Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 2162: The Best Supplements You Can Take for Building Muscle, Performance & Health

Episode Date: September 14, 2023

In this episode Sal, Adam & Justin cover eleven of the best supplements. Why supplements are a COMPLETE waste of time if you are not looking at your exercise, diet, and sleep first. (1:04) Fighting against the industry formula. (4:35) Best for nutrient deficiencies. (13:00) #1 - Multivitamin #2 - Vitamin D3 #3 - Magnesium #4 - Sodium #5 – B12 Best for fitness, performance, and muscle building. (28:52) #1 – Creatine #2 – Protein powder Best “weird” supplements for fitness. (35:45) #1 - Ashwagandha #2 - Turkesterone/ecdysterone #3 - Cordyceps #4 - Rhodiola Related Links/Products Mentioned Visit Vuori Clothing for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! September Promotion: MAPS Symmetry | RGB Bundle 50% off! **Code SEPTEMBER50 at checkout** Mind Pump #1717: Why Before & After Pictures Are Bullsh*T Visit NED for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! For a limited time only, Mind Pump listeners get a free LMNT Sample Pack with any purchase: Visit DrinkLMNT.com/MindPump New Study Finds Dietary Creatine Associated with Reduced Cancer Risk Pros and Cons of Creatine – Mind Pump Blog Mind Pump #1755: Insider Secrets Of The Supplement Industry With Mike Matthews Are Any Supplements Worth The Cost? - Mind Pump Blog Ashwagandha health benefits, dosage, safety, side effects ... - Examine Ecdysteroids health benefits, dosage, safety, side effects ... - Examine Ecdysteroids as non-conventional anabolic agent: performance enhancement by ecdysterone supplementation in humans Cordyceps health benefits, dosage, safety, side effects, and ... - Examine Rhodiola rosea for exercise performance and recovery - Examine Rhodiola pre-conditioning reduces exhaustive exercise-induced myocardial injury of insulin resistant mice Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources  

At Public Mobile, we do things differently. From our subscription phone plans to throwing a big sale right now when no one else is. Well, maybe they are, but who cares, our sale is better. And it's on right now, no waiting necessary. You have the latest phone, now take advantage of a great price on a 5G subscription phone plan. It's the perfect deal for anyone who could use some savings right now. Subscribe today at publicmobile.ca. Different is calling. the Steffanel, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. You just found the most downloaded fitness health

and entertainment podcast in history. This is Mind Pump, right? Today's episode we talk about supplements. The best supplements you could take for fitness health, muscle building, and fat burning. Now this episode is brought to you by a sponsor, Vuri, they make the best athletes or where you'll find anywhere.

Looks good, last a long time. And like I said, you can go out in this clothing or you can work out in it. It's pretty cool. And you'll get a discount if you go through our link. Go to vjoryclothing.com. That's vur.org. Iclothing.com forward slash mine pump.

Use that link for 20% off. We're also running a sale this month. Maps symmetry is half off and the RGB bundle. That's three workout programs and one, is also half off. If you're interested, go to mapsfitinusproducts.com and then use the code September 50 for the discount. All right, here comes the show.

Supplements, you hear about them all the time in the health and fitness space. It's where you probably see most of the information being pointed to, you see a lot of ads. In today's episode, we're gonna talk about the best supplements you could take for a lot of different goals. In fact, we rank them and we categorize them.

And you know us, we're not full of crap, we're gonna be honest. So today's episode, we're gonna talk all about supplements. All right, so I think we should open and start by talking about how supplements are a complete waste of time. If you're not looking at your exercise and activity, your diet, and your sleep, if you don't, if those things suck, then you're essentially taking a thimble of water and throwing on a house fire. It's not going to do anything. You're not helping yourself. The only challenge I, or the only way I would challenge

that is, and I, because I 100% agree, in fact, I remember first talking about the Honda, putting a spoiler on a Honda Civic, right? It's kind of the similar analogy. Yeah. But where I do think it could make a big, big difference is if you have a deficiency. That's different.

Yeah. And we'll get there for sure. Yeah, so there is that part, right? And I think that matters. And my views on supplements in general have completely changed during my journey in the fitness space for as long as I've been in it. And of course, as a young kid, I was overly excited about it

and then realized how little it had to do with our results and then completely dismissed it. And then the more I got into understanding like micronutrients and how a lot of these foods and things that we many people are commonly deficient in relate to different operating systems in your body that could result in some of the bigger rocks being improved. I now realize looking back like, okay, there's obviously a place for supplements, both on the, you know, performance and cutting edge and like after you've checked all the main boxes. And then there's also a place for it where you are deficient where I think you could really make a difference.

Yeah, I think that the, the, the, if you look at the space, it's a little, it's actually a lot distorted because the space like any space, like any market is driven by profits. It has to be, otherwise it wouldn't exist. But the problem with that is the most profitable segments of the market are gonna get the most attention and information that's gonna be put out.

