Welcome to Part 2 of the Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilders! We got off to a great start in Part 1, reviewing quite a few impressive supplements. We’ll continue that in Part 2. As mentioned, this guide is for the natural bodybuilder. I know it can be much tougher to make progress when you’re a natty, but with dedicated, consistent hard work in the gym and the kitchen, you can reach your potential. Best of all, the right supplements can help – so let’s get going!
Natural Muscle Builders
Testosterone Boosters
The thing with test boosters is that they work better for guys that are a little older. They’re not as effective for young guys who already put out max levels of natural test. You’ll find ingredients such as magnesium, zinc, boron, probably tribulus, and d-aspartic acid, to name a few. The thing that must be remembered with any supplement and especially a test booster is to look past the hype. Still, you will find the research is a little mixed. (1)
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 3.5 Stars
Epicatechin
This is a flavonoid that occurs naturally in dark chocolate. Epicatechin has two potential benefits: it stimulates muscle growth and increases nitric oxide production. One of the ways it may stimulate growth is by inhibiting myostatin, which is a type of protein that regulates how big your muscles can get. In theory, epicatechin takes the ceiling off muscle growth. (2)
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 3 Stars
Laxogenin
Laxogenin is a plant steroid that has, in theory, two primary benefits: it can stimulate protein synthesis and help increase strength. Like many natural muscle builders, the research is mixed. (3)
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 3 Stars
Turkesterone
Turkesterone is an ecdysteroid, a class of compounds structurally similar to androgens. They have had limited research as plant and insect growth factors. Turkesterone is believed to have anabolic effects, with some researchers have described it as “behaving similar to anabolic steroids without the androgenic effect”. The lack of androgenicity means they are considered safe, especially when compared to steroids. Even so, the results lifters see are a little mixed. (4)
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 3 Stars
Phosphatidic Acid
This is an ingredient that is thought to turn on protein synthesis. While the research is promising, more research is needed to fully validate this ingredient. In the meantime, there are several products on the market that feature a patented version of Phosphatidic Acid. (5)
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 3 Stars
Peak ATP® and ElevATP®
Peak ATP and ElevATP are two relatively new compounds that are both patented, compete heavily with each other, and are intended to increase the body’s production of ATP. While they’re in some good supplements, they’re just starting to catch on. (6, 7)
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 3.5 Stars
Lean Gainers
Weight gainers – what a history! Back in the day, the calorie wars were a big deal. Some shakes had as many as 4,000 calories per giant-sized serving! You had Mega Mass 2000, Mega Mass 4000, and so on. Now the best ones contain whey and casein protein sources, low glycemic carbs, and low to no sugar.
Here’s the thing with a gainer. If you’re a super active kid, maybe doing two-a-days in high school football, plus working out, you’re burning a ton of calories. No wonder the gains might come slowly! The answer is to eat more quality calories and a good lean gainer can help you do that. Otherwise, you might not need a gainer, so if you do use one, choose wisely and keep your calories at a reasonable level.
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 4 Stars
MRPs
You might remember Met-Rx, the original meal replacement powder, and the product of a genius marketing campaign. The straight-shooting supplement guru of the day, Bill Phillips teamed up with a medical doctor. They pushed the idea of a meal replacement powder that was so nutrient-dense it was used by trauma patients to help preserve muscle while they recovered. The marketing scheme was to present it as a high end, high priced supplement that had strong anti-catabolic benefits.
I can remember reading countless articles in Phillips’ popular newsletter attempting to describe the difference between anti-catabolic and anabolic. His marketing campaign worked. Met-Rx was a hit, and in the process changed the pricing approach that many companies took toward their products. BTW, those first batches of Met-Rx came in two separate tubs that you had to mix. The early batches were thought to have a little something extra in them because they burned fat too quickly for what was really a glorified protein shake.
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 2.5 Stars
Fish Oil
Fish Oil, a great source of the Omega 3 fatty acids, is widely considered to be a cornerstone product that can support heart health, ease joint pain, and lower cholesterol.
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 5 Stars
Multi-Vitamins
A multi-vitamin/mineral formula is something that is often overlooked because they are just not flashy enough. While you don’t need the “mega-pack” dosing, you should choose a complete formula high in the B vitamins.
Think of this as a health insurance policy. “But Dude, you can get everything you need from a balanced diet, I should spend my money on a real muscle builder”. The truth is if you want to be 100% sure you are getting optimal daily doses of every important vitamin and mineral, you would have to chart out your day’s intended meal plan and the nutrient breakdown of each food. Why do that, and who actually does? And if you’re not going to do that, why guess? Take a multivitamin!
