I’ve been lifting weights for a couple years now, but just to stay lean. Recently I decided that I want to bulk up so I decided to get a personal trainer at the gym for a couple weeks to help give me some tips.
These are some of the supps he recommended to me:
TestoFreak (natural testo booster)
Cytogainer (Protein powder)
NO Xplode (energy booster)
CR2 (creatine)
Halovar (basically legal steroids, which is why I’m not sure if I should be taking it)
He also recommended that I eat at LEAST 300g of protein per day, which seems a little odd to me since most articles I read about protein only say that I should only consume up to 1.5g/lb of body weight, which would be around 225g.
Some background info on me: I’m 18 years old, 5’10" at 150 lbs.
What I’m wondering is if all of these are safe to be taking for me. I’m extremely hesitant to go on the Halovar (only one that I’m still not on) after reading the side effects. Would it hurt if I just went on it for a month or two to help bulk and then stopped using it?
I’m also not really sure that I need a testosterone booster since I’m 18 years old, will it hurt me in any way?
Like I said I’m new (and ignorant) to a lot of these supplements so any help is greatly appreciated, thanks for any help!
I wounldn’t recommend any of those brands. lol. You’re 18, your Test is naturally really high. NO Xplode is a waste of money IMO, unless you respond well to caffeine stimulants. Even if that is the case its WAY over priced. Cytogainer is a weight gainer, which I don’t like, I’ll explain later. CR2 is a creatine that will most likely be 3 times the price it should be. Halovar is NOT a legal steriod, there are no such things. I wouldn’t recommend it even if it were true.
You’re new, young and read to go. You don’t need all these things. No one NEEDS all these things. What you do NEED, is to focus ALOT on what you eat. You need to eat a high amount of protein (I wouldn’t worry going up to 300grams), and an overall high amount of calories. A weight gainer is an easy way to get calories in throughout the day, but its not ideal calories. Stick to food and lots of it. Train hard, you will see alot of progress.
Halovar (basically legal steroids, which is why I’m not sure if I should be taking it)[/quote]
Probably unneccessary, since you’re 18, I would avoid it for cost reasons.
Protein powder in general is a good supplement, however, if you are eating 300g of protein a day from real food, it’s not needed. Use it if you have trouble hitting your protein needs.
NO boosters are a waste of money IMO, and I know a lot of people here share my view.
While I’ve used CR2 before, I prefer creatine monohydrate.
I would avoid it for a number of reasons, see below.
[quote]He also recommended that I eat at LEAST 300g of protein per day, which seems a little odd to me since most articles I read about protein only say that I should only consume up to 1.5g/lb of body weight, which would be around 225g.
[/quote]
2g of protein/lb of bodyweight is high, but you are trying to gain weight. I know Poliquin has recommend that much in the past.
AS well you should be. You weight 150 lbs. You don’t need many sups, and you really don’t need anabolic support at this point. Eat big, lift big, and you’ll grow. At this point, the only sups you should consider using are Fish oil, creatine, protein powder, and a greens sup. Most of your nutrients should come from real food. Supplements are just that, supplements. They’re great when used properly in addition to a solid nutrition and training program, but without a solid base, you might as well just eat your money and save yourself a trip to the store. Spend a few years of solid eating and balls to the wall training, and then you’ll be in a position to add sups.
Stay away from everything that Douchebag of a trainer tells you supplement wise. Stick with the Basics. Whey Isolate, Creatine Monohydrate, BCAA’s. NO Exlpode is sugar and caffeine in a bottle. That idiot of a trainer probably swears by it and thinks he gets mad pumps and crazy strong off of it. Yeah Brah’! Weight gainers are simply protein shakes LOADED with sugar.
Yeah you’ll gain weight, but it will be sloppy and it will be fast. And that Halavol or whatever is essentially a steroid. It is called a Pro-Hormone. Your body essentially converts it into the steroid it is copying once it enters your body. The only problem is alot of those compounds know one know’s anything about them and can never determine what will truly happen when you take them. So DON’T take it and you don’t need it because you are only 18.
Make it simple for yourself. Log EVERYTHING you eat in a day for about 2 weeks. Figure out your average daily calorie intake and increase it by 300 calories. Keep it at that new number for a week or 2 and see what type of progress you make. If not enough progress, bump up your daily Calorie intake by another 300 calories and keep doing that until you start making the progress you wish to make.
Now what type of nutrition knowledge do you have? And how well is your diet set up right now? I think those two questions are more important at this point.
[quote]njrusmc wrote:
“Cytogainer is a weight gainer, which I don’t like, I’ll explain later.”
Please explain this. I am interested in the response seeing as how I just bought 12 lbs of it in an effort to gain a little more.[/quote]
I just don’t like weight gainers in general (nothing specific towards cyto). I feel that they’re loaded with too many calories and/or sugar for one meal and the weight they will encourage to put on is not the weight a person wants. I always rather have my calories from food throughout the day.
Ok thanks for the input everyone, I really appreciate it.
I decided that I’ll stay on the NO Xplode just because I really feel like I need it in the morning before I work out to get my heart pumping.
I’m also going to stay on the Cytogainer for now, since I really need the protein (and I have another bucket left). After that I’ll switch over to regular Whey isolate.
I think I’ll also stick with the CR2. Even though it’s more expensive I like it more than the creatine mono because it’s in pill form. I hate the powder, it never mixes all the way and I end up feeling like I’m wasting a lot of it because a lot of powder is always left over at the bottom.
I’ll drop the TestoFreak and stay away from the Halovar though.
Other than that I’ll just train hard and try to focus on my diet and make sure that I’m getting enough as much protein as I can from food like you guys said.
[quote]elusive wrote:
njrusmc wrote:
“Cytogainer is a weight gainer, which I don’t like, I’ll explain later.”
Please explain this. I am interested in the response seeing as how I just bought 12 lbs of it in an effort to gain a little more.
I just don’t like weight gainers in general (nothing specific towards cyto). I feel that they’re loaded with too many calories and/or sugar for one meal and the weight they will encourage to put on is not the weight a person wants. I always rather have my calories from food throughout the day.[/quote]
Thanks, Cyto is almost entirely complex carbs (or so the label says) which is why I bought it. I eat more food than I can stomach everyday and still see modest gains. I figure 1 gainer shake a day will add ~600 calories pretty easily, even if I spread it over 3-4 feeding times. I was just looking for some quick, extra, liquid calories. I appreciate the response though.