If your goal is to increase your strength, you need to be able to push big weight consistently in the gym. In addition to your training and nutrition plans, you’ll need a strong support system in the form of supplements.
If you’re ready to kick-start your strength focused program and need a few good products to help you out, the following supplements can help you reach your next PR.
Here’s a closer look at your line-up.
Whey Protein Powder
Whey protein powder is a must-have in every strength building diet plan as it provides the basic building blocks to generate muscle mass.
Why It’s A Strength Booster:
Whey protein will help you catapult your strength levels as it provides the raw materials your muscles will use to rebuild and repair after each workout session. By using it immediately following your workout, you’ll quickly move
Whey protein will help you catapult your strength levels as it provides the raw materials your muscles will use to rebuild and repair after each workout session. By using it immediately following your workout, you’ll quickly move yourself from being in a catabolic state to an anabolic one, fostering size and strength gains.
Do This:
Drink one scoop of protein powder mixed with water immediately following your workout (Note: based on your size, you may require more protein per serving). KAGED MUSCLE Re-Kaged makes refuelling post-workout simple—you’ll get the optimal combination of whey protein and recovery boosting amino acids your body needs.
In addition to post-workout, you may also choose to consume protein powder throughout the day whenever you’re in need of a quick protein boost. It can also be combined with other macronutrients to make a more complete meal.
Creatine
Creatine is one of the most well researched strength and power boosters out there and can help you make the most out of each training session.
Why It’s A Strength Booster:
Creatine acts as a precursor for the high-energy compound ATP, which is needed to fuel each and every muscular contraction that takes place. When ATP runs out, your intensity will decline and often brings your set to a halt.
Regular use of creatine can ensure your cells stay fully saturated. This will help prevent premature fatigue during the workout, allowing you to perform more total sets and reps than you would have without it. This increased level of volume translates to better overall progress both in muscle size and strength gains.
Note that not all creatine formulas are the same. You will find both creatine monohydrate and creatine HCl among supplement companies. If you want to see optimal results, creatine HCl is your product of choice. This variety of creatine doesn’t require a loading phase and won’t cause water retention, bloating, or cramping – common complaints from most creatine monohydrate users. It also has better solubility, therefore it’ll easily blend into any liquid you choose to mix it into. Due to the potency of creatine HCl, you can also take smaller doses.
Do This:
You’ll want to take one scoop of KAGED MUSCLE Creatine HCl per 100 pounds of body weight with about 4-6 oz. of water. Take one scoop 30-60 minutes before your workout and another scoop post-workout. Take at any point in the day on rest days to assist in muscle recovery.
Taurine
Taurine is another amino acid that plays a key role in athletic and fitness performance. While most amino acids act as the building blocks that new muscle tissue is made of, this is not the primary way that taurine helps you. Instead, it helps improve your psychological drive in the gym while also boosting performance.
Why It’s A Strength Booster:
When consumed, it helps to improve attention and mental performance. You might find that after using it, you’ll have the focus you need to hit the PR you’re going for. If you’ve ever gone for a massive PR, you know that your mental game is everything.
In addition to that, studies suggest that taurine may also help boost your overall VO2 max levels and extend the time to exhaustion for each set you are performing. Therefore, it could help you push harder for longer in the gym, leading to a greater development of lean muscle mass and strength.
Do This:
Consume two grams of taurine mixed with water 30-45 minutes prior to your workout session for maximum benefits. KAGED MUSCLE Pre-Kaged provides you with the optimal dose.
L-Citrulline
L-Citrulline is an amino acid that plays key roles when it comes to athletic performance. Including this supplement will yield strength and performance enhancing benefits, as well as promote skin-splitting muscle pumps.
Why It’s A Strength Booster:
L-Citrulline helps with the regulation of nitric oxide (NO) in the body. When it enters your system, it leads to an increase of L-Arginine and NO, both of which promote blood vessel expansion (i.e., vasodilation). This enhances the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the working muscle, delaying fatigue, nourishing the working cells, and helping you perform more total work per session.
Because L-Citrulline increases total blood flow moving into and out of the muscle, it’s also useful for accelerating the recovery process. The additional blood flow helps clear away the lactic acid formed during each set and shuttles nutrients to the damaged muscle fibers to kick-start the repair process.
Do This:
Consume 4g of L-Citrulline 30 minutes prior to your workout session. Take an additional 4g as a part of your intra-workout stack. Advanced trainers can increase each dose to 8g. Alternatively, you can get your pre- and intra-workout fill of this amino acid with KAGED MUSCLE Pre-Kaged and In-Kaged.
BCAAs
Branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) are another critical product you’ll want in your arsenal for building strength and muscle mass. These amino acids help with the stimulation of net protein synthesis, which is the formation of lean muscle mass tissue.
Why It’s A Strength Booster:
BCAAs increase protein synthesis while reducing catabolic processes in the body. If you are in a catabolic state, you are experiencing muscle breakdown rather than muscle building, something you don’t want to happen. BCAAs can help prevent this from occurring. In addition to that, the muscles are able to utilize BCAAs as a fuel source during athletic activity, therefore you might also find they help give your workout a boost.
Do This:
Mix 5-10g of BCAAs into 34 oz. of water. BCAAs can be consumed prior to, during, and immediately after your training for optimal results. They can also be taken during the day on rest days to promote maximum recovery. When choosing a BCAA supplement, look for a product that uses fermented BCAAs like KAGED MUSCLE BCAA. Fermentation relies on a multi-step enzymatic process using vegetable sources as raw materials rather than animal by-products, such as fur, feathers and claws. The result is high quality amino acids that are also vegan-friendly.
Glutamine
Glutamine is another amino acid found in the body. 61% of your total glutamine content is found in the muscle cells.
Why It’s A Strength Booster:
This powerful amino acid helps strengthen your immune system and optimizes the rate of protein metabolism taking place. In addition to that, it can also help to decrease the rate of muscle breakdown taking place in the body, which will improve your overall level of lean muscle retention.
As glutamine is rapidly depleted during intense strength training, supplementation helps restore your levels back to where they need to be.
Do This:
Take one or more doses of KAGED MUSCLE Glutamine daily depending on your own individual needs. For best results, mix glutamine with tepid or cold water. Most people will do well starting with one dose immediately following training as well as one dose right before bed.
Note that if you are taking more than one dose, you should break this up into several doses over the course of the day, rather than one large dose.
This list covers some of the most powerful strength-building supplements you’ll want to include in your training plan. Nothing too fancy, but when it comes to supplements, sometimes it’s best to stick with the tried and true.
Reference:
Zhang, M., Izumi, I., Kagamimori, S., Sokejima, S., Yamagami, T., Liu, Z. & Qi, B. (2004). Role of taurine supplementation to prevent exercise-induced oxidative stress in healthy young men. Amino acids, 26 (2), 203-207. doi: 10.1007/s00726-003-0002-3
