Bigger Leaner Stronger

by Michael Matthews

  It should have a good amino acid profile and be absorbed well by the body.

  It should be affordable and offer good value in terms of cost per serving.

  Whey protein provides you with a lot of protein per dollar, tastes good, and its amino acid profile is particularly suited to muscle building.

  Whey isolate and hydrolysate do have advantages—more protein by weight, no lactose, better mixability and digestibility, and some would say better taste—but as far as bottom-line results go, whey concentrate works just fine.

  A high-quality whey protein is easy to spot:Whey concentrate, isolate, or hydrolysate is the first ingredient.

  The serving size is relatively close to the amount of protein per serving.

  When buying a casein protein, you should look at the amount of protein per scoop relative to the scoop size.

  While soy is technically a good source of protein, eating too much of it may negatively impact your hormone profile, so why bother? There are plenty of other choices, including plant-based ones like rice and pea.

  Rice and pea protein are effective muscle builders.

  Hemp protein isn’t absorbed nearly as well as soy, rice, or pea protein and is lower in essential amino acids.

  Collagen protein is low in the essential amino acids leucine, isoleucine, and valine, which are most related to muscle building.

  Fish oil is a very good source eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

  When EPA and DHA intake is too low, increasing it can benefit you in many ways, including improved mood (lower levels of depression, anxiety, and stress), better cognitive performance (memory, attention, and reaction time), reduced muscle and joint soreness, improved fat loss, prevention of fat gain, and faster muscle gain.

  Reesterified triglyceride oil is becoming the “gold standard” of fish oil supplements.

  Insufficient vitamin D levels is associated with an increased risk of many types of disease, including osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke, some cancers, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, tuberculosis, and even the flu.

  Our bodies can’t produce enough vitamin D to maintain adequate levels, so we have to obtain it from diet, sun exposure, or supplementation.

  Ideally, we’d get all the nutrition we need from the food we eat, but due to the nature of the average Western diet, most people tend to be deficient in a number of key nutrients.

  The idea of taking a supplement that can plug any nutritional holes in our diets and mitigate the harmful effects of some of our less-than-healthy habits is great in theory, but most multivitamins fall short of this mark (let alone surpass it).

  I’d rather people just eat a healthy amount and variety of fruit and vegetables than waste money and pin false hopes on a multivitamin that’s very unlikely to benefit them in any meaningful way.

  No amount of weight loss pills and powders are going to make you lean.

  Most weight loss supplements on the market, including some of the most popular ones, are flops.

  A proper fat loss supplementation routine can increase fat loss by about 30 to 50 percent with few if any side effects.

  Another big benefit of taking the right fat loss supplements is that they’re especially effective for reducing “stubborn fat,” which is belly and lower-back fat for most men.

  Caffeine decreases perceived effort (makes exercise feel easier), makes you more resistant to fatigue, increases power output, muscle endurance, strength, and anaerobic performance, and boosts fat loss.

  Caffeine can also reverse the muscle weakness many people experience when they train in the morning.

  Your body begins building a tolerance to caffeine almost immediately, and the higher your tolerance is, the less effective caffeine will be for enhancing performance and fat loss.

  If you want to get the biggest performance boost out of caffeine, use it just a few days per week before your most difficult workouts (I usually have some before my workouts that involve barbell squatting and deadlifting).

  To get the most fat loss out of caffeine, use it daily for two to three weeks, and then take a week off to “reset” your tolerance and preserve its effectiveness.

  Stubborn fat refers to fat cells that are far more difficult to shrink than others. This is why you can steadily lose weight with almost all the fat seeming to come from parts of your body that are already fairly lean.

  Once you approach about 10 percent body fat, every bit of “stubborn” fat you lose can have a noticeable impact on your physique.

  Yohimbine prevents your fat cells’ alpha-receptors from putting the brakes on fat burning.

  Elevated insulin levels completely negate yohimbine’s fat loss benefits. That means it’s strictly for use while exercising in a fasted state.

  Synephrine stimulates the nervous system and increases BMR and the thermic effect of food (the energy cost of digesting and processing what you eat).

  Synephrine also blocks the alpha-receptors on fat cells, which means that it too can speed up stubborn fat loss.

  We can get all the branched-chain amino acids we need from the food we’re eating as a regular part of our diets.

  BCAAs obtained through food are more conducive to muscle growth than amino acid drinks.

  Creatine helps you build muscle and get stronger faster and improves both anaerobic endurance and muscle recovery.

  Many people shy away from creatine because they’ve heard it makes you bloated. This used to be a problem years ago, but it has become a nonissue today.

  Go with powdered creatine monohydrate. It’s the best bang for your buck.

  Beta-alanine can improve endurance and enhance muscle growth.

  L-citrulline can improve both your resistance and endurance training and boost nitric oxide production.

  By raising nitric oxide production, you can improve exercise performance, lower blood pressure, and even harden erections.

  I recommend citrulline malate over L-citrulline.

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