If you are into Fitness or Gym, the world of supplements is a weird and wild one. There's one big reason why: Unlike medication, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) does not require dietary supplements to be proven safe before they hit the market.

Remember, you don't need a prescription for supplements. You don't need a doctor's approval (although it's always a good idea to talk to your doctor before taking any supplement). And you often don't need a ton of money to buy a supplement either.

So instead of trusting the marketing lingo on the supplement label, here's an idea: Trust us. We've studied the research. We've talked to the experts. Heck, we've even tasted all this stuff.

What follows is a list of supplements you can trust to help you hit your goals, be they gaining muscle, improving strength, or losing weight—or all three. There are a few proven supplements that can aid an already good diet, sleep regime, and training program to ensure you get the most out of workouts. But quality definitely matters and that’s the main concern when considering using any products to get that competitive edge.

Note: Only take the recommended dosages listed on product labels as this is an effective and safe amount for most individuals. Also, it’s always a good idea to consult with a medical professional before implementing a nutritional supplement regime especially if you suffer from any pre-existing health conditions.

1. Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein Powder

 

Protein is the ‘muscle-building’ macronutrient found in meats, dairy, nuts, grains, and more (apparently, it’s popular among the food groups). And It’s made from amino acids which are the building blocks of the body.

Protein is essential for the growth and repair of all body tissue in general. Not to mention, it fuels many chemical reactions, regulates hormones, keeps your heart and immune system healthy, and does so much for helping us to maintain our healthy bodies.

So, by now, you should be convinced of just how important it is for the Strongman athlete who needs to build maximum muscle mass and strength. Now, you definitely don’t “need” to supplement your protein with a powdered product but it’s extremely convenient and a great way to get in a decent amount of additional protein without anything else.

Well, Optimum Nutrition’s Gold Standard 100% whey is one of the better products out there overall not just because of the protein quality but mainly because of the overall value. It’s definitely nothing special but for a decent price you get a really good amount of servings, a powder that tastes pretty good, and it comes from a reputable company.

There are many different sizes and flavors too which is awesome for protein powder lovers! But a serving typically contains 120 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, it’s very low sodium (2%) and carb (1%), has one gram of sugar and 24 grams of gains-promoting protein. The protein is a mix of isolate (90% or more protein contents), concentrate (80% or more protein), and peptides.

As for additional ingredients, this product does have natural and artificial flavors, plus acesulfame potassium which is an artificial sweetener that may be a turn off for many people. And it also contains lactase for easier digestive of the dairy ingredients.

ON Gold Standard definitely isn’t a protein powder for the individual who prefers all-natural ingredients but it’s still a high-quality option and popular for a reason.

Not to mention, whey products are fast-digesting which means drinking a shake after a workout is ideal for promoting muscle growth, and whey also contains all essential amino acids in addition to leucine which is the branched-chain amino acid most responsible for muscle protein synthesis.

You can buy this product from Amazon which is pretty cheap: https://amzn.to/2w4FB6D

2. Muscletech Essential Series Platinum Multi-Vitamin

Just as its name would suggest, MuscleTech Platinum Multivitamin is a multivitamin supplement that has been designed specifically taking the needs of athletes, bodybuilders, and fitness-minded individuals into consideration.

This comprehensive multivitamin product combines essential vitamins and minerals with enzymes, herbal extracts, and even amino acids to offer a truly broad spectrum of nutrients to help you recover from your workouts and enjoy a boost to your general health and energy levels.

Although MuscleTech Platinum Multivitamin is far from being the cheapest multivitamin supplement on the market it does offer a reasonable degree of quality with clear labeling of how much of each ingredient you are receiving.