So if there's something that is profitable, people who move into our space who have to, who want to communicate around health and fitness, there's a strong incentive to communicate more or distorted information in a sense that it's going to make it look like supplements are more important than they are because they're so profitable. So they're going to overhype it. Yes, because it's hard to profit or make a living in the fitness and health space without selling products, without selling supplements. So it's such that the consumer, when they look at the space, when they listen to podcasts, when they watch YouTube videos, when they go to social to social media, the information's gonna make it look like supplements are a bigger piece of the pie.

Like they're really important, but they're not in the context of the whole picture. Of course, nutrient deficiencies are totally different thing and we'll get there. But if you don't have a nutrient deficiency, then they don't make up, and especially if you're not exercising eating right and getting good sleep, it's like a waste of time.

But I can see why people are confused. I mean, as a kid, when I was a kid, we didn't have the internet, or at least we didn't have the internet like we do now. So if I wanted information on fitness or muscle building or fat loss, I went to the magazines. And it was, you know, flex magazine and muscle and fitness and Ironman and muscle mag

and all those magazines. And those magazines, I mean, they made money through selling magazines, but they made way more money selling ad space and supplements. So when I went through and read it, I was under the impression that supplements were a big, big game changer. And I spent a lot of money on supplements and a lot of time taking different supplements. And my expectations were always really high and I was always disappointed with supplements.

Well, I think too, like a lot of these companies found out, like certain hacks of getting people's attention, especially with the transformation pictures. And it was like, there was nothing attached to the work or what they were eating nutritionally or anything else that they're doing in their everyday life. It was like, I started taking this and look at this dramatic transformation.

And then it was just like, that was the end of the conversation. And so it's easy for you to just be like, wow, look how powerful that supplement is in terms of like, what my goal is and how I can get there. This was one of the things that connected us. When we first, before we started, the podcast, the business at all, part of my personal motivation of turning on the social media platforms that I did

to build a potential business or brand, was actually to call this out, that this has been the way to make money and fitness for a very long time. It is, get famous, whether that be through bodybuilding, television, magazines, now social media, once you garner enough attention, then you partner with a supplement company or you create your own supplement line or affiliate with several different supplement companies and you pedal that and you make

Commission off of that that has been the way to Make a lot of money in the industry and yet I Recalled all the years and hundreds and hundreds of people that I train and could not not one client that I ever train That oh because I put them on these supplements, they had this transformation. So when I started to document my transformation process, part of what I was constantly communicating was that I'm not taking any supplements. Yeah.

I don't need any supplements to do this, to get in this incredible shape and neither do most of you. And when we all first got together, it was one of the things that we all found most in common and was that we were really turned off by this was the formula. And it wasn't that we were dismissing that these things have some value or that there are certain conditions.

It's just that that was the prevalent message in the space was cake supplements and it needed counterbalance in terms of how we sought because it was way oversold, way overhyped. It's also the most dishonest part of the of the industry. I mean, I remember learning and I learned this from an industry insider when I was in my 20s. And I learned this from an industry insider when I was in my 20s. I learned that they would go to bodybuilders in peak shape, so ripped, shredded, pumped, and they would take a picture of them, and then they would tell the bodybuilder to get out of shape, and then they would take a picture of them.

So in other words, eat a bunch of garbage and crap, stop working out, and they paid them a lot of money to do this. And then they would make that the before picture. So they'd take a picture of them, you know, 60 days later, trying to purposely gain body fat and not work out and, you know, all that stuff. And then that would be the before picture. And so they'd reverse the pictures and it looks like this crazy transformation. I remember learning that and being so well so upset because I got so fooled. I mean, I bought, I remember. It was offered to me. It was offered to me. That specifically, right?

Yeah, it was offered to me. If $5,000 was offered to me, I don't even remember the company. It was a company I never heard of before. But these supplement companies would hang out at these bodybuilding events. And if you were a winner or even top five, because I think when I got approached,

I think I took third that time. And they'll solicit these competitors. Now luckily, I entered that space in my 30s. I had already built business and been successful. And so I wasn't in a place to need. But, you know, $5,000 is a decent chunk of money for basically just having to take some pictures and then actually get fat, right? So that's how it works is like, Hey, we would love to offer you $5,000 to represent our supplement company. We have these powders, fat loss pills, all these things like that. We would schedule the photo shoot. We would take care of everything. The only thing we actually want you to do is actually put on body fat. And then we're going to take photos afterwards and that we will use that as it as it's your before pictures since you've already done

the hard work to get in there. And they sell that to you and it's really tempting. And if I was 20 and I needed money at the time and I guess I didn't have as much integrity, I'd probably be really tempted, especially if I really needed it. I mean, let's be honest, if you were in a position where like $5,000 is a couple months rent back then for you, like most people who make that their, what they want to do are poor. It's not a great way to make money. You can go put yourself on stage and stuff. It's right.

Most people live in a apartment with roommates and they spend all their money on food and training and whatever, who God knows what else. $5,000, them is a big deal. And, you know, it's, it's the most misinformation, the most lies comes from the space. But I don't want to just completely demonize it because the truth is the space wouldn't exist without supplements.

