lifting for 1 year, never used any supplements. have i dun goofed? (advice)(1.5k)

[LOVEHUNTER2011]

Never been a fan of supplements, I only "take" fish oil tablets the days I don't eat fish (which is ~2 times a week)

Albeit I'm on a calorie surplus all the time, and lift heavy 4-5 a week, I feel like my lifts just won't go up anymore, and the growth of my muscles has stagnated. My macros are intact most of the days, and the proteins I eat are usually from eggs, milk, meat, fish and nuts.

Am I expecting too much?

I wan't to keep the rapid growth in both strength and size, what supplements could help me achieve my goals?

inb4 celltech, no thanks.

[rhadam]

If you've hit a plateau on both muscle gain and lifts, it's time to increase calories. As you get bigger and stronger your body requires more calories to maintain and then grow. Kick up the cals a couple hundred and you'll be good to go. No need to grab a supplement instead of fixing the real problem, which is that your body needs more energy.

[aj5forlife]

If you've hit a plateau on both muscle gain and lifts, it's time to increase calories. As you get bigger and stronger your body requires more calories to maintain and then grow. Kick up the cals a couple hundred and you'll be good to go. No need to grab a supplement instead of fixing the real problem, which is that your body needs more energy.

This. If you wanted to use a supplement in order to take in more calories, try a weight gainer- just know its doing the same as eating more (which sometimes is just too hard). Also, using a gainer w/creatine should help with strength gains within a short period of time.

[Valhallabound86]

How many calories above maintenance are you?

[jay8899]

Dude,i been lifting about 6-7 years as consistantly as possible..the most i have taken up to 2-3 months ago was 3 different pre workouts,bcaas and glutamine maybe 3-4 times each.Tibulus and fenugreek 2 times each..other wise i stuck with just multi,fish and flax oil,b complex and cmz.whey protein and creatine and FOOD and always made good gains....stick with food and higher calories and your good to go...Alot ,a majority of supps are no good anyway.

Recently i jave decided to start trying test boosters & pwos again,still not sure if i want to waste money on bcaas.

[Khwaj]

if you've been lifting constantly all that time you can do a few things
-eat more like everyone has suggested
-do a deloading phase for a week in which the weights you do is a lot lower than you usually do
-take a week off, let your body have some time off

i find all 3 methods have worked for me get past a plateau

[noaddedhormones]

Try 3 weeks of overtraining followed
By deload week.

[LOVEHUNTER2011]

Thanks for the replies people, so in short; eat more, do a week of lifting with lower weights (same reps / sets?) and start with creatine?


I'm usually on 300-500 calories above maintenance, with 40% proteins 30% carbs 30% fat on lifting days, and try stay at maintenance the 1 or 2 days I dont work out, same macros.


edit:

Dude,i been lifting about 6-7 years as consistantly as possible..the most i have taken up to 2-3 months ago was 3 different pre workouts,bcaas and glutamine maybe 3-4 times each.Tibulus and fenugreek 2 times each..other wise i stuck with just multi,fish and flax oil,b complex and cmz.whey protein and creatine and FOOD and always made good gains....stick with food and higher calories and your good to go...Alot ,a majority of supps are no good anyway.

Recently i jave decided to start trying test boosters & pwos again,still not sure if i want to waste money on bcaas.

Thanks for the input, never felt the need for a pre-workout as I'm always pumped to lift! Would you recommend creatine for gaining strength as well as size?

Will try to rep all, on recharge atm!

[garox]

Creatine should help to make your muscle cells larger, but not to make more of them. 300-500 calories above maintenance is low enough to be insignificant when considering the error in calculating calorie intake and usage. I would say shoot for 800 calories above for moderate gains. You can, of course, go higher, but I get the impression you aren't a big fan of eating a lot of food. Try just supplementing your current diet with a weight gainer shake daily.

[gottalift78]

hell, id say you did it right. You trained your body naturally, learned how it works ( for the most part ) now i think its the perfect time to add supplements. id still start slow and just add something like creatine and whey protein and see how they react to your system. There are times where i go off supps for about 4 months and just eat. It's amazing to see how the body reacts to different compounds and changes.

[J_Bo]

Way too many people jump into supps too soon. If you Build as much as you can without them, first, then you'll actually see the benefits from them when you finally do use them. They might actually help you break a plateau and keep gaining.

[LOVEHUNTER2011]

Way too many people jump into supps too soon. If you Build as much as you can without them, first, then you'll actually see the benefits from them when you finally do use them. They might actually help you break a plateau and keep gaining.

Thanks, would you recommend creatine for this? I know whey protein shakes are just a tool to help me get more proteins (?) but I can do that through food only so I'm lucky that way - or any other supplements .. hence the thread, I can put up some pics front / back / legs if that would help (no homo)

[Marcusgs]

In my experience with sups the two that are worth the money are protine and creatine IMO

[jay8899]

Absolutley not... For the last 6-7 yrs i been training it was food whey and creatine...along with fish and flax oil and multis..laaat few months i really been trying out supps,so far so good..but dont he fooled,more oftwn than not supps are garbage..pick n choose the right ones..do ur investigating

[Kingthumper]

more oftwn than not supps are garbage..pick n choose the right ones..do ur investigating

+1. IMO the majority of supps that are out their are a waste of money. Probably the most heavily used stack on this site consists of whey protein, creatine, multi vitamin, fish oils, and "maybe" a pwo. Thats it. Three out of five of those are centered around nutrition supplementation. Creatine is hands down the best performance related supplement and a preworkout is basically flavored koolaid with caffeine, have a 16oz cup of coffee to get the same effect.