MuscleTech Platinum Multivitamin contains the following ingredients:

• Vitamin A
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin D
• Vitamin E
• Thiamin
• Riboflavin
• Niacin
• Vitamin B6
• Folic Acid
• Vitamin B12
• Biotin
• Pantothenic Acid
• Calcium carbonate
• Calcium Citrate
• Magnesium Oxide
• Zinc Oxide
• Zinc Amino Acid Chelate
• Copper Amino Acid Chelate
• Manganese Sulphate Monohydrate
• Molybdenum Amino Acid Chelate
• Potassium Chloride
• Amino Support Matrix, containing:
• Glycine;
• ALA (Alpha Lipoic Acid);
• L-Methionine;
• L-Citrulline Malate;
• L-Arginine Hydrochloride; and
• L-Cysteine
• Herbal Matrix, containing:
• Green Tea Extract;
• Saw Palmetto Fruit Extract;
• American Ginseng Root Extract;
• Echinacea Root;
• Ginkgo Leaf;
• Grape Skin Extract;
• Green Coffee Bean Extract;
• Turmeric Rhizome Extract; and
• Octacosanol
• Enzyme Complex, containing:
• Amylase; and
• Papain
• Mineral Support Complex, containing:
• Inositol;
• Boron Citrate;
• Choline Bitartrate; and
• Choline Dihydrogen Citrate
• Microcrystalline Cellulose
• Croscarmellose Sodium
• Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil
• Talc
• Polythylene Glycol
• Polysorbate 80
• Magnesium Stearate
• Silicon Dioxide

MuscleTech Platinum Multivitamin is by no means the most cost-effective multivitamin supplement for bodybuilding but it is a solid product that contains an impressive array of essential vitamins and minerals, as well as tons of extra beneficial ingredients.

MuscleTech is easily one of the most popular manufacturers of sports and bodybuilding supplements so it should come as no surprise that MuscleTech Platinum Multivitamin has been very well received by users and has been highly praised overall.

To summarize, ensure you are eating a well-balanced diet with loads of fruit and vegetables and high-quality protein sources to ensure you are receiving as many nutrients are needed to maintain your health and fitness lifestyle.

You can buy this product from Amazon which is pretty cheap: https://amzn.to/390aUOJ

3. BPI Sports Micronized Creatine

Creatine, which is the most studied and proven ergogenic performance aid known to the man currently. It helps to build muscle, increase strength and power output, and possibly even provide some endurance benefits as well.

Creatine is naturally made by the body and is located mostly in the muscles and brain. It’s converted into phosphocreatine and stored in the muscles for energy. But to get the performance and aesthetic benefits, supplementation is really non-negotiable as the body doesn’t make enough to support the desired performance benefits achieved with this amino acid.

Hence the reason for the abundance of creatine products on the market. But one thing to remember about creatine is that it’s not a miracle supplement and it’s not a performance-enhancing drug. So with that being said, it does provide a slight advantage which is quite obvious. Micronized creatine in powdered or any form, works plain and simple. And from a top brand, even more, likely that you’re getting quality. Well, BPI Sports is one of those top brands which make good supplements.

Each serving contains 5g of creatine monohydrate as the only ingredient to support performance and muscle growth and you really can’t go wrong with the price either considering you get 120 servings. With basic monohydrate powder though, it’s a good idea to do a loading phase which involves consuming 15-20g per day for the first 4 or so days and then maintain every day thereafter with 5g. This is well known to saturate the muscles with this amino acid much faster which will cause faster results.

You can buy this product from Amazon which is pretty cheap: https://amzn.to/3ccbUB0

4. Optimum Nutrition (ON) Amino Energy BCAA Drink

If you're a strength athlete or bodybuilder, we can't think of a single reason not to take BCAAs during your workout. Besides the fact that they taste delicious, sipping on BCAAs between sets may help speed up the recovery and repair processes after a tough workout.

A 2010 study published in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism found that participants who ingested BCAAs at 100 milligrams per kilogram of body weight, or about 9 grams for a 200-pound individual, experienced significantly less muscle soreness and damage following a high-volume squat protocol.

It appears that BCAAs, especially leucine, help to regulate protein metabolism by promoting protein synthesis and suppressing protein degradation, which may improve the recovery of muscles damaged during resistance training.

You can buy this product from Amazon which is pretty cheap: https://amzn.to/3a6Ut3g

5. Optimum Nutrition Enteric-Coated Fish Oil

Fish oils are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, which provide myriad benefits for the body. For strength athletes and bodybuilders, we're most concerned with their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Intense resistance training can cause microscopic tears in your muscle fibers, leading to muscle damage and inflammation. While some inflammation is desirable, too much can delay the post-exercise recovery process.

