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The abundance of workout supplements on the market makes it difficult to decide which supplements are the best to take. There are supplements for energy, recovery, stress, relaxation, and so on, and in some instances these supplements are marketed as having benefits in multiple categories.

In order to avoid taking too much or too little of any particular supplement, it is important to know what you are ingesting! This point may seem simple, but you would be amazed at the number of people who blindly take supplements without first doing a little research.

So, in the pursuit of research and bettering your knowledge of workout supplements, I’ve constructed a barebones guide to two of the most popular workout supplements on the market: MusclePharm Assault and Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein, a pre-workout supplement and a post-workout supplement respectively. By using this stack of supplements, you’ll see a marked improvement in many facets of your fitness.

MusclePharm Assault Pre Workout

You may have heard of MusclePharm Assault at some point because the brand sponsors many UFC fighters. Assault is a heavily-marketed supplement, but that does not mean that it is lacking in solid ingredients. However, taking a glance at the ingredients label, you may have noticed that there are MANY ingredients—so many ingredients that you may feel overwhelmed.

So here’s a breakdown of what I believe are the most-important ingredients included and what they can do for you as a pre-workout booster:

Muscle Pharm Assault’s Most Effective Ingredients

Beta-Alanine supplement: Improves carnosine levels and reduces fatigue
Citrulline Malate supplement: Reduces lactic acid build-up
Rhodiola Rosea powder: Reduces stress and improves muscular recovery time
Creatine monohydrate or HCL: Improves water retention and muscle growth
Caffeine anhydrous: Boosts energy levels and improves focus
L-Tyrosine: Increases dopamine levels
Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs): Improves muscular growth and recovery
L-Arginine powder: Improves protein synthesis and libido
L-Glutamine supplement: Assists in building muscle mass

While Assault also features other ingredients, I chose to highlight the supplements that I believe are the most useful and important when it comes to a pre-workout supplement. In combination, these supplements will give you an explosive and impressive workout.

And once you’ve completed a grueling workout session courtesy of Assault, you’ll want a high-quality recovery supplement to allow for muscle growth and repair. That’s where Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein comes into play.

Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein

ON Gold-Standard Whey Protein — Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey

Post-workout recovery supplements are integral to your success as an athlete. Your muscles need protein in order to repair themselves after the beating that you give them during a workout. In my opinion, the best post-workout supplement by far is Whey Protein. And I’ll give my word that Optimum Nutrition makes some of the best Whey Protein that I have ever consumed.

Taking a look at the nutrition label, you can see that this protein is very barebones. And that is a great thing! In a post-workout shake, the less ingredients the better. You don’t want a lot of filler or other crap that is bad for you: you want to actually benefit from the exercise you just completed.

Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein Ingredients

Optimum Nutrition Whey Ingredients include: Whey isolate, whey concentrate, and whey peptides (plus other ingredients depending on which flavor you choose to purchase).

The blend of different types of whey is a great feature because each type digests slightly differently and at a slightly different pace, thus feeding your muscles over a longer period of time. In addition, some people digest different types of whey better than other types, so having a variety ensures that you are actually receiving the protein that you need.

Using Musclepharm Assault and Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein to get the Most Out of Your Workout

This stack is not only useful, but it is easy to use as the blends are pre-mixed for you. While the price may be higher to buy these pre-made supplements than to buy bulk powders and create your own, the convenience and ease of use makes this pre-workout/post-workout combination a surefire hit in my book.

Overview:

Every athlete recognizes the need for pre-workout nutritional support. This recognition is clearly evidenced by the incredible array of such supplements. Anything from energy drinks to the newest protein formulation is currently being marketed for the purpose of pre-workout nutrition. What many people seem to forget or not realize in the first place is that post-workout nutrition is just as important. In fact, there are even indications that it might be MORE important. Lack of post-workout nutrition can severely hamper performance in the gym, performance in your chosen sport or activity, and reduce the chance of reaching your full potential.

Why Pre-Workout Nutrition is Important:

The main reason why nutrition is important immediately before a workout is to provide your body with the support that it needs to power through the increased demands you are about to place upon it. There are so many energy drinks, pills, and powders on the market that it can make your head spin. Another reason why pre-workout nutrition is important is to help place your body in a good position for future muscle repair and growth. This means giving your body things like amino acids in order to supply more building and growth materials for later.

Why Post-Workout Nutrition is Important:

Very often the need for post-workout nutrition is overlooked. Workouts are intense and damaging events. You are actually destroying muscles. Of course, the hope is that this will force them to adapt and grow stronger, bigger, and more conditioned (depending on the type of routine and goal).

The rebuilding process is what will ultimately determine the results and effects of your training. After a workout, your body is in a severely catabolic state. To reverse this process you need to eat something soon after the workout is over. The 30-45 minutes immediately following training has often been called the ‘golden’ hour for nutrition.

What to Use after Your Workout:

In order to reverse the catabolic (the body feeding off of glycogen and protein stores) state, consume a high quality supplement. This supplement should contain some high quality protein and high-glycemic index (turns to glycogen very quickly) carbohydrates. When consumed in a ration of 2-to-1 or even 1-to-1 in favor of the carbohydrates, this supplement is able to help restore insulin levels and begin the process of recovery. Another thing that can help is to immediately consume some branched-chain amino acids. This will help to supply some of the best types of protein building blocks to the muscles very quickly.

Following these guidelines will help to make your workouts much more effective. You will see added gains and results after as little as a few weeks. Just be sure to always nutritionally support your efforts in the gym or on the field.

Tag: recovery

Assault Pre Workout & ON Whey Protein