By: MuscleSports.net

Sports nutrition is critical for all athletes: muscle size, strength, & performance.

Every where I read or look some one wants to tell you what 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 in magazines don't workout, or are only part time trainers. Those on these videos are on all sort of PED's so who do you trust. We here trust NONE OF THEM! MuscleSports.net doesn't have any part timers working here. We test allot of Sports supplements all year round and write about them every month. When the our owner asked me to write about “Sports 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 that are worth your money. I call this saga Sports Supplements 101, because it only the beginning.

Protein: Learn More...

Protein as everyone should know 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 some high quality protein in moments notice.

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. Basically, whey protein concentrate (WPC) 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). I have used Optimum's 100% Whey, it is the best selling whey protein product we sell. I don't really like whey isolated after a workout because it doesn't have the tag along nutrients that whey concentrate has, like fat, calcium, and others. For myself and allot of the people I train I recommend BSN's Syntha 6 form BSN. It has all those extra goodies that I was talking about loaded right in there so I know I am gonna get good nourishment to my muscle after training.

I use Optimum's 100% Natural Casein late a night about 20 minutes before i go to sleep to keep my body from eating on its self because of a lack of aminos. Micellar Casein protein unlike Whey Concentrate 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. It mixes better than most Micellar products out on the market and taste pretty good also.

The only other protein I can recommend is Egg Protein. Egg protein digests at a medium pace (2-3 hours) so it's a good anytime protein to provide a good continuous release of aminos to the body. I used to use powders but have only been using liquid egg white because they are so easily available from your grocery store and don't cost to much!

I have never used any of the Vegetable Proteins or Soy Protein on the market because I do believe that both are inferior to the milk proteins available today. I have tried some of the beef protein but most are just collagen shakes and do very little fro you muscle but I do recommend them for joint health, because they work very well to help with inflammation in the body!

Blended 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. MusclePharm Combat Powder is one of the best in the blended proteins category. It's really good for athletes in muscle building & recovery right behind Syntha 6!

Creatine: Learn More...

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 Allmax Nutrition Creatine, and creatine formulas where they include something to bump insulin levels like dextrose. Some really good ones like this are Cell-Tech from MuscleTech and one everybody around here are really like is PRIMAFORCE Creatine-X. Remember these are POST WORKOUT supplements for healing and driving nutrients in the muscle for a decrease recovery time.

The best thing in the world about creatine is that you DON"T need some fancy formula from a manufacture to get all the benefits of creatine, even though I use the 2 mixes above I still use creatine monohydrate as my #1 creatine supplement each and every week. There are 2 brands I use, Allmax German Creatine, and Optimum's Micro Creatine for CreaPure the worlds #1 Creatine. What's best product for your dollar? The creatine supplements with built in dextrose, aminos and other goodies are probably the best for post workout if you got the dollars, but cost-effectively a good micronized creatine monohydrate taken with grape juice wouldn't be a bad choice either. Remember one thing - Take creatine post-workout!

Glutamine: Learn More...

Glutamine supplementation as a strategy to promote muscle growth has been under fire form so called trainers for quite some time. Most make the suggestion that you don't need it, it does nothing! They based the suggestion on animal and human studies of the effect of glutamine on protein synthesis, cell volume, and glycogen synthesis. That is straight up CRAP! Glutamine has its best effect in the gut and as a stress reliever for your CNS. Glutamine supplementation after your workouts get your gut working. Just about every athlete will start to feel more starved after training and will better process his/her foods more properly with the addition of l-glutamine. 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 overtrained athletes. All this is saying that if your levels of l-glutamine becomes low your more susceptible to get sick. Illness and lost appetite are things an athlete does not need!

MuscleSports.net offers some really good L-Glutamine product. I prefer the micro powder form with zero additive so I can mix it into my post workout amino acids drink and have another 5-7 gram before bedtime inside a glass of orange or apple juice. The best one in my opinion are Optimum's Glutamine Powder & Allmax's Micronized Glutamine, both are very high quality and offer allot of serving for the money!

NO² (Nitric Oxide) Learn More...

NO 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 our Sports Section in the August 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 nutriments 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 two NO product that I tried and like the best are BSN's Nitrix and MHP's Hyper Crush. Both worked very good, and are not loaded with stims and provide muscle power throughout your workouts. Don't care fro the stim shit it just doesn't help your push harder, it really doesn't. The 3rd I used was Jaced Factory Nitrosurge but I have only been using it for the last couple of moths. The other 2 I have used for over 10 years with excellent results.

Anabolic Flavones (Methoxy, Ecdysterone, etc.): Learn More...

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 Animal's Methoxy Stak. This stuff works fantastic. It was over in Europe for allot of years before they brought it over here to the US. It's really good.

Multi-Vitamin: Learn More...

This may seem like an after thought but a good multi can save all your Sports Supplements money from being wasted. Nothing happens in your body for the good without a daily supply of vitamins & minerals in a very good combination. If your deficient in one vitamin or just one mineral you could be sabotaging your whole program. I don't understand all these people saying that your don't need to take your vitamins everyday. Our food choices f today are not those of our soil rich ancestors. Choose a complete spectrum multi vitamin & minerals that cover all bases, and make sure its made for an active life style. My 3 of the best are Animal Pak, VITASTACK from Allmax Nutrition and Beverly Super Pak. With any of these three you can't go wrong.

Beta Alanine: Learn More...

Beta Alanine is one of those that has just arrive on the world wide market in the past 5 years. It has quickly become one of my favorites because the stuff let you push out one or two more reps on your exercises or run those extra couple of sprints before fatigue start to dig in! I simply love the pure stuff from either Allmax Nutrition Beta Alanine or PrimaFORCE Beta Alanine. I put about 2 grams in what ever I am drink during my workout and the stuff takes over. Ever single athlete we train here gets hooked on the stuff because its like creatine, the shit just works!

ZMA: Learn More...

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. I think of better sleep as more strength and increased recuperation. My 2 favorite choices are PRIMAFORCE ZMA & Millennium Sport ZMK. My choice for the budget conscious who still wants the best is Optimum's ZMA. Any way you cut it ZMA needs to be a mainstay in you athlete supplement arsenal. Hell it was made for drug tested athletes!!!

Tags: Athlete Nutrition Supplements General Health