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Beating the dead horse

Dverb92

New member
I know I'm beating the dead horse here, but I want someone to clarify a few things. In all reality, I'm sure over all, it comes down to how every single each individual's body interacts with a particular supplement.
With that being said, WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS?! I'm sure many like myself read all the forums and reviews etc, but the truth is (I dont know if I speak for myself) but I want to know what actually works. I've posted for the first time not too long ago and the k my thing anyone have me was "macros". Hate to be the lazy noob who doesn't feel like googling it, but I don't even know what macros are.
I take:
Whey isolate
Fish oil
Multi
Glutamine 30minB/30minA
Creatine mono same as glutamine, (excessive I know but I'd rather have enough and discard the rest)
and that is it! I WANT TO STEP UP MY GAME! I want something more! I'm not totally agains PH's but I'd rather not. Can anyone send me suggestions of supps that ACTUALLY WORK and can see a noticeable difference pretty quickly?

***Please all read!! - check out my pics on IG and let me know if these are acceptable, admirable gains for a noob - IG name: atokad92
THANKS GUYS!!

Ps- if you don't mind comment/like on the pic so I know someone seen it and if you see it and have any questions or suggestions.
Also follow so I can follow back and watch progression in picture form!!
 
I don't have IG, can you post a pic on here?
 
Glosss that's what I was afraid to hear lol.
I can handle a diet, I can eat all day or not at all. I can make myself do whatever it takes to grow. I just don't have the knowledge
 
I don't know your age, but I'd guess 19-22 range. At that age just stay natural and don't mess around with a ton of supps. You're still making good gains if those photos are 6 months apart (even with the pump in the later photos).

Diet really is the biggest factor. Do some searching in the nutrition thread here and other bodybuilding sites. Protein, creatine, and basic staples are enough. Preworkout if you like them. Other cheap things to try are Soy lecithin granules for PA.
 
Diet/training is the #1 and #2 most important things. As for supplements, I guess it depends on your goals.
 
Just to clarify, as it sounded like it was previously mentioned but you didn't understand -- "macros" are referring to macro-nutrients, which are fat, carbohydrates, and protein. Micro-nutrients (and minerals and vitamins) are what you pick up in a vitamin supplement, from vegetables, etc.

So basically what was being said to you is to monitor your total calorie intake/expenditure (e.g. how much you eat vs. how much your body burns on its own in addition to what exercise adds to it, etc.). Let's say your body naturally burns 3,000 calories a day just lying in bed and not doing anything and then you factor in your daily activities and a workout and now you're up to 3,800 calories. If you want to gain weight, you have to eat more than that 3,800 number. If you want to lose weight, you have to go under that number. Your macro-nutrients will make up that total number. Each gram of protein or carbohydrate will yield 4 calories (each gram of fat will yield 9 calories). So, if you had a protein shake with 3g fat, 10g carbs, and 40g protein, the total calories for that would be 215. Typically, people try to hit a certain percentage of each macro for their goals (a standard one is 40/40/20 -- or 40% of your calories from protein, 40% of your calories from carbohydrates, and 20% of your calories from fat). Every individual is different, but that information should help you get started.
 
jamesm11 said:
I don't know your age, but I'd guess 19-22 range. At that age just stay natural and don't mess around with a ton of supps. You're still making good gains if those photos are 6 months apart (even with the pump in the later photos).

Diet really is the biggest factor. Do some searching in the nutrition thread here and other bodybuilding sites. Protein, creatine, and basic staples are enough. Preworkout if you like them. Other cheap things to try are Soy lecithin granules for PA.
Click to expand...

What about like the anafuse abe ep or all those other new "untraditional" supps?
 
MidwestBeast said:
Just to clarify, as it sounded like it was previously mentioned but you didn't understand -- "macros" are referring to macro-nutrients, which are fat, carbohydrates, and protein. Micro-nutrients (and minerals and vitamins) are what you pick up in a vitamin supplement, from vegetables, etc.

