The 7 Must-Have Supplements for Strength Training
In a world where everyone is trying to sell you something its important to understand what is actually worth buying based on the facts and what is just simply trying to use half-naked people on Instagram to try and take your hard-earned cash! The health and fitness industry has seen a huge influx of underhanded marketing techniques since the use of platforms gave birth to even greater manipulation from huge corporations. Although the supplements documented below are in no particular order Number 1 is most definitely your go-to supplement if you are just starting off! No one likes to hear it because the thought of purchasing multivitamins doesn’t excite anyone but the facts are simple if you are going to be putting your body through the daily stress of strenuous exercise then you must first cover all your basis and ensure your body is having all its basic needs met! Think of it as an insurance policy just in case you don’t get everything you need from your diet you are getting it through supplementation and regardless of if you want to become a mass monster of a shredded statue calved from the ancient greek stone you must first be able to walk before you can run!
It should also be noted that although all of these supplements are freely available to purchase online that does not mean they are compliant with WADA’s banned list and if you are a competing athlete you should consult with your official representatives before consuming any of the supplements detailed below.
- Multi-Vitamin + Extra Vitamin D – As we just stated this is the one where everybody’s eyes roll and you begin to doubt the legitimacy of the article…because truth is Multi-vitamins are boring they’re not going to give you 22″ inch biceps in 3 weeks…..but then again neither are anything your being sold on Instagram from the latest guy to go viral! However i can assure you that the very same guy wakes up in a morning walks down stairs to the kitchen opens up that cupboard everyone has where its full to the brim with tablets and supplements which you don’t even know what half of them do and he throws down a couple of multi-vitamins and takes some additional vitamin D. Thats because he understands that in order for the body to obtain its physical and genetic potential it must first have all of its essential and basic needs met. And on a restricted diet where you are looking to reduce calories to lower your bodyfat it isn’t always possible to ensure you are getting the right amount of these through your diet alone! He also understand the significant ramifications it can have upon his bodies endocrinological system should these essential nutrients be out of whack! For example, look at this scenario….If you have a deficiency in vitamin B12 then it doesn’t matter how much pre-workout you take you are still going to be tired and lethargic on a regular basis which will inevitably effect your progress and intensity when working out. This is because Vitamin B12 is responsible for making red blood cells, which transport oxygen throughout your body. As a result of the deficiency, you are unable to efficiently transport oxygen to your body’s cells, making you feel tired and weak. MORAL OF THE STORY – Don’t allow your body to become deficient in the key nutrients and minerals which may seem small but play a much larger part on the regulation of the body and bodily functions outside of the gym which can significantly affect your resulting mood and performance when in the gym!
2. Vitargo – This is probably the least known supplement out there….and with good reason to! Vitargo is a Patented molecular carbohydrate derived from barley and for many years was kept a secret by the German Weightlifting team so that they could reap the many benefits from its use! Vitargo is the King of Fuel for the body……Think of how Tesla has come to dominate the automotive industry as we are in the transition to only electrical cars! If Nikola Tesla himself created Vitargo he would probably tell you it was his best invention ever!
So What is it????? well, its the fastest acting Carbohydrate to ever be manufactured/consumed in the history of the earth! To put that into some perspective…the Glycemic Index is the scale used to measure the rate at which carbohydrates begin to raise the blood sugar. The index was for many years a number between 1-99……UNTIL the discovery of Vitargo which came in at a whopping 137…..meaning it was nearly 1.5 times as high as any other carbohydrate that has ever existed!!! Sooooo why is this good? Raising blood sugar is bad right? insulin sensitivity, diabetes, higher body fat? well kinda but not always Vitargo is a high molecular weight carbohydrate which significantly raises the blood sugar in the body…but here’s the catch…it doesn’t actually contain any sugar!!!
Here’s where it gets even more interesting, Research ha shown that 15 minutes after consuming vitargo it is already in the muscle being used as fuel!! This is Crucial when looking to train at intensity for a sustained amount of periods as it replenishes glycogen stores within the muscle! Vitargo will replenish your depleted fuel reserves 70% faster than any other leading carbohydrate, leaving your muscles full, fed and fuelled for your next workout. Now throw this into an Intra workout shake along with some BCAAS and a post-workout shake with some protein (drink or food) then you can see how it can help drive those nutrients into the muscle to aid the recovery process as it replenishes glycogen and assists in the protein synthesis.
3. ibutamoren – is probably better known for its name MK-677 in the SARM world however these two compounds are exactly the same between peptide and SARM it is just the method of consumption which changes. ibutamoren is better known as a peptide and Mk-677 wrongly named a SARM however what they both do is act as a secretagogue within the body binding to ghrelin receptors on the surfaces of cells. When it binds to the receptors it then triggers a series of chain reactions including increased secretion of several hormones such as growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1). By mimicking ghrelin, Ibutamoren (MK-677) produces many significant physiological benefits in regards to performance and conditioning. In short supplementing with ibutamoren produces many of the benefits associated with taking Human Growth Hormone for a fraction of the cost! the drug was initially designed to act as a replacement for children who required HGH therapy for several types of growth-related and muscle wasting conditions as it is significantly more affordable and can yield many of the same benefits. I’m pretty sure the very fact you are reading this article i don’t need to reel off 1 by 1 the associated benefits within taking HGH! Hence by this very same assertion, the fact that the drug is currently undergoing trials to be used as a treatment for growth hormone deficiency tell you everything you need to know about its potential to force the body to secrete more HGH and release it into the body!
