Bodybuilding.net - Bodybuilding Forum

Dear BB gurus,
I am 5 11 and 220 with solid fat I have been on diet for 2 months lost about 15 lbs w/o any pills just simple diet and some treadmill ... recently I have changed my mind from losing weight to body transformation .... I also want to gain some more muscle or at least keep the current ones...
But I want to make a 3 years of plan please can u advise me a road map including exercises and supplements for 3 years ....
I dont want to get lots of supplement just may be whey powder withour artificals and with lots of aminoacid....
and My body cant recover for 3-4 days after a heavy routine....
I would appericiate any help

You won't really need any supplements. Why does it take you 3-4 days to recover?

I guess the reason is the lack of amino acids due to my poor diet program . I am trying to hit 2 birds with one stone... Losing fat and gaining muscle... There is also some never recoving soreness on my right hamstring for 5 years even tho i never forced it really it still reminds itself ever now and then ....
I am thinking to get isolated whey with enough BCAA s in it 2 times a day (each serving with 120 kcal) and after every workout.. I am already using l-carnitine pre work outs and i will add CLA pure 3times a day....
for now I workout 3-4 times a week starting with 45 minutes of cardio and overall weight lifting no seperated muscle group by the end of 6th week....
any feedback???

Wow, a three year plan? And here I thought this thread might be a lot of work

Is there a reason you can't get your diet in check? Why waste money on supplements? real food tastes way better than powders and pills.

Here are my thoughts. You can make a few changes in your diet (assuming you have not been living off of deep fried snickers as your main caloric intake for several years) that will have a drastic impact on your health, your strength, your body composition and your energy levels... or you can cram metric butt tons of little pills and powder down your gullet that will make the difference between a mole hill and a slightly larger mole hill.

I mean, if the stuff is free, might as well use it, but I wouldn't spend money on it. In fact, if you feel the urge to toss money around in the hopes that it will make you muscular, my address is....

thx Andrew I agree with you about natural foods but i have no time to prepare or even to go for a good restaurant for lunch time..
no i dont eat fried junk foods but i put on weight due to hard office work... as for the money matters a pure whey protein comes cheaper to me in respect to home prepared food .... of course i dont replace it for all meals but i had whey protein for the last 3 days of lunch and i feel ok... for dinner i had more time to prepare some decent food and i eat at home...
I am not talking about hardcore supplements and suppose i had enough money for state of art supplement what do u recommend?

What would I say?

A) I would say that whey as a meal replacement is junk. Well, possibly better than a supersized french fry, but in the grand scheme of "goodness" I doubt it ranks high. One of the big problems I have with this approach is that whey scoots through you faster than poop through a goose. So you get this momentary spike of nutrition, but then you are back to a fasting state pretty quickly. There are no carbs in these shakes (on purpose, god forbid you touch a carb as a bodybuilder), so there just isn't much to it. If you had to have a shake at lunch, I would suggest going for one with milk proteins in it (Casein) as it will sit in your gut a lot longer. I would also perhaps look at adding in a scoop of fiber supplement as well, just to keep you regular and to alter the digestion a bit. Ideally even something with both egg and milk protein would be my top choice, but these are kinda hard to come by, and they tend to cost more than whey.

B) I don't believe that you don't have enough time to pack a decent lunch. I believe that you feel rushed to get out the door in the AM, but like anything that we want in this world, the answer is rarely as simple as drinking a powder or popping a pill. However, making an adjustment in your morning or evening ritual would probably be a wise move. Frankly, when I make dinner I make about 2-3 times as much as my family will eat. Then we put the leftovers in portion controlled packs and save them for my lunches. After a couple days of this I have choices for lunch, they are ready to roll when I am, and I don't have to eat out. If you are not cooking now, that might be another little change you would need to make. It is cheaper buying healthy pasta (Barilla Plus is a great one) and some sauce than just about anything else you can think of, and it reheats well and keeps for a long time. If you had to eat it cold, you could. Mix in some canned chicken and you can bump up the protein a bit. Low fat string cheeze (Mozzerella) is a good source of protein as well, and fits the casein suggestion I made earlier. Cottage cheese is another good one, and comes in individual cups. It literally takes me less than a minute to fil my lunch box in the morning. Do yourself a favor and learn to snack on fruit and veggies as well. They are easy to grab and go and will deliver some nutrients that I'm guessing you are not getting now.

