Do I need to use supplements for gym work?

michaelwingtsun

Hi Folks,

The title says it all.

I joined Westpoint about March and ideally I aim to go 3 times per week. I do about 20 minutes cardio and work a few main exercises.

So do I actually need supplements? I asked one of the gym instructors there and he explained that depending on my workload the body may start to use muscle as fuel and that I may need a protein supplement. However will this only happen if my body fat is low?

I also have not been since last Friday and even thought I feel that I had a good workout I felt mentally and physically exhausted after. Is this normal or should you feel energised?

Any advice would be greatly apprecriated.

Regards all,

Michael O'Leary
www.wingtsun-escrima.ie

yomchi

michaelwingtsun wrote:

Hi Folks,

The title says it all.

I joined Westpoint about March and ideally I aim to go 3 times per week. I do about 20 minutes cardio and work a few main exercises.

So do I actually need supplements? I asked one of the gym instructors there and he explained that depending on my workload the body may start to use muscle as fuel and that I may need a protein supplement. However will this only happen if my body fat is low?

I also have not been since last Friday and even thought I feel that I had a good workout I felt mentally and physically exhausted after. Is this normal or should you feel energised?

Any advice would be greatly apprecriated.

Regards all,

Michael O'Leary
www.wingtsun-escrima.ie

Absolutely anyone who puts muscle under stress during work out should IMO should have a higher intake of proteins etc than someone who doesn't.
Again alot of people believe it is only budding arnie's (and Dragan ) who should use protein and supplements.
To help your muscle repair its self you should increase your protein intake, your body will become stressed and fatigued when you train hard. Symptoms of hard training and under nourishment include weakened immune system, muscle soreness, mental tiredness, headaches etc etc.

When you fininsh training your body goes onthe rampage to try repair what you just tore the 'be jaysus out of' during training. In order to do this it needs certain aids. These come in the form of amino acids, simple carbs and rest. If the extra amounts of these products aren't available in the system the body will eat itself in order to access these aids - then were into a catabolic state, not the best place to be for any athlete.

Im in west point meself, Next time your there introduce yourself! Im the 4ft 8 guy who weighs 9 stone.. but its all muscle I swear!!

DubNside

if your doing cardio for 20mins and a few light weights you do not need supplementation.
Good eating, plenty of healthy options, tuna, chicken, turkey will provide all the protein you need.

t-ha

No, you don't. The most common supplements used are protein and creatine - both of which are found in abundance in tuna (for example).
You do however need to understand your bodies food requirements when you're training. There's some posts in the sticky section on losing weight (I'm guessing that's not what you're trying to do - but there's still alot of info there on why you eat different things). Without knowing what you're trying to achieve with diet & supplements you won't get much out of them. There's little point in drinking a protein shake if your daily total is still far short of what you need.

This is the thread I'm referring to.

Michael O Leary

Jon wrote:

Symptoms of hard training and under nourishment include weakened immune system, muscle soreness, mental tiredness, headaches etc etc.

Yep, that just about sums up what I am feeling. I am also training martial arts 4-5 times per week and it can be pretty exhausting. In the gym I am doing about 6 core exercises, 3 sets and failing between 10-20 reps. I eat pretty healthy but I don't think enough or properly for training. Regarding tuna, I read in the book "Optimum Nutrition Bible" that you should not eat it once a month due to high levels of Zinc.

Here are one or two questions for everyone.

If I still have a certain percentage of body fat, will my body use muscle as fuel?

Should I feel drained and exhausted after training?

Protein will look after the muscle. Will it also look after my energy?

Thanks in advance everyone. By the way, I am michaelwingtsun but messed up logging in and posted the thread under an old username.

Regards,

Michael O'Leary
www.wingtsun-escrima.ie

t-ha

Michael O Leary wrote:

Regarding tuna, I read in the book "Optimum Nutrition Bible" that you should not eat it once a month due to high levels of Zinc.

I would imagine you meant mercury - and that book was probably referring to tuna steak. The canned chunks have much lower levels of mercury.

Michael O Leary wrote:

If I still have a certain percentage of body fat, will my body use muscle as fuel?

Having higher levels of bodyfat will usually allow you to to use bodyfat more so than someone thinner, however you still will use muscle for fuel if you're on a calorie defecit, especially if you're active, as there's a limit to how fast you can oxidise bodyfat.

Michael O Leary wrote:

Should I feel drained and exhausted after training?

Yes and no - depends on your definition of exhausted! Certaintly you should feel good and energetic a while after training, and should also feel energetic on your way to your next training session. Feeling drained and exhausted first thing in the morning is generally not a great sign either.

Michael O Leary wrote:

Protein will look after the muscle. Will it also look after my energy?

On it's own? Not a great idea. Look in the stickies to get an idea of how to put together a balanced diet.