Supplements You Should Be Taking
I’ll admit it. The debut of the reality show The Ultimate Fighter kind of rekindled a fire beneath me that I hadn’t experienced in years, probably talking like pre-adulthood. I started eating way cleaner and really pushing the limits of my body, physically and mentally. Because of the marketing on the show, I was convinced to try the latest and greatest supplements out there. I didn’t do any research and didn’t see too many results. The purpose of this article is to list and describe three very beneficial supplements that almost every human should be taking if possible. I have always been in pretty good shape. About to hit the big 40 now, I still train Brazilian jiu-jitsu after a lifetime of wrestling. I have grappling days, and cardiovascular ones, strength days too. Aside from the supplements I’ll be listing here, I don’t ingest too many more. For a little anecdote, I grew up kind of nestled in the woods in western Washington so while we didn’t have too much television, we did have plenty of trees to climb and trails to hike. I have always been a smaller guy and when I was around 12 years old, I was tiny. My Dad got me started lifting weights and keeping records. This time period is around when I started using my first supplement, a horse steroid out of Europe. I kid, I kid. It was Joe Weider’s Weight Gainer or something, vanilla flavored, chalk-like texture, chewable pills. A daily serving was some insane amount, around 28 pills. I loved them though, I didn’t see any results, but I loved them. In fact, I attribute my vanilla flavored supplement attraction to these damned chewable pills. I took that weight gainer formula for a couple of years and talk about bulking up! For example, in the 7th grade I wrestled in the 72 lb weight class. By the 10th grade I had moved all the way up to the 85 lb weight division. 13 lbs in three years? We always ate healthy growing up, never any fast food or junk food, so I know it wasn’t the quality. I may have always been in a calorie deficit though due to how many I expended per day. Regardless, the only thing the weight gainer was doing was deflating my 13 year old wallet. Some supplements are effective and definitely worth it while others may not be all they’re cracked up to be. Below are some supplements that I have personally taken. I will list some reported benefits, if I experienced any of them, and if I believe that particular supplement to be worth it. To begin with, you would want to have a solid foundation to build from.
The easiest, and an inexpensive, way to do this would be by ingesting a multivitamin. It would seem awfully silly to be taking some crazy MUSCLE PUMP EXTREME BURN FACE if you are missing out on all of your calcium or are low on vitamin D. Start with the basics first. I have heard that almost all multivitamins are virtually the same. What the extreme athlete requires or gets from a multi would probably be the same as you. When looking at the nutritional data on the package, make sure of what you are getting with each serving. You want to determine what minerals or nutrients are super important to you, like calcium is to me, and verify that you will be meeting your daily requirements with it. Calcium, potassium, vitamins B, C, and D are all significant minerals to pay attention to. Everyone, training or not, should be taking a daily multivitamin unless a medical condition or prescription prevents it. And to reiterate, there is not much of a difference between the corner drugstore vitamin ingredients and the 10x more expensive version at the supplement store. If you are concerned about the differences, simply compare the information from the labels. So, multivitamin? For sure. Another supplement that virtually everyone should be consuming is fish oil.
Yeah, I don’t know where fish oil was around 10-15 years ago. Probably in bottles in Norway still. It sure exploded in popularity a while back. My Grandma has been taking it now! Mainly billed as a cardiovascular savior, let’s look at a list of conditions it is purported to assist with, either lower or reduce the risk of, etc. High blood pressure, heart disease, and elevated triglycerides are all allegedly less of a menace when fighting with fish oil. Risks of stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, and eczema all decrease with fish oil supplementation. It has even been shown to help in the treatments of depression and asthma. I have used both the liquid form and capsule form. I enjoyed the capsules a lot less as the burp aroma was horrific and tasted awful. The liquid at least had a lemon flavor masking agent, so at least when I burped with this the lemony scent swept away the fishy afterbirth. So fish oil gets a resounding thumbs up. Do some shopping after your own independent research. There are different flavors, forms, dosages, even the essential fatty acids differ from type to type. And finally the last supplement we are going to look at is one that like fish oil, can assist with lessening the severity or preventing certain ailments.
Creatine monohydrate has been named one of the most essential supplements out there. It is inexpensive and can be mixed with just about anything. Of all the supplements I have ever taken, creatine by far is the longest running. Some benefits include: enhanced memory, reduced mental fatigue, increase in lean muscle mass (when coupled with exercise,) a decrease in risks associated with Parkinson’s disease, COPD, and maybe even diabetes. When people hear about creatine quite often they associate it as being a supplement for athletes only. Like the multivitamin and fish oil, I believe it would be wise to consider creatine in this category as well. A supplement for better overall health and daily maintenance.
A high quality fish oil, an almost generic multivitamin, and creatine would be excellent choices for supplements to start with. I just bought a fish oil/multi combination moments ago by the way, I’ll get both in one dose. Even if you aren’t exercising currently, you can still benefit greatly by using those three supplements. If you can reduce the risk of heart disease, arthritis, or Parkinson’s for one capsule and two tablespoons a day, why wouldn’t you? Of these three, I personally use and recommend all of them. By beginning with these, you would be laying that groundwork for a good foundation to build off of. After this, throw in some exercise, then maybe add in a whey protein supplement.
Steve Larsen currently lives in Memphis, TN by way of Seattle, WA. He participates in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and has always wrestled. Five years ago he decided to change up his lifestyle and got into the basics of exercise and diet, which are the two most important components if you want to change your health and appearance. If you have a question like does creatine help build muscle or are curious about taking creatine, the site Does Creatine Help? has all the information you could want.
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