So basically what was being said to you is to monitor your total calorie intake/expenditure (e.g. how much you eat vs. how much your body burns on its own in addition to what exercise adds to it, etc.). Let's say your body naturally burns 3,000 calories a day just lying in bed and not doing anything and then you factor in your daily activities and a workout and now you're up to 3,800 calories. If you want to gain weight, you have to eat more than that 3,800 number. If you want to lose weight, you have to go under that number. Your macro-nutrients will make up that total number. Each gram of protein or carbohydrate will yield 4 calories (each gram of fat will yield 9 calories). So, if you had a protein shake with 3g fat, 10g carbs, and 40g protein, the total calories for that would be 215. Typically, people try to hit a certain percentage of each macro for their goals (a standard one is 40/40/20 -- or 40% of your calories from protein, 40% of your calories from carbohydrates, and 20% of your calories from fat). Every individual is different, but that information should help you get started.
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Thanks man! I really love how you guys lay it out for me. I really appreciate it!!

As far as the whole diet thing. I can eat 10 steak and potatoe diners a day and gain 1-2 lbs lol. I'm looking to just pack on as much muscle (with fat if necessary) as humanly possible. Also my body lightly responds to ANY training HI LI squats dl's LR HW LW HR it doesn't matter it just takes so damn long to see a difference and that's my purpose for this post is to take anything and everything o can to maximize my results
 
Dverb92 said:
What about like the anafuse abe ep or all those other new "untraditional" supps?
Click to expand...

These are all great supplements and you could add one if you wanted to, but to be honest with your age and the progress you've already made, save your money for food right now.

If anything I'd look at a product like Ergonine by Athletix to go along with your multi vitamin and creatine monohydrate; maybe a pre-workout that has just some caffeine and basic ingredients for endurance (beta alanine, citrulline, betaine/TMG, etc.). But again, not a necessity.
 
Dverb92 said:
Thanks man! I really love how you guys lay it out for me. I really appreciate it!!

As far as the whole diet thing. I can eat 10 steak and potatoe diners a day and gain 1-2 lbs lol. I'm looking to just pack on as much muscle (with fat if necessary) as humanly possible. Also my body lightly responds to ANY training HI LI squats dl's LR HW LW HR it doesn't matter it just takes so damn long to see a difference and that's my purpose for this post is to take anything and everything o can to maximize my results
Click to expand...

You're very welcome. We're here to help and we all start somewhere with our learning. Anabolic Minds is a great place for that.

If you're keen on spending money, I'll tell you what, one of my favorite things was getting a Fitbit Charge HR (got it on sale for $109 from Amazon about 2 months ago). Black Friday is coming up and there will be more sales -- keep an eye out for that (or any other; I just happen to like this one). It tracks your estimated calorie expenditure as well as distance traveled, and you can input your food, weight, etc. in the app and follow all of it.

That would give you a good estimate at how many calories you burn on a regular off day, how much on a normal lifting day, normal cardio day, etc.

Once you establish that baseline and you want to gain muscle, all you do is add an extra 3,500 calories per week to average a pound of gain per week (you could do 500 extra calories a day or even go with a few bigger calorie days to get in large meals if you want to). The slower your progress is with the gaining, the more apt you are to gain muscle instead of fat (e.g. if you try to add 5 pounds a week, you're gonna get fat lol).
 
I agree with Midwestbeast, something like ergonine would be a great staple along with multi, fish/krill oil. And I agree with his preworkout recommendation.

Focus on good food sources instead of supplements for now. I think supplements are overhyped or relied on too much by many, while they neglect their diet. This forum and bb.com articles (not the forum) have some good basics explanations of macros and different diets and training regimens.
 
MidwestBeast said:
You're very welcome. We're here to help and we all start somewhere with our learning. Anabolic Minds is a great place for that.

