Which Supplements Do I Truly Need

Nutrition
1

Hello everyone. I am new to the T-Nation website and forums and am hoping to get so info. I have been trying to gather some information about supplements and which ones are staples in the muscle builders regime. I have read articles and forums and I have just been floaded with information. I am not quit sure on what way to go and what exactly I need. I know to that what might work for one person might not work for the other, but I don’t really want to spend 100’s of dollars on supplements that might not work or that I don’t really need for my goals.

I currently weigh 200Lbs and my goal is to get to 210Lbs(pics on my magnum page). I am currently taking Surge, muscle milk, omega 3’s, multi-vitamin and flax. My diet consists of moderate to heavy protein and am consuming about 5000 calories a day. Do I really need BCAA, creatine, HOT-ROX, Alpha Male, etc… I feel like I have been on a plateau for about 2 months so have I progressed as for as my current routine/diet will allow and do I need a little extra push to get me there? Any help would be great. Thanks.

2

You don’t “need” any supplements.

There may be products that will accelerate your progress if you’re doing everything else correctly, however.

BCAA, Creatine and Alpha Male do make sense for you, but I’d only add one at a time so you can get a better understanding of how each works. Start with creatine.

I have no idea why you’d want to use HOT-ROX if your goal is to gain weight.

Just read the articles associated with these products for a description of what they do.

3

[quote]2B210 wrote:
I feel like I have been on a plateau for about 2 months so have I progressed as for as my current routine/diet will allow and do I need a little extra push to get me there? Any help would be great. Thanks.[/quote]

If this is the case, change your diet and training.

4

The previous poster is correct in that you don’t need supplements.

You can get a better idea of what various products do by reading the following article by CT.

http://www.t-nation.com/article/diet_and_nutrition/supplementation_for_newbies&cr=

This will help you understand how to put together an effective supplement program instead of throwing money away on random products that may not suite your goals.

5

I just got done reading the article by CT. Great article and it answered just about all of my questions. Thanks everyone for the input.

6

Protein powder, Surge. Really that’s all. Maybe creatine.

Carbolin 19 and BCAA if you want to get fancy, but not needed to put on mass.

7

If i wanted to where would I buy some of the specialty stuff.

glycerol/glycerine
glutamine
glycine

I noticed mopst of these from CT article. Are these supplements I can take individually or find them in other products, such as drinks or pills.

8

[quote]ChrisKing wrote:
2B210 wrote:
I feel like I have been on a plateau for about 2 months so have I progressed as for as my current routine/diet will allow and do I need a little extra push to get me there? Any help would be great. Thanks.[/quote]

BETA-7

9

If you’re interested in micro nutrient supplements as well, you might consider seeing a professional nutritionist and getting a hair mineral analysis done. I just discovered that I’m very low on manganese of all things (not magnesium, but manganese) and low on zinc, despite taking ZMA.

10

[quote]yorik wrote:
If you’re interested in micro nutrient supplements as well, you might consider seeing a professional nutritionist and getting a hair mineral analysis done. I just discovered that I’m very low on manganese of all things (not magnesium, but manganese) and low on zinc, despite taking ZMA. [/quote]

From what I’ve seen, hair analysis are often not reliable.

11

[quote]2B210 wrote:
If i wanted to where would I buy some of the specialty stuff.

glycerol/glycerine
glutamine
glycine

I noticed mopst of these from CT article. Are these supplements I can take individually or find them in other products, such as drinks or pills.[/quote]

You don’t really need glutamine if you are trying to add mass. You take that with whey post-workout when you are not using Surge either because you are too fat or you are in the midst of seriously shredding. However, you can get it online. Do a google search for glycine powder. I use the one from Life Extension. But I think you can probably find it cheaper. NOW might make it if I remember right.

12

I think your need creatine, and protein to get good quality muscle.

13

Alpha lipoic acid, creatine with some grape juice are good supplements before your workouts and its cheap. I have had some good results with just this. I have added BETA-7 that seems to be effective but just dont like the tingles.

But in the end their is nothing like solid food, if you have the time to prepare

14

FOOD!

Supplements should be used to supplement your diet.

So I think you should get your diet dialed in.

Post what it is so we can take a look at it.

15

the following, imo, should be in everyone’s staple.

Surge PWO
fishoil
creatine

Everything else is just an addition according to how much you’re willing to flush your wallet.

Alpha Male gets kind of expensive to be a staple, but it’s worth doing a bottle if you’re plateuing. Maybe it’s just me but everytime I add an TRIBEX/Alpha Male to my stack im able to break my current plateau. I noticed a gain from roughly 150 to 160 on TRIBEX, another plateau. And just recently after adding Surge & Alpha Male, I went from 160 to 170.

Could just be a physcological thing though or i’ve just been eating better. Training has stayed the same.

16

Fishoil is an absolute must, for health reasons alone. I doubt that anything beats it cost/benefit wise.

Creatine and ZMA are dirt cheap so why not take them. No wonderdrugs but they work.

If you have enough money left Surge would be an excellent idea.

17

Thanks everyone for their input. Here is what I am going with.

Muscle milk
Surge
creatine
fish oil
BCAA

After reading all of the info and articles I think these are probably waht fir my goals best. Thanks agian everyone. Lift on!!

18

Upon further investigation and influence I decided to go with Bioteset Metabolic Drive complete instead of muscle milk. Any body have any experience/results with Metabolic Drive?