5 Must Have Supplements For Every Weightlifter

When you start lifting weight, the first thing you want to know is about the supplementation required for improving and fastening the results. This, obviously takes you to the stores selling tons of supplements that will help in building lean muscle or restoring your body after a strenuous workout.

While the options might look endless to you, the fact is not all supplements work for every weight lifter and they work differently for every individual because of the unique nature of our bodies. Despite the differences, there are some supplements that have shown excellent results for almost weight lifters and bodybuilders.

Here, we give you 5 must have supplements for weight lifters that can definitely up their body building game.

Whey Protein

Undoubtedly, whey is one of the must have supplements for weightlifters because of several reasons. Consuming whey protein shakes and supplements can improve performance and gain muscle mass for the bodybuilders. It gives your body a high dosage of protein which helps in jump-starting the muscle growth process. Typically weight lifters consume whey protein both before and after the workout to increase their protein synthesis and also to improve muscle recovery and restoration process.

Whether you are aiming to add lean mass to your body or want to drop the extra body fat, adding whey protein to your daily diet can fasten the gain and loss process.

Some of the key benefits of whey protein are summarized below:

●    Easy to digest
●    Lactose intolerant
●    Improves muscle repair
●    Acts as a natural appetite suppressant
●    Rich in essential amino acids
●    Improves metabolism

Recommended Dosage: 20 to 30 grams of whey protein at a time with your pre and post workout meal.

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Creatine 

Creatine is another one of the most important supplements for weightlifters. Though, creatine is a naturally occurring substance found within our muscle cells. Approximately 95 percent of human body’s creatine supply can be found around the skeletal muscle tissue. The remaining 5 percent is stored in rest of the body. This naturally occurring metabolite has been reproduced in the form of creatine monohydrate so that it can be used as a dietary supplement. It is mainly consumed for cellular energy production and modulation.

Benefits of including creatine in your weight lifting diet:

●    Promotes lean body mass
●    Increases muscle volume
●    Provides faster post workout recovery
●    Increased glycogen storage
●    Improves high intensity muscle performance

Mostly, athletes prefer to include creatine in their diet, especially when they are body building or weight lifting because of the rapid pace at which their muscle mass is being built.

Recommended Dosage: 5-10 grams creatine throughout the day. Divide the total requirement in two halves for your pre-workout and post workout meal.

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BCAA (Branched Chain Amino Acid)

Another common supplement every weight lifter should have is BCAA (Branched Chain Amino Acids) as it helps greatly in improving workout results. Our body consists of 20 essential amino acids, out of which 3 are referred to as BCAA’s, namely, leucine, isoleucine, and valine. Fundamentally, these three are the main amino acids that help in stimulating protein synthesis and regulates protein metabolism in body.

Our body makes efficient use if BCAA for muscle recovery, just the way a whey protein supplement dies. Similarly, BCAA’s drive the nutrients tot he muscle tissue, thus allowing improved muscle recovery. While in the muscles, BCAA’s acts an as energy source during the workout. Thus consuming them after workout can help in restoring the nutrients lost during your intense workout session. They also help in reduces muscle pain caused because of fatigue and improves metabolic recovery.

Some even suggest that BCAA’s can help in improving endurance by keeping the muscles fueled for longer.

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Beta Alanine 

This is another naturally occurring non essential amino acid that our body gets through protein rich food products like poultry. The performance enhancement that comes with beta alanine is because of its ability to give spike to intra muscular levels of carnosine. The increase in beta alanine with the help of supplementation suggests that the carnosine levels in the body have increased by over 60%.

The importance of this supplement for every strength athlete is significant because during the high intensity workout our body starts accumulating a high amount of hydrogen which drops our pH. The acidification thus caused may lead to severe fatigue and also decrease the muscle performance by shutting down the neural drive, which leads to muscle failure. Maintaining an increased level of carnosine through this supplementation helps bodybuilders in delaying hydrogen accumulation, which is the main reason behind acidity and subsequent fatigue and muscle failure.

Some additional benefits of beta alanine supplementation are:

●    Elevates endurance
●    Improves force output
●    Delays fatigue
●    Improves repeated sprint ability
●    Works in collaboration with creatine

Recommended Dosage: 2.5 grams per day, take in small quantities before the workou

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Multivitamin 

Though, multivitamins are not purely bodybuilding supplements, specifically when it comes to targeting muscle growth just the way your whey protein and creatine do. But, taking a high quality and high potency multivitamin is fundamental for supporting the cellular conditions required for performance and muscle growth.

While some might argue that certain compounds like Vitamin-C are of greater importance for immune function, the reality is that the combined synergistic effect of all key minerals and vitamins, when taken in specific ratio, provides the best results in improving health followed by tissue growth and functions.

If you think that you can get your daily dose of multivitamins with nutrient rich diet then you are not completely right. Today’s soil conditions, use of pollutants and over processing of foods destroys most of the natural nutrients, thus making it difficult to reach the desired ratio through diet only. Even the strictly organic food is not sufficient to meet the nutritional potency and quality required by a weight lifter.

Related Article: Multivitamin Benefits, Uses and Unknown Facts

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Conclusion

If you don’t want to rely on supplements, then its completely fine because you can definitely get results without them, but, remember the process is going to be too slow. Supplements essentially expedite the process. So, its better you get your diet in line first and then make a note of how well your body is responding to weight training with proper diet. Further your progress by adding these essential supplements to your diet and you will definitely see better results.