Supplements
First things first. Take a multi-vitamin daily. Any one will do. There are one-a-day and three-a-day types. Trader Joe’s has some good inexpensive ones but I use Opti-Men Multivitamins because they have a bunch of stuff that’s beneficial for bodybuilders. BTW, even though you’re not necessarily planning on posing in little underwear in weird positions in front of an audience, you’re still called a bodybuilder because you’re building muscle and transforming your body.

Always follow your workouts with a protein shake. Your muscles just got their ass kicked (hopefully, if you worked out hard enough) and are starving for protein. A protein powder mixed with 2% milk will give you the fast-absorbing protein your muscles are craving. You also need carbs right after a workout. Simple carbs are best right now, so apple juice, grape juice, or any other juice will provide them through the sugars they contain. Grape juice seems to be the most recommended because of the sugar content and the vitamin c, but apple has about the same.

Post workout is also the only time it’s ok to eat white carbs like tortillas, white bread, or pitas. The idea is that the insulin boost you’ll get from eating these refined carbs will actually benefit your muscles by allowing them to absorb protein faster.

Which protein powder should you buy? After trying many brands and calculating the price per gram of protein, I’ve concluded that 100% Whey Protein – Gold Standard by Optimum Nutrition is a great value with a really high quality protein, especially because it contains 5.5 grams of BCAA’s! {more on BCAA’s later}

I had tried the Body Fortress Whey Protein Powder that I purchased at Walmart for only around 12 bucks, but after doing the math on the amount of protein per cost, you simply don’t get as much protein for your buck as you do with Optimum Nutrition’s Gold Standard Protein. Despite the seemingly low cost at the register, the Body Fortress actually ends up being twice as expensive as Gold Standard! Seriously, it’s $.02 per gram of protein versus $.01 for Gold Standard. And although Body Fortress’s protein shake mix contains creatine—a definite plus—it doesn’t tell you exactly how much you’re getting. And, it has less BCAA’s; around 4 grams versus 5.5 grams.

What are these BCAA’s I speak of? Branched Chain Amino Acids! Taking BCAA’s after a workout (and before) will help prevent your body from breaking down muscles for energy.  Instead, it will  allow them to grow, and not break down and shrink. It’s even recommended to take around 5 grams of BCAA’s before bedtime since your body will be in a catabolic (muscle depleting) state for eight hours while you sleep. I’ve used Vitasport’s BCAA’s which is not too expensive and doesn’t alter the taste when I mix it with other drinks.