Supps for Newbies

Diet and Nutrition
21

[quote]crowbar524 wrote:
Craig, it seems as if some people believe that supplements such as Carbolin 19 are only beneficial to those who have been training for years. This is, of course, nonsense. If you end up ditching your training because you loose motivation (as many newbies do), then you waste some money–it’s not the end of the world! If, however, the Carbolin 19 can increase your results this will be very powerful motivation to continue.

So, I still think the Surge is your number one priority right now. I believe the addition of Surge to your program will be very beneficial. However, if you can afford it, adding Carbolin 19 would increase your LBM gains.

  • Protein powders
  • Surge
  • EFA’s: Fish oil caps; flax oil
  • ZMA

As money permits:

*Carbolin 19 or

  • Methoxy-7 (in that order)

Crowbar[/quote]

Wow. That really is a HYOOOOOOGE monthly investment on supps.

If you could only afford THREE of all the supps you listed, would it be Grow!, Surge and EFA’s??

What if you don’t need Grow! because you can already consume whole foods that contain your daily requirement of protein? What would be the next best supp to add to the other two (Surge and EFA’s)???

22

Id say yes. If you are getting enough protein from other whole foods. etc. Surge and EFA’s would be an awesome addition.

Surge giving you the optimal w/o nutrition and the EFA’s well they have a plethora of benefits to health and body comp. Mix them up. Fish oils and walnuts being my favorites with some Flax meal now and again.

Both of these supps will be a great way for you with your past probs and allow you to ghet a big whopping amount of K/cals in without much volume.

23

[quote]Phill wrote:
Id say yes. If you are getting enough protein from other whole foods. etc. Surge and EFA’s would be an awesome addition.

Surge giving you the optimal w/o nutrition and the EFA’s well they have a plethora of benefits to health and body comp. Mix them up. Fish oils and walnuts being my favorites with some Flax meal now and again.

Both of these supps will be a great way for you with your past probs and allow you to ghet a big whopping amount of K/cals in without much volume.

[/quote]

How about adding ZMA as well to aid in recuperation and better sleep?

That makes the three best supps for a beginner (providing he is getting adequate protein and training correctly):

-Surge
-EFAs
-ZMA

Any thoughts?

24

[quote]chirag wrote:
Phill wrote:
Id say yes. If you are getting enough protein from other whole foods. etc. Surge and EFA’s would be an awesome addition.

Surge giving you the optimal w/o nutrition and the EFA’s well they have a plethora of benefits to health and body comp. Mix them up. Fish oils and walnuts being my favorites with some Flax meal now and again.

Both of these supps will be a great way for you with your past probs and allow you to ghet a big whopping amount of K/cals in without much volume.

How about adding ZMA as well to aid in recuperation and better sleep?

That makes the three best supps for a beginner (providing he is getting adequate protein and training correctly):

-Surge
-EFAs
-ZMA

Any thoughts?
[/quote]

I can go with that. Also, one could add in Classic Grow! or Low-Carb Grow! if they have problems making their protein requirements, or just want to have a convenient way of doing so.

But, I’d draw the line there and hold off on anything more, as others have said, until you have more time under your belt.

Good luck with everything and keep us updated!

25

Just to add my 2cents, I would say one of, if not the best supplement to add would be an EFA supp. such as Flax oil, fish oil, Udo’s choice…

There are tons of benefits to adding that alone, to include helping with muscle gain, helping with fat loss, heart health, brain health…and I’m sure there are tons more (I just don’t remember them all).

Also, definitley a vit/min supp., you already know about Grow!, but maybe a 100%Whey protein to go with it to save on cost.

I personally mix 1 scoop of Grow! with 1 scoop of a Whey protein. It saves on cost a little, and I get a medium speed protein and a slow absorbing one. But post workout and pre workout I use Whey by it’s self.

I like ZMA as well as it helps with sleep and many people may have a deficiency of magnesium and zinc (or so I’ve heard). It’s just a real cheap mineral supp. for those who are deficient in it, and it’s sleep aiding ability alone is worth the cheap price.

Creatine has many health benefits as well, and I’ve seen studies about heart and brain benefits from this as well. No third gen creatine, I think they are just a waste of money. Just a pure creatine, German or US made. The ones with the Creapure logo are German, and of some of the highest quality. Many different brands have the Creapure logo.

Most people don’t get enough good fats in their diet, especially the EFAs. Your body can make the other fat it needs with the EFAs (as I understand it), but it can’t make the EFAs from non EFAs (okay not very scientific…).

So the order of importance that I would put them in is:

EFA supp., Vit/Min., Protein powder(Whey and Casein), ZMA, Creatine.

Hope that helped.

26

Yes haonestly I really dont consider ZMA, Grow!, efa’s, creatine, and my multi supps… They are just staples of my everday use.

But yes the short answer would be for the $9 the ZMA is worth it.

In your case however I would strongly suggest not getting to caught up in any supplements and just be sure to nail a SOLID diet for a good period of time.

Keep up the progress bro,
Phill

27

[quote]chirag wrote:
Is ZMA a necessity as well??[/quote]

No supplements are necessary.

Based on your questions, I think your definitely focussing too much on supplements at this point.

28

Chirag, if I could only afford three “supplements” they would be:

*Protein powders; not only do they make it easier to meet my protein requirments, but they are portable and require little preparation. Further, well made protein powders have certain functional properties that may be beneficial. For example, micellar casein increases nitrogen retention better than most other proteins. Finally, gram for gram protein powders are less expensive than whole food sources of protein.

  • Surge; Post workout nutrition is VERY important and Surge is optimized to fulfill your body’s needs at this critical time. Also, Surge provides excellent energy and sustained strength levels for your workout.

  • EFA’s; too many benefits to list.

However, if you have the time and money to cook all of your meals and get sufficient protein, then you could skip the Grow! and add ZMA.

Crowbar

29

I used to be all worried that I wasn’t taking the correct supplements, or that my creatine scoop was rounded when it should have been flat, etc.

It diverted my attention from my training and especially from my diet. Quit wasting your time thinking about Carbolin 19 when you should be eating a steak.

30

[quote]Mr. Bear wrote:
I used to be all worried that I wasn’t taking the correct supplements, or that my creatine scoop was rounded when it should have been flat, etc.

It diverted my attention from my training and especially from my diet. Quit wasting your time thinking about Carbolin 19 when you should be eating a steak. [/quote]

LOL. That’s a good one.

Anyways, I don’t plan on taking any of the mentioned supps (except maybe for the multivitamin) UNTIL i hit a long strength/size plateau and see my progress in the gym as halted for a decent period of time.

I’m actually focusing more on nailing the right diet (which has to make me gain steadily AND I should be able to stomach it) and the right training plan (where I’m still screwing around with the workout variables and volume parameters to get the right combo of workload for inducing muscle mass without overtraining or spending half a day in the gym).