What all the fuss about supplementation??

So you are grafting your ass off, eating clean, keeping hydrated and putting in your all, but still struggling to get the results you are hoping for.

You are probably thinking what else is there to help accelerate these results.

SUPPLEMENTATION!!

Research has shown that alongside a healthy, wholesome diet, supplementing with the right products can show to have a beneficial effect on your training, body composition, energy levels and even your sex drive (HELL YEAH!!!!)J.

Supplements come in many forms: powders, pills, drinks, foods etc. They are anything from multivitamins, protein powder, even your illegal supplements such as steroids (don’t touch these).

I train hard and eat clean, but strive to get better, stronger, fitter, and like everyone want to look better. Since I started training nearly over 10 years ago, I have tried all kinds of supplements, from pre workouts, to supplements you take during workouts, even supplements you take to help with sleep.

Some of these work, some of them just made me go to the toilet a lot more, I didn’t need help with that!

After lots of money being spent and copious amounts of toilet trips, I whittled down the supplements which worked for me and got rid of the ones that didn’t.

I now take protein powder, HMB, Glutamine, Creatine, Multi-Vitamins, Green Tea Extract and Glucosamine.

The protein powder helps me get the correct amount of protein into my diet for my nutritional goals. I eat as much protein as I can and try and get it through my diet but although I eat lots, I always find I am 40g short on my protein goal, this equates to 2 protein shakes.

HMB and Glutamine I take post workout to replenish and repair my muscles. Since taking these I have noticed a huge difference in my muscle size, strength and recovery rate. As well, I have noticed my immunity and fat burn has increased. 

The creatine has helped with improving my anaerobic power and sped up my recovery rate during my workout. It has also helped increase my muscle size and strength.

The Green tea has had a huge impact on my fat metabolism. Since I started my Green Tea supplementation of 2016, along with my training and diet I lost 1 stone in weight… around 2 inches off my well established university gut. Moreover, my energy levels have increased, my immunity to colds and illnesses has increased and I feel a hell of a lot healthier. At university I ran a study on Green Tea Extract and the short term effect it has on moderately intense exercise. Although (due to the small sample size) my findings came out as non-significant, numerous studies which I researched have shown that GTE has had a positive effect on fat utilisation during moderately intense steady state exercise. (If interested please read my dissertation on GTE, when we post it on the GO:VER Gym blog in the coming weeks)

I take the multivitamins mainly to help with my immunity, but also because I suffer quite badly with S.A.D (Seasonal Affective Disorder). S.A.D is associated with a lack of vitamin D, so multivitamins greatly help me with this.

Although I take these supplements, I never become dependent on them and always try to get everything I need firstly through my diet. These just give me that bit extra.

“You can always run your car on unleaded, but if you spend a little more and run it on super unleaded it performs better”.  I know which one I prefer.

- Olly Stables