Research suggests that omega-3 fatty acids can help reduce post-exercise muscle soreness and speed up the recovery process, getting you ready for your next session with the weights. As an added benefit, when combined with BCAAs and carbs, omega-3s can increase protein synthesis rates, leading to greater gains in muscle mass.

You can buy this product from Amazon which is pretty cheap: https://amzn.to/3cjjM42

Let us know in the comments which supplement is a perfect fit for you!

4:36 PM

Get out your workout logbook and tighten up your wrist straps as we countdown the 10 most likely derailments of your training progress and explain how to avoid them. Class is in session.

Mistake #10 Cheating Your Gains

Used correctly, cheating can up the intensity of sets, but it’s frequently employed too soon and therefore lessens intensity. Many bodybuilders cheat (i.e., use bad form) throughout a set, and therefore transfer stress away from the targeted muscles. Biceps curls, for example, are often cheated from start to finish by the use of momentum, which shifts the focus off of the bi’s and onto the front delts.

Solutions

• Learn how to do each exercise with the proper form, and then practice until you have this form mastered. Warm-ups and the lighter sets of a pyramid are also like practice rounds to get you into the groove, so you can do your heaviest sets correctly.
• If necessary, take steps to curtail cheating, such as standing against a wall and/or pressing your elbows against your sides during barbell curls or performing side laterals while seated.
• Do not loosen your form until you’ve reached full-rep failure. Cheating should be used to make a set harder (pushing it beyond failure), not easier (preventing you from reaching failure via strict reps).

Mistake #9 Going Too Low

The best range for muscle growth is 8-12 reps per set. Consistently doing 7 or fewer reps with heavier weights may feed your pride in the gym, but it won’t build as much muscle as moderate reps with moderate weights. A recent study found that when subjects used a weight that allowed them to complete 25-30 reps per set, they increased muscle protein synthesis (the process that leads to muscle growth) by 60% more than when they did sets with a weight that limited them to 4 reps. What’s more, going too heavy often leads to truncated reps. This is especially true of leg presses. It’s likely you can use more metal with this exercise than any other.

This stokes your ego, and because the guy before you used 900 for six half-reps instead of 600 for 12 full reps, you want to crank out 900-pound partials, too. Resist this urge. More reps and better form with a lighter weight will build more mass.

Research

A recent study from Italy found that when subjects did dumbbell shoulder presses with half-reps or three-quarter reps, they did not use nearly as much deltoid muscle fibers as they did when they did full reps. Using more muscle fibers during an exercise will make that muscle bigger. Even when training for power, the fewer reps you do, the harder it is to eke out another one and thus make consistent gains.

Solutions

• Do movements from full stretches to full contractions. Carefully control the negative half of reps.
• Keep the reps of most sets in the 8-12 range.
• Focus on your muscles contracting, not the weight moving.

Mistake #8 Failing to Fail

Failure is the point in a set when you cannot complete another full rep with good form. Not every working set needs to enter the failure zone, but many bodybuilders fall far short of failing on every set. Often this is because they set a target well within their reach, hit it and quit.

Solutions

• On a failure set, don’t bail out of a strict rep until it has stalled for at least three seconds. Then you can stop, or you can cheat just enough or get just enough assistance to complete the rep.
• Keep a workout log, noting your personal bests in lifts. “Beating the logbook” will give you something to shoot for each workout.
• Don’t set a rep target unless it’s beyond your full-rep comfort zone and, ideally, a personal best.
• Shoot for at least one or two sets taken to failure on every exercise you do.

Mistake #7 Machine Love

Most modern gyms have a plethora of machines, but resist the urge to fill the bulk of your routine with mechanical movements. Barbells and dumbbells remain the best bodybuilding tools ever invented, and free-weight or bodyweight exercises should be the cornerstones of your routines for chest, back, arms, shoulders and quads. The best chests of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s era still compare favorably with the 12 pecs in this year’s Mr. Olympia posedown despite all of our modern advantages.

Why? Pecs then were worked almost exclusively via barbell presses, dumbbell flyes and dips.

