By: MuscleSports.net

Total Bodybuilding Supplemental Nutrition For Size, Strength, Performance....

Bodybuilding supplements explained from A to Z. Make the right choices.

Every where I read some one wants to tell you what bodybuilding supplements to take and how much to use . How do they know what to take themselves because believe it or not folks most of the people writing allot of those article don't workout, or are only part time trainers. MuscleSport.net doesn't have any part timers working here. We test bodybuilding supplement all year round and write about it every month. When the owner asked me to write about bodybuilding supplements I said I can only write about the one's I've used. He said okay so these are my supplements that I've used so far. I am only giving you the ones I believe are worth your money. I call this saga Bodybuilding Supplements 101, because it only the beginning.

Protein: Protein is made of amino acids. Amino acids are the basic building blocks of muscle. Therefore, protein is an essential ingredient for muscle building. You can't build muscle without it! You will want to take in about 1-2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight throughout the day. So an average person who weighs 150 lbs would want to consume between 150 and 300 grams of protein in a day, give or take. Protein shakes and bars are convenient and provide high quality protein.

There are several forms of protein including: Whey, Soy, Egg, and Casein. So which kind is best? Well that depends on how and when you want to use them.

Whey Protein: Basically, whey protein is awesome for post-workout supplementation because that's the time when your body needs protein the most, and whey is digested very quickly (about 30 minutes). Optimum's 100% Whey Gold Standard is the best selling straight whey protein product.

Micellar Casein: Micellar Casein protein, on the other hand, is digested very slowly (over 2.5-4 hours). This means it's great to use a protein supplement with casein before bed because the longest time your body goes without protein is during the night, while you are sleeping.

Egg protein digests at a medium pace (2-3 hours) so it's a good anytime protein to provide a good continuous release of amino acids to the body. Beverly International Muscle Provider is very popular and is one of the few protein of today that includes a good chunk of in protein source from egg whites.

Soy protein is the vegetarian's best friend because it's one of the only complete protein sources derived from plant life. Soy is a good overall protein, although it's not as effective in terms of absorption as the others (whey or egg). Additionally, soy has many considerable health benefits for women. Prolab's Pure Soy is a good high quality pure soy protein.

Mixed Proteins: Either protein supplements are straight whey, soy, egg, or casein; or they are a combination of any or all of these kinds of proteins. What a blend of proteins offers that a straight protein cannot is basically a protein with different rates of digestion. This means you can take a blended protein any time to get quick, medium, and prolonged absorption of protein. Inner Armour Super Quad Protein is one of the best in the blended proteins category.

Of the many protein supplements, the main two other categories are weight gainers and low carb protein shakes and bars. These two are on opposite end of a magnet. Both are quality proteins but each has far different purposes. Low carb protein shakes are good for those that are dieting or trying to lose or maintain weight; while weight gainers are good for bulking up in our mass phase of training. Dymatize ISO-100 is a great shake and Pure Protein Bars, which are deliciousare my goto source for quick snack. Our number one selling weight gainer is Chocolate Peanut Butter Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass. Mix with a 1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips. Oh Boy its ggggoooodddd........

Creatine:
Creatine works very well for increasing muscle mass. It is naturally occurring in the body. It's safe and very effective for anybody, especially if you've never used it before. The basics behind it are this: it increases ATP (the main energy source your muscles use for explosive power output) so that you can perform more reps and sets and lift more weight, consequently growing more muscle tissue. Old creatine product recommended cycling but newer product creatine doesn't need to be cycled and can be used continuously through out the year. There are many different types of creatine. There is pure creatine monohydrate like ABB's Crea-Force , and creatine formulas where they include something to bump insulin levels like dextrose. Some really good ones like this are SMASH FULLY LOADED from Axis Labs and one everybody around here are really like is Nutrex's Hemo Rage Black.

What's best product for your dollar? The creatine supplements with built in dextrose, aminos and other goodies are probably the best, but cost-effectively a good micronized creatine taken with grape juice wouldn't be a bad choice. Take creatine post-workout.

Glutamine: Glutamine supplementation as a strategy to promote muscle growth has been a suggestion for quite a while by many. They based the suggestion on animal and human studies of the effect of glutamine on protein synthesis, cell volume, and glycogen synthesis. Glutamine is also an important fuel for white blood cells, so reductions in blood glutamine concentration following intense exercise may contribute to immune suppression in over trained athletes. All its saying that if your levels of glutamine becomes low your more susceptible to get sick.

MuscleSports.net offers some really good L-Glutamine product. You can use the powdered form a really good one is AST GL3 along with IDS's L-Glutamine With MSM. I've been trying some of the newer forms and have to say I really like Scifit's Glutamine AKG 1000, inexpensive and they work really good. Aviod taking your glutamine with creatine they tend to have a leveling effect on each other. Take it before your workout and at night before bed along with your ZMA. Just two capsule before I workout and two more before bed, perfect!

NO²(Nitric Oxide): Nitric Oxide supplementation has gone through the roof around here. We are currently testing three of the most popular brands right now head to head along with another that doesn't get much pub in the mags but seem to be holding it own and in some cases working even better. This stuff will be written up in the Bodybuilding Zone Section in coming issue. Enough of that crap.

Personally I've tried only three NO product and all worked very good. What NO is supposed to do is allow more oxygen into the blood stream so mure nutrients can be carried into the cells for more growth. Your pumps do last longer and their is a ATP kind of rush when your on NO. The three NO product that I tried are BSN's NO Xplode, BSN's Nitrix and Animal Primal. All three worked very good. I stick to companies that produce products and are there when I want to purchase again or have a complaint. One word: Don't buy from places that you think may now be on the up & up!

Anabolic Flavones (Methoxy, Ecdysterone, etc.): Methoxyisoflavone and Ecdysterone are the latest advancements in supplementation for anabolic gains. They are non hormonal flavones that naturally increase protein synthesis, nitrogen retention, and muscle growth. They work very well taken in conjunction with protein because they increase the absorption of protein. The number one product in this category is Universal Nutrition's Animal M-Stak. This stuff works fantastic. It was over in Europe for years before they brought it over here. Its really good. LG Sciences makes a very popular Ecdy and Meth product called Product X.

Multi-Vitamin: This may seem like an after thought but a good multi-vitamin can save all your bodybuilding supplements money from being wasted. If your deficient in one vitamin or just one mineral you could be sabotaging your whole program. Choose a complete spectrum vitamin that cover all bases, and make sure its made for an active life style. Three of the best are Animal Pak our #1 sell, along with AST's Multi-Pro 32X and Ultimate Nutrition's Super Complete. With any of these three you can't go wrong.

ZMA: ZMA is a precise combination of Zinc, Magnesium Aspartate and Vitamin B6. This vitamin and minerals supplement has been found to be very beneficial for increasing strength and testosterone, and improving recovery and sleep. One of the best things you can do as a bodybuilder is purchase ZMA. Come on think of better sleep more strength and increased recuperation. My favorite choice is Scifit's TZ3. When taken about 1 hour to 30 minutes before bed time I sleep all the way through the night and feel a lot better in the morning. As I said earlier adding Scifit's Glutamine AKG 1000 with it, is fantastic.

If your look for pure ZMA then ZMA from Now Sports is a sound choice for pure ZMA. Optimum Nutrition's ZMA is my choice for the budget conscious who still wants the best. Any way you cut it ZMA needs to be a mainstay in you supplement arsenal.

Tags: Supplements Protein Creatine Muscle Builder