Bodybuilding and Supplements FAQs

I am a 29 year old male & I've been working out from the last 2 yrs. Currently I am taking creatine, whey protein, glutamine & BCAA. I have taken Animal Stack also but only 120 caps. What should I do to make my body hard?

The hardness you describe is related to your amount of bodyfat. So to get harder, you need to decrease your overall bodyfat mass. The best approach is to decrease your overall calories using a well-devised eating plan. At the same time, you can increase your overall calorie expenditure using some extra cardiovascular exercise. Continue to work hard on the weight training. There really isn't any supplement that will provide the desired long-lasting improvements in your physique. However, some supplements may be able to help decrease you appetite or burn some extra calories by including caffeine or some other type of stimulant. My recommendation would be to start with the lifestyle changes before relying on a supplement to achieve your goals.

Will you loose muscle after stopping taking creatine?

You may lose a bit of strength and a little weight. If you continue to train hard and adhere to a proper diet plan, you will minimize any loses. The best way to determine what will happen if you stop taking creatine is to stop taking it for a period of time. Give it a full three months and realistically assess your status before stopping creatine and after stopping creatine for three months. That will tell you exactly how your body will react to having the creatine withdrawn. You can always start taking it again.

I am a 25 year old female that is petite and just want to gain muscle and lose the pouch but not weight since I am already skinny. What do you recommend I do?

I can offer the following general recommendations for gaining lean muscle mass (and losing a little fat along the way):
1 Train with free weights using multi-joint movments.
2 Ensure you recover adequately between workouts (this may mean decreasing your workout frequency!)
3 Keep your workouts short but INTENSE.
4 Eat every 2-3 hours.
5 Consume adequate high quality protein and avoid processed foods and sugars.
6 Get adequate rest (8 hours minimum)
7 Devise an intelligent approach to diet and exercise and then stick to it - no jumping from program to program!

This should work. Good luck!

I have some fat on the lower part of my breast/chest that I can't remove by working out. What can I do to improve the appearance of my chest?

You need to increase your aerobic activity, do weight training and adhere to a proper diet to lose fat. Unfortunately, your body burns the fat as a whole not from specific areas. So if you have extra fat on your chest, you need to drop your total body fat, and the chest fat will go too. The best approach is to decrease your overall calories while you increase your overall calorie expenditure using some extra cardiovascular exercise. Continue to work hard on the weight training. Good luck!

I am 19 years old and I've been working out for about 5 months. Ive started taking 2 supplements. Could you tell me how to use these throughout the day? The 1st supplement is a muscle gainer and the 2nd is whey protein.

The muscle gainer you mentioned could be a number of things. If you were referring to some type of high calorie weight gainer, I would not recommend using it more than once a day. Generally, these types of products contain high amounts of simple sugars. Some of the products provide 1,000 calories in a serving. Taking that many calories in a single meal is not advisable if you are trying to build a muscular physique. You may have a tendency to add fat mass using many of these products.

In my opinion, the whey protein is best used immediately after an intense workout. I generally dont recommend using it throughout the day because I believe whole protein foods are a better choice. If you find you do not have access to foods at particular times during the day, it may be worth adding a protein shake rather than going hungry..

i am a 24 year old male i work on a buildingsite and i eat breakfast then have a break at 10am and 1pm then my dinner in the evening what type of diet would u recommend for building muscle its at work i find most difficult?

Work schedules can make eating for muscle building a challenge. But you can really make it easier if you plan ahead. You definitely want to shop and cook your food ahead of time. I would suggest cooking a batch of food on one or two particular days each week (maybe Monday and Thursday). Cook enough that you will be able to refrigerate enough to pack pre-made meals into plastic containers (Tupperware) for each day of the week. I would suggest cooking chicken breasts, white fish, lean beef, brown rice, yams, and broccoli or some other vegetable. These could be the basic components of your meals throughout the day.

Each night before bed, pack your meals for the next day using the food you cooked ahead of time. It sounds like you could eat breakfast at home, then have another meal at 10am, 1pm, and then again maybe at 4-5pm, followed by a smaller high protein meal at 7-8pm. Each of your daytime meals should consist of a protein source (maybe about the size of a deck of cards, a scoop of brown rice or yam, and a cup of vegetables. You may need to add some healthy oils (like olive oil) to your meals. You will need to play around with the portion sizes, etc. as time goes by. If you eat 5 times a day and get adequate protein and healthy carbohydrates and fats - along with adequate rest - you will set yourself up nicely for some muscle growth!

I am a 33 year old, 120 kg male with about 25-35% bodyfat. How should I eat to build muscle and cut fat and will 4 training days with 30 minutes of cardio 2 a week be enough? Please give me a sample meal plan focusing on whole foods. Thanks!?

Without knowing your current diet plan, it is hard to recommend a diet plan you will be able to use for your goals. I agree that whole foods should be your focus, but a two or three day diet log would help me to determine a realistic meal plan for you. Please keep track of all your foods for three days. Record the meal times, serving sizes, etc. this will help me work out an appropriate response.

