The Only Supplements You Need To Build Muscle & Strength
Oct 10th, 2007 by Mehdi
| New to StrongLifts.com? |
| Here are a few posts the other readers recommend you check out. |
I often get questions about which supplements I think are best to build muscle, lose fat & get stronger. Examples:
- “Would you write something about CLA?”
- “What do you think of Maximuscle Cyclone?”
- “Can you make an article about Creatine?”
The answer is generally “no” or “I don’t know”. I can’t tell you if “Cyclone” works, because I don’t know that product & it doesn’t interest me to know. I count on my training, nutrition & perseverance to do the job. Not supplements.
However I do use supplements. For the simple reason that some make your life easier. So I decided to make an article about which supplements you really need for strength training & why. Here it is.
Whey. Although whey is a very common supplement, some people don’t know what whey is good for. Here are three benefits of whey:
- Builds Muscle. You need at least 1g/lbs protein to build muscle. One scoop whey is about 25g of protein. If you struggle to get your 1g/lbs daily protein, 1 or 2 scoops daily will help.
- Easy. One scoop in your shaker, mix it with milk or water, drink. Nothing easier when you’re short on time.
- Cheap Protein. 75$ for a 10lbs tub that will last 5 months if you take one scoop daily. Whey is the cheapest protein.
I buy Optimum Nutrition whey. Whatever the brand you choose, buy whey only. No mass gainers with added sugars. If you need a mass gainer, make it yourself by adding oats & olive oil. Check this post workout shake for example.
Fish Oil. Omega 3 fats have been a hot supplements for several years now. Tons of food come with the label “contains omega 3″. Benefits of omega 3 consumption include:
- Reduced Inflammation. Less acne, tendinitis, etc.
- Decreased Body Fat. Fish oil helps burning fat.
- Less Soreness. Reduced soreness from strength training.
- Lowers Cholesterol. Prevents heart disease, cancer, depression.
You should eat fatty fish several times a week to get your required amounts of omega 3. Time consuming & expensive.
Fish oil is easy. Caps or liquid form. I prefer liquid form with lemon flavor to avoid the fishy after-taste. Watch the EPA/DHA content. Some brands have low amounts of EPA/DHA. I use Pfo Pure Fish Oil. 1 tsp. contains:
- Fish Oil: 4360mg
- Omega-3 EPA: 715mg
- Omega-3 DHA: 470mg
How much fish oil do you need? The bottle says 1 tsp. a day. Charles Poliquin says 30-45g daily. Andrew Gaeddaert recommends 30g fish oil daily to heal skin disorders. Dr. Di Pasquale, author Anabolic Diet, says 2000mg EPA daily. Start with 1 tsp. a day & experiment from there.
Multivitamins. Eat a healthy varied diet to get your vitamins. Veggies and/or fruits with every meal. Meats, fish & eggs. Some benefits of multivitamins:
- Better Sleep. Zinc helps getting quality sleep.
- Less Illness. Vitamin C fortifies your immune system.
- Faster Recovery. Calcium & iron help recovery from strength training.
Eating a healthy & varied diet is not always easy. Multivitamins will help you avoid vitamin deficiencies. I used Beverly International Ultra-4 in the past. Many recommend AST Multi Pro 32x.
Some say high dosis of multivitamins & anti-oxidants cause cancer. Read these articles & draw your conclusions.
- High dosis of anti-oxidants can cause cancer. Study by JAMA.
- Multivitamin prostate warning. BBC News May 16th 2007.
- Do Anti-oxidants cause cancer or prevent it? From The Pump Handle.
- Nutritional crime of the Century. By TC on T-nation.
Creatine. I never used creatine. But many of you have or will in the future. Some say creatine doesn’t work. Other say it does. Mark Rippetoe writes in Practical Programming creatine works. I believe it works too. Benefits:
- Better Recovery between sets & workouts.
- More Strength & performance.
Buy Creatine Monohydrate in powder form. Don’t buy liquid creatine, you’ll waste money. Creatine is not stable for long periods in liquid form.
More Supplements? You can take the supplements you want, you’ll never get anywhere if you don’t train hard & eat right in the first place. Supplements are supplements to your training, nutrition & most of all attitude.
Experiment with supplements if you want to. But don’t forget the placebo effect.
Tired of the way you look? You want to build muscle & lose fat while getting stronger? Click here to download my 52 pages 100% FREE eBook.
Articles You Might Also Like:
Subscribe with RSS
Another great article! Cheers mehdi!
