What Supplements Do I Need?

What Supplements Do I Need?

Today I’m going to talk about the most popular supplements on the market. Those are protein powder, creatine and BCAA’s

Protein Powder.

The macronutrient protein is essential for muscle growth, muscle repair and muscle maintenance. So, if you are trying to build or maintain muscle (which most of us are), it’s so important to eat enough protein in your diet.  The amount of protein you will need does depend on person to person. On average we would say, to build muscle you would need to consume around 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight.

So, do you need protein powder? The simple answer is no, you can eat enough protein through whole foods, which will also give you more nutrients than a shake would. However, it can be hard to consume enough protein through food alone (especially if you’re a bigger person and there for need a lot more protein). It can become hard to eat that amount of food and can also become expensive. Protein in powder form can give a quick and efficient way to quickly consume protein on the go. It can be a lot more practical to consume shake than a chicken breast.

I recommend that nearly all my clients invest in a protein powder to help hit their protein targets.

Creatine

Creatine is one of the most popular and effective supplements out there for increasing exercise performance. To put it simply, muscles get their energy through something called ATP during an anaerobic activity (during activity’s such as sprinting, weightlifting etc). Creatine helps to regenerate that ATP that is used when lifting weights or sprinting. So, if your able to regenerate that ATP quicker, that means you’ll be able to lift more for example.

Food that contains creatine are things like meat, fish, and dairy products. However, you would have to eat a lot to even get a couple of grams of creatine.

So, do you need it? No you don’t NEED it. However, in my opinion, this is one of the best supplements out there for increasing your performance and better performance often mean better results.

Take 5g Creatine Monohydrate every day. One thing to be aware of, you will probably gain a bit of weight when taking creatine however this weight will be water, not fat, so nothing to worry about.

BCAA’s

BCAA’s, also know as branch chain amino acids are the essential amino acids that are in branch form. These are leucine, isoleucine and valine. These 3 amino acids help boost muscle growth and improve muscle performance.

Your body can’t make these amino acids itself, so it is something you need to get through your diet. However, if you do have a high protein diet, you’re likely getting enough of these amino acids already. Most people aren’t deficient in these amino acids; I would not advise the average person to spend money on BCAA’s.

I think the only people I could really see benefit from this would be vegans, vegetarians or maybe athletes.