Quick rant on fitness
 

I probably could've put this in my progress thread, but I thought this subject needed it's own thread. As of the past few months, I see a lot of people trying to improve their health/lifestyles or trying to get those "gains." (On and off forums). I'm by no means an expert, but I thought I'd like to share my opinion on what supplements actually really matter. Keep in mind, this information is biased only because I'm going off of my personal past experience.

1) Creatine - Not worth it
I chose to talk about this one first because this is probably the most commonly used supplement for people who do free weights (me). At first, I was a huge advocate of creatine - why? Because I thought it was helping me get the rapid strength gains within the first year of my journey. I appeared bigger (definitely bloaty), was getting stronger at a pretty good pace.
Within the last 2-3 months, I've stopped taking creatine completely. And guess what? Nothing fucking happened. The only thing I notice from this supplement is that I piss it out within 10 to 15 minutes.


2) Whey Protein powder DEFINITELY not worth it
Also a waste of money. I have not purchased one tub of whey protein in the last 4 months. For the longest time, I used to think whey protein was ESSENTIAL for recovery and muscle building. Why? Because that's what the "experts" say. Here I am blowing 30 to 50 bucks a tub on protein, just to find out it's making me blow a hot one in the toilet.

3) BCAAS Not worth it
Also another waste because BCAAS are in your protein powder. It's also in a lot of the food you eat.

4) Preworkout Not worth it
Eh, I actually do like preworkout, but once again, it doesn't make you any stronger.

5) Test boosters Not worth it
All it did was make my dick hard. No strength gains were acquired.

6) Premade protein shakes Not worth it
Also waste of money.


Supplements that do matter

1) Food Good shet
For obvious reasons. Eating REAL food vs synthetic bullshit is always going to win. For example, 5 egg whites is gonna be better than 1 scoop of whey

2) Sleep Good shet
If you don't sleep, you don't grow/perform well


For the longest time, I used to give supplements (the first list) so much praise during my journey. Because of that, I was discrediting the hard work that I put into all of this.

Don't waste your money. Eat, sleep, and train.

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

I'm curious about preworkout not being worth it; I've heard that's the only supplement that truly is worth it (except whey if trying to bulk)...

How about aminos? I was recommended them and I don't know well enough to disagree per se

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

Preworkout does work, but I just personally do not find it to be a necessity. All it does it help push you harder during your workouts. A person that is highly motivated could do the same thing without the preworkout.
It doesn't make you stronger, and it doesn't help you reach your fitness goals any quicker than it would without it.

BCAAs are also worthless too imo. If you buy a whey protein, chances are you're getting plenty of BCAAS (which makes it even more worthless). BCAAS are in a lot of the foods you eat already...like chicken, fish, eggs, etc. More is not better.
The whole concept of BCAAS is that when you take them, your body will use them as a preferred energy source while you're working out.

My only experience from BCAAS is that it just makes me piss while I'm trying to workout.

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

I am partial to pre-workout as well, but it isn't necessary.

I mean BCAA's/protein powder are nice in theory if you aren't getting adequate protein from your diet(food) alone

I personally do a lot of fasting so I like having BCAA's sometimes during the day as a preworkout or intra-workout

A lot of people do make that mistake about taking BCAA's and protein powder cuz the whey is gonna have all the BCAA's you need

you forgot to mention l-glutamine btw

people don't realize if they have a balanced diet they dont need all these supplements, but I actually do take extra l-glutamine or glycine if I just feel my body could use some excess

edit: and I just posted this not realizing you responded ups

edit2: People spend way too much money on supplements, its a whole racket. I don't think the benefits you can get from them are usually worth it at all. I agree about the creatine too, never really cared for it or saw that much of a difference besides "pump

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

what advantage do you get from taking glutamine and glycine?

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

I take protein strictly to help me meet my daily protein goal. I can't say much on anything else because I don't take them. I can understand preworkout but I've never been in a situation where I felt I needed to take it

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

There have been a lot of studies on l-glutamine, it has something to do with glycogen synthesis post-workout and muscle recovery. If you aren't eating much it is one of the main ones you would want to supplement. But it would be included in BCAA's or p much any normal protein source, although they say the body can use much more than what is "needed" and does well with more flooding the system after a workout.

L-glycine in higher doses makes my muscles relax, I'll take it with magnesium supplements at bed time sometimes when I'm really beat up from my workout

I don't take them religiously, but ya

It's just that people at supplement shops want to sell you a lot of L-glutamine and tell you to take it like 3 times a day, like 15gs a day. I don't notice a difference doing that vs taking 5gs after a hard workout and I feel like I do recover a bit faster

edit: Also, glycine is supposed to help with collagen production esp in older people like 40+

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

What is your protein goal for each day?

See that’s what bothers me is that people in supplement shops are always trying to push something on me - they say “oh this is what you need” when their overall physique isn’t even impressive at all.

I can always give it a go and make a review about it as well. I’m pretty huge on the idea of fast recovery.

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

I know its tired but I also get a big benefit from turmeric w/ DOMS. works better than ibuprofen for me personally

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

My goal is .7g per pound which is 196 grams right now.

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

I’m not trying to be negative but I don’t believe that your body needs 196 grams of protein. 196 would send me to the toilet

Edit: I know I used to preach that 70 percent of your body weight is what your body needs but I’m inclined to believe that it’s even less than that.

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

lol I have no idea what this is

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

I've read different things from different places with some saying that .36 is enough but I'm on a 1kcal deficit and am fairly active. I'm trying not to have my carbs take up more than 40% of my calories too.

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

Ah okay - that does make sense. Typically during a weight cut you do increase your protein to prevent muscle loss. I’m not sure what the majority of your diet consist of, but just don’t make the mistake of having a majority of your protein come from powder.

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

This is going to sound mad objective, but. Leafy greens >>> protein

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

Yeah only 50g of it comes from powder and it's protein isolate.

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

i think you mean subjective

@mahou, DOMS = delayed onset muscle soreness, like when you workout, then suddenly 2 days later you are sore af

also if you're trying to lose weight I wouldn't even worry about getting that much protein, it would be easier to just lose most of the weight. As long as you lift often and heavy I promise you won't lose that much muscle and you will still gain strength, you'll probably still gain muscle

also, i wouldn't take in protein, based on your calculations if you want to stick with those, using what your body weight currently is. Use what your body weight target is, idk if you are doing that or no

but its way easier to focus on losing weight first IN MY XP cause then you can really focus on muscle gain when you're within like 5% of your goal BFP (body fat %)

it is true tho that whey protein is like cheap af compared to normal food a lot of times for the amt of protein you are getting and protein intake is super important, i personally just dont like counting it or hitting X amount I just eat a lot of high protein food esp after working out

/ramble

(sorry i know i should probably stay in my hula hoop but i am kinda into this stuff and i just wanna help sry if its rude and feel free to ignore my opinions/advice completely)

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

Well I've been adjusting my protein intake as I lose weight. So it's always going down as my weight goes down. I also have a lot of body fat to lose(30-32% bf right now)so I figure why not gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. I'll try out not using protein powder and see if there's any difference. If not then yeah I probably consume enough protein through food

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

well, that's what I'm saying. As long as you are working out and eating protein, I don't think you need to worry too much about hitting a protein goal when you are cutting. A lot of people say otherwise but usually trying to hit that protein goal is just gonna put your consumption higher and slows down weight loss

Re: Quick rant on fitness
 

Pretty sure I meant objective.
As in, I'd rather object than subject myself to not letting this go. Oxford can get it n'amean. The main objective.