The first muscle building magazines, the first fitness magazines were literally put out at first as a way to sell bodybuilding competitions, and then as a way to sell supplements. Weeder, not the first supplement company, but the first supplement company really realized it as a brand. He used his muscle and fitness

and later flex magazine as a way to sell their products. And this is what created the industry. And then I remember when it's, I mean, I could, I'm a huge fan, or should I say, I really like spectating and watching this side of the industry. And I remember all the evolutions. You know, it went from there to, you know,

Bill Phillips figuring out how to make a supplement company, a hundred million dollar supplement company, and then he kind of wrote the book, and then they got massive. And then supplement company just exploded, and they crushed the market. And they did, they supported and created the market. And so people have these really false expectations.

Although now I think people, a lot of people are more privy to the false advertising and the lies, but they're still effective. Before and after, they're still very effective, even if they look too good to be true because it seems like it's proof that something's working. I've spent so much money on supplements as a kid, hard earned money, washing dishes at the pizza rias

is a 15 year old and I'd save up my money and buy. I remember Cybergenics, it sent me a box of like 15 pill bottles, but I was gonna work because I'm taking so many supplements and I got diarrhea, I didn't do anything else to me. Yeah, as a result. There's all kinds of images on it. Yeah, you know, and so I tried them all,

but you know, that, you know, that being said, there are supplements that can have an impact, can move the needle, but I do want to be clear, they don't compare to good exercise programming, they don't compare to a good diet or good sleep. They do something,

not all of them, most of them do nothing. Some of them do something, but they don't compare to those things. I want to be very clear before we get on to the types of supplements that we have found in our experience and the ones that are most supported by science to be the most effective. Now, what we did is we actually categorized supplements because we're going to go down in order of importance and value. And so there are three categories. And the first one is the best supplements for nutrient deficiencies. The second category is just the best for overall fitness performance, muscle building, fat loss. And then the third category is like weird supplements that actually have been shown to have some effect, okay? But those are in order of efficaciousness, okay?

So Adam, you mentioned nutrient deficiencies. This is a big one. If you're lacking a key nutrient, your body cannot operate optimally. And if it gets bad enough, you can actually cause big health problems. So this is why this is a big deal. If you don't have any nutrient deficiencies, what we're about to say will do nothing for

you. But if you have a nutrient deficiency and you supplement with the right nutrient, it's life changing. Well, and the reason why it is is because, and I'm looking at the list that you made right now, and it's because these can directly impact some of the big rocks. Yes. Hydration, sleep of the big rocks. Yes. Hydration, sleep, recovery, hormones, hormones. Yeah, hormones.

A lot of these play a major role in your results, and if you're deficient in that, having it's supplementing so that your body is optimally running, then helps something that your body naturally is supposed to do, which actually supersedes any of these performance. Think of it this way, if you have a nutrient all the work. Correct. Think of it this way, if you have a nutrient deficiency, you're sick.

That's really the best way to describe it. So, if you have a genuine nutrient deficiency, your body is sick. So, exercise, diet, sleep, the best workout programming, it's like applying those to a sick body. It's going to be very, very tough. And the worst, the nutrient deficiency, the bigger workout programming, it's like applying those to a sick body. It's going to be very, very tough. And the worst, the nutrient deficiency, the bigger the impact when you fill that deficiency. So before you start, I'm looking at your list right now,

and I actually don't see something on here, and I'm just curious to why you didn't. Maybe you just missed it, or I'm wanting to know why you didn't put it on here, is Omega 3s. Yeah. Omega 3s typically aren't deficiency, although people do see benefits from taking them. I'm trying to list the most common deficiencies, but Omega 3s do have some value. So actually, we can add those to the end of that. I just thought that wasn't sure there was a purpose right? It's just not the most commonly like where you test. I don't think there's like a classic what would be considered deficiency with omega-3s. And it's not as common as the ones that I listed,

the ones I listed are like widely recognized as one. Yeah, I don't disagree with any of the ones here. I think those are all, when I think back to clients, like these are the big five, I would say. These are the ones that you'll find, you know, at least a significant minority. Some of these are majority of people have a deficiency. So the first one kind of covers the basis, okay. That means that if

you don't have a huge nutrient deficiency, this should be enough. Now, if you have a huge nutrient deficiency, you want to target that specific nutrient, but a multivitamin, a good multivitamin covers kind of all the basis. So those are the gaps. Yeah. So if you're, if your nutrient deficiencies are, you know, at borderline or slightly below, so you know, these like really big outward symptoms, a good multivitamin will cover the, for the most part,

will cover those nutrient deficiencies. So a multivitamin can be quite valuable to many people, especially if you don't eat a super balanced diet that's high in nutrient-dead foods like meat and eggs and fruits and vegetables, then this becomes a little more valuable. It also becomes more valuable if you're dieting or you're in a calories deficit. What people don't realize is when you cut your calories, it also can cut your nutrients. So a 3000 calorie diet that has a certain amount of nutrients versus the same exact foods, but you're only eating 2000 calories.

