Supplements to Help You Bulk Up for Summer

With summer right around the corner, it’s nearly time for bathing suits and sunny beaches. If your bikini body isn’t quite ready to show off, it’s time to get to work. Once you hit your 30s, your ability to build and sustain muscle gets more challenging every year. However, muscle doesn’t just look good, it also helps protect your bones and joints. Whether you do weightlifting exercises, yoga, or circuit training, exercise alone isn’t enough to give you the muscles necessary to be the healthiest you can be. That’s where supplements come in.

The term “supplement” has fallen into bad favor in some circles. It basically means to add to or complement a nutrition regimen with something extra. Your overall health is more dependent on diet than on exercise (though both are important), but it can be hard to get all the nutrition you need from diet alone. You’d need to be a total machine and there would be no room for cheat days (and everyone deserves a doughnut now and then).

Supplement Smart

First, push any thoughts of drugs or chemicals aside. A great supplement is 100 percent natural, organic and produced by a reputable manufacturer. Ideally, your supplements should have no extra ingredients at all. Otherwise, there’s no telling what you’re really putting into your body or how it will respond.

Start with a fish oil supplement, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids found in oily fish, and is something almost no American gets enough of on a daily basis. This is a natural anabolic supplement, and taking just four grams of oil per day can up your protein synthesis as well as muscle building pathway (mTOR) by up to 30 percent. This, in turn, can cause up to a two percent increase in muscle mass. The best time to take fish oil is right after a workout since it also helps with soreness and inflammation. As a bonus, research has shown that it even helps clear up acne.

A Pick-Me-Up

Caffeine can also be a great way to enhance your performance, but don’t indulge in too much of a good thing. While there’s evidence showing that caffeine can increase testosterone, which improves motivation, it’s best used for getting a better workout when you’re tired. It also aids in recovery, perfect for those looking for fast gains. However, to play it safe, ditch the coffee and take a caffeine supplement of 1gmg/kg/bw so you’re in total control of what you’re ingesting.

If you’re struggling to get enough protein in your diet without raising cholesterol levels, whey protein is a great supplement. Studies have revealed that athletes gained around 2.5 kg of pure muscle compared to a placebo group that gained 1.7 kg on the same muscle building regimen. It digests quickly and efficiently, and can be found in low-sugar varieties and multiple flavors. Add it to your pre-workout smoothie with berries and almond milk for a great-tasting pre-workout snack.

Nice to Add

Your metabolism might be to blame for struggles with gaining muscle and losing fat. Consider adding forskolin and 7-KETO to your vitamin regimen. Forskolin is a plant extract which is used to treat a variety of health conditions. According to WebMD, it works by producing a more powerful heartbeat and widening blood vessels, which lowers blood pressure and increases metabolism. 7-KETO is a natural oil secreted by your adrenal glands that boosts your metabolism, but starts to lessen the older you get. According to WebMD, it might promote weight loss by speeding up the body’s metabolism.

Bikini season isn’t here yet, but it’s right around the corner. In addition to proper diet and exercise, smart and strategic nutrition supplementation is a great way to accelerate the path to a rockin’ bikini body.

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