Increasing strength training- product comparison advice, ple

sarahkatara

Hey all! I'm starting to get into a little bit of heavy lifting. I am also training to run some 5ks and hopefully marathons as well. I run about 15-20 miles a week and will be resuming lifting 3 times per week. I use this protein powder after workouts and I absolutely love it : http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3509955

I am wondering if I should add anything to my strength routine to help me get prime results in a reasonable amount of time. I am looking at products such as this : http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=10809937

I am taking a multivitamin, fish oil, biotin, B12 (because I am usually B12 deficient, causing anemia), and acai berry capsules because i figure even if they don't work they can't really hurt either. I eat high protein and try to stick with wholesome carbs (no, i won't cut carbs from my diet!) and my macros are set at 40/30/30 which has been working well. I eat up to 1700 a day and plan to start zig-zagging calories as I have been plateaued since the beginning of February. Any hints on how to restart weight/fat loss is always welcome as well!

I am not looking for quick fixes or diet tips or anything; rather, if you have some empirical evidence and personal experience, I would really appreciate it if you could share some of your knowledge! I don't like to do things on a "so-and-so said this so it's right," basis. Thank you so much in advance for any help!

:flowerforyou:

BBCKarah

Look into a natural cleanse, if you're stuck at a number. When I get stuck and/or before I start any new fitness programs, I do a 3 day cleanse to kick start my metabolism and "clean slate" my body. This is just MY personal experience and it's worked for my clients that have tried it.

Claire594

What do u do for your 3 day cleanse. I haven't hit a plateau yet but when I do I might think about something like that.

BBCKarah

I personally use a product called Shakeology to cleanse. There are a lot of products for cleansing, I would just make sure whatever is being used is all natural and you're not loading up with chemicals instead of cleaning out.

Sl1ghtly

"Any hints on how to restart weight/fat loss is always welcome as well!"

Hint- Stop with the silly cleanses and quack supplement crap. They will only make the process more expensive. Eat a balanced diet, a reasonable calorie deficit, and excersize.

Sidesteal

"Any hints on how to restart weight/fat loss is always welcome as well!"

Hint- Stop with the silly cleanses and quack supplement crap. They will only make the process more expensive. Eat a balanced diet, a reasonable calorie deficit, and excersize.

This.

mmapags

"Any hints on how to restart weight/fat loss is always welcome as well!"

Hint- Stop with the silly cleanses and quack supplement crap. They will only make the process more expensive. Eat a balanced diet, a reasonable calorie deficit, and excersize.

This.

+1

sarahkatara

"Any hints on how to restart weight/fat loss is always welcome as well!"

Hint- Stop with the silly cleanses and quack supplement crap. They will only make the process more expensive. Eat a balanced diet, a reasonable calorie deficit, and excersize.

This.

::SARCASM ENSUES:: thank you so much for reading MY original post. I don't do cleanses and the supplements i use are well-researched. If you're going to give me unproductive one word answers, don't bother please. I'm looking for women and men who strength train and, again, can show me EMPIRICAL evidence as to why something is good. Thanks again. ::END SARCASM::

Sidesteal

::SARCASM ENSUES:: thank you so much for reading MY original post. I don't do cleanses and the supplements i use are well-researched. If you're going to give me unproductive one word answers, don't bother please. I'm looking for women and men who strength train and, again, can show me EMPIRICAL evidence as to why something is good. Thanks again. ::END SARCASM::

I see. I'll give this a second chance just in case you're having some emotional issues today.


Regarding your original post:

Are you having issues with performance in the gym? If so, I'd look at diet first (experiment with different pre workout nutrition including fasted training as some people perform very well in a fasted state) and supplement later. If you're not having any issues performing in the gym then I wouldn't even bother with any sort of supplementation for it

Also, regarding your weight stallout, what is your average caloric intake (I'm not referring to net here, I'm referring to your total intake of food) average for the past month or two and what are your stats (weight/bodyfat%).

Do you know what your TDEE is and if so can you share it please.

sarahkatara

::SARCASM ENSUES:: thank you so much for reading MY original post. I don't do cleanses and the supplements i use are well-researched. If you're going to give me unproductive one word answers, don't bother please. I'm looking for women and men who strength train and, again, can show me EMPIRICAL evidence as to why something is good. Thanks again. ::END SARCASM::

I see. I'll give this a second chance just in case you're having some emotional issues today.


Regarding your original post:

Are you having issues with performance in the gym? If so, I'd look at diet first (experiment with different pre workout nutrition including fasted training as some people perform very well in a fasted state) and supplement later. If you're not having any issues performing in the gym then I wouldn't even bother with any sort of supplementation for it

Also, regarding your weight stallout, what is your average caloric intake (I'm not referring to net here, I'm referring to your total intake of food) average for the past month or two and what are your stats (weight/bodyfat%).

Do you know what your TDEE is and if so can you share it please.

Nah, no issues, just trying to get real advice, not the bull that normally happens on these boards. It's a genuine question so I would just appreciate people reading what the OP is really saying, not just the answers from others. Thank you for re-reading.

No performance issues, if you mean things like not being able to perform reps or having poor form. I concentrate heavily on good form because I do think it has so much to do with getting good results. So in that way I am pretty solid, if that's what you mean.

I recently upped my calories so I would say average intake was about 1500, now increased to about 1880-2000. Macros 40 carbs/ 30 protein/ 30 fat, and i hit them very close every day.
I'm 139 (5'4") and 23.9% body fat.

Need to calculate TDEE still.

