Beginner -Proposed Stack

Diet and Nutrition
1

I’ve finally managed to maintain a good diet for about a month now and have been hitting the gym for just over half a year. I’m starting to peak and feel the need to start taking some supplements. Anyways here’s what I have so far:

Multivitamin: NOW Adam

Protein: Chocolate Muscle Milk and,
. Chocolate Mint ON whey

Creatine: Higher Power’s Micronized Creatine or,
. Any suggestions?

EFAs: NOW Omega-3 or,
. Any suggestions?

The above is stuff is my suggestion (esp the creatine and EFA), any tips, changes, opinions would be greatly appreciated. Money is no factor and I want the best quality stuff with the least side effects. My general goal is muscle gain. Thanks!

2

If money isn’t a factor, whip out your credit card and click the “store” button on the top left of this site. I’m sure if you look hard enough you can find stuff online that’s as good, but here it’s easy because it’s one stop shopping.

3

[quote]Doug Adams wrote:
If money isn’t a factor, …[/quote]

Muscle Milk is expensive as hell and way overpriced for what it is in my opinion.

4

Wow there are so many things wrong with your post it’s not even funny. Not meaning to bash you dude but you need to spend a little more time reading some of the articles and product information on this site prior to just posting that ridiculous bodybuilding.com type post.

Some comments:

A good diet for only a month and working out for 6 months and you’ve hit a peak? What peak could you possibly have hit? The “man this is going to take way longer than I thought” type of peak or the “shit there has to be an easier way” kind of peak?

Muscle Milk is absolute crap. ON whey is pretty bad too. Check out some of the products sold here if you are interested in quality.

You general goal? What does that mean? You really should take a look at your diet if you’ve hit a [i]peak[/i]. How much are you eating each day? How much protein are you consuming? Are you taking care of your post workout nutrition correctly? Are you actually doing a formalized program in the gym and not just curls and crunches?

Post your diet and you routine and your stats and maybe we can help you out here. You’ve certainly come to the right place, you just need to take advantage of it.

5

eengrms76 hit the nail on the head. Whatever stumbling block you have hit it isnt caused by lack of suplements.

However IF you figure out what is holding you back and want to get some suplements you have a decent plan.

a good multivatamin and essential fatty acids are great for overall health and can help you reach your goals.

Creatine again is a solid all around suplement that will help overall health and can boost your lifts and muscle mass.

Finally I would look for something like Surge for post workout nutrition.

You MUST keep in mind supplements arent going to get you anywhere that proper nutrition won’t. When combined with a solid diet they can definatly help speed things up, but without a good diet your wasting your money.

6

My only advice is to re-read eengrms76’s post.

7

Hey,
I’ve been taking a GNC Lean mass builder for a few months, and now have just bought some ON Whey Gold Standard.

I was just interested as to why one of the above posters said it wasn’t very good?

I’m in Australia and have trouble getting Biotest supplements. I was thinking of staying on my good diet + fish oil + creatine + ON Whey and adding a mass gainer in to that. The ON Whey I was mostly going to take post-workout and before bed.

I wish there was some definitive polls saying “THIS IS THE BEST SUPPLEMENT FOR YOUR MONEY”

Advice please?

Thanks

8

[quote]aether wrote:
I was just interested as to why one of the above posters said it wasn’t very good?
[/quote]

because it isn’t

[quote]

I wish there was some definitive polls saying “THIS IS THE BEST SUPPLEMENT FOR YOUR MONEY”

Thanks[/quote]

it depends on specific goals, feelings about certain things: (even as simple as whether or not you prefer aspartame or sucralose), what you like your ratios to be, how carb sensitive you are, etc.

people on this site will recommend Biotest; this site is sponsored by Biotest. is it the best stuff on the market? i don’t know, but probably not (this isn’t necessarily bad, not everyone wants to pay $55 for 20 servings of isopure for example). is it cost-effective? i’d say yes. i’d recommend starting with a protein, glutamine (although many would disagree, i fully believe in the stuff), and a vitamin (again, some would disagree, but i would recommend a non-pill form; liquid or powder. the coating on many vitamins makes it difficult to digest).

protein: pick one for now, you’re better off taking ON than nothing while you do your research and figure out what you like. even though i don’t believe (and have studies lying around somewhere with a company who tests protein quality on grounds such as bioavailability – i’ll dig it up if i get a chance, but it’s a busy week so who knows) in ON as a high quality protein, it’s much better than not getting adequate protein at proper times. and muscle milk – it tastes good, but imho there’s so many more proteins that taste fine and are much better for you.

