Favorite Supplements
My Favorite Supplements
Below is the list of supplements that have helped me maximize my results during my P90X / Insanity / P90X2 transformation. There are others I’ve tried, but I didn’t feel they gave me as much “bang for my buck” as these. This is not to say that you NEED these. I am just saying that I wouldn’t want to put in the time, effort, and energy into an intense workout program like P90X or Insanity without having these supplements to maximize the benefits of all that hard work. With that said, here’s my favorite supplements — the ones I feel are ABSOLUTELY worth the cost:
Shakeology = This is by far my favorite Beachbody supplement (in fact, it’s the only one on my “Must Have” list). I gave it a trial run just to see what the hype was about (they offer a 30 day guarantee so you have nothing to lose). Well, after the first month on Shakeology, I signed up for home direct and have been using it EVERY day since. There seem to be 2 types of people when it comes to Shakeology – those who haven’t tried it and are skeptical about the price, and those who have tried it and now rave about it. It does cost twice the amount of regular whey protein, but it’s got hundreds of nutrients and supplements in it, so comparing it to plain protein powder isn’t a fair comparison. You’ll have to decide if it’s in your budget or not, but to me it’s worth the money. To learn more, click here.
Whey Protein Powder = You will need to consume a lot of protein to fuel your muscles. You don’t have to use a protein powder if you plan on eating enough lean meats to meet your protein quota, but on a fat shredder diet that will take A LOT of meat!! It’s more practical to plan on using a protein powder to help you meet your daily requirements. Beachbody sells Whey protein powder, but I primarily use GNC’s Wheybolic Extreme 60 because it is a little more affordable and has a higher protein content per serving. It also has enough glutamine in it that I don’t have to supplement it separately. That’s handy for the budget. Your body should get about 10g of glutamine per day in total, so if you don’t get that in your protein powder, you may need to buy some separately, but most good protein powders will give you that much, especially if you take 2-3 servings of protein powder each day (which I typically do). To learn more about protein powders, click here.
Results / Recovery Formula = When you push your body hard, it is critical to get out of the “catabolic” state and back into the “anabolic” state as quickly as possible. Intense exercise depletes your body’s stores of glycogen, electrolytes, and naturally occurring creatine and glutamine. It also causes your body to release cortisol (which will break down muscle for energy). We want to exercise hard, but we want to reverse this catabolic process as fast as possible, and that’s why a recovery drink immediately after a workout is so important. It needs a small amount of protein, a lot of fast absorbing carbs, electrolytes, creatine, and glutamine. The Results / Recovery Formula has all of that, which is why I use it after every intense workout. To learn more about it, click here.
This concludes my list of “MUST HAVE” supplements. A person with just these 3 can expect PHENOMENAL results with their fitness. But there are a couple extras that are in the “FUN TO HAVE” category, especially if building muscle mass is a priority of yours ….
Creatine = This supplement helps volumize the muscles with fluid so that they can draw more nutrients in to aid with recovery and muscle building. Creatine is also used by the body to generate energy during intense exercise (through ATP) which can improve performance and allow you to get those extra reps, thus pushing your muscles harder. I get my creatine monohydrate from GNC (plain monohydrate …. NOT a mix with sugar and calories in it). It is important to cycle creatine, 2 months on and 1 month off. I also like Kre-Alkalyn, which is a pH buffered form of creatine that allows you to take a lower dose and does not require cycling. I alternate between these two creatine options. To learn more about creatine, click here.
Pre-workout Energy Booster (like E&E / 1 MR / Jack3d) = I like the intensity and energy of a pre-workout supplement. I have used Jack3d , N.O. Loaded, 1 MR, NanoVapor, and E&E. Pre-workouts aren’t designed to taste good LOL, but they work great! Most have creatine in them, so they need to be cycled 2 months on, 1 month off (the exception to that is the E&E, which does not have creatine in it). Pre-workouts can affect different people differently, so it’s typical for people to have different “favorites”. To see more on the E&E Pre-workout, click here.
Intra-workout (like Intrabolic or Purple Wraath) = Since I work out on an empty stomach in the mornings, I like to get a little fuel (in the form of branched chain amino acids, or BCAA’s) during my workout. It gives my muscles a little fuel, helps prevent a catabolic situation (like I talked about in the recovery formula section), and the intra-workout supplements also have some electrolytes and vasodilators which help with blood flow and getting a “pump”. This isn’t a necessity, but when working out on an empty stomach I find it definitely helps me push harder and transition to recovery better.
I’ve addressed these supplements in my updated nutrition / supplement video, which you can watch below =
236 Responses to “Favorite Supplements”
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Hi coach, and when do i have to take glutamine and creatine, before or after workout, thanks for Your time.
Hey Emilio, you can do it either before or after, or split it and do half before and half after (I preferred doing it half before and half after).
