Gym supplements..

[sulphur]

I need some advice fellas, so enlighten me here if you can..

I'm a complete n00b when it comes to supplements etc, well not n00b...I know whats what etc but I've never used anything.

I got some whey protein, and some creatine capsules at weekend from H&B, all good me thinks..
The whey says to mix one scoop (10g) with 125ml of water/milk..
What it doesn't say is how many funkin scoops I should have. Lads in the gym are having recovery shakes that are filling a pint glass..and I've been told one scoop is enough?

Doesn't seem right...

[Eddie Hitler]

Used to use it but scrapped it, pointless. Eating right and good diet is key.

Some advice as you asked though..

Your body can only use so much of the protien you take. So one scoop may be enough. I use to use maximuscle progain after training for 6 months, to be honest I didn't see the point as I was eating very well and was consuming all the protien I needed.

Someone else will have more experience than me for sure, just my take on it.. waste of money. Scrap that creatine shit too. Doesn't it just pump water into your muscles?

[Ariel Badger]

What are your ambitions?
1. become fit and do cardio.
2. loose a lot of fat and get fit.
3. bulk up and become a bouncer.
4. turn into a muscle Mary.
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[sulphur]

Goals, I don't want to gain anything other than lean muscle and definition. I'm not after any mass, as I'd be quite happy defining and toning everything, then doing a cutting cycle.

Woman in H&B recommended 1 shake post workout, and the creatine caps are 3 before and 3 after.

Lads at the gym (smaller than me but more defined) are saying I should be having 3 shakes a day...but fuck that. I don't wanna bloat up or look like an inflated meat head prick.

I don't mind the 1 shake a day, maybe even 2. (one before and one after workout). I just need to know how much I should be having. 1 scoop to 125ml milk doesn't seem right when recovery shakes are sold at the gym and they're like 700ml

[kerr]

I used to take 3 protein shakes a day along with protein foods, was built like a tank but with a beer belly one a day is fine, the shakes are more for people that don't consume enough protein foods imo.
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[sulphur]

So how big were your shakes? How many scoops/ml? This is what I can't really figure out.

[Imonster]

[kerr]

Cant really remember tbh its been about 2 and a half years since iv been to the gym, really need to get my arse back there.
When you say recovery shakes, isnt that the stuff with protien, creatine sometimes weight gainers all in one?, that maybe why there bigger portions.
EDIT 1 scoop per shake.
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[sulphur]

I think they do have a bit of everything in them.

Just looked up the recovery shakes, and they recommend 2 scoops/500ml.

So I guess mine is right, if I've got the creatine seperate. Should I maybe have 1 scoop pre workout, and 2 scoop post workout?

[kerr]

Well if you say you just want to tone rather than bulk up id maybe stick to one after your work out and just eat properly inbetween.
It can often be an exact science getting it right, the trick is finding what's best for you and your motabalism.
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[Paulington]

I managed to drop from 26% body fat down to 14% body fat and in the process lose around 4 stone of fat and gain 1-2 stone of muscle and I look a huge amount better now than I did before.

Want to know how I did it?

I ate less, and I moved more. No supplements.

Total of what I would eat in a day:

2-3 lean 200g lamb chops.
2-3 lean chicken breasts.
8 rashers of bacon.
4 slices of bread.
Around 300g of lean mince.
TINY bit of pasta.
Small amount of bolognese sauce.
Plus a couple other things.

Basically, I ate 1g of protein for every lean pound of body fat, which means I ate around 120g of protein per day. No carbs after six o'clock, at all.

My diet was incredibly strict, 40% protein, 30% fat, 30% carbs.

As for exercise:

Monday: 1 Hour of lifting, back + forearms. Hour of HIIT cardio cycling.

Tuesday: 1 Hour of lifting. Chest, middle delts + upper abs. Hour of HIIT cardio cycling.

Wednesday: No lifting, half an hour of HIIT cardio cycling + an hour of light swimming.

Thursday: 1 Hour of lifting, thighs, calves and lower abs. Hour of HIIT cardio cycling.

Friday: 1 Hour of lifting, shoulders + lats. Hour of HIIT cardio cycling.

Saturday: 1 Hour of lifting, triceps, biceps and abs. Hour of HIIT cardio cycling.

Sunday: Rest day.

As far as I'm concerned, there is no need to use supplements for average Joe Public trying to get fitter. Just take a multivitamin every day and get the rest of what you need as you should, by eating it from a strict, balanced diet.

