Your Ultimate Body Transformation Plan
Page 14
I’ve made all the mistakes and fallen hook, line and sinker for so much grandiose hyperbole that I dread to think of the money wasted.
I don’t want you to make the same mistakes that I have made.
NOW THAT YOU ARE THOROUGHLY DEPRESSED
If you are now looking at your own protein powder stash and feeling despondent, snap out of it.
All of the above qualifications aside, there are still many great supplement products out there – just do not forget that they are designed to supplement, not replace, a balanced, varied and healthy diet comprising real, whole food.
No supplement is a shortcut to success.
You need to train, eat and rest as well as possible because that is the key to a successful transformation. If you are doing these three things right, then supplements may have a role to play in accelerating your journey to the finish.
Just be aware that the scientific research on some of these supplements is a bit hazy, to say the least. That’s because controlled, large-scale human studies are expensive, and extremely difficult to control properly.
That said, the following supplements are included in this book because I believe – through my own anecdotal experience, as a trainee, a trainer and the owner of UP observing the results of thousands of results-oriented personal training clients – that they are of benefit to you in getting to where you want to be.
That’s no guarantee that one or any of them will work for you. There is no silver bullet for instant success. But in my experience they can make a difference, so long as you are training, eating and resting well.
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SUPPLEMENT BRAND QUALITY
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Supplement quality is a minefield, and knowing which company to trust versus which company uses fillers, weak and watered-down ‘proprietary formulas’, or just tells outright lies, is incredibly tough for the layman.
I could give you a list of my own most trusted supplement companies but the danger in doing that is that by the time you read this that company may have changed beyond all recognition. If you think I am being dramatic look no further than how the Gaspari brand fell from on high after lab results showed that their protein powder contained half the protein that the label claimed!
And then we have the all-too-common practice with many companies of ‘amino spiking’ in their protein powders. While this sounds like quite a cool new benefit for your protein it actually means that certain unscrupulous manufacturers were spiking their powders with cheap amino acids, such as glycine and taurine, in order to give a higher overall protein reading.
If you want to know the supplement companies who I feel represent the best and most up to date in quality and value then drop me a line on Twitter (@HeyNickMitchell) or go to www.UltimateTransformation.Guide where I will keep a time-stamped list of my current recommendations.
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PINPOINTING THE SUPPLEMENTS YOU NEED
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Taking supplements that you don’t need is unlikely to harm you, but it is going to lighten your wallet and leave you with expensive urine.
In an ideal world I’d do what we do with UP’s personal training clients and send you to a laboratory to run a series of blood tests. However, I realise that this isn’t practical or within the budget of most readers. So how do you decide what you should be taking?
The best solution is to try one product at a time and monitor how you respond. If your digestion is better, or your sleep is improved, then for me that’s a tick in the box and the product should be kept in your supplement arsenal. However, I have never met a single man who is hell-bent on transforming his physique with the patience to adopt that approach. I know for certain that there’s no chance I could do it myself!
To help you decide if a supplement is right for you I’ve given it a score. Does this mean that the highest-scoring supplements are right for you? No – you’ll have to read the text to decide if experimenting with it fits your goals. And a low score in one category doesn’t mean the product is ‘bad’, just not as useful. For example, a lower health score does not mean a supplement is unhealthy – far from it – but it does mean that it has fewer direct health benefits.
And if I can give you one parting thought it is this: supplements have never created a single body transformation, but good food has been the key to every result I’ve ever worked with. Please allow that fact to sink in before getting out your credit card.
THE TOP SUPPLEMENTS AND NUTRACEUTICALS
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BCAAs
WHAT? BCAAs, or branched-chain amino acids to give them their proper name, are taken during heavy weight training. Each capsule contains the ideal anabolic (muscle-building) ratio of the three amino acids leucine, isoleucine and valine.
WHEN? During your workout.
WHY? Taking these during your workout has numerous benefits, including preventing muscle tissue breakdown and post-workout soreness and increasing post-workout muscle recovery and testosterone levels.
Health: 2/20
Performance: 19/20
Body composition: 15/20
OVERALL: 36/60
BETA-ALANINE
WHAT? A type of beta amino acid.
WHEN? About 30 minutes before training. Stick to label guidelines for dosage.
WHY? This supplement is great for improving focus and concentration during your session. It increases carnosine concentration in the muscle, allowing for improved performance by buffering hydrogen ions during intense exercise, such as weight training, but not cardio.
Health: 1/20
Performance: 17/20
Body composition: 10/20
OVERALL: 28/60
CREATINE
WHAT? The back-up generator for your muscles.
WHEN? Take 5g in your post-workout shake to replenish lost stores or split your dose and have half prior to your workout and half after. And drink plenty of water: creatine is hygroscopic, so it’ll suck water into your muscles and can leave you dehydrated.