glutamine: just find one you like if you decide to take it, generally it doesn’t matter, though there are differences, they’re pretty minute.

vitamin: pick your favorite, but I’d say a sports vitamin over a centrum for example.

recap/summary for those who don’t feel like reading (me included):
protein, glutamine, vitamin.

get something that’s easily available (and at least not absolute trash) for this month while you do your research, and then get on something of higher quality. mediocre > nothing. and keep the diet in check, supps are by no means a replacement.

9

[quote]aether wrote:
I was just interested as to why one of the above posters said it wasn’t very good?[/quote]

Given the option of not using anything, or buying something at Wal-mart then I guess ON whey is ok. I have actually used it before, and it doesn’t mix very well and just generally tastes bad. Why spend money on something that doesn’t taste good? If you have no other option, as in your case where you don’t have easy access, then I guess go with it. I will tell you though, once you try Metabolic Drive you’ll never want to go back.

[quote]aether wrote:
The ON Whey I was mostly going to take post-workout and before bed.[/quote]

Read up on this site. Whey alone is not recommended PWO or pre-bed. Again, as I mentioned above, if this is your only option it’s not the end of the world. However- PWO you really should have some carbs. Chocolate Milk alone would probably be a better option for you than ON whey PWO.

[quote]Studio27 wrote:
people on this site will recommend Biotest; this site is sponsored by Biotest. is it the best stuff on the market? i don’t know, but probably not (this isn’t necessarily bad, not everyone wants to pay $55 for 20 servings of isopure for example). is it cost-effective? i’d say yes.[/quote]

Just because Isopure costs more does not make it better. Isopure IMO tastes like shit. It has one of the worst protein aftertastes on the market. I know that was just an example- just don’t get caught up in the cost more = better quality trap.

10

[quote]eengrms76 wrote:
Just because Isopure costs more does not make it better. Isopure IMO tastes like shit. It has one of the worst protein aftertastes on the market. I know that was just an example- just don’t get caught up in the cost more = better quality trap.[/quote]

isopure does taste like shit, but regardless it’s still a very high quality, pure, whey-isolate protein. quality-wise, many would argue (obviously open for debate, but that’s not for this thread) that it is one of the best on the readily-available market[excluding price as an issue, i think the stuff is too costly for what it is personally]. i was using it as an example because it is high quality protein, and probably too expensive for what you get.

and very true about cost =/= quality. there are some expensive ones that are absolute trash. just be sure to continue to do research as it changes all the time.

11

If money is an issue and you have a Costco in your area, Welleburton Pro-Protein has a much better ingredient profile than MuscleMilk and is a lot less expensive.

For my PWO drink, I like to add a scoop vanilla flavored ProProtein to 10 ounces of grape juice. This makes a grape smoothie with 27 gm whey & egg protein and about 52 gm of carbs.

12

[quote]Studio27 wrote:
just be sure to continue to do research as it changes all the time.[/quote]

No doubt about that! :slight_smile:

13

didnt u read the article on here about muscle milk and its toxicity?

14

Hi,

Sorry I’m really interested in learning about what’s good for me -

‘because it isn’t’ doesn’t really tell me much…

What is it about ON 100% Gold Standard (Chocolate flavoured or Cookies and Cream…) that is bad?

I can understand why it would be bad for post work out food - I guess something like Surge would be better?

Please fill me in with more details if you could. Thanks

15

[quote]aether wrote:
Hi,

Sorry I’m really interested in learning about what’s good for me -

‘because it isn’t’ doesn’t really tell me much…

What is it about ON 100% Gold Standard (Chocolate flavoured or Cookies and Cream…) that is bad?

I can understand why it would be bad for post work out food - I guess something like Surge would be better?

Please fill me in with more details if you could. Thanks[/quote]

Well it doesn’t taste good and it doesn’t mix well. Some would not agree with me because they don’t know any better. If that’s all you’ve ever had it probably isn’t that bad.

As for it actually being “bad”? Hell it’s whey protein. It’s not a great blend, but it’s ok. It’s certainly better than doing nothing at all.

16

thank you, especially eengrms76, for your replies. it really got me thinking straight.