I know an Olympic athlete who happens to be the senior fitness instructor at the gym I go to and this is what he recommends for everyone. The only time he will recommend supplements is if you are trying to go for something 'more' than Joe Public, like olympic training or training for triathlons/marathons. Heck, this guy is huge and he doesn't use protein supplements, he uses some to give him his five a day, collagen supplement for repair and a type of ribose supplement for energy. However he works out for hours and hours every single day.

For the average person trying to get fitter and lose some body fat, the simple setup of a strict, balanced diet, good workout schedule and adequate rest time to repair will lead to you getting fitter and losing that body fat, you do NOT need supplements.

I can send you my workout plans and links to websites that will help you a lot, heck, I even have the full P90X program including all the spreadsheets and tracking files that help a lot I can send you, just about the only infomercial thing that works! !

Cheers! !
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[Visitor Q]

https://i01.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/104600877/Chicken_Breast.jpg
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[Rowey]

At 10g per scoop, how much of that is protein?

Lets say it's around 7g. I would take two scoops 45mins to an hour before my work out with some carbs like pasta, potato or rice. Then after the work out, depending on how hard I've gone 2-4 scoops. Then before bed if my muscles are still aching 2 more scoops.
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[Skudd]

Remember when you stop it will drop and a fat bastard you will be. Just like me.
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[neatbik]

I tasted one of those protein drinks once, and it made me want to spew.

I make do with regular gym sessions and eating lots of chicken, pasta, rice, nuts etc etc.

Its only been a few months but it is (slowly) starting to work.

[sulphur]

Appreciate the replies lads. I know everything is achievable by a decent diet and workout, and everything in these shakes n pills are available through decent food.
My diets pretty decent as it is, like I said I've never used any of these supplements before so it's basically a test run for myself to see if they actually benefit me in any way.
I'm already eating plenty chicken, rice, pasta, fish, oats etc.. I was only looking for these to give me 'that little bit extra' if you know what I mean. I'm not looking to them as an easy ticket to good results, I was just hoping they'd maybe speed things up a little bit to increase my motivation. I'm just impatient in all honesty.
I also know they might do fuck all for me, other than make me retain water but I'm all prepared for that.

@Rowey, 24g scoop contains 18g protein btw.

@Paulington, fuck me lad that's a busy schedule to maintain. You must've struggled like fuck with recovery to start with.

[GhostRider]

[Dilyan]

Personally, I avoid protein shakes. Prefer meat (lean bacon, egg whites) for breakfast, roast chicken/chops/steak + salad in the afternoon; nothing after 17:00. Workout 3 to 4 times a week, creatine and L-carnitine in reasonable doses. Lots of cardio (basically till drop dead stage). Great for leaning. No bread, fried stuff and all sorts of take aways/fast food.
Same diet (plus probably protein, glutamine and aminoacids), but less cardio, less reps and double the weights for bulking.


Truth is simple - if you wanna lose weight consume less calories than you use.

btw: the above works for me. I go through that stage every 2 years coz I just keep giving it up after 6 months. I've started it again for the 3rd time, so far results are more promising than before. In 2008 I managed to drop from 98 kg down to 82. In 2010 from 106 down to 84. 2 weeks ago I was 107, now I'm 100.5 kg.
My epiphany was my current (or as I call her - future ex) girlfriend that has threatened to leave me if I don't get in shape. I kinda like her, get plenty out of her, and a few less seconds to get to 100mph is always welcome so I'm quite serious this time See how long that'll last. Probably another couple of months
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[Visitor Q]

Did you not realise, Paulington has a money tree in his house that occasionally shits beamers (even if they are the wrong colour).

Eggs and big packs of chicken breast.

Offal. Offal too.

To be honest, most supplements/vitamins just give you expensive piss/shit.

At the end of the day, work out what personality/physical issue/defect/deficiency you have that makes you think you aren't worth a damn unless you're built like Arnie, and fix it. Realise Arnie got to where he is by good genes and a whole racetrack worth of steroids.

And realise, if you're scrawny, you'll always be either scrawny or a slave to the gym.
If you're fat, you'll always be fat or a slave to the gym (my particular fun).
Or, you'll be a lucky bastard whose metabolism works...

Either way, just try to improve your lifestyle a bit, slightly less beer/carbs, slightly more exercise/weights/protein.

