Hello everyone,

I recently lost my job and now I have to watch spending. I can afford one type of protein powder (MP, UMP, or US) AND one other supplement.

My goal right now is to lose a few more lbs of fat and gain some muscle.

I can afford only (1) other supplement along with the protein. What do you recommend? I am not going to do any shows this year.

Thank you!
Kody

Hi Kody - Sorry to hear about the job situation - hope that you find something soon. for now I would suggest either US or MP as your protein choice and a good multivitamin as your supplement. If the rest of your diet is healthy and designed well you should still be able to make steady progress in meeting your goals. Other more cost effective options for getting protein into your diet are tuna (by the can), large packs of lean ground beef from Walmart or other similar sources, egg whites (buy the whole eggs and separate the whites yourself). In-expensive and good carb sources are whole grain wild rice, oatmeal, green leafy veggies, green beans, broccoli and the like.

We have a lot of members here on the board who are college students and they often have the same situation > a limited food budget.

Good luck and keep up with your workouts and healthy eating. They will both do wonders to keep your stress levels down and make you feel good about yourself during a difficult time.

Hello VA,

Thanks for the advice. Good stuff!

Other then the MP and US, what other supplement would you recommend such as creatine select, muscle synergy, etc.

I would like to add one more supplement to my list to take other then the powders.

Thanks,
Kody

Since you are trying to lean out and add muscle I think that I would go with Glutamine select and some extra bulk BCAA's mixed together. (You can buy a big container on-line from Bulk Nutrition) Use two scoops of glutamine select plus another 20 grams or so of bulk BCAA's in a BI shaker with water and crushed ice. Take it to the gym and sip it between sets during your workouts. You have to shake it up often as the BCAA's settle to the bottom. Both the glutamine and the BCAA's will help you retain muscle during strenuous workouts, thus also telling your body to burn body fat for the needed energy and it helps recovery.

When I get close to a show I'll supplement with extra BCAA's between every meal, but that is probably not necessary during the off season.

multi vitamin

Im going to assume since multi vitamins are cheap that you have that covered.

So if you have your protein supplement covered...the next thing Id take is probably creatine. I love the pumps and added strength. When I cycled off that I would take either livers with meals or synergy.

Hello Kody,

I am in the same boat. Next to a multivitamin and protein I will be using glutamine and/or muscle synergy.

Steve

Kody

Before we get to the protein powders...best choice for your second supplement.

Muscle Synergy

Synergy is bar far one of the best supplements if not the best on the market.

It works and is an instant gratification product. Not only will your strength go up, lean mass increase, and fat decrease...it is likely you will feel a nice pump, see increased vascularity, and have improve mental focus when you lift (instant gratification)

Here is a recent experience a client of mine had with Synergy.

I just had a male (193 lbs) client do dumbell bench presses with 110lbs.

No big deal right?

Well in this case it is a big deal. The client had rotator cuff surgery last fall. For the better part of the last 5 months upper body training was non existant.

After rehab and getting back to 100% he ran the dumbell rack up to the 110s where he did 4 sets of 6 effortlessly and called it a day.

He has been taking Synergy since November, 8 in the morning and 8 in the evening on as empty a stomach as possible.

It gets better...
He gained 8 lbs of lean mass during the last few months...WITHOUT training upper body! Lean mass confirmed by the 41 on his 9 site skin fold reading earlier this week...that means he is 5.7% bodyfat right now.

So with only training lower body he maintained strength, lowered his body fat, and gained lean mass.

It is fair to point out the client is not a bodybuilder. He is not new to training as he earns a living playing in the NFL, the injury happened in a game. Though he was not training upper body he was training lower body and doing cardio. He also has a work ethic that few can match...but given all that bigs things happened when synergy was started.

Protein powders...

I would go with UMP over MP. Both are great but the added glutamine, arginine, BCAAs combined with UMP being a multi specie protein makes it a better choice when you can only go with one or the other.

Best of luck!

Ray

I'd use UMP because like the name says, it is the Ulitmate Muscle Protein. Low fat for post workout, and also has fast and slow digesting protein for a meal replacement.

As far as your other supplement, I'd go with Ultra 40 without a doubt. I see better effects from this product than from any other I take.

Like others said, I am assuming you will also use a multivitamin since you can but a year's supply of One-A-Day, Centrum, etc. for about $10.