary amount of creatine monohydrate will not help you achive your muscle building goals any quicker than a more moderate “optimized” approach.

As a rule of thumb…

The actual amount of creatine monohydrate that you need to take in any given day should never be more than 10 times your normal daily turnover of creatine. Your normal daily turnover rate of creatine is a function of your body weight – more specifically your lean body mass.

In order to calculate your ideal loading phase dosage of creatine monohydrate:

1. Take your bodyweight in pounds and convert it to kilograms by dividing by 2.2
2. Multiply your body weight in kilograms by 0.3 grams of creatine per kg of bodyweight

Here’s an example of my personal loading phase creatine supplement dose (I currently weight 210 lbs)…

• Divide 210/2.2 to convert my body weight into kiligrams = 95.5 kg
• Now Multiply My Weight In Kg by 0.3 (95.5 x 0.3) = 28.7 grams of creatine per day!

That’s all there is to figuring out your ideal loading phase creatine dose!

Now you know how to calculate a realistic doages for a loading phase that will allow to to get the benefits of a loading pahse without placeing undue streee on your body! For more great creatine information I highly recommed Dr. Franco-Obregón’s Creatine A Practical Guide.