I'm starting on the Body for Life 12 week challenge which is to my knowledge sponsored by EAS; so I'm expecting a level of bias to use EAS products during this challenge. ALOT of the people who had success with this challenge listed a bunch of supplements they used, of course most of them were EAS supplements. My question is; outside of multi-vitamins and flaxseed oils, are any other supplements really useful? I'm talking things such as "MUSCLETECH HYDROXYCUT HARDCORE ", "BSN CELLMASS", "MUSCLETECH naNOX9" etc etc etc.....I'm not a big believer in drugs to help you shed weight, but I know that most people in good physical shape in the gym use some type of supplement. Where do I start with thse?
Body For Life isn't the worst program, if you are choosing to do something like that. I'm pretty sure Steve and I have talked about this before somewhere, and if I remember correctly he wasn't a huge fan of it (IIRC it was the mandatory 6 meals/day). Don't want to put words in his mouth, though.
From what I remember, it is a program that has you eat 6 small meals a day that are protein heavy, and alternate days between lifting (The split they recommended wasn't terrible if I remember... I'll see if I can find it), and interval training for cardio. If you go from 2-3 meals/day to 6 meals a day, you are going to feel like you are eating every second of the day. I liked it, as it made me aware of everything I was putting in 'cause so much of the day was devoted to eating/what I was eating. However, if you ask Steve, 6 meals a day does not increase your metabolism a buttload, and he has studdies to back that. I'll dig around and see if I can't find that research.
As far as NEEDING sups, you never NEED them, no matter what the trainers behind the counter at your gym, or the guy taking steroids will tell you. Here are some experiences I've had with different sups, and my honest personal opinions on 'em.
Hydroxicut/weight loss pills/workout pills: Gave me lots of energy, but not all of it was useable. It helped out with my workouts in that I was on task and focused for the later reps and later sets in the workout where I'd usually be far less focused 'cause I'd usually be out of energy. However, taking them morning/noon/dinner or however they recommend now that they're without ephed was a waste of money, and turned me into a grouchy/anxious jerk. Unless you are at a point in your workouts where you have been beating 'em up for years and are plateauing and nothing else has worked to bump you, there's not really any reason to consider using these, and even then, it is still a coin flip. I personally am never going to use them again.
Protein: With the 6 meals a day the way they suggest, you should be getting plenty of protein. People around here have been saying 1g/lb of lean body mass. However, if you aren't, this wouldn't be bad. Thanks to discussions with various members of this board, I have upped my daily amount of protein, and instead of eating ten whole cows and a whole mess of chickens a day, I add in a protein shake or two. Quick tip if you decide to use protein powder... Grab a blender and some milk (whole is better than skim is better than water, if you can spare the calories), and a banana (if you aren't allergic like me)... dump it in and blend till there are no chunks left. Nothing turns you off of these like watery, lumpy shakes.
Creatine: I use this stuff on and off, but I wouldn't use it during a period where my intent was to lose weight. It flushes water into your muscles, and basically gives your muscles ADP a free recharge to ATP (science boiled WAY down there, but just to give you an idea). It has zero restorative properties, and is solely for knocking out the 8th rep in a set where you might have only gotten seven without it.
Aside from those, there isn't much on the market that is that great. Lots of the big "MUSCLEBUILDO-80000" are really just stacks of different stimulants mixed with creatine, and priced way high.
My advice: Try it without all the extra goofy crap first. If you find that there is an area that is sufficiently lacking, and there is nothing else that is working for you to help that area... then do some more research/looking/asking around. Don't go into this with the mindset that you're going to need help.
Good luck with the contest!
--James