C) State of the art supplements. Man, you didn't get my point. Supplements are effective in the smallest sense of the word. Imagine a number like .0002, then double that .0004, hell, even make it ten times bigger, .002. Now, imagine these numbers were results from a supplement study (though I'll tell you that sometimes the numbers that come back from a supplement study are smaller). If .0002 is the guy without the supplement, and .0004 is the guy with supplement A, and these numbers are inches gained in arm size, or strength measured on some meter that can percieve the smallest differences in force. Supplement A will advertise that you will gain TWICE as fast as those without it. True... but we are talking about such a freaking small amount that it isn't worth bothering over.

I call it the Bowflex effect. Think ANYONE on the bowflex commercial got that body by using the bowflex alone? Not on your life. Aside from the fact that resistance training is only one piece of a puzzle that got them where they are, it isn't even a good piece. It kinda looks like the real piece, and it sorta fits your puzzle, but it isn't the real thing. Doesn't matter, they have convinced millions of people (hundreds of thousands at least) that their equipment is all it takes.

Supplement companies pay bodybuilders to endorse products. They don't take them, if they do it is only a token gesture. It isn't Thermo-blast that melts the fat, it happens to be the zero carb pre-contest diet and the endless boiled chicken breasts, no salt, and broccoli that does that. Assuming that supplement A causes the fat loss you see in the pictures is like assuming that Tiger Woods builds the Cadillacs he endorses.

i see your points and credit for most of them but....
please explain why
I am more energetic since i started taking l-carnitine before 30 minutes of workouts and
I recover in 1 day as opposed to 4-5 days since i started taking whey with BCAAs in it..
dont tell me it is placebo effect...
I am not gonna take any hardcore stuff just whey and l-carnitine do u think they have side effect?
take care..
btw do u have any recommend about my shoulder problem any preworkout cream,warmer, etc ?
i mentioned it before....

i took whey protein...and creatine...for...a couple years...with absolutely no benefits. until i took care of my diet..eating six meals a day containing REAL food......then...the benefits came.

__________________

Well, I assure you that there is no medical/scientific research to support a 500% increase in recovery time due to BCAAs. Not to mention there is nothing magical about BCAAs. It is just a simpler version of the protein that you already eat. You know, AA's being the building blocks of protein and all. So you take some of the "hard" digestive work out of the equation. Technically, whey is just a step above AA supplements. Yet I'll stand by the fact that if you are not eating right, no amount of AAs or whey is going to make it all better.

As for feeling more energetic because of your carnitine... wow, I have no idea. Frankly there should be no earthly reason for that. It isn't a stimulant, doesn't have any stimulant type effects. It does seem to play some role in managing insulin, but still. I know they market the stuff as a weight loss supplement sometimes, but there is no real evidence to support that either.

So, without knowing the entire story I would say that the following is happening:

1) you are getting used to your workouts, or something has changed in your workouts to improve recovery.

2) Yes, the placebo effect. Which isn't a bad thing. Some pretty amazing results can come from just believing in something. In fact, I would say the supplement industry survives on the placebo effect. Honestly, if you believe it is working, then... whatever. It doesn't matter if there is a scientific reason or not. If you can will yourself more energy, or recover faster, then just keep on doing that

As for muscle rubs. My best advice is to use a liniment designed for race horses. Most of the commercial stuff you find is only so-so. If you have a farm supply store around you, then hit them up. I use Absorbine myself. A little bit goes a long way, and the smell isn't overpowering. Plus it is a clear gel (has a slight greenish tint) and isn't greasy. Once it is rubbed in it isn't coming off on your clothes or whatever. I would not use it under wraps or bands. It tends to eat up rubber.

Liniment, as opposed to Ben Gay or Icy Hot is designed to speed repair and recovery. The stuff old people use tends to just mask or distract.

does absorbine jr. do the same thing? gonna have to check the local pharmacy...snag some for my knees....