Supplements are fast becoming a large part of bodybuilding and justly so. If you estimate what is left of actual bio-active nutrients in today's series of processed foods you can also figure out that you'd need to eat a massive amount of calories to get the necessary building blocks for growth. And sadly, these foods comprise most of our daily intake in the Western World. Supplements may give you those nutrients in an undenatured, concentrated form so that you can focus on your calories, sleep and training. Alas someone smelled money and the world of supplementation became one of advertising and deception, which in turn lead to many young lifters believing supplementation was the legal alternative to steroids.
So what should you buy? Well, keep it simple and keep it cheap. If it costs too much chances are you won't get enough out of it to justify what you spent on it. And I don't know about you, but I'd hate to go broke over adding a few pounds. This is why, in combination with some other experienced lifters, I made a Top 10 list and dug very deep on how and why you should use them, but above all why that choice is better than alternatives. Note that all the supplements are some of the cheapest and cost-effective if you calculate what all you get for the price of a daily dose. So for your entertainment, and hopefully more, here are the top 3 supplements in order of importance in relation to the goal:PACKING ON MUSCLE AND SIZE!
1- A MULTI-VITAMIN:
Why you need it: When eating a diet meant for mass, you will no doubt be targeting the foods that can pack the most calories on from the needed macro-nutrients. In turn this can lead to a deficiency in Micro-nutrients, meaning vitamins and minerals. Such a deficiency can impair optimum functioning of the body and consquently hinder your growth. Minerals are building blocks, they are used for cellular actions, building bone, transporting nutrients and so, whilst vitamins provide enzymatic functions in digesting foods and and protect the system against damage from the outside and inside. Levels of these substances must be kept above a certain level to maintain proper health, but kept a great deal higher for optimal functioning of your system. That's why supplementing with a multi-vitamin above all else makes sense: you get at least your daily minimum of all these nutrients avoiding anything going wrong with your quest for growth, and together with the rest of the vitamins and minerals found in every food to some extent, you are bound to be on the road to getting everything you system needs.
How it works: A good multi-vitamin contains at least 100 percent of the FDA minimum needed daily to avoid deficiency. While it is true that some of these things will compete for absorption in the stomach, the body knows what it needs. Normally a large amount of calcium will hinder absorption of Zinc and Magnesium, even Iron. The body favors calcium because it needs a lot of it. But if you have enough calcium and a severe deficiency in one of the aforementioned substances, the body will not ignore a possibility to get some more. So the ingenuity of the body and the way it works makes this a top supplement rather than the supplement itself. These absorption competitions should be taken into account if you buy extra supplemental minerals, but for your basic multi, it's not a true issue.
2- A WEIGHT GAINER:
Why you need it: What better for packing on mass than a WEIGHT gainer. The main thing when bulking, next to getting your needed share of macro and micro nutrients is of course packing on all the calories you can handle without turning into a balloon. Since you will be expending quite a bit of calories while bulking, trying to add all that muscle, sometimes it will be hard to make your calorie-count every single day from nutritious self-prepared meals. Your family will not always be as supportive of an 8-meal a day habit. Take it from me. That's where weight gainers come in. Ranging from 600 to 3000 calories these gainers allow you to add serious additional calories from quality sources without having to spend hours behind a stove. Just mix and you have an instant high-calorie meal... and cost-effective too. They may seem expensive, but if you try to calculate what it would cost to make a similar meal yourself taking into account calories, quality and bio-availability of the nutrients, additional vitamins and minerals and ease of preparation, you'll soon find just how little they really cost.
How it works: As an additional easy to prepare meal they add calories to your daily totals drastically while giving you a correct balance of protein and carbs (1 to 1 up to 1 to 2, with most carbs coming from simple sugars) and a good helping of fat. Not to mention extra vitamins and minerals, which is not always the case with calorie-dense foods, which will be what your targeting if growth is what you seek. This way you can get to your target healthily without running up the grocery bill too high.
How to use it: Use it as a post-workout meal, as a meal before going to bed (your burn up to 70 cals an hour while sleeping, keep that in mind) and potentially as meals when it is hard to prepare a meal, like midmorning or mid-afternoon, times you spend at work and so on. Use a serving, but be sure to pick a weight gainer that in combination with your regular meals and the amount of shakes you will take will meet or exceed your demands without turning you into a sumo. No need to invest in a 3000-cal shake if you already eat 3000 cals a day and take 2-3 shakes daily. That will only make you fat with that amount of sugar.
If you are of an endo-morphic (heavy) body-type it may be best to look in to a low-carb gainer or even an Meal Replacement powder (negative protein to carb rate) to avoid excess bodyfat. The trouble with these is that they are very expensive, don't always provide the best balance of nutrients and they are pre-packaged, so they don't allow you to choose your doses and amounts. But for the endomorphs the amount of protein takes priority. If you are ecto- or meso-morphic its is best to get a weight gainer, it'll be hard to digest all protein and replenish Glycogen on an MRP. Protein powders are not an option because you need quite a lot, but the amount of pure protein that can be absorbed without extra fat or carbs is limited (30-35 grams). That's why neither protein nor MRP is included in this 'bulking' list.
3- VITAMIN B-COMPLEX:
Why you need it: B-vitamins have many anabolic properties separately and have often been the subject of supplementation. Hereby I think of Niacin (B3), Pyridoxine (B6) and Cobalamin (B12). But people often forget that for a lot less money they can get better gains by getting a B-complex which combines all of them in optimal doses (50-100 mg, there is no way you need 500 mg of Niacin). This harnesses the synergistic effect of B-vitamins which means better digestion and absorption of carbs, protein and fat and the fact that they comport themselves as enzymes in many bodily functions. You can't overdose on them anyway since water-soluble vitamins are readily excreted if you have too much.
How it works: In the stomach B-vitamins will release and control gastric juice, help absorb and digest macronutrients, which in turn get more out of the things you eat. Next to that all of them have a host of individual properties. B6 is a good liver-protector, B9 is good for absorbing things in cells, B12 is needed for energy and so on and so on. If we could get all our nutrients from food easily and eat enough, this would no doubt be my Nr2 supplement. If you are a person who can eat big and watch his grocery bill and you have decent genetics, a B-complex and multi-vitamin is all you really need to grow.
How to use it: Take these with a meal as well, but not at the same one as your multi. Take one serving (with 50-100 mg of all B-vitamins) immediately after your meal. Say you get your multi, like most people, at breakfast, take one serving of B-complex after lunch.
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