Solutions

• Do mostly free-weight and bodyweight basics.
• Emphasize compound exercises (those that use more than one bodypart). For example, do dips and close-grip bench presses for triceps, as opposed to all mechanical isolation exercises like pushdowns and machine extensions.
• If you do mechanical lifts, try to choose a unilateral Hammer Strength, FreeMotion or similar machine that approximates the freedom of free weights.

Mistake #6 Insufficient Intensity

There are those who never push sets beyond full-rep failure and thus never truly challenge themselves in the gym, and there are those who have journeyed deep into the pain zone but, over time, their intensity progressively wanes. For the former, there are several techniques for going beyond failure, including forced reps, cheating, partial reps, rest-pause, negative reps, static contractions and descending sets. (Research shows that techniques such as forced reps boost growth hormone levels far higher than workouts in which sets are taken just to muscle failure and not beyond.) For the latter, almost everyone experiences periods of waning intensity.

The mistake is trying to work your way out by doing more of the same. Instead, you need to recharge your physical and mental reserves. To reach your goal in the fastest time, you sometimes need to slow down, or stop and refuel.

Solutions

• Learn the various techniques for pushing your sets beyond failure and apply these to a few sets each workout. Not every technique fits every exercise. For example, you don’t want to cheat squats or do negative-only deadlifts, but a spotter can help you with a couple forced reps on squats and you can rest-pause deadlifts.
• Waning intensity is a warning sign for overtraining. Heed this warning, and cut down on your workout frequency and/or take a week or two away from the gym.
• Cycle higher intensity periods of 8-12 weeks with lower intensity periods of 2-4 weeks. In the latter, break up your normal training style with something fresh, like circuit training, powerlifting or high reps (20-50 per set).

When you’re back on the fast track and trying to push sets to failure and beyond, choose challenging but (barely) attainable short-and long-term strength goals.

Lessons Learned

• Only cheat to extend sets beyond full-rep failure.
• Keep most of your sets in the 8-12 rep range.
• Push some working sets to the point where you fail to complete a full rep on your own with proper form.
• Choose mostly free-weight and bodyweight exercises.

Push some working sets beyond full-rep failure and cycle your training to maintain intensity.

Mistake #5 Too Little Rest

When it comes to overtraining, we prefer to focus on the resting component and not the working component because, for most bodybuilders, the problem is not too much workout volume or intensity. Instead, the culprit negating their gains is almost always insufficient rest between workouts. You need to properly space your gym sessions to make certain you fully recover and grow before hitting the heavy iron again.

Solutions

• Allow at least 72 hours between workouts for most body parts (calves and abs, excepted). So if you train triceps on Monday, you can hit them again on Thursday.
• Avoid doing heavy squats and dead-lifts on successive days. Try to schedule 72 hours between such workouts.
• Be aware of how secondary muscles are worked in compound exercises and schedule your workouts accordingly. For example, front delts get stressed during chest-pressing movements, so avoid training shoulders and chest on contiguous days. Instead, allow at least 48 hours between such workouts or hit both in the same session, so they can recuperate simultaneously.
• Cardio can rob your recuperative reserves. Avoid leg-intensive cardio the day prior to leg day.

Mistake #4 Avoidance

Except for those lucky few who already have too much of a good thing, bodybuilders don’t neglect biceps or pecs. On the other hand, from raw neophytes to those doing their thousandth workout, too many bodybuilders neglect cardio, stretching and abs none of which provide the pleasing pump of dumbbell curls or bench presses and they may not allow any room in their routines for smaller bodyparts, such as forearms. You’re likely unaware that you’re shortchanging some crucial bodybuilding components and therefore shortchanging your overall progress.

Solutions

• Sweat the “small stuff.” Make time and space in your routine for abdominals, calves, forearms, lower back and traps. In fact, abs and calves can be trained more frequently than other body parts. Likewise, always schedule time for cardio, instead of relegating it to “if I have time” status.
• Give every bodypart its own routine. Instead of a “leg routine,” have a “quad routine” and a “ham routine” and a “calf routine,” even if one follows the other in the same workout. Similarly, give your traps their own routine instead of merely lumping them in with shoulders or back.