4. Probiotics / Digestive enzymes
Again this is another one of those on the list that won’t get you all excited and force you to head over to amazon and purchase some probiotics so that you can get jacked in 21 days! but that doesn’t mean that it’s any less important when looking to achieve your performance goals! Probiotics and digestive enzymes are crucial to overall health as the research has extensively documented the “second brain” which actually exists in the Gut and is connected to your brain via the gut-brain axis (GBA). primarily combines the sympathetic and parasympathetic arms of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which drives both afferent and efferent neural signals between the gut and the brain, respectively. The HPA axis meanwhile coordinates adaptive responses against stress including activation of memory and emotional centres in the limbic system of the brain.
To Summarise a very in-depth and complex line of research…..Just understand that the way your feel day to day your mood, your energy, how you absorb nutrients from food is all regulated and influenced on some level by your gut and the microbiome which occupies the inner walls of your gut! if these are the wrong types of microbiome or if you have recently ran a course of antibiotics which has completed decremented all of the microbiome in your gut then you again need to take these types of supplements more as an insurance type policy to ensure your bodies basic needs are being met. You cant build a house on unsteady ground, and the same goes for muscle if you are not meeting the body’s basic needs then you will significantly struggle to achieve anything above this! Those days where you feel like shit or your tired and you don’t know why? chances are this is the GBA operating on the negative feedback loops which is putting your system out of whack!
Take home message – Don’t be a dick Just get some probiotics!!!
5. SR9009 – We have already covered SR9009 in an article where we extensively document the wonder drug and discuss its potential pros and cons so we wont go into to much detail here! What we will say here however is that SR9009 has shown to invoke Mitochondrial biogenesis which is kind of a big deal since it is the process by which cells increase mitochondrial mass and we all know (or should do) that mitochondrial cells are considered to be the powerhouses cells of the body as they act like a digestive system which takes in nutrients, breaks them down, and creates energy-rich molecules for the cell.
If you wanna know exactly why SR9009 has come to be nicknamed amongst academics as “exercise in a bottle” then you can read our article by clicking the link below!
6. Kre-Alkalyn – Kre-Alkalyn is another Patented formula on the list and that alone should give you some indication as to its potential effects to increase performance. Companies don’t just spend Hundreds of Thousands of pounds to develop and then patent a molecule or a way that a molecule is formulated and synthesised.
Kre-Alkalyn – is a creatine suppliement ….know again some of you may sigh and think back to the days of mixing creatine into your vimto and feeling it grit between your teeth for days upon days before noticing any minute difference! But as we just started this isn’t just any form of creatine its a very specific formula that has been patented to protect the intellectual property so that its benefits can be exploited for commercial gains!
Kre-Alkalyn has a number of significant differences and advantages over the typical forms of creatine IE monohydrate. With Kre-Alkalyn there is no loading phase needed there is no ridiculous amounts of high dosage which could potentially harm your kidneys! Kre-Alkalyn is unique in a sense it is formulated in a way that when it is taken orally it does not get lost and broken down in the stomach as the acid traditionally meant that you were not able to synthesise much of the creatine that you was actually taking. Kre Alkalyn is pH adjusted to accommodate the acidity level of your digestive system. Therefore, the creatine remains fully stable, which means your body assimilates and utilizes it efficiently. The supplement is taken directly around your workouts so it is also much easier to use then standard versions and if you are a well educated lifter you will understand the synergistic effect of stacking Kre-Alkalyn with Vitargo, BCAA’s and some form of protein around your workouts to make use of the shuttling effect vitargo posses to drive these key muscle building and repair nutrients directly into the muscle! Hence it would be stupid not to include this on our list as the potential benefits when used with the ones above are significant!!!!
7. GABBA has been somewhat of a controversial supplement over the years!! it played a very significant role for the bodybuilding’s golden era as bodybuilders used the supplement to aid sleep and increase the production of HGH whilst sleeping! However as time progressed the drug became classified as its distant cousin GHB became the drug of choice for pathetic desperate sexual predators! Yep you read that right GABA is somewhat similar to the date rape drug GHB and this is why most of you either probably have never heard of it or would never dream of taking it yourself! But the facts are GABA is a highly effective supplementation which has been scientifically proven to increases growth hormone (GH) serum levels and protein synthesis. One study reported that GABA supplement led to a 400% increase in HGH at rest and a 200% increase following exercise. GABA was also shown to increase HGH levels by improving your sleep, since your night time growth hormone release is linked to sleep quality and depth. Hence why GABA has seen a reassurance in the last 5-10 years popping up in many different supplements which look to promote and aid recovery by increasing the sleep quality! and the fact is ….THEY WORK! If you are looking to increase HGH and improve performance, conditioning and recovery then taking a supplement like GABA which has been shown to not only aid sleep but trigger the body to secrete a shit ton more HGH whilst sleeping then we wouldn’t feel right not including it on this list!!!!!