Picking the Right Protein Supplement for Bodybuilding

If you are considering taking supplements to enhance your bodybuilding goals, the first step is to select the appropriate protein supplement . Protein is the single most important supplement since proteins are the actual building blocks of muscle. Without getting the proper amount of protein, no other supplements or exercises are going to help you build muscle.

The larger you are, the more protein you are going to need in a given day. The formula for grams of protein needed in a day is typically your body weight in pounds times 1.5. So, if you weigh 100 pounds and you are trying to gain muscle, you should have at least 150 grams of protein. If you are 200 pounds, you should be consuming 300 grams of protein every day to support your muscle growth.

You can’t just roll out of bed and pound 10 protein shakes though. Most of that protein won’t be absorbed. You need to diversify your protein sources and give yourself a constant stream of protein throughout the day and night. You can do this by eating several (5-6) high-protein meals throughout the day and supplementing with protein shakes.

Not all protein supplements are created equal. The main difference is the absorption rates that different protein sources have. Absorption rate is important, because sometimes you want a quickly absorbed protein, and other times, you want a much slower absorbing protein. Immediately after your workout, your body needs protein, so a fast-absorbing protein is best at this time. The most popular fast-absorbing protein is Whey Protein. At night, you are going to want protein that absorbs much more slowly since you typically don’t eat throughout the night. A casein protein is most appropriate for this use. Casein protein is usually a little more expensive, but is key for staying anabolic throughout the night.

Once you have your protein supplementation worked out, you can move on to more advanced supplements, such as creatine, nitric oxide, and other muscle builders.

Many thanks to Tom Noonan of  TheSupplementRating.com for submitting this informative article.

Bodybuilding Nutrition Basics

It is possible to train full-bore on squats, dead lifts and a few other great exercises, but if you are not adequately consuming the building materials your body requires, you can rest assured that you will not achieve the gains you desire.  If you can’t get the necessary combination of training, ordinary food and adequate rest to deliver good steady gains in muscle and might, you should not even think about taking any non-nutritional bodybuilding food supplement.

The studying of  practical and effective nutrition and training is not only great, but it is necessary.  However the purpose is to help you build a stronger and better developed physique, not just to educate you for the sake of doing so.  You should aim to apply the learning with every ounce of drive and desire that you possess.

Vitamin and mineral supplements, unless you find you are seriously deficient in something, cannot make an immediate impact on your training, other than the placebo effect in some cases. However, what they do if taken in the long term, is benefit your health which will then allow for an increase in training longevity.  A good potency and well-balanced vitamin and mineral formula taken all the time not only will benefit bodybuilders, but would benefit everyone.

However, when it involves bodybuilders, taking a multivitamin and mineral supplement may not always be enough.  There are micronutrients which are not available in supplement form, and it is therefore vital that you eat a well-balanced diet.  You must ensure that you consume daily green leafy vegetables, yellow/orange vegetables and fruit, and regularly eat seeds, such as, pumpkin and sunflower. It is also necessary that you eat a significant amount of raw food daily.

The basic bodybuilding supplement to experiment with, and one which is easily digested, is that of a good quality protein supplement. This is especially good when you are training hard.  If you are on a strict or tight budget, you can make your own protein drinks by adding skim milk powder (if you can digest it) to milk.

Be sure to watch out for weight-gain products.  They may provide a big boost of calories – some of which come through protein – but they can often be difficult to digest. It is even the case that some of these products overdo things and can then be more accurately described as “fat-gain” products.

It is always important to remember that no matter how nutritious anything is, if you can’t digest it easily and comfortably it is not going to do you any good. And this applies no matter how expensive or hyped up it may be.  It is always best to experiment with small purchases of any food supplement to test how well you are able to digest it. It is often the case that most people find skim milk powder stirred into fresh milk easier to digest that expensive protein powders.  The easiest protein supplement that most people find the best to digest is an increased quantity of fresh milk spread out over the day.