My wife and I would both like to take the Shakeology but can’t afford to buy two bags a month, do you think it would be ok to share a bag (half scoop each). Thanks
Yes Marty, that’s exactly what I would recommend.
hey coach my workout routine looks like this my 3 lift days include chest and back, shoulders and arms or back and biceps (either or for now) but for the third i added power from the asylum u think the power workout is good to include with the other 2 to gain some mass?
Hey Christian, read my article “overtraining” because it would be hard to do all 4 of those workouts in a week while giving your muscles the 48 hours they need to recover.
hey coach, so i have the pre workout C4 which has creatine in it. should i take more creatine afterwards?
Hey Randy, during an “on” cycle you should get 5-7 grams of creatine per day, and C4 has about 3. So yes, you should supplement some extra to make up the difference.
Hey Coach Wayne, I’ve seen home made recipes for the recovery drink. How do they match up to p90x recovery formula?
Hey Darnell, most homemade recovery drinks are lacking in at least one category (electrolytes, essential minerals and nutrients, fast absorbing carbs, quality protein). There are several good recovery drinks on the market. R/R formula tastes the best in my opinion.
Hey, read about this workout “enhancer” called “Sweet Sweat”. Its like a cream and it heats up certain parts of the body..and overall causes a better sweat to occur and more calories to burn. This is used for those hard to get spots such as the lower stomach area. What do you think?
Hey Coach Wayne,
I am preparing to start p90x, I tried the Choc Shakeology, and the Green from a friend and really didnt like either, I went to GNC and they recommended AMP Amplified Muscle Meal, which I bought but I think it seems like more of a Recovery formula, do you know if it will be ok, or should I try something else.
Calories 350.00
Calories from Fat 45.00
Total Fat 5.00 g 8%
Saturated Fat 2.00 g 10%
Cholesterol 100.00 mg 33%
Total Carbohydrate 25.00 g 8%
Dietary Fiber 5.00 g 20%
Sugars 4.00 g
Protein 50.00 g
Vitamin A (as Vitamin A Palmitate) 1250.00 IU 25%
Vitamin C (as Ascorbic Acid) 15.00 mg 25%
Vitamin D (as Cholecalciferol D-3) 100.00 IU 25%
Vitamin E (as dl-alpha Tocopheryl Acetate) 7.50 IU 25%
Vitamin K (as phytonadione) 20.00 mcg 25%
Thiamin (as Thiamin Mononitrate) 0.38 mg 25%
Riboflavin (Vitamin B-2) 0.43 mg 25%
Niacin (as Niacinamide) 5.00 mg 25%
Vitamin B-6 (as Pyridoxine Hydrochloride) 0.50 mg 25%
Folic Acid 100.00 mcg 25%
Vitamin B-12 (as Cyanocobalamin) 1.50 mcg 25%
Biotin 75.00 mcg 25%
Pantothenic Acid (as d-Calcium Pantothenate) 2.50 mg 25%
Calcium 600.00 mg 60%
Phosphorus (as dipotassium phosphate) 550.00 mg 55%
Iodine (as Potassium Iodide) 37.50 mcg 25%
Magnesium (as Magnesium Oxide) 120.00 mg 30%
Zinc (as Zinc Oxide) 3.75 mg 25%
Selenium (as sodium selenite) 17.50 mcg 25%
Copper (as Copper Sulfate) 0.50 mg 25%
Manganese (as Manganese Sulfate) 0.50 mg 25%
Chromium (as Chromium Picolinate) 30.00 mcg 25%
Molybdenum (as molybdenum amino acid chelate) 18.75 mcg 25%
Chloride (as Potassium Chloride) 85.00 mg 3%
Sodium 360.00 mg 15%
Potassium (as diPotassium Phosphate) 1120.00 mg 32%
MicroSorb Amino Acid Blend 23.00 g 0%
calcium caseinate **
Calcium Caseinate **
Glutamine(Micronized L-Glutamine Micronized Whey Protein Concentrate Whey Protein Concentrate Milk Protein Concentrate) **
L-Leucine(As Micronized L-Leucine Micronized Whey protein concenrtrate Whey protein concentrate milk protein concentrate) **
Tri-MG Infusion 0.00 0%
Betaine (as Betaine Anhydrous) 2.50 g 0%
HMB (as Calcium HMB) 500.00 mg 0%
Amino Acceleration System 200.00 mg 0%
BioCore Edge (Protease [from Aspergillus oryzae Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus mellus] and Peptidase [Aspergillus oryzae])
Hey Nathan, that product is fine, but yes it’s more of a hybrid recovery / protein powder. It’s got good stuff in it. It doesn’t have any of the whole food superfoods that are in Shakeology. You have to remember that Shakeology has no artificial flavoring. It tastes like the foods that are in it. So it has a cocoa / coffee taste rather than an artificial chocolate flavoring taste. You should try my recipe and I think you’ll find it’s actually quite good. Because if you get used to the natural taste, you’ll be able to have the real benefits of it. Read this article I wrote about Shakeology Taste back when I tried it = http://teamripped.com/shakeology-taste
Hey Justin, save your money. A cream that makes your body sweat in certain areas isn’t going to help. What gets the lower stomach to go away is overall body fat loss. Read this = http://teamripped.com/stubborn-belly-fat
Coach Wayne,
I love the recovery drink and have been using it for a long time but recently I made a connection that raises a lot of questions. My flatulence goes through the roof on that stuff. And my farts really really smell; no joking! So I was wondering if you had any insight into a) why that is, and b) what can be done about it.
