Wow, I am excited to share today’s topic with you guys. I get a lot of questions from weightlifting beginners on what supplements I recommend. I was recently chatting with a friend of mine who had just started working out and was looking to build lean muscle mass and wanted to know what 3 supplements I recommend the most. He said he was on a tight budget and that he wanted to get the most bang for his buck. This really got me thinking. I decided this would be a great subject for you guys as well.
The supplement industry is a really overwhelming thing to a hardgainer or weightlifting beginner. As a guy who just started working out, you probably want to believe everything and anything that people tell you about how to build muscle. You walk into the supplement store and the big guy working behind the counter who has been training for 5 plus years usually leads you to the overpriced proteins, pre-workouts, and amino acids that you really don’t need.
The fact is that supplements should never replace a really good diet. If you are consuming a quality calorie surplus with lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats, you are well on your way to quick lean muscle gains. No supplement can get you better results than a balanced diet and a high-quality calorie surplus.
Now, assuming that you have a good bodybuilding diet, what 3 supplements can you take to enhance your muscle-building efforts? I’m going to pinpoint 3 supplements that I think are the best bodybuilding supplements, and each serves a specific purpose. Let’s dive right into the list and help you guys get jacked!
Best Bodybuilding Supplement #1: Bodybuilding Multivitamin
I am a big fan of the bodybuilding multivitamin. I think that everybody could benefit from taking a high-quality bodybuilding vitamin. Most guys don’t consume all the vitamins and minerals their body needs on a daily basis. It’s nearly impossible to eat all of the omegas, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that your body needs to run like a machine on a daily basis.
Bodybuilding multivitamins not only offer you powerful vitamin and mineral support, giving you your daily value in all the essentials you need, but they also have joint support such as glucosamine and MSM. Lifting heavy weights is hard on not only your immune system but also your joints. Bodybuilding multivitamins are a great insurance policy against sickness and injury.
I recommend taking a high-quality bodybuilding vitamin that has your A-Z vitamins and minerals, omegas, joint support, and antioxidants. Two of my favorites are Orange Triad and Armor V by Muscle Pharm. Animal Pak is also a really good bodybuilding multivitamin, but I prefer not to swallow 12 pills in one sitting! Orange Triad and Muscle Pharm’s new multivitamins are much easier to take and give you an incredible array of benefits that will keep your body operating like a machine.
Many guys overlook the importance of a quality bodybuilding multivitamin, but remember that lifting weights can lower your immune system and leave you susceptible to injury and sickness. If you are injured or sick, you obviously either can’t work out or you can’t train at your 100 percent peak intensity. Make sure to take your bodybuilding multivitamin daily so you can prevent this from happening!
Best Body Building Supplement #2: Creatine
Creatine is such a powerful muscle-building supplement for the naturally skinny guy. If I had to narrow this list down to just one supplement, I think I would choose creatine. The science behind this decision is very easy. Creatine is one of the only supplements in the world that has 100 percent scientific data proving that it helps you lift more weight in the gym.
Creatine will increase the short-term energy output of your muscles, allowing you to exert more force and a more powerful contraction. The result is that you are able to lift heavier weight and create more of a maximum muscle contraction. This results in you being stronger on all of your important muscle-building compound lifts and building muscle much quicker because you are putting more overload on the muscles. This seems to carry over into a powerful compound effect of muscle building. You see your bench press and squat improving, and you get excited about doing more of it and you really start to see a positive spiral of muscle building.
I recommend taking 3-5 grams of creatine both before and after your intense workout sessions. Whenever I perform compound exercises in the gym, I make sure that I take creatine to give my body the best chance to lift the most weight.
The rules of muscle building are quite simple. Lift heavy weight on compound exercises. Get stronger on all of these lifts and you will build muscle. Creatine will help you achieve this!
Best Bodybuilding Supplement #3: BCAAs
This supplement may be a surprise entry on the list, but I have a very good reason for having it on my list of 3 favorite supplements. I have found that one of the most powerful things you can do to rapidly transform your physique is to increase your protein and amino acid intake while lowering your calories.
As a working fitness model, I am always trying to stay lean and take my physique to the next level. I recently read an article saying that when you lower your calories or when you are a naturally skinny guy (aka serious hardgainer), you should take additional BCAAs throughout the day to stay anabolic and initiate protein synthesis. If you go a long time between meals and supplement with a BCAA supplement, this will actually prevent your body from going catabolic and you are able to stay in muscle-building and recovery mode.
When it comes to building muscle, your branched chain amino acids are the most important amino acids for initiating growth and a speedy recovery. I have noticed some impressive strength gains since supplementing with BCAA powder daily. I buy the Xtend powder and add in extra BCAAs to my protein shake. Try this out and see if you have similar results to me. This is perfect for any time you are entering a “cutting phase” and want to maintain all of your muscle mass and strength. Even when I diet down, my strength goes up gradually when I supplement with BCAAs.
Add comment