Views on creatine, protein, recovery and supplements?!

Views on creatine, protein, recovery and supplements?

Im going back to the gym... with a vengeance. I made a decision to really hit it hard for the next month and a half before going back to work or school. Ive been working out for four years and my weight has fluctuated from muscle gain to also losing most of it. Ive been taking normal protein powder like Whey and I just recenty started using creatine. I actually enjoy the creatine, I dont really know why, its just somehow made me better at the gym. It was a normal store brand creatine, and I want to try a better form of creatine other than what GNC offers. I also forgot to mention that Im going to try and go to the gym twice a day, early in the morning and at night, that is if I can do it. So I think I need recovery supplements, I dont know anything about it hopefully you guys know and I want it in a powder form not pill. I also had the idea of taking hydroxycut but Im afraid of taking nine pills a day and having to go work out and have a heartattack from it. Any idea from you guys.

2 weeks ago
I appreciate the people telling that it's not okay to workout twice a day but I really just want to know what is the best recovery supplements out there, and if there is some in a powder form. I want to figure it out for myself in terms of twice a day to see if I can actually do it, if not then I guess I learned my lesson.

2 weeks ago
And one more thing what is the best creatine to use?

What's your goal?

If it's to gain lean muscle, then the creatine and whey supplementation is probably a good combination. Of course, no amount of supplementation is going to substitute for hard work in the gym and a disciplined, clean diet.

The Hydroxycut is intended to help you shed fat, not add lean muscle. That said, you should generally be skeptical of fat burners. The only recent fat burner on the market that was actually effective was ephedra, and that's been banned because it can cause serious side effects in some individuals. Nothing that is "easy" comes without a cost.

Most of the fat burners on the market now are basically caffeine pills with some herbs and green tea extracts. Save your money.

Also, consider ditching the two workouts-a-day approach. Unless you are Ronnie Coleman or Jay Cutler or on the juice, working out twice a day is way too much. You're at serious risk for overtraining. Remember, you grow outside of the gym, not in it.

I would try either a full-body workout three times a week with at least 48 hours between workouts, or a four day split.

The full-body approach is challenging and can be very effective because it creates a unique hormonal environment, in addition to encouraging fat burning. The trick is to limit your volume, choose large compound movements like squats, deadlifts, presses and chins and perform only one exercise per body group. You should do a different exercise for each body group during each workout. So, for example, if you do squats on Monday for legs, do Romanian deadlifts on Wednesday and Leg Presses on Saturday.

Make sense?

Also, make sure you are eating enough food (and the right stuff.) You can't add muscle if you aren't in a calorie surplus or if the bulk of your daily food is soda, pizza and processed junk food. Just realize that it often only requires a few hundred calories above your maintenance level to add lean mass -- we're not talking about thousands of extra calories a day. Also, if it seems like you are putting more body fat on along with the muscle, then dial your calories down a bit.

Other supplements I would consider include a good, high quality multivitamin, L-glutamine post workout, Fish oil or flaxseed oil capsules for the anti-inflammatory properties of the Omega-3s and some extra zinc (25 mg should do the trick.)

Finally, one of the best tactics for muscle gain is to take advantage of the post-workout, "anabolic window" when your muscles are primed to suck up nutrients and synthasize protein.

This window begins immediately following your workout and persists for about two hours. So post workout, you want to take 50-80 grams of fast digesting carbs like dextrose or maltodextrin (sold as glucose tablets at the pharmacist) along with a whey or whey/casein protein blend. Mixing your whey protein with a cup or two of skim milk does the trick nicely and has been shown to lead to more muscle gains than when the whey is consumed on it's own.

Follow up with a whole meal within an hour.

Stick to this approach and you'll get those gains ... with a vengence.

Best of luck!