Nutrition

How to Choose the Right Bodybuilding Supplements That Are Effective For Your Bulking Goals

Bigger, stronger, and faster. These are three of the most common answers as to why people workout and get into fitness, along with getting healthier. When it comes to bodybuilding, the first two are the most important. There is less of a need for fast-twitch muscles, like those seen in sports athletes, and more of a need for slow-twitch.

Slow-twitch muscles allow for the body to handle heavier loads, which means bigger gains, and bigger muscles. Getting to that point of being a bonafide bodybuilder takes plenty of time, hard work, and mental dedication, but it’s easier when you have the right resources and support to help fuel your growth. What you need are supplements.

It’s true that most of your fitness goals will be made in the kitchen, and you should focus on a good, clean diet, but it doesn’t hurt to have some additional support in the way of supplements. Many of us lack the daily amount of protein, minerals, vitamins, carbs, and fats that we need to sustain ourselves, let alone bulk, so here are some of the best supplements to choose from for bulking goals.

Whey Protein Powder

Possibly the king of the supplement stack is whey protein powder. Most people refer to whey as simply protein powder, but there’s an important difference that will be explained shortly. Whey is a milk-based protein powder, but there are also differences in the nutritional content of the protein. Whey concentrate is the typical kind as it is less refined, meaning it has more fats and carbs, whereas whey isolate is more refined and has a higher protein content. In any case, this is an absolute must-have, no exceptions supplement for bulking and any general fitness goal.

Casein Protein Powder

The other type of protein powder is casein protein. The difference between casein isn’t in the process of refining its nutritional content, but rather the digestion/absorption rates. Casein is a slower-acting protein, which makes it better to take after workouts or before bed. Casein is also slightly more expensive than regular whey because it is often fairly high-quality too, which makes it similar to whey isolate in that regard. If you find yourself working out in high volume or long sessions, then regular whey is your best bet, but if you want slower-acting protein this is a good call.

Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine often gets a bad reputation as a supplement from people who don’t understand its purpose. It is often thought of as a supplement that only adds water weight to give the appearance of mass, which isn’t true. If you look at Wilsonsupplements.com, you can see that there are plenty of different brands of creatine, but nearly all of them are creatine monohydrate. The reason is that creatine monohydrate is most effective in helping build bigger and stronger muscles, while also helping with performance too. Being able to recover faster is a necessity during the bulking phase, and creatine is a good bet to help you achieve your mass goals.

Mass Gainers

For people who need to get their macronutrients (among other nutritional benefits, ex. Amino acids) quickly and in large quantities, a mass gainer is a solid option too. Mass gainers work in a similar manner to most protein powders. It comes in powder form and you can add it to water, milk, or whatever beverage you choose, and it contains high quantities of protein, carbohydrates, fats, and other necessary dietary needs. These are used to quickly add mass without having to eat as much. It should be noted that you shouldn’t derive the majority of your daily intake of macronutrients this way, but it’s a good aid to help you quickly add weight.

Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs)

Most people think that the important supplements for building muscle and gaining mass are restricted to protein powders or mass gainers, but that’s far from the case. You need to help give your muscles the necessary aid with protein synthesis. That is why BCAAs, branched-chain amino acids, are so vital. Amino acids help convert the protein into usable forms in the body, which helps promote muscle building. This is an easy supplement to include in your daily diet and helps make other supplements more effective.

L-Glutamine

L-glutamine is not part of the branched-chain of amino acids. The reason for this is that L-glutamine is non-essential and can be produced by the body naturally, whereas the BCAAs must get consumed from external sources like food or supplements. Regardless of its nature, L-glutamine serves an incredible function in helping muscle cell absorption and retention of water. This allows the muscles to grow and repair much easier and will allow for the bulking phase to proceed quicker.

Multivitamin

A good multivitamin is something everyone should have in their daily intake. Most of us are vitamin and mineral deficient because of our diets, so it doesn’t hurt to help aid vitamin A, B3, B12, C, D, E, magnesium, iron, etc. to help make up for anything lost from our diet. A multivitamin is also very useful in cutting down on the total amount of vitamins you take separately, which are often disposed of when your body removes waste through urine. Vitamins help maintain the general function of the body so they are very essential for your health.

Zinc Magnesium Aspartate (ZMAs)

Lastly, we have ZMAs or zinc magnesium aspartate. ZMA is used primarily as an aid to muscle regeneration and repair. It does this through the help of providing energy boosts (B6) but also helps with sleep quality, a necessary component to muscle building. Magnesium is also very potent for the metabolic process of absorbing and utilizing nutrients, which helps make proteins and other nutrients more active in the body, thus, helping form stronger and bigger muscles.

The process of bodybuilding is an ebb and flow of cycles that you need to maintain in your body composition. One of the most important phases is bulking, which requires you to gain mass to help support the amount of weight and volume for your workouts. Using these supplements, you can make the right choices to aid in the process of getting stronger for your bulking goals.

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