What To Look For In A Supplement
The most important place on the container of any supplement is the ingredients column. You need to know what to look for to make sure your getting a good amount of what you need to build some serious muscle.
Protein Supplement:
Now it is no secret that you need Protein Powder in order to build and maintain muscle but how do you know what your taking is right for you ? I mean there are again like any supplement companies out there making all sorts of claims about what there product does and how good it really is. You would think that it would be easy to select but with Protein Isolates, Concentrates, Hydrolysed Whey, Calcium Caseinate, Soy Proteins, Blend Proteins, Casein Protein etc With so many proteins out there what do you need to know to be able to identify what is going to be best for reaching your goals ?
Types of Protein:
Whey protein makes up 20% of total milk protein. Whey is known as being an excellent source for amino- acids, this means that it will absorb better leading to more muscle growth and strength.
Casein protein makes up 80% of total milk protein. Casein Protein is slowly absorbed into the bloodstream so you are going to want to take this when your body isn’t screaming out for Protein to repair muscle fibers or an empty stomach.
Soy protein is the most controversial of all protein types. While the soy groupies have gone to great lengths to label soy as a super food with magical effects, there is also a good amount of research that suggests soy protein may be contraindicated in many situations. Because of all the confusion, I suggest avoiding soy protein altogether and sticking to the other types listed.
Protein Blends are combinations of several types of protein blends such as whey protein concentrate, whey protein isolate, egg protein, casein protein, and soy protein. So what would the purpose of doing this? Well your going to get the full advantage of all different types of proteins which means each will be absorbed at a different rate this guarantees you results.
Whey hydrolysates or “peptides”, are powerful proteins that are more quickly absorbed; more so than any other form, since your body prefers peptides to whole proteins. What you need to know about this Protein is it aids in Protein Synthesis and is the most anabolic of all Protein Powders delivering the Protein into your bloodstream almost instantly.
These are the major types of protein and as you can see there is quite a selection you have when choosing. Each type however has it’s positives and negatives. So with that in mind what are the benefits of each of these:
Whey Protein:
Since this protein is absorbed very quickly the best time to consume it is with-in 2 hours after your training. Before training and in the morning as you will get fed the benefits from it right away.
Case in Protein:
This Protein is absorbed a lot slower then and other proteins and for that reason should only be used directly after your workout or at night. I would not recommend consumption in the morning however. This will also create an anti-catablic environment.
Soy Protein:
Ummm Just don’t go there
Blend Proteins:
Using a blend creates an anabolic effect in the body which of course you need to have in order to build muscle. A blend works the best outside of 6 hours after your workout. A blend would be ideally used at night. You will also find that most protein products out there are Blends.
Whey Hydrolysates:
This Protein will enter the blood stream faster then every other making it the ideal protein for consumption Pre, during and Post your workout.
So now that we understand what the different Proteins are what is going to be the best for you? Well I know that I personally use Protein Isolate because I don’t want to be juggling different Proteins round the place left right and centre. You need to think as well what type of Protein is going to suit you the best and your goals? Obviously there are certain proteins that we can already see are more suited to muscle building then others. I will take this into account over the next reviews. Ideally as you can probably see we are looking for a Blend Protein as this has all the different types of Protein meaning you will get a different absorption rate and also get the anti- anabolic effect from the Casein and the Catabolic effect from the Isolate.
Now that you know what the different types of ingredients are that go into protein products you need to learn to identify what type the protein powder your looking at buying is. In most cases if the protein is a Blend the first type of Protein registered on the list is the one that determines when the protein powder will be most effective. Here are two comparisons ……
Optimum 10096 Whey:
As you can see these are two different types of protein blends which means they are more beneficial at different times. The Optimum 100% Whey will be better Post workout whereas the Cyto-Sport Complete Whey is going to be more beneficial throughout the day or before bed.
Ideally when choosing a protein supplement you are going to want to buy both types of protein to get the most out of your training.
Creatine:
Creatine has to be a part of your training no matter what level for whatever goal. This supplement has to many benefits in the way of Muscle growth, Maintenance, strength and endurance. If you want to really see good gains you are going to have to understand what creatines work and which don’t.
First of all what on earth is creatine ?
Well it’s official name is actually methyl guanidine- acetic acid but to be honest I would not be able to throw this into any conversation with my clients with out coming off as a nerd or cracking up at the thought that someone ever thought of a name like this for such a simple compound. What Creatine (methyl guanidine- acetic acid) is, is a chemical formation of 3 amino-acids Arginine, Glycine and Methionine. Our liver has the ability to combine these there ingredients to form.
Creatine. Creatine is actually produced in our system naturally in some foods we eat. However before I get onto what foods have creatine in them it’s important to understand that the average person stores about 120grams in there body 96% of which are stored in there muscles.
So what does Creatine officially do ?
1. Provide additional energy for your muscles (Train longer and harder)
2. Volumisation of your muscles (Increase Muscle Size)
3. Buffer Lactic Acid build up (Increases Recovery Time)
4. Enhances Protein Synthesis (Helps absorption of Protein)
“Is the 120 grams of creatine in my body enough?”
Maybe ! What happens when we work out is we use up the Creatine stored in our muscles. The whole point of taking a Creatine supplement is so when we do workout we can replenish the Creatine in our bodies a lot quicker. This will mean that we get the benefits of Creatine even though we have lost a lot of it due to working out.
How Much Creatine Should I Take ?
Well first of all when you think of what I have just said above it becomes obvious that Creatine is pretty much useless on rest days because you naturally already have all the creatine your body needs and It is not going to be replenished as a result. However when you do train that is a different story and you need this supplement then. So the amount of Creatine that is stored in your body is determined by your muscle mass and how much you weigh. For me weighing 300 pounds I need a lot more Creatine to replenish myself then say the beginner who may only be 160 pounds.
How Will I Know For Sure ?
Simple. Well the average person can’t absorb any more then 1.5grams of creatine every 2 hours. This is because we have in our bodies this thing called a creatine transporter that regulates the amount that we can absorb. It acts like a gate opening and closing as we go. You also need to understand that to enhance your ability to further absorb Creatine you need to have a good combined mix of amino-acids and carbohydrates.
So now that we understand what creatine is, what it does, and how much we need it’s time to find out what are the best ways we can get this Creatine through supplements. What we are looking for is a good combination of amino-acids, carbohydrates and a good monohydrate Creatine. If we can get extra boosts from the Creatine in the way of a Nitric Oxide then that is an added bonus and will help us save money on having to buy this compound separately so this has to be taken into account when selecting the right supplement for you.
Here are two very popular Creatines on the market today where we can see the difference in ingredients.
You can see that these two products are both creatines however they are very different, yes because one has a lot more in it then the other but that’s not what we are looking at. The most important part to identifying what our needs are for Creatine are first of all looking at how much Creatine there is in the mix.