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 5 Stars
GDAs
Glucose Disposal Agents, also known as insulin mimickers and nutrient partitioners, manipulate insulin to force excess carbohydrates into the muscles instead of being stored as body fat. If you understand insulin, you can understand the very impressive potential of this supplement. While I have it listed under muscle growth products, it could fit just as easily in the fat loss section. The research is still out on these products.
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 3.5 Stars
Nootropics
Nootropics are supplements that enhance cognitive functions such as memory, creativity, and attention. They have become more popular in recent years because many people want optimal cognitive performance. There can be no doubt that nootropics enhance focus and increase motivation. In turn, this stimulates your mind-muscle connection. In addition, they also increase alertness and elevate mood. Yet, optimal cognitive function goes beyond bodybuilding and athletics. For example, nootropics enhance work and/or school productivity.
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 4 Stars
What About Prohormones?
Prohormones can be defined as “a precursor of a hormone, such as a polypeptide that is split to form a shorter polypeptide hormone or a steroid that is converted to an active hormone by peripheral metabolism”. To put it in more simple terms, prohormones are compounds that the body converts to anabolic hormones. They cause an anabolic effect that’s similar to but milder than anabolic steroids. You can expect fast muscle gains, improved strength, and fast fat loss. These benefits are milder than steroids because of a rate-limiting effect caused by the conversion.
Are They Really a Natural Supplement?
So, are they natural enough to use? That’s ultimately a question only you can answer. For me, I have tried them, and liked them. However, they require a well-planned approach to both your “cycle” and your post-cycle therapy. If you are interested in learning more, I suggest this article. (8)
Rating: 5 Stars (with well-informed use and a proper PCT)
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilders – The Best Natural Supplements For Fat Loss
It’s important to clarify some things before we dive into this section. My first pet peeve: don’t call it “weight loss”. To lose weight means you’re losing more than fat, you’re also losing muscle. To lose fat means you’re preserving muscle and losing fat only. Big difference. My other pet peeve: don’t go on a diet. To go on a diet implies you’ll have to go off the diet at some point and more than likely, gain back most or all of what you lost. Think in terms of making changes to your eating plan that you can live with long-term.
Thermogenics
A thermogenic works by stimulating heat production in the body which requires the use of calories, typically from stored fat. Most of these will contain caffeine and other stimulants, as well as cayenne pepper, ephedra (dosed at 25 mg only) and yohimbine. My rating is based on the fact that many of these are only mildly effective and for the most part have mixed research
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 4 Stars
Most of the following ingredients can be stand-alone products that are often included in thermogenics and other fat burners and pre-workouts:
Caffeine
This is the most popular stimulant in the world. Caffeine stimulates thermogenesis, increases energy, and increases alertness. Let’s be real, caffeine works! (9)
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 5 Stars
Here’s a brief rundown of the types of caffeine you’ll usually see:
- Caffeine Anhydrous – This is caffeine with all the moisture removed. In theory, this makes the caffeine more concentrated.
- Infinergy Dicaffeine Malate – This is a trademarked type of caffeine that’s complexed with malic acid. This allows the caffeine to be absorbed more slowly, which lowers the chance of jitters and a crash. This version is 75% caffeine and 25% malic acid.
- Guarana – A common herbal source that’s a natural source of caffeine.
- Yerba Mate – This is an herb that is a natural source of caffeine.
- Kola Nut – This is another natural source of caffeine.
- Green Tea – This ingredient contains caffeine along with the antioxidant EGCG.
Cayenne Pepper
Cayenne can be trademarked or generic. The active ingredient that gives peppers their heat is called capsicum. Cayenne stimulates thermogenesis but the most popular branded version, Capsimax, helps prevent the burning sensation that regular cayenne peppers can cause in the digestive tract.
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 3.5 Stars
L-Carnitine
L-Carnitine is thought to transport fatty acids to the mitochondria to be burned as energy by the body. The research on carnitine is not always overly convincing. (10)
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 2.5 Stars
Stim-Free Fat Burners
This is any product designed to burn fat without the use of stimulants. It includes stim-free thermogenics and unproven compounds such as appetite suppressants, cortisol blockers, thyroid boosters, green coffee beans, and CLA.
Some of these work better than others, but for me, the best approach to fat loss beyond control in the kitchen and cardio is a thermogenic. Why? Because they speed your metabolism, thereby burning more calories.
