Weight training thread - Please no irrelevant comments.

[318driver]

what creatine products and methods do you guys use?
What protiens do you like?
Anything else i should look into?

Ok here's my IMO on supplements. They are supplments. Simple huh?

Real food is always best. Supplements are beneficial for situations where you do not have the resources to eat 5 or 6 healthy meals per day. That said here's what I think is worthwhile spending money on if your diet isnt spot on:

Creatine: Look for a plain monohydrate product. Mix with gatorade or grape juice if you want additional uptake through insulin stimulation otherwise use water or protein shake. Most fancy (read expensive) creatine products include some form of carb for insulin, flavoring, or other high priced ingredient that has little proven effects (glutamine, hmb, etc.). If you eat a lot of red meat then you may not notice much effect from creatine.

Protein: If you can't meet a 1-1.5 gram protein/lb bodyweight target with whole foods then a whey-isolate, cassein, or egg protein (or blend) can help you make up the difference. Leave the soy for women.

Multi vitamin: This is pretty obvious. One thing look for a low-iron version, often senior's versions (like Centrum Silver) offer this. Men dont really need iron supplementation and too much can become toxic.

Flax or Udo's oil: Fat gets a bad wrap cause people in NA eat too much saturated and trans fat. This screws your cholesterol levels. If you can't eat fish (the kind that lives in water) several times per week then Flax oil or Udo's choice oil has the poly unsaturates and omega-3 fatty acids that can put cholesterol back in balance. Remember its not really how much fat you eat it is in what ratios.

That is about all that I think are worth spending money on. Most other stuff is over-hyped, under-studied, over-priced fluff aimed at draining your wallet. If you have spare cash and want to experiment go ahead but nothing short of anabolic steroids are going to turn you into Arnold or Triple-H.

For you guys who are pressed for time in the mornings try this: 1-2 cups water or milk, handful of fruit (frozen strawberries from Costco are great), 1-2 scoops protein powder, 1 tbsp flax oil, 1 tbsp olive oil. throw in a blender and you're done. This gives you a low carb meal with about 400-500 calories, 20-30g protein, and a good fat profile. All in about a minute.

I agree with alot of the things your saying. Thanks for the advice. I think my big problem is accually being able to eat the 5 or 6 meals a day. Im going to try your breakfast thing. Sounds good.
Whats your take on taking in protien before going to bed?

For instance last night. I worked out from 8-9:30 then rain for 3 miles then had my protien shake. I then went to bed about an hour later.
Im not sure if doing this is right or not.

[Nitrox]

Whats your take on taking in protein before going to bed?

It's fine. That whole eating before bed thing is kinda overblown. If you expend 3000 Cals per day then if you eat 3000 Cals (however you do it) you should approx maintain your weight. Your body composition may be different though. Binge-ing/fasting tends to lead to less muscle/more fat where as evenly spaced meals tend towards more muscle/less fat.

Common thought is that athletes should be taking in protein with every meal. This keeps your nitrogen balance positive an allows for constant muscle repair/growth.

If you are going to watch your 'meal timings' then try to eat your carbs during or after your most active time of the day. Hi carb loads that arent used up by exercise trigger insulin spikes which leads to fat storage (hence my reference to the desk jockey w/gatorade). Meals for less active times should be lower carb (veggies) and more protein/healthy fat based.

Personally I almost always eat a protein/fat meal right before bed so that my body has something to build with instead of going catabolic. After all grow stimulus comes from working out but you actually grow outside the gym while at rest.

HTH

[Beau B]

I started drinking 2 protein shakes a day, one after my workout, and one write before bed. I know that is expensive but I bought a cheaper protein to take before bed, but I noticed I packd on the muscle, not fat quicker that way than I ever did before. Also one thing I noticed that no one has said, everybody is different and what might work for one person might not have any effect on another. Me for example put muscle on very easily and quickly but I also put fat on easily, so I need to what more carefully what I eat, compared to someone who can eat whatever they want and be ripped but has a hard time packing on the muscle.. just my

Beau