“Many people wonder if they should take creatine or protein powder. Or what else? This article will help answer that question. Only take the supplements you need, and don’t waste your money on supplements that are useless.”
How to Position Supplements with the Rest of Your Nutrition
“Taking effective supplements will boost your energy levels, your strength, and provide the nutrients that your muscles need to recover and grow faster.”
“Supplements should just be treated as the cherry on top of an already effective diet and training plan. For example, take a look at just one supplement, creatine monohydrate, which studies have shown can provide a 15% boost in performance markers like maximal power, strength, and muscle contractions. (8)”
“15 percent may not sound like a whole lot, but it is a lot because just this one supplement can help you push yourself to lift a heavier weight or squeeze out an extra rep or two and that’s what you need to build more muscle.”
Supplements that Will Help You Bulk Up Faster – Creatine
“So, the first tip, if you want to bulk up faster, is to really consider taking creatine. The fact that creatine can help significantly improve lifting performance, is backed by over 20 studies that found an average increase of 14% in overall weight lifting performance and up to a whopping 45 percent boost on an exercise like the bench press. (3)”
“Not only does creatine help you build more muscle by getting stronger, but it also increases cellular hydration. Or in other words, it increases water retention within your muscles. This obviously makes your muscles appear fuller and bigger. But it is actually another way that creatine helps to stimulate muscle growth because water retention increases the pressure placed against the cell membranes and cytoskeletons within your muscle cells.”
“Your muscle cells perceive that as a threat to their integrity, which can increase anabolic signaling, leading to a more favourable protein turnover rate, ultimately stimulating more muscle growth. That’s probably one of the reasons why we see studies like this one where after just 6 weeks of strength training men that supplemented with creatine gained, on average, 4.5 extra pounds of muscle than the men that received a placebo instead. (11)”
Supplements that Will Help You Bulk Up Faster – Protein
“Next let’s talk about mass gainers because even though they’re VERY popular for bulking, I recommend you just make your own protein shake after your workout. A Mass gainer is very appealing because it sounds like some special formula that’s specifically designed to boost muscle growth. But in reality, most mass gainers use cheaper protein sources and are essentially just mixed with a lot of sugar. You’re better off spending your money on a higher-quality protein powder. If you really need the additional calories you can add things like whole milk, peanut butter, a banana, AND even blend in additional carbs like oats.”
“Now another thing you should know is that even though the anabolic window has been debunked, (meaning that even though you don’t need to rush to take a protein shake immediately after your workout) research does still show us that there is a benefit to consuming protein sometimes soon after your workout, specifically within the first hour. (15)”
“For example, a 2018 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found evidence that consuming protein shortly after a workout can help improve strength and muscle growth even if you’re already consuming enough protein throughout the rest of the day. (15)”
“This is because taking protein powder post-workout spikes your insulin and quickly delivers amino acids to your muscles. Those amino acids provide the building blocks to regain and maintain a positive protein turnover rate within your muscles.
Video – Supplements that Will Help You Bulk Up Faster
Time Stamps – Supplements that Will Help You Bulk Up Faster
0:18 Creatine monohydrate
2:15 Mass gainers
4:20 Taking casein before bed
5:34 Intra-workout is mostly useless
6:47 Caffeine
7:14 L-theanine
7:52 Beta-alanine or baking soda
9:16 Citrulline Malate
10:23 Take vitamins that you’re more likely to be deficient in
Learn More – Supplements that Will Help You Bulk Up Faster
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Macronutrients are compounds that provide energy, or calories, to our bodies. Macronutrients include fats, carbohydrates and proteins.
Each macronutrient has superior benefits, but they also work together to keep us healthy. Understanding the unique benefits of each macronutrient can help you strike a balance in your diet
Macronutrients are compounds that provide energy, or calories, to our bodies.
Macronutrients are compounds that provide energy, or calories, to our bodies. They are fats, carbohydrates and proteins.
Fats are an important source of energy for the body; they also help keep your skin supple and healthy-looking.
Carbohydrates give you quick energy, but if you eat too many carbs at one time or in large quantities it can make you feel tired and bloated.
Proteins build muscles, hair and nails; without them there would be no way for cells in our body (like those in our muscles) to grow bigger or stronger.
Fats
It is an essential part of a healthy diet because they’re the most concentrated source of energy.
Fats are used to store energy and provide insulation, which is why you can’t get away with eating just protein and carbohydrates if you want to keep your body temperature regulated. As for the insulating part—you might be wondering how we know this. Well, studies have shown that people who eat more fat burn more calories over 24 hours than those who eat less fat (even though both groups consumed about the same amount of food overall). The body preferentially burns off excess calories from dietary fats instead of carbohydrates or proteins due to their high caloric density.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are an important energy source for the body. They provide energy to muscles and the brain, and can also be stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen. Carbohydrates are the body’s preferred source of energy because they are easily broken down into glucose (blood sugar), which is then used by cells as fuel.
In addition to providing quick bursts of fuel, carbohydrates also play a role in longer-term storage when they’re converted to glycogen and stored in muscle tissue or liver cells for later use.
Carbohydrates come in many different forms: simple sugars like glucose, fructose or galactose; complex chains of sugar molecules called starches; and fiber (vitamins from plants).
Fruits contain natural sugars that are quickly absorbed into your bloodstream; vegetables contain more complex carbohydrates than fruits do that are more slowly released into your bloodstream; grains such as wheat have been processed so they’re easier to digest than whole grains like brown rice or barley while legumes such as chickpeas offer protein along with their carbohydrate content.
Proteins
Proteins are the building blocks of muscle. They make up much of the structure and function of every cell in your body, including those that make up muscles. Protein is essential for growth and development, as well as maintenance of muscle mass. It’s also used to repair damaged tissue and promote recovery after exercise.
Protein helps build new muscle fibres by providing amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) that are used during this process instead of being stored as fat on your body. Muscles need protein to grow bigger, stronger and faster—and they use it most efficiently when you eat enough calories to fuel your workouts!
Besides helping your muscles grow bigger and stronger, protein also plays a role in hormone synthesis.
Each macronutrient has superior benefits, but they also work together to keep us healthy.
Macronutrients, or macronutrients, are the big players in your diet. Each macronutrient has superior benefits, but they also work together to keep us healthy. Macronutrients include:
- Protein: Amino acids that build and repair body tissue
- Carbohydrates: Polysaccharides that provide energy for the muscles and brain
- Fat: Lipids that carry essential vitamins throughout your body
Understanding the unique benefits of each macronutrient can help you strike a balance in your diet.
The benefits of each macronutrient are clear: fats can help you feel full and satisfied, carbs provide energy, and proteins are necessary for building muscle and tissue. But finding a balance of each can be tricky—especially if you’re eating a lot more than usual to shed pounds or gain muscle mass.
Conclusion
Macronutrients are essential for our body’s health and well-being. Each macronutrient has its own benefits, but we need them all to stay healthy. That means we should aim to eat a balanced diet that includes all three macronutrients—and even one or two micronutrients!