Questions for you body-builders in the house

steve-in-kville

steve-in-kville

Joined
Dec 25, 2001
Messages
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I'm finally getting serious about my physical fitness. I started jogging when weather permits, eating (and drinking) better, etc. My goal to cut down on body fat while building muscle mass. Not looking to look like these guys on the front of muscle magazines, just less fat, more muscle. I'm reasonably fit now as I work a very active job, but I've lost my six-pack from my early days and could loose a few inches around the waist.

I stopped in at GNC tonight and inquired about such a package/program and they want to sell me a 12 week supply of stuff that's gonna cost me half a week's wages.

My questions are... are these products worth it? Is there something better? And- is there any more info available online that would point me in the right direction?

Thanks for the help!

steve
 
I've been body building, power lifting and just working out for a pretty long time (30+ years). I don't take any supplements, but I do have a pretty strict diet. 5-6 small or medium meals a day with lots of complex carbs for breakfast and midmorning snack and a big lunch (chicken breasts/ potatos or pasta/lean ground turkey. My afternoon snack is a protein bar and fruit and dinner is a tuna, chicken or turkey salad. Try to stay away from restaurant foods (carry a cooler to work and on trips) and other packaged foods.

I do cardio (outdoor run or stairs at gym) on Sun, Mon, Wed, Thurs and Fri mornings and lift weights on Mon, Tues, Fri and Sat afternoons. Every 6-8 months I take a week off from weights and the next week off from cardio.
 
Back in the day (before my time) people could get in shape without all these supplements.

But now that we have them, why not? I use whey protein powder, none of those fat-burners or creatine or any of that fancy stuff. I lift regularly. Keeping a good diet and exercising regularly will get you that sixpack back.
 
It's all in the exercise and diet, but a little bit of help doesn't hurt anything. Before talking to the folks that sell the stuff, though, talk to some other people in your area that seem to be following the same plan you are. Usually there's at least 1 fairly serious weightlifter per duty day at the fire department, stop and talk to them. They'll tell you where to go and what to buy. .
 
Most of the top guys in the supplement business will admit that 98% of the stuff doesn't work(or atleast doesn't work as well as reported). The only supps. that are universally agreed upon as working are:

1) Protein powders/MRPs(Met-Rx and the like).
2) Multi-Vitamins/Minerals.
3) The so called good fats(flax seed, etc....).
4) Creatine(although you only keep about 1/3 of your gains).
5) Certain fat loss products(This is somewhat moot, as most of the good ones have been pulled from the market).

I tried to list them in ordr of importance also.

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The supplements do help(sometime quite a bit), but as most mentioned, the biggest part of getting in shape is cleaning up your diet and following a good training program.
 
i've found that if you are willing to be strict about your diet and your work out, BODY-For-LIFE is a good program. It is also a 12 week program. Well, you could use it for more than 12 weeks but you should see a very big change by the end of the first 12 weeks.

the exercise program is really simple in that you just do a maximum of 45 minutes each session and the exercises are designed to cater for each individual according to his/her ability. you need to work out 6 times a week and there's an off day one day a week for you to do whatever you want and eat whatever you want.

the food and nutrition part is a bit hard to follow as you need to eat smaller meals about 6 times a day. you'll never go hungry!

The system is designed to use minimal equipment and you don't really need any supplements. six meals a day containing 1 carb portion (eg potato) and 1 protein portion (eg. chicken breast) and some veggies to keep you regular. The only thing you may want to have are meal replacement bars or shakes in case you don't have enough time to prepare a proper meal. Good brands i've used are from Muscletech and EAS. There are others which are equivalent in terms of nutrition and content but different in terms of taste.

Anyway, have a look at www.bodyforlife.com.

If i were you i wouldn't buy the 12 week program of supplements yet. They usually sell packets of the stuff. Buy those first and see whether you like the taste. Base your desicions on what tastes best to you. The protein they provide are almost the same for the big name brands like muscletech, eas, designer whey etc. It won't make a big different if you're not really bodybuilding for competition.

By the way, EAS makes the better tasting shakes. I don't mind having a myoplex shake with some frozen strawberries in there. Yum.
 
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