You've reduced 1000 calories, but you also cut out a third of the nutrients that you normally get. So the lower your calories, typically the more likely to have nutrient efficiencies, all things being equal. So multivitamin, fills the the gaps and tends to make a difference. And the studies in the past were kind of murky on this because there's like a self-selection bias. People who tend to take a multivitamin

tend to work out, tend to eat better. But we have better studies now that show that multivitamins definitely can make a difference for most people. And your experience is there a type of person that you've noticed the biggest difference in these or there are certain questions that you would ask somebody that would lead you to be like, oh, we should probably do this or is it a blanket, you know, most people

should just take it. The more restricted your diet is, the more likely you would need a multivitamin. So like if you were following like a very like a carnivore or a genetic diet or a vegan diet. So if you're a less diverse diet more than likely, you should probably definitely be able to. Yeah, because the nutrients, you know, you're gonna have more of certain nutrients

and certain types of foods and more of other nutrients and other types of foods. Vegan's classically have a high rate of nutrient deficiencies. And then if you would have very high process food, type of diet, because processed foods are typically high in calories, high in things that make the food palatable, but very low in nutrients.

Now the problem with that though, is it aren't a lot of processed foods fortified with a bunch of- They try to, and a lot of them to make up the difference. But I mean, it's not the greatest types of or versions. You know, when you get nutrients from food, you absorb them more. Then you would, if you get them from supplements or from fortified processed foods, they're just more absorbable. So there are, like, you could take, for example, iron in meat or liver is going to be much, it's going to be

assimilated much better than an iron pill. For example. Well, I've even noticed with certain clients too, they weren't following a very specific type of a diet, but they just have like the same food, the same thing all the time. And they're not rotating vegetables, they're not rotating meats.

Like, so this kind of fills the gaps with people like that that kind of fall into that same kind of pattern the gaps with people like that that fall into that same kind of pattern. Now, the most common single nutrient deficiency is a toss up, but it's probably vitamin D, vitamin D3, over magnesium. Over magnesium, it's one of the higher nutrient deficiencies that people will have. It's interesting, the worst of deficiency, the bigger the side effects, I mean, this one can cause depression, anxiety, joint pain, low testosterone. You know,

who just, you know, who just hormone effect to it and facts on people refer to vitamin D for use of hormone, you know, who just discovered they had a deficiency. My dad. Now, my dad, the reason why he didn't understand, realizes he's outside all the time. Now, my dad is dark, so the sun doesn't convert, you know, vitamin D is easily as a woodlythlythly just in, for example, or Doug. And he's not outside as much as he probably should be or his ancestors evolved to be,

because we're from Mediterranean. I have theories around that, sure, because this is something that I figured out that I was massively deficient in. So massively that I was supplementing with it and I still came tested back low in it, which that blew my mind. And I looked scratching my head like, that's so weird to me. But the biggest difference I can say in my life today is adult versus when I was a young kid,

I lived outside. Always. I was in the sun 24, 7 all the time. And then when I turned 20, I started working belt-a-bell job in these big buildings, where I have nothing but fluorescent lights, and I was maybe on the weekends occasionally out in the sun doing some things like that. But I would say, like a complete,

like if you could say 80% of my childhood in the sun, 20% was in closed doors, that did a complete flip. I went to like 80% of my childhoods in the sun, 20% was in closed doors. That did a complete flip. I went to like 80% of my life indoors, maybe at best 20%. So I have this theory that my body adapted to the high levels of getting vitamin D naturally, like through the sun and stuff. And then it went, then I went later in my life and completely neglected it. And so it caused a greater.

The darker your skin is naturally, the more sun exposure you get to create the same amount of vitamin D. So you'll see vitamin D deficiencies will be higher in people with darker skin. Oh, because we evolved, I say weeks, I'm dark too, we evolved being outside all the time. So like my dad, my dad literally, every day,

he's outside for at least a couple hours. So we can handle higher levels versus like someone like Justin, like just a little bit of sun. And he's gonna take up all of it because- He's probably gonna convert more. So like I said, my dad, I mean, we're Sicilian and when we did our genetic testing,

like people, some of our answers came from the Middle East. And so, you know, so if we don't get like, all they sun, then this is something we need to supplement with. Now, you know, so if we don't get like all they son, then this is something we need to supplement with. Now, you know what a symptom's worth? He had anxiety and joint pain. And now he's older, so we thought he was just getting older. Went to the doctor for a checkup,

the Revital Mendizlo took vitamin D within a week, joint pain's gone. He's like, I can't believe it made that big of a difference. People who live historically, people who lived in cold, darker climates, Northern European, Northern Europeans, they would consume naturally consumed foods. I don't even think they realized just old wisdom that contained high levels of vitamin D like cod liver. Yeah. Cod liver, it contains high levels of really of bioavailable vitamin D, and this

is what they would consume in the winter to prevent winter illness or whatever they're called. What was the deficiency, like the extreme version of the deficiency? It was a rigged, yeah. Okay, it's a rigged. So vitamin D3, some estimates, 30%, some as high as 70% of the population, probably too low.