Find a way to work in muscles you might otherwise avoid, such as abs. You can do this by performing sets of abs between those for another bodypart, such as shoulders.

Mistake #3 Missing the Target

Abs, back, quads, triceps and traps those are five bodyparts where, over the course of our classes, we discussed missing the targeted areas with exercise selection and performance. What do they have in common? They’re all complex bodyparts with a variety of areas to hit and thus a variety of areas to miss. Too many bodybuilders think they’re hitting, say, their lower lats or outer quads while in fact they’re whiffing over and over again.

Solutions

• Know your anatomy. For example, the deltoids and triceps both have three heads. You need to know where those heads are before you can then target each one.
• Learn how to hit the target. Sometimes the best exercise may surprise you, but trust us to give you the proven formulas as well as the latest scientific research, so you’ll know precisely how to nail every target.

Do your target practice. It’s up to you focus the most stress on the muscles and areas of muscles you want to grow to attain a complete physique.

Mistake #2 Short and Quick

It’s easiest to stay in the midrange of reps and avoid stretches and contractions, and that’s why bodybuilders work the middle on set after set. Consequently, they also minimize their gains. This can and does occur with any bodypart, but it’s especially prevalent on leg day. Too many bodybuilders go too short and quick on reps of squats, leg presses and standing calf raises. This allows you to move more metal, but not motivate more muscle. The key to growth is stressing your muscles through full ranges of motion.

Solutions

• Learn the proper range of motion, and use a weight that allows you to get at least eight full-range reps.
• During reps, forget the weight and instead focus on feeling your muscles contracting.
• You may wish to extend some sets via burns (quick partial reps), but do this only after reaching failure with full-range reps.

Mistake #1 Same Old Workout Syndrome

The most common training mistake is sticking to the same routine long after it’s outlived its usefulness. For some, it’s a lack of imagination that keeps them doing the same basics in the same order. For others, a kind of inertia takes over, so they robotically do the same exercises for the same reps with the same weights, giving their muscles no new stress to adapt to. If you’re making continuous strength gains on a routine, you can stick with it. If you’re not, change it now.

Solutions

• As with our number three mistake, sometimes the problem is a lack of knowledge. Learn all the exercises you can do for each bodypart. You may be surprised by all the variations to even limited movements like shrugs and wrist curls.
• Try the various machines in your gym. Sometimes just subtle differences in things like the placement of pulleys and hinges can make a big difference in how two similar machines work your muscles.

It’s not just exercise selection you can alter. Other variables include the number of sets per exercise, the number of reps per set, exercise order and the workout order of your training split.

Lessons Learned

• Schedule at least 72 hours of rest between working bodyparts.
• Make time for your smaller bodyparts, and schedule each into its own routine instead of lumping it in with others.
• Learn your muscle anatomy and how to focus exercises on specific areas.
• Learn the proper range of motion, and use a weight that allows you to get at least eight full-range reps.
• Embrace variety and regularly alter the variables of your routines.

7:57 AM

Don't worry if you had a bump in the road and fell into an old pitfall. Try again with one of these easy tweaks, and you’ll have a healthier, happier, fitter and generally more awesome new year.

So, here are 10 things you can change about your lifestyle if you are already a Gym-Goer.

1. Have A Healthy Protein Breakfast

Sure, filling up a bucket with cereal and skim milk is an easy way to get a big breakfast down but it’s not exactly a nutritional strategy that is going to help build a killer physique. Eating a breakfast that contains protein (along with healthy fats) is a great way to ensure you are starting your day off right and has been proven to increase long-term satiety. Meaning there is much less of a chance that you’ll engage in binge eating later in the day. 

2. Do Cardio At Least Once A Week

We get it. You like crushing big weight. You laugh at the people reading their gossip magazines while ‘working out’ on the treadmill or listening music and watching something as you make your way over to the squat rack. Trust us, we’d be the last ones to tell you to trade in your powerlifting belt for a pair of running shoes. However adding in some high-intensity intervals on the treadmill, rowing machine or bike can really help with your body composition by incinerating fat and revealing some of that hard-earned muscle definition. Try doing high-intensity cardio for 10 minutes or try shooting for three 20 minute interval sessions per week. That extra hour may just help get you the body you're looking for.