Again, i'm just starting this heavy lifting and am looking for help there.

losthourssacredmemories

"Any hints on how to restart weight/fat loss is always welcome as well!"

Hint- Stop with the silly cleanses and quack supplement crap. They will only make the process more expensive. Eat a balanced diet, a reasonable calorie deficit, and excersize.

This.

::SARCASM ENSUES:: thank you so much for reading MY original post. I don't do cleanses and the supplements i use are well-researched. If you're going to give me unproductive one word answers, don't bother please. I'm looking for women and men who strength train and, again, can show me EMPIRICAL evidence as to why something is good. Thanks again. ::END SARCASM::

THIS.

BrianSharpe

Look into a natural cleanse, if you're stuck at a number. When I get stuck and/or before I start any new fitness programs, I do a 3 day cleanse to kick start my metabolism and "clean slate" my body. This is just MY personal experience and it's worked for my clients that have tried it.

If it's just your "personal experience" what's the linkage to "my clients who have tried it", it kind implies some sort of professional association.

"Cleanses" do not kick start your metabolism. Eat properly, drink enough water and save your money.

Back to the OP:

I had a look at the GNC supplement you were asking about and noticed that the first ingredient in the label is maltodextrin - basically carbs (it's a flavourless starch commonly used to thicken processed foods)and the nutritional info panel lists 200 cal per scoop (38g carbs). My instinctive reaction is that if you need the extra carbs eat a couple of pieces of fresh fruit.

sarahkatara

[/quote]
Back to the OP:

I had a look at the GNC supplement you were asking about and noticed that the first ingredient in the label is maltodextrin - basically carbs (it's a flavourless starch commonly used to thicken processed foods)and the nutritional info panel lists 200 cal per scoop (38g carbs). My instinctive reaction is that if you need the extra carbs eat a couple of pieces of fresh fruit.
[/quote]

Thank you Brian! That's why I wanted to put this question out there- I can't believe i didn't think to check the ingredients list first! I'm really loving the protein powders from GNC though. Definitely won't be investing in that other one

AeolianHarp

Unless the supplement is whey, creatine, fish oil, vitamin D, or a multi then it's generally not worth your money.

If you want a performance boost in the weight training room, there are concoctions you can make but it's an expensive initial investment since buying them bulk is more intelligent. The perfect combo currently is beta-alanine, caffeine, citrulline malate (note: the evidence on this particular supplement is quite small, so you'd be taking more of a leap of faith), l-tyrosine, and acetyl-l-carnitine. This will (and should) provide more energy and (hopefully) more repetitions performed with a given weight. This is up to you, of course. I personally don't take it but that is what is most useful as a pre-workout. Pre-made pre-workouts by companies are expensive and filled with unnecessary ingredients.

You can also take the most proven of all supplements and that's creatine. It's dirt cheap and you only need 5g a day. Only downside is that it increases weight on the scale but that isn't anything particularly visible or bad. It just throws a lot of people for a psychological spin.

I'm not particularly fond of supplements by GNC. That whey seems quite expensive for how many servings (I moved it from 3 scoop serving to 1) and how much protein you get per scoop. It also doesn't tell you the processing, so that makes me think it's probably ion-exchanged.

Of course, in the end, this is all for convenience and a small performance boost. You actually don't need any of it if you don't want to spend the money. I personally buy LeanFit whey in Canada from Costco as it is by far the most affordable whey I have ever come across and it's extremely high-quality. The taste is so and so but not a big deal since I mix it with peanut butter.

sarahkatara

Unless the supplement is whey, creatine, fish oil, vitamin D, or a multi then it's generally not worth your money.

If you want a performance boost in the weight training room, there are concoctions you can make but it's an expensive initial investment since buying them bulk is more intelligent. The perfect combo currently is beta-alanine, caffeine, citrulline malate (note: the evidence on this particular supplement is quite small, so you'd be taking more of a leap of faith), l-tyrosine, and acetyl-l-carnitine. This will (and should) provide more energy and (hopefully) more repetitions performed with a given weight. This is up to you, of course. I personally don't take it but that is what is most useful as a pre-workout. Pre-made pre-workouts by companies are expensive and filled with unnecessary ingredients.

You can also take the most proven of all supplements and that's creatine. It's dirt cheap and you only need 5g a day. Only downside is that it increases weight on the scale but that isn't anything particularly visible or bad. It just throws a lot of people for a psychological spin.

I'm not particularly fond of supplements by GNC. That whey seems quite expensive for how many servings (I moved it from 3 scoop serving to 1) and how much protein you get per scoop. It also doesn't tell you the processing, so that makes me think it's probably ion-exchanged.

Of course, in the end, this is all for convenience and a small performance boost. You actually don't need any of it if you don't want to spend the money. I personally buy LeanFit whey in Canada from Costco as it is by far the most affordable whey I have ever come across and it's extremely high-quality. The taste is so and so but not a big deal since I mix it with peanut butter.

thanks, i'll have to do some research.

how do you mix your peanut butter into a shake? i usually just use a blender bottle and would love to put PB in but figure it would just get stuck in the wire ball.

AeolianHarp

how do you mix your peanut butter into a shake? i usually just use a blender bottle and would love to put PB in but figure it would just get stuck in the wire ball.

I use a blender bottle as well but I use whipped peanut butter instead of regular or natural. Once I put the milk, chocolate whey, and PB, I shake vigorously for 15-25 seconds. I shake to the point where I can't shake anymore haha. I've noticed that gives me the smoothest consistency.