Supplements!

After doing a quick scope around the Internet, I found that there was nowhere near enough information on supplements and reviews of how they work and what they really do for people. Well, you can find pages of information - but its all written in scientific jargon, making it pretty useless to anyone who doesn't have a science related degree! Over the past few years, I've experimented with a few different supplements and its probably time to share what I've learned about them. You can see reviews like this all over the Internet, but I guarantee that this one is one of few that are true, with no bullshit whatsoever. The majority of the supplements that I myself have tried are obviously 'fat strippers' - little did I know that they weren't really needed as much as I thought. Anyway, here's the list:

Thermobol - Thermobol is a Maximuscle product designed to help you lose those unwanted pounds and boost your metabolism through its 'Thermogenic' qualities. Thermogenic is just a fancy word for a product that is designed to boost your body temperature to boost the speed at which your body burns the calories that you take in. Plus, its made by such a high reputation company so it must work, right? Wrong. I tried using this product and saw very very poor results overall, even when I was training hard 5 times a week. I didn't feel any different whatsoever whilst using this particular supplement, would not recommend it at all.

Jack3D  - This is one of the most powerful supplements that I have ever taken. Its a pre workout supplement, designed to give you a real boost throughout your workout. One of its key ingredients is called Schizandrol A, this particular ingredient helps your brain to tell your body that lifting a heavy weight is indeed possible and helps you to push out those impossible final reps. The only side effect I noticed was a sensation of tingling all over my skin, it scared me at first, but once I knew that it was a harmless side effect, I learned to love it. It also contains a fair amount of creatine, so helps to give your muscles that extra pump when training. When I was taking this supplement, I literally felt like I was walking on air, and for the small price of 20 pounds, its possibly the most effective supplement that I've ever tried. Would highly recommend it.

Acai Berry Extract - Surely most of you have seen the adverts for acai berry on the Internet? Seeing it advertised as a miracle product for weight loss? Well its complete bullshit. I managed to get my hands on a fair amount of the stuff for free, and I'm sure as hell glad that I didn't pay for it. Its terrible. Has no effect on your body whatsoever, I'd definitely advise against going anywhere near it.

Grenade Thermo Detonators - Grenades are a product designed to help you annihilate the fat on your body, and they're advertised as powerful. Trust me when I say that this is no understatement, these pills are very very powerful, and should definitely be used with caution and their instructions are not to be ignored. After taking my first ever serving of this product, I felt as if I'd just been charged full of electricity, ready to work out until I dropped. Seriously though, the instructions for this product need to be followed closely, especially regarding your morning serving, make sure you eat very soon after you take it and you should be fine. I found that if I didn't eat after taking my morning serving then I felt sick. I also managed to lose a few pounds whilst taking this for a week, so I'd recommend it as a weight loss supplement.

Maximuscle Promax - This Maximuscle product, unlike its fat burning counterpart, really does work. Its a simple protein shake, however unlike most other shakes, it has a very high protein content, whilst maintaining a low fat and carbohydrate content. Thanks to this, it replenishes your protein reserves, aids recovery and helps you to gain muscle mass without gaining any fat. It also contains a huge amount of glutamine, which is a godsend when it comes to recovery. I took two shakes a day when training, and would not feel the after effects the next day thanks to this product. For anyone wanting to gain lean mass and definition - this product is definitely for you!

Warrior Blaze - Again another fat burning pill. I'm still currently taking this supplement, and it must have aided my weight loss somewhere along the line considering the fact that I've managed to lose around 2 of the overall 3 stone that I've lost whilst taking it. However you definitely have to couple it with a strict diet to get the results that you want. As well as aiding with weight loss, its caffeine content also gives you that extra boost whilst training, without the horrible crash at the end. I've never experienced a side effect from it, so overall, I'd recommend this product as the best fat burner on the market right now. If you want to learn more about this product and the other supplements that Warrior sell, follow them on twitter - @Warriorsupps .

So there's a breakdown of the supplements that I've taken up to this point. I know that its a small list but you don't need to be taking every supplement under the sun to achieve your goals. For example, if you're trying to gain some serious muscle mass, all that you need to do is adapt your diet and workout, and maybe take some protein shakes at the same time. If you want to burn fat, then cut the shit out of your diet, get strict with what you're putting in your body; adapt your workout to suit the goal of calorie burning, and again maybe buy a fat stripping supplement such as Blaze or Grenades. In my opinion the worst thing that you could do is rely too heavily on supplements and not make any changes to your lifestyle, for one - its almost the same as a quick fix, and secondly, its bloody expensive. What happens when you run out of money and have to stop taking your supplements? You'll probably lose muscle and gain weight. All you're doing is wasting your time if you don't use your supplements correctly. The bottom line here, is make sure you're doing your research and being smart about your nutrition if you're intending to take supplements.

I'm hoping that I can get a few training shots up in this blog of my heavy lifting session with @JonesGx ; try and demonstrate a few of the key exercises that we do and hopefully encourage some of you guys to tweet me your training pictures too! Lets try and make this blog a little more interactive! I hope you've all found these supplement reviews to be useful. As always if you've got any feedback, feel free to leave a comment on here or follow me on Twitter @_Bazinga_Punk_ - and keep an eye out for more posts, including the pictures of Friday's session. Also, get tweeting your training pictures to me, maybe some of exercises I've gone through in this blog? Something to think about! More posts to follow soon!
Keep testing the limits!
Alex.