In the first several installments of this article, I asked myself, “If I could go back in time and tell my ‘beginner self’ a few things about training, nutrition, cardio and supplements…what would I want to know?” I discussed what tips I've learned over the last several years that have contributed most to improvements made in my physique, performance and overall health. Having thought about this a lot, I've come up with 27 golden nuggets of information, split into several parts, that will help you reach your goals more quickly, whatever they may be. The first several installments covered training, nutrition and cardio. Here, I will discuss supplements. Keep in mind that these tips are in no particular order and that I try to get to the point and present you with the “takeaway” information, which is what most of us are concerned about to begin with, right? I hope you enjoy!

1.) Take your fish oil and your CLA regularly! Not only are they great for helping you stay lean, but some research suggests that CLA can also help with building lean mass, and they are also great for your overall health. So how much should you take? I have heard fish oil recommendations from 2 grams all the way up to 30-50 grams a day! I used to take about 15 grams a day, but when I had blood work done, I found out that my cholesterol was actually too low to optimally make hormones! I backed it off to around 5 grams of super high quality fish oil and 2 grams of CLA a day and my hormone levels are much better. Of course if you carry a lot of excess body fat, have high cholesterol and/or eat a junky diet, you could probably benefit from more fish oil. A good rule of thumb for fish oil is 1 gram for every 50 pounds of body weight on the low end, and 1 gram for every 15 pounds of body weight on the high end. For CLA, 2-5 grams a day is a good dose.

2.) Take your ZMA every night! In my opinion, ZMA (a supplement made up of Zinc, Magnesium and B6) is one of the most underrated supplement superstars on the planet! If you are a human being who trains on a regular basis and you are not supplementing with ZMA, you are almost guaranteed to be zinc and/or magnesium deficient. In fact, world class performance coach Charles Poliquin claims that such a high percentage of his trainees' blood tests come back deficient in zinc and magnesium, that he has stopped testing them because he can just assume they are deficient in it! So why should you care? Supplementing with ZMA will improve the quality of your sleep, your overall recovery, and your anabolic hormone levels such as Testosterone and IGF-1. This translates into being able to gain strength and lean mass more easily and perform at your highest levels.

3.) “You aren’t what you eat, you are what you absorb!” This is a saying that is getting more and more popular as we learn more how our digestion and absorption of food and our overall gut health affects our entire body. With every passing year, we lose a small percent of our stomach acid, which helps us digest the food that we eat. This is one of the reasons that our parents and grandparents get heartburn and indigestion so easily. They have lost some of their stomach acid and have trouble digesting their food well. So I guess you don’t have to worry about it until you are their age, right? Wrong! According to Poliquin, stomach acid levels are also adversely affected by environmental factors such as stress levels and even carbonated drinks! With the high stress levels of today’s average American, it is not uncommon to find some 30-year-olds with NO stomach acid! If you have low or no stomach acid, then how can you expect to digest the food you are eating or get benefits from the supplements you are taking? You can’t! You are literally letting it go down the toilet! A couple of good options are digestive enzymes taken with each meal and/or taking Betaine Hcl. You can find Betaine Hcl at most health food stores or many places online. The cool thing about the Betaine Hcl is that it can actually encourage your body to start producing your natural stomach acid again on its own! Make sure it is taken with high protein meals (this should not be a problem since you eat protein with every meal, right?) Keep in mind that there are differing schools of thought about how much Betaine to take with each meal. A good starting point is 1000mg with each protein meal. If you take this amount and feel a mild burn in your stomach, don’t be alarmed. Just back off by about 250 mg each meal until you don’t feel a burn and then stick with that dose. Hopefully, you will eventually feel a burn with any amount you take, and then you can stop taking it for a while. This means that you have restored your stomach acid back to appropriate levels. I also want to mention that probiotics are a good idea for just about everyone. Many of us have taken antibiotics numerous times throughout the years and this kills not only the bacteria that’s making us sick, it also kills the good bacteria that helps keep our gut healthy. Taking a probiotic daily can go a long way to helping restore gut health. Consult your doctor about finding an appropriate dose for you. Also keep in mind that Greek yogurt, Kefir, and Sauerkraut are all good sources of healthy bacteria as well.

4.) Take your BCAAs! This is another one that I can’t stress enough! When I was training for my first figure competition, I was very lax about taking my BCAAs. I didn’t understand how important they were and slacked on taking them often. At my show, it was evident that I had lost boatloads of muscle from the strict diet I followed and the excessive cardio that I did. I'm confident that that muscle loss could have been minimized or even completely avoided if I had taken BCAAS regularly. BCAAs have been proven to halt catabolism (muscle breakdown), promote anabolism (muscle growth) and decrease muscle soreness caused by working out. They also provide energy, increase endurance when exercising, and increase Testosterone levels post-workout. They are amazing! Make sure you take your BCAAs regularly…don’t make the same mistake I did!

5.) Optimize your Vitamin D levels! Assuming you don’t live under a rock, you have most likely heard about the benefits of having optimal Vitamin D levels. Here are just a couple of quotes summarizing the importance of Vitamin D:

“I do think vitamin D is one of the most promising nutrients for prevention of cardiac disease and cancer, and I believe in it strongly.” – Dr. JoAnn Manson, Professor, Harvard School of Public Health.

“Because vitamin D is so cheap and so clearly reduces all-cause mortality, I can say this with great certainty: Vitamin D represents the single most cost-effective medical intervention in the United States.” - Dr. Greg Plotnikoff, Medical Director, Penny George Institute for Health and Healing, Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis.

These are just two out of dozens of quotes from medical experts touting the benefits of optimal Vitamin D levels. One of the main problems is figuring out how much to take. Low levels of Vitamin D can be devastating and high levels can be toxic…obviously this is a relatively fine line to walk. Most of you know that one of the best ways to get Vitamin D is through moderate, unprotected sun exposure. To my knowledge, you cannot overdose on Vitamin D that way (although many experts argue that there are other implications to too much sun exposure, but that is out of the scope of this article). Obviously you want to start out with a minimal amount of unprotected exposure, especially if you are fair-skinned. For some people, three to five minutes a day is a good starting point and you can work your way up from there. Others can start with 10-15 minutes of unprotected exposure. Use your best judgment here. If you prefer to stay out of the sun, you can take Vitamin D in capsule form and it’s quite cheap. If you are going to take it in capsule form, please get your levels tested first and consult with your doctor about your dosage. Getting your Vitamin D levels tested regularly is imperative for optimal health.

Hopefully you enjoyed these supplement tips and maybe even learned a little something from them. Don’t forget however, supplements are just that…supplements! They supplement a sound training and nutrition program. So make sure those things are in place first before you worry about taking supplements.