Weight training four days a week could certainly be adequate for building muscle. The types of exercises, level of intensity and degree of focus will determine your results. One hour in the gym could be too little or too much depending on the quality of the gym time. Please provide a little detail about your current weight training routine.

Lastly, doing cardiovascular exercise for 30 minutes twice a week may not be enough. Once I have a better idea of your diet and weight training routine, I could make a suggestion regarding your cardio. What type of cardiovascular exercise do you perform? Be specific - if you are walking on a treadmill describe the speed, degree of incline, etc.

You can post a follow-up question in the FAQ or you may contact us through our contact form. Once you send a little more detail, I can post up a more refined response.

Thanks!

Do you have to take whey protien on non training days?

No.

The only time I recommend taking whey protein would be right after a workout. This is because of the rapid absorption and utilization of the amino acids following consumption of a whey protein drink.

On non-training days, the spike in amino acids is simply not necessary, in my opinion. I prefer to use whole foods including cottage cheese, skinless chicken breast, skinless turkey breast, tuna, lean top round beef, and eggs - to name a few. Foods generally provide a long slow release of amino acids into the blood stream, which is desirable when attempting to maintain an 'anabolic' metabolism. Consuming protein from a variety of sources throughout the day ensures overlap in the delivery of amino acids to the blood stream (and muscles).

Because of the rapid spike in amino acids that consumption of whey protein causes, I recommend consuming a whole food meal one-hour after your post workout drink. This will provide a longer, more sustainable stream of amino acids and level off the initial spike and drop-off caused by the whey protein drink.

Some products contain either a combination of proteins (whey combined with casein, soy, egg albumin, etc) which deliver a slower more sustainable amino acid stream. Other products contain some type of ingredient that is meant to slow the absorption of the whey protein and provide slower absorption. These products may have some value and I must admit I have used them in the past. In my opinion, however, I still favor whole food whenever possible. After all, why drink your meals when you can eat them? Whole food meals provide more satiety (and variety) so you don't become hungry again so quickly.

I just started taking body building supplements. I am taking creatine, glutamine, whey protein, and ALA. What's the best way to take these to get the best results?

You have selected supplements that I personally use and that have withstood the test of time. These basic supplements have been around for years and have provided consistent results for thousands of bodybuilders like you.



The glutamine is an all-purpose bodybuilding supplement. If your budget allows you to take 5 grams of glutamine two to three times a day, that should help significantly with your growth and recovery.



The creatine works very well, in my opinion, when taken immediately after weight training. On non-training days, I take 5 grams of creatine in the morning with some carbs.



I take the ALA every morning with my other supplements. I also take an additional dose with my post workout drink.



In addition to the suggestions offered above, I would recommend using the creatine, glutamine, whey protein, and ALA within 15 minutes of the end of your weight training session. I am not sure of your exact goals, but if your goals include adding lean muscle then you might consider combining the creatine, glutamine, whey protein, and ALA into a post workout drink mix. The post workout drink mix I use contains the following ingredients:

1. 2 cups of water mixed with a 'no calorie' flavored drink mix


2. 40-50g Whey Protein


3. 50-70g Dextrose


4. 5g Glutamine


5. 5g Creatine Monohydrate


6. 300mg Alpha Lipoic Acid

The dextrose can be purchased from a number of websites and you may also find a bag at a specialty health food store. A bag of the dextrose costs about $3.



I am not sure what type of whey protein you have, but I use whey protein concentrate. I use the whey protein concentrate because it is very rapidly digested and amino acids are quickly delivered to the blood stream. I use the dextrose rather than table sugar because dextrose causes a strong insulin response. The alpha-lipoic acid assists with the insulin response. The glutamine and creatine help with recovery and strength gains.



A supplement program like this may not be recommended depending on your overall health and any diseases you may have. Please check with your doctor before trying any supplement program.

I have been reading about strict dieting with a weekly refeed. What are your thoughts on that?

During your intense workouts in the off-season, you will need more calories. Using a conventional diet plan, gradually adjust your calories. Over time, track your body composition changes by using 3 or 4 site caliper measurements and the scale. Biweekly measurements will keep you on track. If you can keep yourself within 3-4% of your contest fat levels while consistently gaining mass that would be ideal. If you start to get over-fat, cut the calories in increments of 100. If your progress is slow and you are not adding fat rapidly, increase the calories in increments of 100.

Weekly refeeding is definitely worth a try as well. Some people do great with that method even in the off season. If you plan on trying this method first, I would still suggest you bring the calories up in the off season. You can play with the numbers however you choose, but I still think it's a good idea to track your body composition biweekly. Your muscles need both protein and carbohydrates so don't become obsessed with low carbs in the off season.

What would your cardio recommendations be for off season bodybuilding?

Off season cardio should be limited but is probably worthwhile a couple times a week for 15-20 minutes. Don't go crazy with off season cardio. You will be tracking your body composition so you will know if you start to get overfat. I do absolutely no cardio and I eat a ton of clean foods. I stay relatively lean because of my muscle mass. Muscle mass will allow you to burn more calories without doing any/much cardio. Focus on building muscle for at least a few months and see where your body goes!

