The Shinchi Ultimatum

This year has been a lot of experimenting for me. “Weights” and “Gym” is 2 things that never appear in my daily routine dictionary before. Now that I pick up bodybuilding for several months now, I have experiment many supplements and I want to talk about what works for me so if you, is an amateur like me, will probably find it work for you too.

So supplements I take:

Note that every meal I take with me: (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
Ultimate Nutrition CLA – to help fat burning ,
ON Flaxseed Oil – Flaxseed, contains CLA too
Cod Fish Oil – Omega 3 and DHA
NOW L-Cartinine – push fat cells into mitochondria for energy
The above are stable fat supplements. These fats and acid helps you burn fat. This is especially important if you are on a high-protein, low-carb diet. Prolonged low-carb diet really will make you stupid (I can feel it as I am a software engineer) and make your reaction slow. They can slow down your metabolism too. These sups ensure that its fat the body is burning not your precious proteins.

Morning:
Universal Animal Pak (Multi Vitamins)
Animal Pak is bread and butter. Period. Nothing beats it. Improvement jumps after having it. Able to go for high weights, recover faster, and last longer. There are no magic or rocket science in Animal Pak, it is just vitamins. But its what your body need. Zinc, Magnesium and Calcium for Testosterone, Vitamins B for protein synthesis and Vit D for strong muscle and bones. Its a MUST. 11 pills each serving. Super hard to swallow. But its worth every penny. A must take.

Pre-workout:
S.A.N V-12
The good thing about living in Singapore is that you can count on the “if it is available in Singapore, it is safe”. I do a lot of research and compare between N.O Xplode, VPX NO SHOTGUN, and a couple others NO product before going for S.A.N V-12. While I find an increase in strength after having Animal Pak, S.A.N V-12 allow me to focus. V-12 contains 4g of Creatine and 1.5 g of Arginine. But its enough. Usually after 2-3 exercise, I tend to skip 1 exercise. For example, I cannot really force myself to do the barbell overhead extension after the preacher curl. With V-12, you focus. The energy level during a set is the same. But after the set, your strength recover, and your mind tells you,”OK, NEXT!”. Basically I do not think it allow me to lift more, but it allow me to complete my entire workout, no cheating, no half-done sets, and thats V-12.

Axis Lab Arginine Ethyl Ester
Not much effect. I still have it now since V12 only have 1.5g of Arginine and I want to push the amount to 3-5g. But its mostly useless. I will switch brand after I finish this.

Axis Lab Creatine Ethyl Ester
No effect at all. V12 contains creatine so I now just have V12. No bloating, no side effect like the monohydrate counterpart. But no increase in strength too. Save your $.

HMB
I admit it removes the backache, and some muscle pain. But thats all, no significant increase in strength, and it is expensive. I finished my bottle and still feel no different. I switched to old school BCAA.

ON BCAA Powder
BCAA is the building block of the muscle. Its cheap and just mix it with your pre and post workout Whey protein. Just tried but I do feel good during workout. Not sure if it is placebo effect, will continue and see.

Ultimate Nutrition Whey Protein
30g of protein per serving. But too sweet for me. Did not see much improvement but I was on cutting phase so no comments. I switch back to ON Whey Protein because I like the taste better

Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein
Good taste, Good price ($7x ) per tub. If Jim Stoppani is drinking it, why shouldnt you ?

Post workout
BCAA + 2 Whey Protein + Some High-GI Carbs
This is pretty old school . Just protein for protein synthesis.

Before Sleep
ON Casein Protein
24g of slow digesting protein to prevent catabolism during sleep

V-12
Don’t worry, it won’t keep it awake. It does not contain caffeine. It does not contains sugar too so no insulin spike. Put creatine into your body for another day of workout

Arginine
Some NO before sleep. Not much effect on sleep too, no worries

ZMA
Just before I close my eyes. This one boost your testosterone, which means growth

So thats what I am having. Hope it helps for those looking around for supps. Some supps works great, some don’t and some are just plain expensive. I will update you guys if I try anything else.

Keep pumping!!