In this week’s podcast, we discuss all the supplements needed to put on as much muscle as possible. In my opinion, there are six supplements that can really help you pack on muscle.
Adding muscle all starts with getting enough protein in your diet. Real food is always the best bet with trying to achieve your minimum daily requirements for protein, but eating an entire meal isn’t always feasible or practical, therefore I recommend everyone have a quality protein powder in their vicinity for the times they need the convenience of a quick protein intake.
Second, I recommend anyone who lifts weights, man or woman, to take creatine. Creatine is a naturally occurring peptide our body makes from the amino acids glycine, arginine and methionine. It is perfectly natural and safe to take and very effective at increasing the size and strength of our muscles.
The third supplement I recommend to aid in adding muscle is insulin. No, I’m not recommending you to go out and inject yourself with insulin. That wouldn’t be safe and could potentially be deadly. What I am recommending is being strategic with your carb intake. Eating carbohydrates causes your body to release insulin. Insulin has an anti-catabolic effect on muscles, ensuring you breakdown as little muscle as possible while lifting weights. Overtime this can increase the total amount of muscle you carry on your frame.
The fourth supplement I recommend is magnesium. Magnesium is a mineral that is involved in over 600 chemical reactions in our body. In the world, as a gym goer it’s beneficial to know magnesium is involved in 6 of the 8 steps of the citric acid cycle, which is how our body produces energy needed to get us through our hard workouts. Therefore, supplementing with magnesium ensures you will have the energy needed to perform at your best.
The fifth supplement I recommend is citrulline. Citrulline is an amino acid that is hard to come by in a standard diet. The food with the highest amount of citrulline is watermelon. But in order to get an effective dose of citrulline, you would have to eat pounds of water melon everyday! Not the best case scenario. The easiest way to increase your citrulline and get to the magic dose of 4 – 9g per serving is to supplement. Citrulline turns into arginine inside our body and leads to an increase in the amount of nitric oxide produced. This increases pumps while training and also increases recovery. Both are great for adding muscle.
The sixth supplement I recommend is caffeine. Caffeine is the most widely used drug in the world. So you don’t need me to tell you how good it is! In the case of us gym rats, caffeine helps us perform better in so many ways. The primary benefit I focused on today was its ability to increase mental focus and decreased your perceived effort in the gym. These two things help you increase your intensity and push you beyond your limits. This is what sends the signal to our body to grow more muscle.
To learn more about the type of protein powder to take, how much creatine is ideal, the proper time to increase insulin, the right form of magnesium to take and how much caffeine you should take listen to this week’s podcast.