You could probably get away with 3-4 days per week in the gym for weight training. There is a ton of individual variability here. I take forever to recover and train bodyparts only once per week. I recovered a little faster in my 20's. As a rule of thumb - don't focus just on muscle soreness as a gauge of your recovery from a weight training session. Also use the amount of mental focus you are able to muster during your workouts. Your neurological system is just as stressed if not more stressed than your musculoskeletal system during intense training. Your neurological system takes longer to recover. If you are having trouble with intensity and focus during your training sessions, and your strength is faltering, then you are training too frequently. Use all the feedback your body gives you to determine your ideal training frequency for the type of training you are doing.

What type of creatine do you recommend and when is the best time to take it?

Creatine monohydrate has been studied and proven effective time and time again. That's not to say other forms of creatine are not worth trying. I would recommend trying the monohydrate version first, then the other forms if results are not noticed on the monohydrate. Creatine transport products are enormously overpriced and you can make them yourself much more cheaply by making your own mix! See the link for the article on post-workout nutrition on the home page which describes how to make this mixture yourself at a fraction of the price of commercial creatine transport products.

What is the best time to take creatine? In my opinion, taking creatine post workout is best. Insulin helps drive more creatine into the muscle cells. Your post workout drink should help spike your insulin and this will help with creatine uptake into muscle cells. The body absorbs many nutrients better after a workout.

Taking creatine before a workout may have some benefit and I've been using this technique lately. I take creatine before (without any dextrose) and after (with dextrose) my workouts. My results have been great. I will post an article regarding timing for creatine ingestion in the near future.

(EAS whey protein) Is this a good whey protein to be using, or do you recommend something else?

Yes, it's good. But I would use it primarily right after a workout because whey protein is rapidly absorbed and available for the muscles but it does not provide a long slow release of amino acids like many whole foods do.

What is the best way to take the supplements you recommend and where do you purchase them?

In the morning, I take all the pills at once. They are pretty cheap actually. The post workout supplements I only take on workout days and are cheap compared to prepackaged post-workout products. You could likely get by with just a good multi and a good post-workout drink at this point - depending on your budget. You don't need to purchase a ton of expensive supplements to look and feel great.

I get my supplements at a number of places online. The drop-down boxes on the right hand side of my website http://www.supplementdealer.com/ will direct you to a merchant with really good prices.

Generally, when I get ready to place an order, I enter the identical order on at least two websites without actually completing the order and then I go with the cheapest (after shipping is added).

Do bodybuilders need to take one gram of protein per pound of body weight to bulk up?

I don't like the term "bulk up" because it tends to imply that you will be adding a large amount of both lean and non-lean weight which I don't recommend. It is true that you will need more protein than a typical person because of the type of training you are performing. I would tend to agree that a gram per pound of body weight is a good place to start, but everyone is different. I certainly don't see any need to go insane with your protein intake but as long as the meals are frequent and contain 40-50 grams of protein each you should do well.

What over the counter test-booster do you recommend?

Generally, I wouldn't recommend any other the counter testosterone booster for a young man. Depending on your age and other factors, you may not be in need of any boosting.

That being said, there are a number of preparations on the market that have been shown to have some effect on the endocrine system by increasing the testosterone output of the testes. Some work by direct stimulation (mimicking LH) and others work indirectly by lowering estrogen levels which may fool your system into producing more testosterone through a negative feedback loop.

I don't recommend any specific products, but you can check out some using the 'Select Category' drop down to the right and selecting Testosterone Aids.

Where can I read more articles on bodybuilding?

You can find articles on this website by using the links on the home page. I will post more all the time, so come back often for updates. You can also sign up for the free newsletter which contains some great articles as well!

Do you do personal training?

Not anymore. I was a certified personal trainer for a long time. Now, I work a regular desk job and don't feel that I have time to maintain this website, work, train, and do all the things I want to AND still have time for personal training.

However, I would love to give you any advice you want (to the best of my ability).

Do you make your own postworkout drink?

That's right! I've always been interested in nutrient manipulation and the effect on the body. I use the same stuff you find in the more expensive combination products in my mix.


The mix I use contains:

1. 2 cups of water mixed with "no calorie" flavored drink mix


2. 40-50g Whey Protein


3. 50-70g Dextrose


4. 5g Glutamine


5. 5g Creatine Monohydrate


6. 300mg Alpha Lipoic Acid

I use a non-calorie fruit flavor drink mix to create a taste that is truly unique.


If you decide to try this post-workout drink, keep in mind you are only using this high-octane drink right after a workout. You should follow this up with a whole food meal one hour later to even out your blood glucose levels. I generally recommend food meals for all the other meals of the day.

Do you have a degree to be a nutritionist?

I have a Bachelor's degree in Clinical Dietetics and Nutrition from the University of Pittsburgh. I never entered clinical practice as a Registered Dietition, but I have continued my research, especially as it pertains to health, fitness, longevity, and bodybuilding.