How do I take bodybuilding supplements?

As in the field of education, a certain mythology reigns here, we give insane abilities to supplements, preferring its incredible name to the detriment of its composition, which is the only viable criterion when choosing its supplements. and not be drawn into consumption by unscrupulous sellers.

It was with this state of mind that we chose supplements at SuperPhysique store, prioritizing composition.

In this article, we’ll give you concrete examples of how to take the most commonly used supplements in the bodybuilding world so you know how to use them and not waste your money.

Remember, supplementation isn’t magic, it’s a supplement to your workout and an impeccable diet to help you improve. They are not dangerous and the food we eat every day.

1 – How to take protein powder?

Whey protein is practically the best protein powder. It is a highly digestible protein that costs less than eating meat or fish. A kilogram of meat containing 200 g of protein costs about 15 euros, and a kilogram of protein costs about 20 euros (in a large package) almost 5 times cheaper!

In our article, we’ll cover the different forms of whey protein: Proteins, Amino Acids, BCAAs: Make The Powder Talk!

Whey Protein Is Best Used:

• With water to digest it well and not add extra calories
• Between meals to make snacks if your meals are more than 5 hours apart
• After your workout, if you haven’t eaten any real food within an hour after finishing it

As you can imagine, it is not necessary to have breakfast before or even before breakfast. A good breakfast will help you when you wake up.

Casein is the second most abundant second protein in the bodybuilding world. This is a “slow” protein and should be used mostly before bed or if you really can’t eat for a very long time (more than 6 hours). Attention to casein selection, favor micellar form or total milk protein over calcium caseinate.

Whether it is one or the other of these proteins, you need to count 0.4 to 0.5 g per kg of body weight each time, or if you weigh 80 kg between 32 and 40 g protein powder. On average, we take protein powder 2 to 3 times a day, depending on the interval between meals.

Whey Protein Example

2 – How to get Bcaa?

Bcaa are the most important amino acids for muscles. They enhance anabolism (increase in muscle mass), combat the loss of muscle mass on diet (anti-catabolism), limit brain fatigue during exercise, accelerate recovery …

As a priority, Bcaa is used during training up to 1 g per ten kg of body weight, or up to 8 g if you weigh 80 kg for dilution in a bottle of water. Choose powder forms that are much cheaper than capsule versions, which are not more practical. Approximately € 42 for a 700g can, which will last 3 months.

If you’re on a diet, consider taking Bcaa with every meal up to 0.5 g per ten kg of body weight, or 4 g to maximize muscle loss.

BCAA Example

3 – How to take powdered carbohydrates?

Powdered carbohydrates are what we find under the names maltodextrin, dextrose, glucose or commercially Carbonox, Vitargo …

They should be used during training to speed up your recovery by using as little of your energy reserves as possible. Quite simply, the less you release your reserves, the less time it will take to replenish them (see our article Build Muscle While Resting – Part 1 and Build Muscle While Resting – Part 2.

Powdered carbohydrates are used on average at a height of 5 to 10 g per ten kg of body weight during a session and diluted with water with Bcaa (if you are taking it) between 40 and 80 g if you weigh 80 kg.

Powdered Carbohydrate Example

4 – How to take creatine?

More seriously, creatine has been the most talked about supplement in recent years and has only shown positive results: muscle gain, strength, fat loss, oxygenation of the brain …

The only effective creatine is creatine monohydrate, all other forms are only marketed and have not been proven effective, except for the placebo effect (power to believe).

Creatine monohydrate is taken up to 3-5 g every day. The more you divide this amount, the better you will internalize it. You can take it with food diluted in a glass of water, you will see it has no taste!

Do not take it alone before training, as it is hypoglycemia. This is why it is preferable to take it with meals. It is useless to make drugs with stress phases, since the sellers wanted to impose it on us for years, it can be taken for a whole year, and those that have no negative effect are only positive!

So, ideally, you can take 1 g of creatine monohydrate over 4 or 5 meals, or 2 g over 2 meals if you don’t want to burden yourself with each meal. We are more adept at practical handling of capsules or capsules, even if they are more expensive, because it is very difficult to dose with the same precision when the creatine is in powder.

Super Creatine: Creatine Monohydrate

5 – How to get your own gainer?

Weight gainers tend to be humiliated in the bodybuilding world. They are mistakenly accused of getting fat because they are often very poorly used.

The gainer is intended for people who find it difficult to eat enough to gain weight and / or who want to make their lives easier by consuming liquid calories (tolerable). This can be very interesting, for example, making snacks in between meals in droves.