Vitamin D, we're just indoors all the time. Okay, so that's why I was curious, because the next one is magnesium. Magnesium and magnesium is 60%. Yeah, I've read that before, because that was, I mean, I remember when I was so blown away by, again, it's so funny in this out, this is literally how skeptical I am of supplements,

is like, I take a supplement, I like feel like, oh my God, this is game changer for me. I still question it, and I gotta dive into like, what is it that is making me feel this way? Low and behold, I have a major deficiency in magnesium and it's not that the hello Ned was freaking making me so You know like this a miracle supplement for sleep It's that I was so deficient in it. It's high in magnesium and the right kind that's like and that made the biggest difference in my sleep lack of Magnesium can cause sleep issues, anxiety, weakness, fatigue.

This one's very common. Now, one of the reasons why magnesium deficiencies are common is the foods that we have lower levels of magnesium than they used to because of the way that we grow food. The soil, right? Yeah, the soil is far less dense. Yeah, less dense. Yeah, because we've learned, we figured out how to replace

the components in soil that allow it to grow food, but we don't replace everything. So it's like, you know, just put this in there, now we can grow plants, but now the plants and foods have lower levels of magnesium. So this is a common one and supplementing with magnesium. By the way, not all magnesium is created equal. Magnesium glycinate is typically more bioavailable.

Magnesium 3 and 8 seems to be better for the brain. And then there's magnesium citrinate, which you don't really absorb very well, but acts more like a laxative. So in some people we use it in that way. So not all forms are the same, but this is one of the more common nutrient deficiencies. I should have known better,

because this is the same with like plants. Like I've told you guys before, what made me so fascinated with marijuana was that in plants it's in PK right? So your nitrogen, phosphorus in and what's K. So potassium, potassium. Yes. Thank you. Are the three main like macronutrients?

So it's like it's like very similar to like proteins, carbs and fats for the human body. And then your ones that like if the plant isient, a lot of times it'll show itself, and it's leaf coloring, or the way it's withering or curling, magnesium is like one of the number one things that it's deficient in and you supplement it. There's so many parallels to like feeding a plant, a balanced diet of NPK like that, just like it is protein-carcinacid.

And if you're not, all these other levels are thrown off, and the plant expresses it. Just that it's so obvious in a plant where sometimes for us, it's not as obvious for people to pick up on it. That's well. All right, so this next one isn't really an issue. If you eat the standard American diet, you don't work out. This is probably not an issue for you,

because you probably get plenty of sodium in your processed food diet. But among people who are fitness and health oriented, who avoid heavily processed foods, eat whole natural foods, who sweat regularly because they work out, or people who work outside a lot, construction workers and roofers, who also are health conscious, who sweat quite a bit. Sodium is a, makes a big deal in most people when they bump their sodium intake, if they eat a whole natural food diet and they work out a lot.

Like this is so big that I know eight at a 10 people that I recommend this to are gonna come back to me and report that they saw a big difference. Well, this is huge in our community. Like, so if you're missing this podcast, I actually think this is one of the big ones. That's why I put it up there. Because you're a health and fitness person.

If I'm talking to a friend of the family or family, some family members that are not into helping. You're not even talking about this. I'm not even worried about this because of how much sodium is loaded in processed food. But if you're a health conscious person and you would consider yourself somebody who eats mostly whole foods, this is actually like one of the first go-to things that I ended up recommending, that ends up making a huge difference and a lot of that has to do with how much we demonized salt for so long, that if you were a health conscious person,

one of the things you ride away do is like, oh, I should also reduce my salt. And you're like, oh shit, if you went from processed foods, eating whole foods, and then you're also trying not to salt your food, you're almost certainly low. You're too much as eliminated out of your diet. And that's just gonna cause a whole another host of problems for you.

Yeah, even if you salt your food, it's probably still not a lot. No, it's probably still not a lot. Especially in comparison to process. That's not even in the same universe. That's right. If you eat low carb, you need even more. Low carbs, you sucks the salt and water out of your body.

In fact, the whole keto flu is probably most likely due to an electrolyte imbalance. So people like all of a sudden drop their carbs, oh, I feel like garbage for a week or so. You just throw some sodium and some water, you know, electrolyte powder would do it. And you know, element is a company we work with. They have a good product.

And you'll probably feel better with the next 10 minutes. It's pretty profound. By the way, symptoms of not having enough sodium, muscle cramps, fatigue, low grade, constant headaches. Right, it's bad. Yeah, like bad, like you don't get good pumps or you feel flat in the gym

and just reduce athletic performance. All right, this next one is also quite common and it's specially common in vegans and that's the B vitamins general, but B12 in particular, low B12, your energy is gone and you can develop anemia. You can actually have good iron levels, but B12 is so low that you're anemic and feel like death.