How To Avoid Training Injuries

Here are some very important tips on how to avoid injuries.  Adhere to them and you should be able to train for a long time without suffering anything more that perhaps occasional minor injuries.

• Ensure you use immaculate exercise technique, never cheat, take shortcuts or use loose form.

• Ensure you stick to a smooth and controlled rep speed.

• Even if you feel your body can tolerate singles and very low-rep work, avoid using such high-force training for long periods, and use maximum-effort singles only very cautiously. If your body is not accustomed to singles and very low reps, stick to medium and high reps and use a rep counter for a given exercise that suits your body.

• It is true that no exercise is good for you if it hurts you.  Therefore only use exercises which are appropriate for you, and where any modifications are required that you make them safe for you.

• Stay well clear of any risky movements, e.g. behind-neck movements.

• Ensure that you use only exercise poundages that are correct for you, and only use a weight which lets you just about squeeze out your target reps in good form.

• Avoid any excessive range of motion.

• Show consideration for your physical limitations.

• Personalize your training – you are the only one who knows what works best for you, who knows your weaknesses, strengths, and limitations.  What works well for someone else, including a training partner, does not necessarily work for you, and could in effect ruin you.

• Avoid “rushes of blood” that often lead to reckless training.

• Always be 100% focused on your training, and be attentive whilst training.

• Ensure you do not over train, e.g. if you squat hard twice a week, you may get sore knees, but squat once a week and you may feel no soreness.  It is well known that excessive training frequently causes injuries.

• Always ensure you warm up properly and keep yourself supple.

• If you use spotters, make sure they are alert and competent.

• Ensure equipment is robust and secure.

• Perform inversion therapy on a regular basis.

• Stay away from medium and high impact aerobic work.

• In case of injury, and to avoid it, use a skilled, and preferably sports minded, chiropractor to sound out whether or not a specific injury needs some related adjustment to hasten its recovery, and it is advisable to have periodic checkups with a chiropractor.

• Watch your diet and eat healthily.

• Do not cut corners when it comes to your rest and sleep schedule.

• Avoid extreme muscular soreness by gradually introducing changes to your exercises and training formats.

Cumulative Fatigue Training

Here are some guidelines on how to make cumulative fatigue training work for you.

• Experiment first with just one single-joint exercise, e.g. the curl, or calf raise.  Take an accurate measurement of the muscular girth, and then once a week, or three times every two weeks, train the exercise exactly as described as before. After two months measure the muscular girth again, and if it has grown, even by just a little, then you have a technique that works for you. If it didn’t grow, and assuming that you trained as directed, along with all the recovery factors, then just put the experiment down to a learning process.

• If you were happy with the test, then apply cumulative fatigue training to no more than two exercises for each routine, but remembering to rotate which two exercises you select.  As your gains diminish in any given exercise, revert to another format for that exercise, and if you like select another exercise for cumulative fatigue training. The reason for only selecting two exercises per routine is that the six sets per exercise of this type of training exert a severe demand on your recovery system,  and that is why you should be conservative and use only one or two exercises per routine in this format.  If you do use cumulative fatigue training on two exercises, make sure only one of them is a major core movement, because if you apply it to two core movements you are likely to be over training.

• To minimize the chance of over training, use no more that 6-8 exercises total per routine, and ensure that only one or two of them are done in the cumulative fatigue format.

• Persist with cumulative fatigue training for any exercise for as long as you are making gains.  As long as you can add a little extra weight every week or so, while holding consistently good form, keep at it.

• Be sure to use cumulative fatigue training on exercises that you regularly incorporate into your training program, to minimize post workout soreness. You may even still get sore if you are used to performing no more than 3 work sets per exercise.

• If you would rather not drop your regular style of exercising, which uses maximum weights, it is best to alternate both formats in the same cycle. On one day train with your maximum weight for 2-3 work sets, and on the following day train that exercise using the cumulative fatigue method.

• The need to religiously satisfy all the factors of recovery is just as important as technique in any exercise routine.

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