Supplements

By now we have gone over the basic workouts for each muscle group, along with core and cardio. Next, lets discuss how supplements can play a role in your workout routine. There are many, many kinds of supplements out there. Today, we are going to talk about five important ones including: protein, creatine, branched chain amino acids (BCAA), multivitamins, and fish oil.

1. Protein is used to help with muscle production. Proteins are also used to manufacture hormones, enzymes, cellular messengers, nucleic acids, and immune-system components.1 Without adequate protein, our bodies can't put together the structures that make up every cell, tissue, and organ, nor can it generate the biochemical substances needed for cardiovascular function, muscle contraction, growth, and healing.1 Proteins are what helps with speeding up muscle recovery.
2. Creatine is naturally produced in our bodies, primarily in the liver, and is stored in the form of creatine phosphate, mostly inside the skeletal muscle where it’s used to replenish our primary fuel system which is ATP.3 It is the primary fuel source for all energy requirements of the body.3 Strength gains can be noticed after about a week of taking this supplement.
3. The BCAAs are a group of three essential amino acids: leucine, isoleucine and valine.3 They’re essential because our bodies can’t produce them so we need to ingest them ourselves. Besides being used as a fuel source BCAAs are also used for the following metabolic purposes: substrate for energy production, substrate for protein synthesis, precursor for the formation of other amino acids, primarily alanine and glutamine.3
4. When you are weight training, your vitamin and mineral requirements increase accordingly.3 To maximize your muscle building potential, it’s a wise idea to include multivitamins in your supplementing regiment.3
5. Fish oil is a supplement that you should take every day, whether you are training or not. The two main ingredients in fish oils are EPA and DHA. EPA and DHA are long chain omega-3 fatty acids that are essential for the proper functioning of our bodies.3 They’re essential because our bodies can’t produce them by themselves so it’s important that we eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids.3

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Supplements make it much easier to get the necessary nutrients to build muscle and can even give you an advantage and enhance your training when taken right and combined with a good diet.2

Enjoy your gains!

References

1B. (2016). The Benefits Of Protein Shakes! Retrieved October 29, 2016, from http://www.bodybuilding.com/content/the-benefits-of-protein-shakes.html

2By Big Red. (2016). The Importance Of Supplements! Retrieved October 29, 2016, from http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/teen-supimp.htm

3Gain Muscle Mass: Top 7 Mistakes Most People Make. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2016, from http://www.webinfobits.com/page/32433ae841d0