If you're keen on spending money, I'll tell you what, one of my favorite things was getting a Fitbit Charge HR (got it on sale for $109 from Amazon about 2 months ago). Black Friday is coming up and there will be more sales -- keep an eye out for that (or any other; I just happen to like this one). It tracks your estimated calorie expenditure as well as distance traveled, and you can input your food, weight, etc. in the app and follow all of it.

That would give you a good estimate at how many calories you burn on a regular off day, how much on a normal lifting day, normal cardio day, etc.

Once you establish that baseline and you want to gain muscle, all you do is add an extra 3,500 calories per week to average a pound of gain per week (you could do 500 extra calories a day or even go with a few bigger calorie days to get in large meals if you want to). The slower your progress is with the gaining, the more apt you are to gain muscle instead of fat (e.g. if you try to add 5 pounds a week, you're gonna get fat lol).
Click to expand...

Lol I was getting chubby for a short period of time. I don't get full so I would just eat all day long. Thanks man I appreciate that tip. I'm going to. Check that fitbit out.
Also, is there any basic diet recommendations you could give me?
Exp: for breakfast eat... (Staples) For lunch eat.. (Staples) etc etc
 
Dverb92 said:
Lol I was getting chubby for a short period of time. I don't get full so I would just eat all day long. Thanks man I appreciate that tip. I'm going to. Check that fitbit out.
Also, is there any basic diet recommendations you could give me?
Exp: for breakfast eat... (Staples) For lunch eat.. (Staples) etc etc
Click to expand...

The cool part, man, is that there's no perfect equation :)

There are certain foods that tend to show up in our diets more often (eggs, chicken breast, oats, broccoli, etc.) just because of their macronutrient make up as well as the minerals/micronutrients/vitamins they have, but it's all about what works best for you. There are tons of sample diets out there to work off of, but we're all different.

I folllowed intermittent fasting (where you eat all your calories during an 8-hour window for the day -- e.g. eat from Noon to 8 PM -- and fast the remaining 16 hours) for quite a while. That was good for me because I'm usually not all that hungry, I was able to put my food all around my workout, and it helped me dose my thyroid medicine which required an empty stomach. That said, I've been working out first thing in the mornings before work the past few weeks and now I'm just ravenous and there's no way I can hold out and not eat lol -- so I've been eating in the mornings again and smaller meals throughout the day.

It's all about getting my body what it needs and it's up to me to figure out how to do it.

So there are plenty of good foods to generally use, but don't let the whole misconception of "clean" and "dirty" foods trick you into thinking you can't have certain things -- it's all about making your total calories end up where you want them and to a lesser extent (but still important -- especially for those of us who lift) your macronutrient totals/percentages.

One thing I did a few years back that helped was made an Excel spreadsheet with 3 categories -- one for each macronutrient -- and I put some common foods I usually ate in each one along with a cell showing how many calories per serving, and how much of each macronutrient.

So under fats, I had peanut butter (2 tablespoons) -- and had written out how many grams of carbs, fat, and protein were in that serving. Also in fats were eggs, almonds, peanuts. Under carbs I had oatmeal (a few varieties I liked to use), brown rice, whole grain bread that I used, etc. Under protein I had chicken breast, drumsticks, tilapia, tuna, steak, 4 oz. of 93/7 ground beef, etc.

That was an easy way for me to quickly look and do some math and figure out what would hit my needs for the day. Cool part is now all the online apps (fitday, myfitnesspal, even the fitbit app, etc.) all allow that same info and you can just plug stuff in and add up totals -- even if you're just wanting to try and figure out what you'd like to have tomorrow, you can toss stuff in there and see how the totals add up. You can also create custom entries, so if you know you always eat the same brand of cheese slice, you can enter that in rather than search a database for something close. Or if you always like to make a half pound burger with the same buns, same cheese, same type of ground beef, etc., you can actually just make a single entry for that sandwich with everything totaled together so you only add it in rather than add in each individual ingredient/item.
 