I've worked with people like this where they, they everything looked good, everything, like they're diet, everything was fine, then they went and by the way, you can have a B12 deficiency because you have got problems, you're not absorbing enough B12 in your diet. I had a client once who got a shot of B12, and she's like within 15 minutes, I felt like a completely different person.

So. I think this one highlights, again, what we've talked about many times, which is just how many people under consume protein. I think that you'll get that in your meat. That was the correlation that I found with this was that, you know, if I had a client who thought they, they ate pro, you know, because they had one meal who thought they, they ate pro, you know, because

they had one meal or they had four ounces of meat in the day of pro, they just were not getting enough beef items. And so it's obviously found a lot in red meat. And so if you're, if you don't hit your protein intake consistently, this is also one of the most, and of course, if you're vegan, right? Vegan is number one. If I had a vegan client that we almost always would probably have to supplement with this for sure. And then even if I just had a normal client who was under-consuming protein, especially like red meats, this was also a super common. I always had my vegan clients take B vitamins and sometimes iron, oftentimes iron and vitamin D always because the vitamin D, um, form you'll get in vegan sources,

is not D3, it's called D2, and it's not nearly as bioavailable or as useful, the iron to get from plant sources, same thing, and then B vitamins are pretty much non-existent. So I would always, when I get a vegan client, I'd have them take these supplements, and I would say probably 70% of them noticed a pretty profound difference.

All right, the next category are the best overall supplements for fitness that aren't necessarily filling new deficiencies. Now no shocker to us, but maybe to you. It's only two. It's a short list. It's only two. In this category. I like this though because this, I mean, this is so true to like when I think back to

the two things I have used the most or spent the most money on in my entire career, these are the two. That's right. So the first one, which I will label the king of all supplements because besides again nutrient efficiency filling supplements because it's the one that has the most studies. It's the one that has been shown to be safe, unequivocally across the board. It's also the one that contributes to not just muscle gain and fat loss and athletic performance, but now we know that it's good for the brain, it's good for the heart, it's

good for the liver. It may actually be anti-cancer, there's some studies now that are suggesting that. I feel like you're gonna keep finding things about it. This is a longevity supplement, not just a fitness supplement, and I went from saying, hey, creatine's a great supplement, take it or not, to everybody should probably take it. So, Cratee, King of all supplements, Cratee, amount of hydrate, that's the form that you take, five grams a day.

This one for me was a game changer when I first took it, not because Cratee blew my mind with the muscle gains, but because it did something. Like, I took so many things before it. There's a first supplement I felt. That's it. That's 100% what happened. I took so many supplements, didn't notice anything. And then I took this, I remember I bought,

you know, it was a EAS sold it. And it was expensive, by the way. It was like a 20-day supply for $45. So it was back in 1995 I want to say. So like now you can buy a felt, like you can buy a huge tub of it for that much. The irony of this is these two are like some of the So like now you can buy a foul, like you can buy a huge tub of it for that much. The irony of this is these two are like some of the cheapest supplements that you can buy.

And so to that point, on both of these, and this is what happens in this space, is if it is universally the best and every supplement coming knows it's the best, well then it becomes highly competitive. So then what do they do? Like they try and market it in a way or change something about it.

Our vision is better. That's right. They'll change one thing about it, like how it's made a process or what is added to it. Pretty citrate. And yes. And then what they have to do is then

put a lot of energy and effort into talking about the thing that's different about theirs to convince you to spend the extra three to five dollars per bottle on it, then going somewhere where it would be less expensive. There is no version of creating better than creating monohydrate. That's the one that's studied. And so what you run the risk of by going with other forms of creating is actually getting a worse form or one that might have some negative effects because of what it's attached to or how they made it.

Create team on a hydrate, that's it, period and a story. That's the create team on a buy. It's also least expensive. Yeah, I remember taking it and my strength, after a week, I added five to 10 pounds on my lips. It was a 16 year old, no. I may be even younger, 15 or 16 year old kid. And it blew my mind.

I can't get that last rep. No problem. It definitely was mind blowing. Yeah, it worked. So that's at the top. Now, second, also very valuable protein powder. Now, why is protein powder valuable? Because it's hard to hit protein targets.

We know if you eat about a gram of protein per pound of target body weight, you're gonna get better results than if you eat less than that. It's hard to do it with full natural food. Like protein is hard to eat because it's satiating, it's hard to get and prepare. Even if you're a light, even if you're 120 pound female, go eat 120 grams of protein a day

and you'll see how hard it is. It's not like fat and carbs, which are easy to eat. Protein is hard to handle. Hands down, it's the most mis-macro-nutrient ever that I've seen in consistently across the board in all clients. In fact, you could argue that this could go in the other category because if you are somebody

who is deficient in protein, chronically, under eating like that, supplementing for that is a big deal. I mean, I mean, how many times have you had clients like that that were only the female clients eating 20 to 30 grams in a day, and they're have hair loss or they're having issues like, I mean, just there is definitely a case to be made that this could also fall in the category

of deficiencies on some people. So this one definitely is right up there with creatine as like the ultimate, you know, best for fitness, but then also an area where a lot of people tend to miss. Now, that being said, you've heard it on here many times from us. I'm always using this like like creatine, like you take every day no matter what, right? But with protein, my goal is to get it through whole foods. And then I keep the bars or shakes as a thing to check in with myself at the end of the day.