Really must look into this fish oil business. I only have fish about twice a week so I’ll do some research!
“I count on my training, nutrition & perseverance to do the job. Not supplements.”
Well said!
I use to buy ON Whey, it have a good taste and it’s nice to drink…sometimes better than meat or eggs…its hard to eat 4.000 kcal or more in solid food…even 3.500 kcal starts being a little disgusting.
Mehdi,
Great post Mehdi, I would also recommend using some sort of amino acid supplement if your whey product does not include BCAAs.
- Josh
ON whey is great! It doesn’t cost an arm and a leg (as long as I don’t buy it locally) and it does a great job of masking the taste of spinach when I make spinach smoothies! I tried one of MetRx wheys. Holy crap was that nasty! I have noticed a price increase in whey proteins in general
Right now I am taking Nature Made fish oil caps. I hope I picked a high quality brand. I need to look into the brands my health food store sells most likely.
Great post.
Spot on with the nutrition being number one. Also that you don’t need much past a multi, whey and fish oil to help. I don’t even consider fish oil a supplement, it is a neccesity as I don’t like fish. You can add other things in but only once everything else is spot on.
Quagmire
If you are concerned about taking too much of particular vitamins (the only strong evidence suggests that too much of the fat-soluble vitamins A & E are problems- vitamin C & selenium need more study), find a multi-vitamin/mineral supplement that requires more than one tablet a day, and then take only a partial dose. Unfortunately, some vitamins have overly high doses of some vitamins (esp. vit. A), and a lot of the good ones that use highly absorbable/usable forms of minerals are two low on a couple minerals (usu. calcium & magnesium) because it is hard to get enough of these in a given volume when not using inorganic mineral forms (like chalk for calcium). For men, one mineral to avoid is iron. Men generally get too much iron, and it can cause cardiovascular problems as it builds up in the tissue. Just keep track of your iron intake for a couple days. A lot of foods have iron in them, and a lot of foods are supplemented with iron, so you’ll often find that you are already consuming several times the recommended daily allowance (and that is based on women getting enough to maintain health). Exercising will use some additional iron, but most men get so much more than we need even with this. The only possible caveat would be if you are eating some unusual restricting diet, but even then, for men, you body will use some of the excess stored in your tissues without any harm for a while.
JH: on fish oil, the most important thing is to look to make sure that your fish oil supp. has been tested &/or processed to make sure it does not contain measurable heavy metal contaminants. Beyond that, it is difficult to distinguish one brand from another because it is hard to tell who uses better quality oils. Freshness and source would matter. For instance, I’m not thrilled with farmed fish. It is very hard to tell from the packaging who uses what. If your fish oil leaves you with a “fishy” taste when you burp, look for another brand, as this is usually from the oil becoming slightly rancid. Some supplement makers will add flavorings and chemicals to hide this, so it isn’t a perfect method to weed out good from bad, only some of the bad.
I’d also hesitate to take too much fish oil, as it is highly processed, sometimes using some suspicious chemicals to extract and purify the oil. Also, when they test fish for traces of toxic substances, they do not test the range of possible pollutants that could be found in the fishes fat (there are quite a few pcbs and other industrial pollutants that could be in the oil that are not screened for). I take some, but I get some of my Omega 3s from flax seed & unrefined, cold expeller-pressed flax seed oil. While flax seed oil does not contain EPA & DHA, your body naturally manufactures these when there is enough ALA (& if you are eating relatively well & avoiding hydrogenated oils and trans fats), which is what flax seed oil is rich in. There have been some studies that suggested that too much ALA is positively correlated to prostate cancer that have lead to some to draw a conclusion that flax oil might contribute to prostate cancer in men. The studies in question used highly processed fats and oils, but not flax oil. Several were from animal fats that had been processed and contained trans-fats, and possibly sex and growth hormones, antibiotics, and other suspicious chemicals. The studies that used vegetable fats, used highly processed (heat refined, bleached, filtered) soy and canola oil in the form of salad dressing and mayonnaise. Those wanting more info, can read the article on Udo Erasmus’ site on flax and prostate (with the caveat that he sells oil, and uses flax rather than fish for his Omega 3 source).
Dave
On creatine - it’s been very heavily researched and has a very high success rate. Something like 70% of studies show positive results.
Optimum Nutrition contains BCAA’s. I find it a bit overkill to take additional BCAA’s.
Optimum nutrition tastes great indeed, I’ve made a post about broccoli smoothies in the past. Some people said it tastes disgusting when trying it, I think it depends on the kind of whey you use.
