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High Intensity Training Supplements
These 4 Supplements Can Help You Get Bigger Using HIT
High-intensity training is a great approach to building new muscle without spending your life in the gym, especially if you’re dedicated to improving your lifts each time you train.
You won’t get much out of HIT or any other routine, though, if you don’t have your out-of-the-gym life in order. In particular, you need to get plenty of sleep, make sure you build in some relaxation time, keep stress as low as possible, and tune in your diet to get all the muscle building blocks you need.
While you CAN get all the nutrients you need from diet alone, supplements can help you fill in the gaps, and some are especially well-suited to helping your lifting pursuits.
Here are four supplements that can help you get bigger when you’re using HIT.
Protein
You need to eat about one gram of protein per pound of body weight when you’re trying to pack on muscle. For most guys, it’s not too hard to get that amount from meat, dairy, fish, and poultry, but some lifters just don’t have the appetite to eat that much.
In those cases, adding a protein powder to your regimen can help immensely, as one scoop usually provides around 25 grams of protein but contains only about 100 calories. Whey protein, in particular, is a great choice for after your workout since it is digested rapidly. Casein, on the other hand, is a good supplement to use when you know you’ll be without food for awhile since it digests more slowly.
For the best protein try Bio-Engineered Protein.
Creatine
Creatine has been shown in study after study to have all kinds of benefits for hard-training athletes. Among them are enhanced workout recovery, more energy in the gym, bigger poundages, and even quick lean weight gain.
Of all the forms available, creatine monohydrate has the most proven track record. You can either “load” with 25-30 grams per day over a couple of weeks and then drop off to a dose of 5 grams per day, or just start with that maintenance dose — 5 grams — and let your muscle stores build up over time. Both work well for long-term gains.
For the best creatine try Pumped Extreme Creatine.
Multivitamin
The first goal of any nutrition program should be to get and keep you healthy, but bodybuilders often run into a deficiency in one or more nutrients because we’re so focused on either gaining muscle or losing fat. This can lead to an imbalance in certain vitamins and minerals and leave us short of our RDAs on some fronts.
To combat this situation and to make sure that you are getting all you need, include a good multivitamin in your daily regimen. After all, you can’t gain if you aren’t healthy.
Branched-Chain Amino Acids
The branched-chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, valine) are considered essential because your body cannot manufacture them from the food you eat. While you CAN get them directly from meat, you might also consider adding them in supplemental form because of unique properties that hold special interest for bodybuilders.
In particular, the BCAAs have been found to have powerful effects on both increasing protein synthesis and preventing muscle breakdown, especially when taken before an intense workout. Most experts recommend 5-10 grams of BCAAs pre-workout, and some even encourage you to sip on an amino drink during training.
For the best amino acid supplement try Nitrobol Amino Acids.
Use Caution
Of course, even the best of supplements come with risks, and you should get all the information you can before putting any new substance in your body. Talk to your doctor about your plans and make sure that they won’t potentially compromise your health.
If everything checks out, though, these four supplements can be valuable aids in your quest to get big using high-intensity training.