[Zico]

Hey guys. I've been lifting for the last 10 weeks now. Had some gains mostly due to diet (stopped eating procesed foods, added extra meals as often as i could, looked after my carb intake as well). I' m 6 foot, have an athletic build, currently stand at 183 pounds. My body fat isn't high but it needs some work. For the next 8 weeks i want to bulk up more and start using supplements, then a 3 or 4 week break from using any. At my gym everybody suggested to take creatine before workout and whey protein post workout. Any input wold be apreciated so that i can obtain best results in this period. I also dont want to overdo it and take i dont know how many supplemets. During this bulking period of 8 weeks i dont plan of doing any cardio so if u guys think otherwise im open to suggestions.

[Nascimento]

Supplements are exactly what they are named for: a supplement to your diet. If you obtain those nutrients already, it will not be beneficial to supplement with them.

Having said that, in terms of weight training protein is almost always beneficial, since it is difficult to reach the optimal protein requirement when weight training from diet alone. Unless you are eating several eggs, tons of dairy, tuna, chicken breast in large amounts daily, supplementing with protein can be very helpful.

I have never supplemented with creatine, so I don't have that personal experience. Not really necessary from my point of view, only really beneficial if you have certain performance goals to attain. I think creatine should be used more from a training point of view as opposed to achieving certain aesthetics.

Basically, workout and lift hard, make sure to rest appropriately, and eat accordingly.

Also, cardio is not bad. You just need to eat more during cardio days to make up for the fact you burned calories, if you are looking to put on mass. Doing cardio has many benefits and should not be overlooked.

[POHammer]

Creatine is cheap. It should aid weight loss and muscle size increase.

Proteine powder is ok. You can get your protein from diet (meat, dairy, eggs, nuts, beans)...but it can be a good aid. Especially effective is preworkout protein/simple carb shake.

I wouldn't consider those any supplement essential, but optional.

SAM-e can be a good mood and energy boost, but its expensive. NAC is good if you drink alcohol.. taking it a few hours before drinking lessens hangover significantly. NAC has other mood and health boosting effects and is fairly cheap from places like puritans pride.

A zinc magnesium supplement can also be useful and its so cheap its worth a try.

Green tea or coffee preworkout is great too. Really helps energy and focus in the gym.

Another good one is cocoa powder. Make some hot cocoa for breakfast or add it to foods. Lots of antioxidants and it can help give weight loss and energy a boost.

So, in summary, a few useful supplements are:

Cocoa Powder
Green Tea
Coffee
Magnesium/Zinc
NAC
SAM-e
Whey Protein
Creatine


All easy and cheap. Puritans pride or if you don't mind powders, search bulk nutrition websites (except for SAMe which must be tablets to be absorbed).


Avoid expensive name brand supps taking hit loads of stuff. Also, focus on whole food sources 1st (ex omega 3s from real fish are better than fish oil capsules-go eat a can of sardines. Real protein from meat/fish/egg is key and protein powders are just supplements such as fast digesting preworkout shakes).

[Every10GivesMeA10]

a multi. whey. creatine. fish oil and vit d3 is all you need

[Virtus]

you don't bulk till you are at about 10% bf. i did that mistake once. went from 170 @ 15 to 205 at 20 somehting only to end up a stronger 177 @ 16 or so. it's called calorie partitioning while bulking.i fucked it up too