Thanks,
Tim
Hey Tim, I honestly haven’t heard a single person ever link the Recovery drink to flatulence. You can ask on the TBB message boards and see if anyone else has experienced that. The only possibility I can imagine is the high amounts of fast absorbing carbs in it that might be too much for your body to digest at once. Try using just one scoop and see if that makes a difference.
Sorry I’m not of any help on that one.
Coach Wayne,
I am doing some reasearch on recovery supplements. Can you please take a look and let me know what you think.
http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3983184
Thanks
Hey Saul, Halo is a GREAT product. I have only used a sample of it but I know many who love it. The only drawback is that it has no protein so you’ll want to supplement it with some quality whey protein as well post workout (which ends up putting it in the same price range as R/R, which is why I stick with R/R)
Coach,
When you use your creatine monohydrate from GNC, do you go through a loading phase? If you do, how do you load on it?
BTW…Last night was my first day of P90X. It kicked my butt, I used the chair to assist on the pull ups. I felt a bit dizzy on the 2nd round but I read on other blogs that it was normal. I will continue to hit play and BRING IT!!!
Coach,
I just read your blog on Creatine. That answered my question.
Thanks for all of the valuable information you post on these pages.
I’ve done both loading and non-loading and couldn’t tell a difference. I wrote more about that in these 2 articles =
http://teamripped.com/creatine-revisited
http://teamripped.com/the-scoop-on-creatine
Keep bringing it!
Coach, I am trying to hit 1900 calories daily but I keep coming about 100 calories short. I am reaching my P/C/F goal but as I said I keep coming short. This is only my second day of preparing my meals and I hope to start coming closer to the actual goals.
BTW. I did my Plyometrics workout this morning. It was intense, was able to hang in there and burned about 1200 cals.
Great job on plyo Saul! Keep it up! And keep fine tuning the nutrition. You are close!
What do you prefer creatine or kre alkalyn? I have been using kre alkalyn and I’m getting bigger but not stronger. Do you think I should switch it up? I know with the creatine you have to do 2 months on 1 off.
Hey Kurt, I prefer the kre-alkalyn, but you are more than welcome to switch and try for yourself to see which you prefer. I’ve discussed more about creatine and kre-alkalyn in my article “creatine revisited” so check that out! Keep pushing!
Hey coach Wayne,
I’m been doing p90x for 1 month and a half. I haven’t use any supplements. I saw that shake video u posted! And really liked it. Should I take that same exact shake u take everyday??! I really want to take good supplements.. Help please! Thank you!
Sure Edwin, go for it! I have been using Shakeology for nearly 2 years now and it’s awesome. I mix it with some whey protein and some PB2 (a natural and powdered form of peanut butter). You can buy Shakeology here = http://teamripped.com/supplements/shakeology/buy-shakeology
Thanks coach wayne!
should i take fiber, creatine, and glutamine as well with the shake everyday? thanks!
You probably don’t need glutamine if you are taking a good whey protein. Fiber is a good way to slow digestion and keep yourself feeling full longer, and creatine is something I like but it’s up to you, if you are comfortable using it as you look into it.
Thanks coach!
Yeah would that shake make my results look better?. And I should take creatine for 2 months and 1 month off right ? Thanks coach!
So a Shake of shakeology, whey protein, fiber, creatine, and PB is all I need for the day? Thanks coach!
Yes, I’d recommend that Edwin. And if you go with creatine, yes, do 2 months on, 1 month off.
Thanks coach Wayne! Ur the best!
I am finishing Power 90 at the beginning of next month and planning to start Power 90 Master series since I do not think I am ready for p90x just yet. Do you recommend any particular supplements? My goal is to continue losing weight (40 pounds so far), increase strength and endurance (would not mind getting better muscle definition).
Thanks in advance
Hey Jose, the supplements I would recommend during P90 are the same that I would recommend during P90X — a good whey protein, Shakeology, a recovery drink, and if you want some muscle building, then creatine as well.
Thanks very much!