WHY? Our body metabolises creatine into ATP, which is used for every initial muscle movement. It’s therefore vital to have adequate supplies during heavy, high-intensity workouts to deliver the required energy to your muscles. In other words, creatine helps you lift harder for longer.
Put simply, creatine works. It is cheap, it has been proven to be good for your muscles and your brain, and it helps you lift more weight, which allows you to lay down more new muscle tissue. There’s a lot of controversy regarding creatine esters and loading, and my two cents is to just keep it very simple. Stick with the basic creatine monohydrate variation and use 5g (a teaspoonful) in a post-workout shake. On non-training days add it to a drink in the morning so that it is easier to remember to take it.
Health: 15/20
Performance: 15/20
Body composition: 15/20
OVERALL: 45/60
D3
WHAT? Think of D3 not as a vitamin but as an immune system regulating hormone.
WHEN? 10,000–25,000 IU twice a week.
WHY? The harsh fact is that almost all of us are deficient in this absolutely vital substance and, as you may have gathered by now, most of what we want from any supplement intake is to optimise health even if body composition is the only goal (which sounds kind of an odd goal to me as they should go hand-in-hand if you are a sane and rational person). Optimal health leads to a better-functioning body that is much more capable of putting in stellar gym performances and losing body fat and gaining muscle. Many studies also suggest that vitamin D may decrease risk for many diseases and conditions including certain types of cancer, multiple sclerosis, hypertension, weight loss and even longevity.
D3 is actually fairly simple to test for and most doctors will do it for you if you ask them nicely. The test is called a 25 Hydroxy-Vitamin D Test and most forward-thinking health experts seem to be recommending an optimal level of between 60 and 80ng/ml. If you are in the UK then converting the numbers your doctor is most like
ly to use (nmol/litre) is simply a matter of dividing by 2.5.
Health: 20/20
Performance: 1/20
Body composition: 10/20
OVERALL: 31/60
DIGESTIVE ENZYMES
WHAT? This compound helps your body break down the food you eat more efficiently and effectively.
WHEN? With food.
WHY? Contrary to the popular expression, you are not what you eat. You are in fact what you absorb.
One of my (pet) theories why skinny guys stay skinny is that they do not have the best digestive systems for absorbing all that they need from their food. Digestive enzymes will help alleviate this problem and allow you to utilise your food much more effectively.
Choose a supplement that contains compounds that help you extract vitamin B12 and iron from food, both of which are vital for good energy levels, as well as pepsin, herbal bitter and gentian root, all of which fire up your digestive system.
Health: 15/20
Performance: 1/20
Body composition: 12/20
OVERALL: 28/60
ELECTROLYTES
WHAT? Electrolytes are salts that the body loses through sweating.
WHEN? During exercise, especially higher-intensity sweaty exercise.
WHY? Forget all the fancy pre- and peri-workout drinks. Every one of you who trains hard should consume some extra electrolytes during exercise, and while there are some grand and expensive concoctions out there, cheap electrolyte sachets and/or rehydration kits abound and more than do the job. When you first use them you may well be very pleasantly surprised at your improved workout stamina.
Just try to avoid the sugar- and/or caffeine-filled sports drinks that are too often pushed out on the unwary consumer. They will be very unlikely to help you do anything other than lighten your wallet.
Health: 14/20
Performance: 20/20
Body composition: 10/20
OVERALL: 44/60
GLUTAMINE
WHAT? The gut-calmer.
WHEN? Taking 10g in water on an empty stomach pre-breakfast will aid in gut healing and function, while 10g post-workout will aid in glutamine store replenishment. Take 30g post-workout if you’re on a low-carb diet to enhance glycogen replenishment.
WHY? This amino acid should already be present in your body, but if you have gut issues or you train hard then glutamine could be great for you because it strengthens the lining of your gut and helps protein synthesis.
Health: 18/20
Performance: 5/20
Body composition: 12/20
OVERALL: 35/60
GLUTATHIONE
WHAT? A powerful antioxidant to protect the brain and body tissues from the damage by free radicals. It also acts to recycle vitamins C and E, which also reduce free radicals.
WHEN? Before bed as it is synergistic with melatonin; however, there is one massive caveat here: ingesting glutathione orally will get you nowhere as it is destroyed in the stomach. The best form of delivery is 100–250mg via an intramuscular injection.
WHY? Your body will work much better with higher levels of glutathione. It is used for everything from the treatment of cataracts, cancer, asthma, Parkinson’s through to diabetes and assisting in recovery from chemotherapy. It is not a drug, and it should be perceived as one of the most powerful immune system boosters known to man.
Health: 20/20
Performance: 10/20
Body composition: 8/20
OVERALL: 38/60
HIMALAYAN SEA SALT
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WHAT? Unprocessed coloured (pink) salt.
WHEN? With food or even ¼ teaspoon in a glass of water first thing in the morning.