Supplement Guide For Natural Bodybuilding Rating: 2 Stars
Stack Strategies
Foundation Stack Example
Protein powder, fish oil, multivitamin, creatine, pre-workout. This is your cornerstone stack. Feel free to cycle pre-workouts, including using stim and non-stim products.
Natural Mass Stack Example
Add to the Foundation Stack: this is largely an optional stack, you can add in the ingredients that work best for you or that you would like to try. I would add glycerol and betaine.
The Natural Fat Loss Stack
Add to the Foundation Stack: A balanced stim-based thermogenic.
Choosing The Best Natural Supplements
The key to choosing a good product is to look beyond the hype to the ingredients. First, is it an open-label or a prop blend? “We use a prop blend to protect our super-duper formula” Give me a break! You use a prop blend to hide the dosages because you’re dumping the cheap stuff in there at the expense of the good stuff! What is there to protect? Most of the time there’s only a handful of ingredients! Believe me, competitors can figure it out so it’s close enough!
Once you understand that an effective supplement should feature a fully disclosed label and ingredients that have been clinically studied as well as clinically dosed, you can make intelligent choices. If you look at some of the more popular categories, it’s amazing how often you’ll find underdosed products. The truth is, there’s really only a handful of companies that make high quality, trustworthy products. But, they are effective products. Look past the junk and get to the good stuff.
Summary
I hope this guide makes it a little easier to choose effective supplements for natural bodybuilding. I have tried to rate each of these to help you make the best choices. Once you get past the cornerstone products, it becomes a case of trial and error. Some products work well for some people, others not so much. You have to try different products and see what works for you. So stop by illpumpyouup.com and check ‘em out!
References:
- Topo, E., Soricelli, A., D’Aniello, A., Ronsini, S., & D’Aniello, G. (2009). The role and molecular mechanism of D-aspartic acid in the release and synthesis of LH and testosterone in humans and rats. Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E, 7, 120. https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7827-7-120
- Gutierrez-Salmean, G., Ciaraldi, T. P., Nogueira, L., Barboza, J., Taub, P. R., Hogan, M. C., Henry, R. R., Meaney, E., Villarreal, F., Ceballos, G., & Ramirez-Sanchez, I. (2014). Effects of (-)-epicatechin on molecular modulators of skeletal muscle growth and differentiation. The Journal of nutritional biochemistry, 25(1), 91–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnutbio.2013.09.007
- Esposito, D., Rathinasabapathy, T., Poulev, A., Komarnytsky, S., & Raskin, I. (2011). Akt-dependent anabolic activity of natural and synthetic brassinosteroids in rat skeletal muscle cells. Journal of medicinal chemistry, 54(12), 4057–4066. https://doi.org/10.1021/jm200028h
- Gorelick-Feldman, J., Cohick, W., & Raskin, I. (2010). Ecdysteroids elicit a rapid Ca2+ flux leading to Akt activation and increased protein synthesis in skeletal muscle cells. Steroids, 75(10), 632–637. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.steroids.2010.03.008
- Hoffman, J. R., Stout, J. R., Williams, D. R., Wells, A. J., Fragala, M. S., Mangine, G. T., Gonzalez, A. M., Emerson, N. S., McCormack, W. P., Scanlon, T. C., Purpura, M., & Jäger, R. (2012). Efficacy of phosphatidic acid ingestion on lean body mass, muscle thickness and strength gains in resistance-trained men. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 9(1), 47. https://doi.org/10.1186/1550-2783-9-47
- https://www.peakatp.com/
- https://www.futureceuticals.com/elevatp#:~:text=elevATP%C2%AE%20is%20a%20natural%20combination%20of%20ancient,shown%20to%20increase%20levels%20of%20endogenous%20ATP.
- What are Nootropics? – Braintropic
- https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/prohormone
- Astrup, A., Toubro, S., Cannon, S., Hein, P., Breum, L., & Madsen, J. (1990). Caffeine: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of its thermogenic, metabolic, and cardiovascular effects in healthy volunteers. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 51(5), 759–767. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/51.5.759
- Kraemer, W. J., Volek, J. S., French, D. N., Rubin, M. R., Sharman, M. J., Gómez, A. L., Ratamess, N. A., Newton, R. U., Jemiolo, B., Craig, B. W., & Häkkinen, K. (2003). The effects of L-carnitine L-tartrate supplementation on hormonal responses to resistance exercise and recovery. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 17(3), 455–462. https://doi.org/10.1519/1533-4287(2003)017<0455:teolls>2.0.co;2