3. Visualize Yourself

Your body isn’t the only thing that responds to training; your mind is just as powerful. Taking some time to visualize your success, whether in the gym, in the classroom or on the playing field will actually result in you being more successful in those arenas. So take 10 minutes before you go to bed or while doing a workout to clear your mind and picture yourself or your fitness idol. Make sure you really set the scene and go through every step as if it’s actually happening in real-time in your mind. It’s a great way to help make those goals a reality.

4. Work Hard On Your Weakness

Do you know why bench pressing is awesome? Because you’ve done it a million times and you're probably pretty darn good at it. Do you know why you don't like squats? Because you’re not particularly good at them so you’ve found excuses to avoid putting them in your program. Working on the things that you need and aren’t very good at is the fastest way to help you improve movement, performance and body composition. Plus it will test your desire and build your fortitude. Try designing a ‘weakness program’ in which you really focus on improving strength and technique in all the lifts you are terrible at. I can promise you that when you return to your ‘regular’ program you’ll see gains in almost all of your major lifts.

4. Say No To Processed Foods and Yes To Organic Food

You know that those bags of Cheezy Poofs, boxes of Choco-Cakes and all the other processed foods that are crammed into your pantry aren’t good for your health or your body comp. Yet there they sit, waiting for a late-night moment of weakness. Don’t wait for a craving to strike. Grab a garbage bag and get pro-active about tossing all these crappy ‘foods’ out of your house. Your doctor and your abs will be happy you did. And start eating healthy and organic foods.

5. Watch The Clock And Rest Duration

There’s no problem with making the gym part of your social scene, but that cannot come at the expense of your workouts. And while you are more than happy to slap a few extra plates onto your squat so you don’t look whimpy when working out with a guy who looks like a stunt double from the movie “Thor”, you also don’t think twice about totally ignoring your rest periods to flirt with the hot girl banging out RDLs while wearing tight yoga pants. Rest periods are among the most overlooked aspects of training. Yet they are critical to your results if you goals involve getting bigger or losing fat. So keep an eye on the clock.

6. Stay Positive

Always think positive thoughts at the gym, and especially at the end of a workout. Tell yourself that you enjoyed it and pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Positive reinforcement is a powerful technique of self-motivation. If you think negative thoughts at the end of a workout like "I'm just glad this awful ordeal is over", you will be setting yourself up to dread ever returning to the gym.

Simply write down 6 things that you are grateful for each day. They can be as simple as being grateful for your delicious bowl of oatmeal or a traffic-free ride to work or as major as being thankful that your Dad was able to beat cancer. Not only this will help your physique it should give you a bit of perspective on your day and life.

8. Get Some Soft Tissue Work

Training hard is truly a double-edged sword. While it can help you get the body your looking for, reduce stress, improve your health and is critical to athletic performance, it can also lead to overuse injuries and muscle tightness. As you progress and become a more experienced lifter, adding things like sports massage, self myo-fascial release and foam rolling to your routine become more and more critical to your longevity and performance. Find a great message therapist and book a standing appointment with her once every two weeks. You’ll feel much better and it may just help you lift harder and heavier every time you train.

9. Seek Out A Gym Partner Or Hire Personal Trainer

We all love the image of the lone wolf, head phones on, ski hat pulled low over his forehead banging out rep after rep. And while training solo may be the only option you’ve had up to this point, you’d do well to seek out a workout partner with similar goals to your own. A training partner or trainer can help push you harder, keep you accountable and may just make training more fun. If nothing else, you’ll never again have to search around the gym for a spot.

10. Get Good Sleep And Rest

Whether you're trying to get the final chores of the day finished or your really have a thing for late night TV, most of us resist heading off to bed. Yet getting enough sleep ensures that you are optimizing the anabolic hormonal responses that only occur while you’re laying under the sheets. So if your growth hormone and testosterone levels are important to you - and they should be if getting bigger, stronger and leaner are a priority - set and keep a sleep schedule that has you tucked in for 8 hours per night. Remember all your gains come while you are recovering from your training session, not while your repping out sets of biceps curls. 

7:33 AM