WHY? This addition may have surprised you! It isn’t really a supplement per se, but you can and should ‘supplement’ your diet with it. Commercial refined table salt is stripped of most of its minerals, aside from sodium chloride, chemically bleached and laden with additives to prevent it caking.
Himalayan salt can help to create a healthy electrolyte balance, improve hydration, balance pH, improve metabolism, lower blood pressure, and there is even a school of thought that it can help to reset the adrenals.
Health: 10/20
Performance: 1/20
Body composition: 5/20
OVERALL: 16/60
HOLY BASIL
WHAT? An aromatic plant grown in the tropics.
WHEN? Two tablets each with breakfast and lunch.
WHY? Compounds found in holy basil limit your cortisol response when you’re faced with those daily disturbances that can make your blood boil. Having high levels of this stress hormone rampaging through your system is very damaging and can result in your body storing more fat around your belly. This supplement will also protect the body from the effects of both physical and chemical stress and will boost morning and afternoon energy.
When building muscle one vital factor to always keep at the forefront of your mind is enhancing the cortisol–testosterone axis in favour of testosterone, the hormone that will do all sorts of amazing things for helping you lay down new muscle tissue. Holy basil is an adaptogenic herb that lifts you up if you are down, and calms you down if you are too ‘up’, allowing you to better deal with stress and have a more optimally functioning endocrine system. This is probably my personal favourite herbal supplement.
Health: 10/20
Performance: 10/20
Body composition: 10/20
OVERALL: 30/60
L-CARNITINE
WHAT? A compound primarily found in red meat.
WHEN? 500–3,000mg per day, ideally on an empty stomach.
WHY? It plays many roles in the body, specifically in helping to use fat stores as fuel.
Health: 10/20
Performance: 10/20
Body composition: 10/20
OVERALL: 30/60
LOW-OSMOLALITY CARBOHYDRATE POWDERS
WHAT? Low-osmolality/high molecular weight (HMW) carbohydrate powders are carbs that pass rapidly through the stomach with a speed and efficiency that is far superior to regular carb powder products such as dextrose and maltodextrin. The most well-known examples of HMW carbs are branched cyclic dextrin and vitargo.
WHEN? During and/or immediately after your workout, assuming that you are doing enough volume in your training to justify their use and your insulin sensitivity is high enough. A broad rule of thumb is if you can’t at least see your top layers of abdominal muscles then you’re too fat for intra-workout carbs.
WHY? The osmolality of HMW carbohydrates can potentially speed up the rate of glycogen synthesis post-workout, allowing for decreased catabolism and increased protein synthesis.
The latest kid on the HMW carbs block is ‘highly branched cyclic dextrin’ (HBCD). It has an even lower osmolality than vitargo and has been used with great success in intra-workout drinks.
Health: 0/20
Performance: 18/20
Body composition: 18/20
OVERALL: 36/60
MAGNESIUM
WHAT? Magnesium is a commonly deficient mineral that is vital for your optimal health and progress.
WHEN? Use before bed as it can aid restful sleep and calm down the nervous system.
WHY? Magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral in the body and involved in 300 essential biochemical reactions in the body, ranging from energy production in your cells to protein synthesis, making it vital for optimal athletic performance. The majority of adults in the Western world are deficient in magnesium so while it isn’t going to make you ‘swole’, there is a significant chance that you need it.
Health: 20/20
Performance: 5/20
Body composition: 12/20
OVERALL: 37/60
OMEGA-3
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WHAT? A type of essential fatty acid.
WHEN? 5g a day.
WHY? Omega-3 is mainly found in oily, cold-water fish, and is essential for good health – research has shown
that it helps prevent a host of serious long-term ailments including cancer and heart disease. It’s especially beneficial when trying to lose weight because it promotes the utilisation of existing fat stores for fuel.
If you are really nailing your diet and eating a mix of oily fish and wild meat every day then you can skip supplementing with Omega-3 as you’ll already be getting enough in your diet.
Health: 20/20
Performance: 5/20
Body composition: 14/20
OVERALL: 39/60
MULTIVITAMINS
WHAT: The back-up plan.
WHEN? Try to have some consistency when taking this supplement. It makes sense to take them before mealtimes with a glass of water, to aid absorption of their micronutrients.
WHY: Though you shouldn’t rely on them to make up for a bad diet, a quality multivitamin can help to fill in the gaps in an otherwise solid eating plan. Deficiencies in vitamins can cause mood swings, depression, lethargy and exhaustion, but taking a daily dose will keep you on the up and focused on your goals.
Health: 16/20
Performance: 5/20
Body composition: 5/20
OVERALL: 26/60
PHOSPHATIDYLSERINE (PS)
WHAT? A phospholipid that helps brain function and can be of huge benefit to the typical, over-thinking, over-worrying, stressed-out hard-gainer.