I agree, fish oil & whey is nutrition.
I like your posts Dave. I’m curious: which brand of vitamin/fish oil would you recommend? I’ve stopped taking vitamins a while ago, because I simply don’t trust it. And I’m concerned with the fish oil I use as it has lemon flavor added to it.
I’m actually always concerned when a company sells a supplement a lot cheaper than the competition. They’re either putting lower quality in their supps or the competition makes huge profits.
Flax oil is unstable from what I read. Better is to take flax seeds, which is a staple of my diet. Unfortunately you can’t take huge amounts of it because of the fiber content
Never used it but from what I’ve read it works indeed.
What a great article!!! Thanks a ton for the same!
I get my Fish Oil from Costco (Kirkland Brand)….Wow, compared to what you mention the values are way inadequate…
Let me read out the contents per Softgel….
Natural Fish Oil concentrate 1000 mg
EPA 180 mg
DHA 120 mg
So I presume that I need atleast 4 capsules a day????
BTW, I also added to my daily diet:
1 Cheese String (10 g protein/ 5 gm saturated fat)
1 Premier Nutrition High Protein Bar (30 gm Protein/ 5 gm Sat fat)
Any experiences with the above?
Thanks a ton!
I’ve seen even lower epa/dha values than that in fish oil. Take a look at Carlsson’s fish oil too btw.
Cheese strings: not familiar with. Protein bars: expensive were I live. I prefer a shake of whey & oats.
Great post - I just found this blog the other day and am really impressed by the quality of information. (Eek, this comment sounds like spam - hope it doesn’t get filtered!).
I have a question about Omega-3’s… I’m vegetarian so get my omega-3’s from flax oil and flax seeds. You say how much fish oil one should consume, but how does this translate to Omega-3s: what is the “required amount of omega 3″?
Thanks for the info!
Excellent article (again). I wish everyone understood proper nutrition, instead of south beach, atkins, whatever diets.
On flax oil being unstable, I understand that it’s unstable when exposed to heat or light, but refrigerated flax oil should be okay as long as it’s used within a few months. I like it in my smoothies.
Flax seeds are great, too. I have them every morning, soaked overnight with the rest of my bircher muesli. =)
Seems like a lot of you are using flax seeds. I’m wondering, do you batch them to “extract” the good stuff (omegas) or do you just eat them with for example oats? I have a feeling that just eating them will make them come out whole again if you know what I mean.
Okay - I’m delurking finally. Just remember that the omega 3’s in flax seeds and fish oils are totally different. The body will convert the omega-3s in flax to the required (EPA and DHA), but the process is not very efficient and you would have to end up eating like 10-20x (I forget exact numbers) flax to get the same benefits as fish oil.
@Lasse - I soak the flax seeds the night before and have them with oatmeal. I’ve also heard the same about eating them whole - soaking breaks down the seeds’ “enzyme inhibitors” and makes them easier to digest.
@tanya - I know about flax being the shorter chain ALA (vs EPA) and have read similar claims that our bodies are not efficient at converting these to EPAs (the good stuff in fish), but when I search the interwebs for articles on this, all I get are dietary supplement websites. =P Got any references? =D
Not everyone agrees on how much omega 3 you need daily. Some will say 5g daily, other take up to 45g daily. Really something that you need to experiment with Monica.
I just eat them with my rice or oats Lasse. It will come out of your whole again indeed
Exactly. And the problem is you can’t eat a lot of flax seeds in one day because of it’s high fiber content.
I’d like to point out that the body utilizes primarily EPA/DHA, neither of which are present in Flax Seeds. The Omega-3 content of Flax Seeds is entirely made up of ALA, which your body converts into EPA/DHA very inefficiently (~5% conversion rate). However, there are new products floating around that provide a purely vegetarian source of EPA and DHA, extracted from algae. If you look around, I’m sure you can find them, though they are a bit pricey. I hope this helps Monica!
Monica, here’s a pubmed link that shows the inefficient conversion rate of ALA to it’s more important brethren.
It’s a bit unwieldy, but I hope it’s what you’re looking for.
Thanks… that’s exactly what I was looking for. Fascinating stuff. I learned a lot thanks to this post! And was even compelled to write about it on my blog. I hope I got it right… it’s so hard to tell what’s fact and what’s marketing when it comes to science and nutritioin.
great article…
has really explained all the aspects of the required supplements for the body…
Are Whole Flax seeds better or Flax seed powder better ( Grinding it in a blender )
@Lalit
Whole Flax seeds are better than any supplement, always. Just add one spoon flax seeds with your rice or with your oatmeal.