[garox]

+1. IMO the majority of supps that are out their are a waste of money. Probably the most heavily used stack on this site consists of whey protein, creatine, multi vitamin, fish oils, and "maybe" a pwo. Thats it. Three out of five of those are centered around nutrition supplementation. Creatine is hands down the best performance related supplement and a preworkout is basically flavored koolaid with caffeine, have a 16oz cup of coffee to get the same effect.

I agree. You can supplement that cup of coffee with a Vitamin B Complex pill for a few more pennies. That's been my PWO in the past, though I can't say I've ever tried a commercial PWO to compare it to. Legal supplements are a waste of money, except for the designer ones, which are downright dangerous.

[Valhallabound86]

Lol, love the broad brush strokes in this thread.

Plenty of supplements work, they're just over-depended on by the majority. And the other half are suckered in by marketing and don't even research the ingredients. If you buy a ****ty car from a dealer that has a well-documented history of things going wrong with it, do you blame the dealer or the consumer?

[imagedynamix]

Never been a fan of supplements, I only "take" fish oil tablets the days I don't eat fish (which is ~2 times a week)

Albeit I'm on a calorie surplus all the time, and lift heavy 4-5 a week, I feel like my lifts just won't go up anymore, and the growth of my muscles has stagnated. My macros are intact most of the days, and the proteins I eat are usually from eggs, milk, meat, fish and nuts.

Am I expecting too much?

I wan't to keep the rapid growth in both strength and size, what supplements could help me achieve my goals?

inb4 celltech, no thanks.

Take a week or two off from lifting. Eat, rest, enjoy life. Then get right back on the training schedule of yours. Seriously, I think this is what helped my bench go up.

[jay8899]

+1. IMO the majority of supps that are out their are a waste of money. Probably the most heavily used stack on this site consists of whey protein, creatine, multi vitamin, fish oils, and "maybe" a pwo. Thats it. Three out of five of those are centered around nutrition supplementation. Creatine is hands down the best performance related supplement and a preworkout is basically flavored koolaid with caffeine, have a 16oz cup of coffee to get the same effect.

TY man..and you sir are a genius,lol =) ..agree with you 100%

I agree. You can supplement that cup of coffee with a Vitamin B Complex pill for a few more pennies. That's been my PWO in the past, though I can't say I've ever tried a commercial PWO to compare it to. Legal supplements are a waste of money, except for the designer ones, which are downright dangerous.

and TY...Well said....

Lol, love the broad brush strokes in this thread.

Plenty of supplements work, they're just over-depended on by the majority. And the other half are suckered in by marketing and don't even research the ingredients. If you buy a ****ty car from a dealer that has a well-documented history of things going wrong with it, do you blame the dealer or the consumer?

Ofcourse thats your reponse,your a rep...give me a break man..Your opinion is bogus to me! No offense or anything =)

[LOVEHUNTER2011]

Thanks for all the replies :-)

Leaning towards ordering creatine, in what shape or form should I go for? I see tablets, powder etc... Should I get a shaker and go to town on it as if it was a proteinshake?

Gonna take a week with lifting light from monday and out, hopefully it will help me out. Lifting heavy has become a lifestyle I truly enjoy, thanks to the misc for helping me out in times like these!

Trying to get all of you, mostly on r/c!

[garox]

Thanks for all the replies :-)

Leaning towards ordering creatine, in what shape or form should I go for? I see tablets, powder etc... Should I get a shaker and go to town on it as if it was a proteinshake?

Gonna take a week with lifting light from monday and out, hopefully it will help me out. Lifting heavy has become a lifestyle I truly enjoy, thanks to the misc for helping me out in times like these!

Trying to get all of you, mostly on r/c!

Just plain, straight up 99% or 100% pure creatine monohydrate. It's cheap, and completely tasteless. You do not benefit from a flavored, much more expensive variety.

[unccwrestler]

Creatine is the most tried and true. Some see some slight size increases from it, I mostly find it beneficial for recovery. Also you can take fish oil everyday. Shoot for atleast 1g EPA/DHA

[gat0rbait]

Ofcourse thats your reponse,your a rep...give me a break man..Your opinion is bogus to me! No offense or anything =)

Nothing wrong with what he said all he stated was if your going to start taking supplements make sure that either the brand/manufacture is proven or the ingredient itself because as with cars there's pos vehicles out there.

[Valhallabound86]

Ofcourse thats your reponse,your a rep...give me a break man..Your opinion is bogus to me! No offense or anything =)

I don't really see how that has anything to do with me being a rep. And I have said the exact same thing before I was a rep. But feel free to invalidate points on the basis of representation positions. You'll miss a whole lot of good info on these boards.