That's it. And go, oh man, I've already ate everything. I'm pretty full. I don't want to, or I don't, it's eight o'clock at night. I want to go make another big meal in the kitchen. And I'm shy, 40 grams of protein for my day to hit my bare minimum of what I need to. I'm going to use my shake.

That's how I'm using it. It's an insurance policy. That's how I look at protein. Yes. It's my in case bottle. And when I track my whole day, I end the day, and day and I go, I'm off by 30 or 40 grams. By the way, I don't like people taking more than let's say a serving or two depending how much protein. If you eat a lot of protein, you're a big guy, you'll probably you might need two servings of protein. But I don't

like people taking a lot of servings of protein powder because you miss out on the satiety benefits, the nutrient benefits and some of the digestive benefits of eating whole natural foods. Nothing beats whole natural foods. If you can eat your protein target with whole natural foods, then don't worry about protein powder. I just know, through training people, that's a hard thing to do.

And unless your fitness fanaticially pay attention, you're probably not eating enough protein, in which case protein powders make a big difference. Yeah, it's gonna take a little bit of work to kind of, there's various versions of protein that will, you'll be able to digest effectively in a semi-late.

So, there's no like specific one we're recommending because everybody has individual needs and they're gonna receive it differently. So there's vegan sources, there's way, there's all these other different sources and collagen, whatnot. So you just have to kind of work your way through that if it works best for your body.

I like that. I'm so glad you said that Justin. The number one thing to consider with a protein powder in the context of you actually hitting your protein targets is digestibility. You're gonna see a lot of companies advertise their protein powder as the most bioavailable, the highest in branch-shamingo acids or central amino acids, the most anabolic.

That only is true when your protein intake is low. So if you're missing your targets, then way protein is going to beat the crap out of, let's say, collagen protein. But if you're hitting your targets, it doesn't matter in the study show this. You have plenty of amino acids because you're using so much protein. It doesn't matter. And if you use protein the way we say it, which is to hit your target,

then it's digestibility is what you need to consider. And it doesn't matter. None of the other, nothing matters in terms of the source, except for the fact that I digest this the best, and that makes me the feel the best. All right, last category, I saved this one for last, because these are the least important.

Like, you're the fun one. Like, you labeled it. Yeah, these are the best weird supplements for, you're the fun ones. Like, you labeled it. Yeah, these are the best, weird supplements for fitness. I said the weird, because they're exotic, or they're herbs, or there's some kind of plant extract. Now, I included the compounds in here that have the best data, or the best experience. Okay, I said, or because studies aren't perfect and I am going to anticipate

that some of the ones that I listed in here that might not have tons of studies, they have some, but not tons, we'll eventually have the studies to support them. Really, it's only one category that's like that. So these are the ones with the best data and or the best track work record in terms of experience. Now, first one though, that you're gonna list off, which is Ashwaganda is across the board, been researched as some of the best data as far as like, it being beneficial. Ashwaganda is great for helping the body deal with stress.

Okay, well what's important with that? Do I just feel relaxed? Well, yeah, but that's not really it. It literally enhances the adaptation process. Okay, so if you're trying to build muscle or burn body fat or improve your athletic performance, you are stressing your body. That's what's triggering those changes. And so, Ashwaganda enhances the adaptation process.

It's been used for thousands of years in aeravetic medicine, so it has a long track record and we now have studies to show that it does in fact do those things. It does help boost strength. It does help with fat loss and it does raise testosterone in man with low testosterone. Now, this would be considered the number one adaptogen on the market, correct? But with the most data for sure. And explain the, you've done it before, but just for people that might be listening to this episode for the first time, I love your dimmer switch example of like trying to explain

what an adaptogen is doing in our body. Yeah, so adaptogens, your body's ability to deal with stress really has to be balanced in order for your body to adapt really well. And so adaptogens allow your body to handle more stress and adapt better to the stress, meaning if you're, and I can't even the best sleep, and you're working really hard, and you're working out, taking ashwaganda will improve your body's ability to deal with all that. So rather than having to cut your workouts in half,

and really look at your stress levels, you can take ashwaganda and it could make the difference between whether or not you get stronger or whether or not you're over trained or fried as a result. I recommend Ashwaganda. I actually recommend it to moms and dads of new kids who were just getting poor sleep. I'd say, I'll try this and see how it works. You also had me taking it when I was years ago trying to naturally kick up my testosterone levels.

Where is it playing a role with something like that? They're not quite sure how it works, but it's traditionally was used in aeravetic medicine for libido in men. And they know why it works or how it does that. It does, so if you have low testosterone, Oshrogana will reliably raise your testosterone about 20%.