Is it possible to get big without taking whey protein? I eat a pretty healthy diet that is full of protein, but I was wondering if I need the whey at all. The reason I’m asking is because I seem to get back acne from the whey, and if I get enough protein naturally, would I need whey? What did people used to eat back in the day when whey protein wasn’t around?
@Jack
You don’t need whey at all. If you can get your protein from other sources: do it. Benefit of whey is that it’s a cheap source of protein & easy whey to get daily protein intake. I haven’t use whey for some month now. Oldtime strongman (like saxon) indeed got strong & big without using any kind of supplements. Make sure you get at least 1g/lbs protein daily & you’ll be ok.
Check also this post on whey & acne.
Hey, this doesn’t need to get posted as a comment, I just want to make a correction. The pfo pure fish oil has a one teaspoon serving, not tablespoon.
You’re right. I corrected it, thanks for the info.
hey, this is probably the best thing i ever read about flaxseed oil, the best way to take it is to mix it with Quark cheese, or cottage cheese. because the type of proteins in the cheese make the oils water souble and can be absorbed by the body much better than taking it straight from a spoon. plus it takes away that horried taste the oil has. if you want to read more on this, either read charles bronson solitary fitness book, or a book called Flax Oil As A True Aid Against, Heart Infarction, Cancer And Other Diseases by Dr Budwig.
i tryed this and it worked a treat, you can put it in bio-yogerts in cottage cheese before adding it to a jacket potato, the only thing is you can’t heat the oil as it destroys the goodness in it.
Shame on you Mehdi. Suggesting fish oil, a supplement that has not been subjected to ANY double blind studies ahead of other supplements is a massive disservice to your readership. A good place to start is the only supplement that has been proven to work, Glucosamine with Chondroitin. EVERYTHING else on the market has not been extensively researched nor subjected to double blind studies and thus their claim are loose at best. GwC has been proven to increase joint mobility and cartilage strength. I do hope your readers will heed my advice.
Sincerely,
M. Rais, MD
I’m not sure but I think Poliquin was suggesting 30 to 45 grams of combined EPA/DHA. Not merely 30 to 45 grams of oil.
As usual Poliquin makes recommendations that your average joe simply cannot adhere to, in this case because you’d be going broke buying that much fish oil. Only a professional athlete- Poliquin’s clients- can possibly afford to do that.
To rissam:
Fish Oil: 4360mg
Omega-3 EPA: 715mg = 16,40%
Omega-3 DHA: 470mg = 10,78%
Natural Fish Oil: 1000 mg
EPA 180 mg = 18%
DHA 120 mg = 12%
So there is actually more EPA & DHA in your fish oil capsules than in Pro Fish Oil.
Many vitamins are not very bioavailable. Try bee pollen, if you are not allergic. Bee Pollen is approximately 25% protein and very low in fat and sodium. It contains many minerals and vitamins - notably
potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, maganese, copper and the B vitamins. Bee pollen can be taken as a dietary supplement to maintain good health, aid recuperation after an illness, and rejuvenate general health and well being. Pollen can be used as a nutritional supplement for women, pregnant and breastfeeding. Research indicates that bee pollen can aid the treatment of chronic prostatitis; reducing inflammation, discomfort and the pathology of benign prostatitis.
My Supplement List:
Fish Oil: NutraSea (www.ascentahealth.com); pharmaceutical grade, each batch is quality tested by a third party and they donate 1% of their annual sales to environmental organizations.
Bee Pollen: Buy as locally as possible to ensure quality and freshness. I take 2 tbsp/day; one in the morning and one in the evening.
Optimum Nutrition Whey: You already know.
Water: No less than 1/2 ounce for every lb. of body weight, starting with 6-8 cups first thing in the morning a half our before eating and the rest throughout the day. Reduces chances of water retention and speeds up metabolism.
Sea Salt: to replace minerals that aid in electrolyte (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolyte) production and maintain a healthy sodium balance in the body.
Unless your diet is total crap you don’t need vitamins with high bio-availability.
hey,
I’ve read a couple of articles from your website, and find them extremely useful. In supplementation, do you think that thermogenics are legitimate? I play football, and know a few O-linemen that are trying to drop a few pounds and have started using all that stuff. they claim it has no caffine, but i don’t know if they are effective.