As per the leangains website (IF 8/16 diet), I've come to conclude that a lot of our eating habits seem to be psychological. After I adopted intermittent fasting years ago (I've been doing it for 4-5 years now) I've found that I can workout at 4-5 AM and not feel the need to eat until noon time. I find once I start eating, I'm always hungry, so delaying when I eat helps me control my caloric intake, along with the fact that I have an 8 hour window to eat usually filling/healthy whole foods. I generally eyeball my foods now, but they usually consist of chicken/beef, white rice, broccoli, then a few other "dirty foods" included.
 
ma70 said:
As per the leangains website (IF 8/16 diet), I've come to conclude that a lot of our eating habits seem to be psychological. After I adopted intermittent fasting years ago (I've been doing it for 4-5 years now) I've found that I can workout at 4-5 AM and not feel the need to eat until noon time. I find once I start eating, I'm always hungry, so delaying when I eat helps me control my caloric intake, along with the fact that I have an 8 hour window to eat usually filling/healthy whole foods. I generally eyeball my foods now, but they usually consist of chicken/beef, white rice, broccoli, then a few other "dirty foods" included.
Click to expand...

And to be honest, that helped me, also. I really, really like the method. I remember when I transitioned into fasting it took about 2 weeks for the hunger pangs around breakfast time to dissipate and then it was no issue at all and in fact, I wasn't the slightest hungry in the mornings.

But lately, it hadn't been just like "well one day I got hungry" -- it was a very regular thing, so I listened to my body and gave it food when it cried out for it ;) lol
 
Definitely stay away from ph's or steroids , especially considering your age. Look into Westside Barbell training....... focus on big 3 lifts especially squats & deadlift. Up your protein to 2 grams per pound (or more if you can do it)., Ad soy lecithin granules (they really work and are cheap). Don't look at other supplements until you put on at least another 10 pounds. Look into vitamin d deficiency. Make sure you're not deficient (most miss this).
 
Dverb92 said:
What do you guys think about Androvar?
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Don't touch anything hormonal until you are at least 26 (watch all the "Ask the Doc" videos on MuscleInsider's YouTube channel). You are around your peak testosterone levels now - use it. Eat right, sleep right, lift right. Any supp should be cheap as dirt and have *a lot* of data behind it for athletic young males. So I'd say Caffeine, Creatine, Beta Alanine, Citrulline Malate, Soy Lecithin Granules. Yohimbine for fat loss. That's it.
 
Islander73 said:
Definitely stay away from ph's or steroids , especially considering your age. Look into Westside Barbell training....... focus on big 3 lifts especially squats & deadlift. Up your protein to 2 grams per pound (or more if you can do it)., Ad soy lecithin granules (they really work and are cheap). Don't look at other supplements until you put on at least another 10 pounds. Look into vitamin d deficiency. Make sure you're not deficient (most miss this).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! What exactly is the significance in the soy lecithin? I thought soy products had estrogen in them?
 
The_Old_Guy said:
Don't touch anything hormonal until you are at least 26 (watch all the "Ask the Doc" videos on MuscleInsider's YouTube channel). You are around your peak testosterone levels now - use it. Eat right, sleep right, lift right. Any supp should be cheap as dirt and have *a lot* of data behind it for athletic young males. So I'd say Caffeine, Creatine, Beta Alanine, Citrulline Malate, Soy Lecithin Granules. Yohimbine for fat loss. That's it.
Click to expand...

I will try those!
 
To all reading this comment, I'm super tired all the time no matter what I drink or take, but yet I cannot sleep... What's your advise or opinions on that? The only thing I can find is sleeping disorders and glandular disorders (adrenal mostly)
 
Also (probably going to make a new post) but if you cold recommend a complete stack to me, what old it be? All the way down to the brand and why. I found myself a while back falling victim to strong supplements "good reviews" and t nations bio test just because they "strongly recommend it".
HELP!!!
 
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