So this is not about taking a gainer when you are already “fat”, but about a supplement designed for those who need it. A good gainer is one that contains low glycemic carbohydrates such as oat flour, palatinose. Some contain only maltodextrin and dextrose and should therefore be avoided as, as we saw in powdered carbohydrates, these are carbohydrates that should be used primarily during exercise.

It should also contain good sources of protein such as whey and / or micellar casein or total milk protein.

Finally, the correct protein to carbohydrate ratio for a weight gainer is 20 to 35 g protein and 60 to 70 g carbohydrates per 100 g.

Gainer used by:

• As a snack between meals if they are more than 5 hours apart
• Besides food, if you can’t eat enough calories
• Diluted in water to maintain good absorption

Doses of the gainer should not be too large at the beginning of its introduction into your diet, but should correspond to an additional intake of 300 to 400 kcal or 100 g of gainer per day, divided, for example, into two doses. 50 g if you make two snacks a day. These doses will increase or decrease depending on your weight gain.

6 – How to get your NO booster?

NO boosters are supplements that will help you become more congested during your workouts. They contain two main additives: arginine and citrulline, two precursors of nitric oxide. There are also some ingredients commonly used in fat burners, such as caffeine, to enhance the booster besides congestion.

Finally, all forms of creatine found in this type of supplement are clearly useless, as we saw above.

It is a pleasure to use such supplements, even if the muscle gains are not on rendezvous, we rather take it to increase stagnation and get a little boost.

DO NOT use boosters 20-30 minutes prior to training. We cannot give you the amount you need, since each brand has its own composition. Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations.

7 – How to take a fat burner?

Fat burners are those supplements that convince you that they will make you lose fat without doing anything.

The reality is that fat burners help with fat loss on several levels while you’re dieting:

• They regulate appetite with ingredients like Garcina Cambogia
• They speed up the metabolism with caffeine, synephrine or tyrosine
• They fight water retention

The “side effect” of Fettverbrenner bodybuilding is that they keep you busy and really give you the opportunity to fish. This is why we have enough skill even to increase the mass to speed up the session without increasing its load, as is the case with NO accelerators. We run our sessions easily and feel really good, our dear Fat Burner is Revex-16!

It is difficult to give compliance with the dosage, because each has its own composition. If you are taking Revex-16, you should take 2 to 3 capsules 2 times a day (with breakfast and afternoon snack if you are a woman, 1 to 2 capsules per dose).

Don’t take it late at night, you may stay awake for a while!

Fat Burner Example

8 – How to get a testosterone booster?

For many years, testosterone boosters have proven ineffective relying on just one plant: Tribulus Terrestris (which is why we don’t sell any Tribulus Terrestris in SuperPhysique).

Recently, these testosterone boosters have come back into fashion with the main active ingredient, the amino acid: D-Aspartic Acid, which has shown some positive effects! This is what lies at the heart of all serious supplements aimed at increasing the male hormone, testosterone.

9 – How to take supplements for health (Omega-3, ZMA, glucosamine)?

There is a very specific category of supplements that is not limited to bodybuilding, but health supplements.

Among them we find the famous Omega-3. No need to talk to you about their benefits, this has not been proven anymore. You can also read our articles Omega-3 and Omega-6: The Power of Poseidon.

There are two types of omega-3s, those plants that do not have a positive effect and that need to be converted in our body into EPA and DHA, which are found in most supplements that are “marine origin (fish oil extract in general).

The amount used primarily in research is 1280 g of EPA and 780 mg of DHA per day, which can be taken in one or more doses. This corresponds, for example, to 6 omega-3 capsules per day that we sell at SuperPhysique.

ZMA is a supplement that emerged in the early 2000s based on the simple observation that strength athletes were deficient in zinc and magnesium, which impeded nervous system recovery and lowered testosterone rates.

These two ingredients are in chelated form in ZMA, so they are better absorbed.

ZMA is taken before bed on an empty stomach to avoid assimilation problems.

Finally, glucosamine is the # 1 joint supplement and has been around for years. It is a component of collagen and even promotes the regeneration of our joints. Even though it may make you smile now, joint prevention is very important so that you can progress over time. It is usually found in the form of glucosamine sulfate, which is one of the best forms available today.

Glucosamine is taken in an amount of about 2 g per day, which can be taken immediately with meals.

Super Joints: Glucosamine as N-Acetyl-D-Glucosamine

Conclusion

From now on, you will no longer be able to say that you do not know how to choose and take supplements

If there are any supplements that we haven’t talked about and you’re not sure how to take them, please let us know in the comments below.