Realise that most men can no more look like Arnie with just a few pills than most women can look like Megan Fox with just the right mascara...


____________________
China traffic/travel bike vid - When I make a sweeping statement, please add the word 'statistically' in to the sentence before you bitch...
From September 2014 to January/February 2015 I will not be using any English, nor reading any. As such, I won't be on here. PM at will, but I won't be checking/posting unless in emergencies. Certainly not for the first couple of months. Please berate me savagely if I break that rule...

[bLiXeY]

If you want info on this you should join the muscletalk forum.

https://www.muscletalk.co.uk/Diet-Nutrition-f11.aspx

People on here are right, you don't really need extra protein, especially if you're not bulking up.

Your body can only process a certain amount of protein anyway, so its debatable what positive effect cramming loads of protein will have on your body.

Your kidneys/liver (can't remember which) can find processing too much protein a drag too.

On maximuscle protein bottles there is a guide for how many scoops to how much water (or milk, which you can use at night as it helps release the protein more slowly through your system giving a better feed to your muscles which are doing a lot of repairing whilst you sleep)...

If you want to use whey protein, put one scoop to 350ml of water and drink it immediately after your session. An easy way to gauge the amount is to drink a third of a bottle of water (the small 500ml ones), then top it up with your powder and shake it, just bin it when you're done....better than buying a stupid 'maximuscle' shaker for a £1,000,000 and then having to wash it out all the time.

Remember though, you want lean muscle, you're much better off finding out about a good diet plan (you can download them from the muscletalk site) and just lowering your calorie intake making sure at the same time that you have a high protein, balanced diet (don't forget your 5 a day).

Combine that (obviously) with your training sessions. At one point when I was really into training, I dropped a stone, then put a stone of muscle back on. I didn't want to bulk up, just get back in shape.

No gym, just simple free weights and simple exercises at home, 15-20 mile cross country walks/runs (with a few pounds of kit) on the wknds.

I'd recommend boldering too, brilliant for getting definition, keeps you interested as boldering contains what they call 'problems' (ie how the fuck do i climb up that) and has a built in 'motivator' to push your muscle exertion...which is the fact that as you have no ropes, you really don't want to fall

[bLiXeY]

Oh yeah, as the above chap said, metabolism is key.

There are things you can do to keep your metabolism firing away, literally burning calories as you do nothing.

1. Eat every 3 hours (how can anyone not love that aspect of training!)
2. Try to make sure as much as poss that every time you eat, there is protein in there somewhere.

People think they can lose weight by just not eating, so go long periods without food, this is bullshit.

All that happens is your metabolism slows down, then your body dumps water and glucose. Its the water loss that tricks people into thinking they're actually losing weight, and not just slowly dehydrating their body. Plus when they do get round to eating something, the body stores every little bit of fat that it can (as they're triggering the body's anti-starvation mechanism)...thus eventually gaining weight via the extra fat stored.

Try flax seed, you get buy it in powdered form, just sprinkle it on your cereal, pasta, whatever...

[bLiXeY]

Sounds like a good workout regime paulington, but you do need the pasta.

Carbs are your body's fuel to train, you need them for the energy, the protein is to repair muscle.

Also, if you plan on endurance (cardio) training on a particular day, its best to get your carbs the day before.

[sulphur]

See, this is where I can't follow all this directional bull..

I work in construction, so eating every 3 hours I haven't a shit in hells chance. I finish work at 5, and commute up to 1h..so eating after 5 I can't do. My job itself is really physically demanding (deep drainage + concrete finisher)..so 2 hours training 6 nights a week....fuck that. I'm doing an hour 5/6 nights on heavy weights and that's enough.

Top that off with not having a 10 digit bank balance, I'm not prepared to spend £100 a week on 'healthy' food trying to make sure I have every tiny bit of needed vitamins and minerals in every single meal. I WILL NOT calorie count..again, fuck that.

Regarding the woman in H&B, I'll be asking the sandwich next time..put it that way. If she told me what I needed to know, this thread wouldn't be here. =)

[sulphur]

Just to clear it up, I'm not aiming to be ripped be shreds with 3% body fat or anything. I'm after some visible definition, or more of it..to the point.
I'm not interested in cutting yet, 'cos I have to build the muscle before I cut the excess fat from around it.
And I don't mean bulk muscle, just specifics. Like, for example, rather than gain mass all over, I just want 'boulder shoulders'.
Specificly muscle grouped gains..nothing else.