What Are The Basics

I have just joined the site and I am excited to have found a place with so much great information. However, there in lies my situation, there is sooo much information. A little over a year ago I was hitting the gym hard, I had a few guys that took me under their wing and helped me with my workout and supplements. Just recently I have moved to Washington DC and fell out of any kind of workout.

The good news is that I have found a gym and a workout program that I think is going to help me get back on track and propel me to my goals. So, nutrition, check, workout program check, supplements ? HHHHEEELLLLPPP!!!

I am for all intents and purposes starting all over, going back to the basics! I need some help. I have tried reading as many post as I could but the more I read the more confused I get. I could use some advice on what the basics are, what are the staples, what should I have??? I want to add SOME mass, I am not ready to compete I just want to be about 170lbs (currently I am at 150lb).

Here is what I have so far, please comment on if it is something I should cut out or what I should add. Any advice would help.

L-Glutamine - 1000mg per day
Multi Vitamin/Minerals and Herbs
E 2000 IU per day
B-12 ? 1000 mcg per day
Zinc Citrate 200 mg per day
Whey Protein ? at least 100g per day

Am I missing anything? If so what and how much of it should I also include.

Thanks
DCRunt

100g of whey protein?? Most of your protein should come from whole foods. Save the whey for a post-workout drink.

I see nothing wrong with 100g whey as long as your getting a lot more from whole foods.

Add?? Missing?? Id say a fish oil and creatine thye are staples IMO and I would personally drop the glutamine heck your getting more than enough from your whey alone.

Phill

Check this out and all your questions will likely be answered:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=640350

[quote]Phill wrote:
I see nothing wrong with 100g whey as long as your getting a lot more from whole foods.

Add?? Missing?? Id say a fish oil and creatine thye are staples IMO and I would personally drop the glutamine heck your getting more than enough from your whey alone.

Phill[/quote]

Thanks for the advice - the creatine I can figure out how much I should be taking, do you have a dose recomendation for the fish oil?

[quote]youngoldguy wrote:
Check this out and all your questions will likely be answered:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=640350[/quote]

I previously found some great information there, however, there was not much in the way of just the basics. But thanks for your post.

Basics?

Lift. You don’t need to worry about supplements and all of the other stuff yet. Lift. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.

Get a good multi, some protien powder, and a surge like shake for post workout. And lift.

Make sure there is always milk in your fridge. Drink it. Drink milk until you love it. Until you hate it. Whatever.

Also make sure there is tuna, chicken, steaks, whatever in your fridge. All the time. Eat them.

Check out Flameout in the T-Nation store. In general, with fish oil, all the research I’ve seen points to “more is better” - so generally speaking, just keep it to about 1/3 of your daily fat intake.

Suggestion #1: No matter how busy you get, it is better to get a 20-minute compound workout in once a week when you’re going through stuff in your life (moving, etc) than to have to start all over again.

What workout program did you find? There are excellent ones on here - some that you find in other places aren’t as well-researched and are based on faulty logic or assumptions (ie, you’re on steroids). One great thing about Chad Waterbury is you can follow his programs for years and keep progressing. He has a book for sale on T-Nation with years of programming, but you can also just start with ABBH and move to ABBH II and on to his other stuff from there.

E is a little over-prescribed, IMHO. A professor I had in a graduate nutrition class talked about the research on E and heart disease - most studies showed a slight improvement or a slight negative effect - basically, sum zero. In general, the best advice I’ve heard on antioxidants is that they work in concert, and that no single one alone will do it. Better to eat a ton of fruits and vegetables, which provide lots of different antioxidants in addition to healthy plant chemicals. Or “Greens +”

What is your diet like? I’m starting to feel like a T-Nation groupie, but check out Berardi’s Precision Nutrition.

Echo on the Creatine - and you don’t need a ton, 5 grams is plenty. I love Surge right after a workout if you can afford it, it really does help recovery - Surge with Creatine and some BCAAs is awesome right after lifting. I like ZMA before bed - I’m feeling the effects of having run out of it. Probably shouldn’t take ZMA with Zinc Citrate, though.

And also, make sure you have a clear understanding of the different types of protein powder, when to take them, and why. There’s some great stuff in the articles section - check out protein roundtable, etc.

Squats and milk.

Good nutrition should be goal number one. Eat to gain mass.

Your training program should come next. You don’t need a perfect program, you just need to work hard!

As for basic supplements, I keep things basic all the time:

  1. Fish oils (Flame-Out or Sam’s Club brand)
  2. Protein powder (Metabolic Drive)
  3. Post-workout drink (Surge)
  4. Greens+
  5. ZMA
  6. Optional: Creatine

That’s as basic as it gets. I don’t have a multi-vitamin on there because I think most of them are garbage, and if you are eating a plethora of fruits, veggies and lean protein sources (along with Greens+), you should be getting plenty of vitamins.

[quote]DCRunt wrote:
Phill wrote:
I see nothing wrong with 100g whey as long as your getting a lot more from whole foods.

Add?? Missing?? Id say a fish oil and creatine thye are staples IMO and I would personally drop the glutamine heck your getting more than enough from your whey alone.

Phill

Thanks for the advice - the creatine I can figure out how much I should be taking, do you have a dose recomendation for the fish oil?

[/quote]

Generally I feel 10grams is good I use 18-21 3 at each meal 6-6 of which are Flameout and the rest walmart or walgreens brand.

Phill