The guys have been pushing me to post my first blog since we made the site. Trust me I've had a lot of ideas but not so much time to articulate them to my liking here on the blog. So here goes numero uno. I'll talk briefly about the supplements I take daily. So first, some quick background. In the world of fitness and also health and dieting in general, supplementation is a hot topic. Does supplementation matter? What are the best supplements to take? Lots of debate revolves around these types of questions. My opinion is that supplements are exactly as the name implies. They are meant to "supplement" or enhance your diet. If your diet sucks, using supplementation can only get you so far. Likewise, if you have a stellar diet, a lot of supplementation might not be necessary. After all, most supplements are simply minerals, molecules, vitamins, etc. that can be found in foods that we regularly consume. Some people say with the proper diet you don't need any supplements. This could be true to an extent, depending on your goals. But I personally believe in supplementation, simply because it is a convenient, safe, and relatively cheap way to optimize health and improve gym results. Currently, my supplement routine is on the minimalistic side. I don't have a ton extra cash in the budget right now, so I go only with what I view as being most essential for meeting my goals. Here goes... Whey Protein Anyone who lifts weights knows that protein is important. Without protein your body can't effectively rebuild muscle. Period. It's not absolutely necessary to take protein in the form of a supplement. Actually most of my protein intake comes from the food I eat; mostly meat. But a lot of research shows that athletes doing a proper resistance training regiment need to consume about 1 gram of protein per pound of body mass. For me, that's 174 g of protein, minimum, which is a lot more than the average person eats in a day, even with three squares. The powder is a convenient way to make sure I meet my protein goals. Currently, I use Now Sports Natural Unflavored Whey Isolate. Now Sports is pretty reputable brand whose supplements test pretty accurately for protein content compared to what the label claims - something that definitely isn't true for all companies. Creatine Creatine has gotten a bad rap in the past, and unjustifiably so. What overwhelming amounts of scientific evidence has shown, however, is that creatine is both safe and effective for improving all kinds of athletic performance - especially weight lifting. I don't know all the biochemistry behind creatine's mechanism, but basically, creatine is a molecule that is stored in our bodies naturally. It donates an extra phosphate to ADP to create ATP in the muscles. ATP is the energetic currency our body uses for all biological processes including building muscle. Again, creatine is safe for all healthy individuals, and research can attest. It's not a steroid, and it's not going to destroy your liver. I use also use Now Sports' creatine in addition to their whey. The clinically effective dose is 5 grams and Now offers 5g per serving at a ridiculously cheap price. (It's like 200 servings for 20 some dollars). I tend to mix my creatine with a carb-rich drink like fruit juice, and I always make sure to drink lots of water as creatine can draw extra water into the muscles and dehydrate you if you're not careful. Fish OilI'm not going to say too much about fish oil. Basically research shows it offers a plethora of positive effects for most individuals. These include improved cognitive functioning, improved mood, and better gym results. For me, this one is more about having one extra tool to keep my brain sharp (potentially) more so than improving my weight room gains. I use Kirkland brand which offers the clinically effective dose in each serving. I take these every day unless I know that I'm going to eat fish that day. Fish obviously has fish oil in it, so if you eat a serving of fish, taking the extra dose from the pills isn't really going to do anything extra. Vitamin D Lastly is the supplement I started taking most recently, Vitamin D. I think the importance of Vitamin D is way underplayed in most mainstream dietary and nutritional advice. A lot of people know that Vitamin D is important for bone health, and many understand it's role in maintaining calcium absorption in the body. However, what most people don't know is that Vitamin D affects processes all over the body. According to NCBI, most cells in the body have Vitamin D receptors, and "Epidemiological evidence and prospective studies have linked vitamin D deficiency with increased risk of many chronic diseases including autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular disease, deadly cancers, type II diabetes and infectious diseases." Vitamin D is the one thing on this list that really almost has to come from supplementation. It's found only sparingly in natural foods, and although you get some from sunlight exposure, standing around in the sun all day is good way to acquire spontaneous DNA mutations. Some experts say teenagers and adults need around 2000 IU of Vitamin D a day, but because I'm an active individual who regularly lifts heavy weights (70-80% of my 1RM), I like to air on the side of caution and take 5000 IU a day. Since lethal dosage is well over this number, (over 40,000 IU if I remember correctly) going on the high side is safe. I use Vita brand, pictured above. It's about $16 on Amazon.
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