It's not this huge, crazy, oh my God, I tripled my testosterone boost. And I don't think that's where the muscle gains come from. It's not a big enough boost. No, but you'll feel it. And I don't, I think for somebody who is a young teenager who's trying to build muscle, that's not the way you sell this. It's to a guy like me who was in his 40 or close to at the time and is low testosterone.

That person would feel the difference. Now, to the young person, I would give us Shwaganda like this. I would say, this is gonna allow you to train harder. It's gonna allow you to get away with more practices with the first portal, both of them. That's right. So, if you're an athlete, if you're a young athlete, you're constantly juggling over training.

You always know this, right? To soar them, to stiff, and, you know, coach is pushing me too hard. Ashwaganda, it's like, it's gonna basically allow you to recover faster and adapt better to that stress. All right, this next one, here's the only one, it's got, there's studies that support it, but they're not the best studies,

and there's not a ton of them yet. I say yet because my experience with both myself and every single person who I've ever had try this and in combination with old Soviet studies, supports the use of terchestrone or ectosterone, which essentially are compounds that contain what are called ectosteroids. These are plant hormones or insect hormones, but they get them from plants, but insects contain these as a hormone.

The Soviet studies were remarkable. Now there's quite, lots of people like to question these Soviet studies, but based on my experience, I think they're legit. They actually compared Echdy Sterone to five or 10 milligrams a day of dianeable. For those people who don't know what that is, dianeable is an anabolic steroid.

It's five to 10 milligrams a day is not a huge dose. Bodybuilders go way higher than that, okay? But you give the average person 10 milligrams a day of diabol, they're gonna feel it. They're gonna gain five to seven pounds of muscle. Their strength's gonna go up maybe 15, 20 pounds on some big lifts. They're gonna get a little leaner.

So the average person will notice this, bodybuilders in the 50s, 40s and 50s would take about five to 10 milligrams of diatomal. So if you wanna look at what genetically gifted bodybuilders who took a little bit of diatomal look like, look at pictures of people like Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia. So he's a genetically gifted bodybuilder because they all are, plus he took about 10 milligrams

of day of D-Ball. So that's what they look like. To Crestron and Ectastarone in the Soviet studies performed outperform them. They actually, the people in the studies just performed spider ruins. Built a little bit more muscle and strength. And at the lower dose though, right?

That's what you're talking about. Five to 10 milligrams of D-Ball. They are not, I mean, body bills don't take that much. They take more than that, I should say. But they all, I'm trying to remember, I think just I messed around with D-Ball for 25 milligrams. Yeah, 25 other stuff. Oh, yeah, nobody just does these days. But I mean, I'll for the audience that has no idea what that feels like like 25 to 50 milligrams of debaul was crazy. Yeah, like I I was in three two weeks. I actually came off of sure debaul because I was embarrassed of how big

my shoulder should have. That's a real that's a true story. Like this was me in my 20s. I wasn't openly discussing or telling people that I was taking steroids. And it was blowing my shoulders up so fast. I was like, every and every shoulder workout, I remember like stacking on like a lot of weight. And I remember I got to a point, I'll never forget I was standing like this and I saw my own reflection and it'll go ahead, basketballs and my shoulders and I was like, in barris.

I was like, oh my God, everybody's gonna know. I see you like that. Yeah, yeah, everybody's gonna know. I wouldn't have been there. That I'd be cool. I mean, of course, there's a party that's cool, but it was that obvious that, you know, I was going to have to tell people I'm taking steroids

because they're going to ask because it was like this such a different. Now for people listening right now, there's a big difference between five to 10 milligrams of dynamite. Well, it's five times a different. I mean, that's five times the difference. Yeah, so but like I said, it's still something people would feel. And like I said, bodybuilders in 40s, 50s, this is what they took.

Olympic athletes in the 40s took this to compete in the 50s to compete with the Soviet window, right? Yeah, of effectiveness. Yeah, compete with the Soviet window, right? Yeah, of effectiveness. Yes, so I'll get there, right? So, but the study showed that it's as effective. I've used Ekti-Starone and Turkestrone on and off for, I don't know, 10 years. And you feel it. You really do.

I get stronger. I build more muscle. It'll put about 7 pounds of lean body mass on me. Your appetite goes up, you sleep hard, you get really weird, vivid dreams, which is a strange side effect. L habido tends to go up on it, but the window effect is about 45 to 60 days. After that, it stops doing anything. And I don't know how it affects women necessarily, because they're starting to

think that the way that it works is through the estrogen receptor, which is strange, which can't be good. Well, I mean, so here's a deal. It improves cholesterol profile. It's been shown to be good for the liver, it boosts immune system. So it's nice to take a good for you supplement as well, which they showed in the Soviet study, but they also show now. Interesting.

Here's the problem. Good luck finding real terchestrone and ectosterone. A lot of supplement companies out there saying they have it. It's expensive. It's hard to get. But if you find the real stuff you know, in fact, I found some real stuff and we'll see later on if we end up working with this company. So I'm not going to mention it yet because I haven't vetted them completely. But I had the editors take it. And I'm like, let's see if this is real. I told them. That's right. I show you to get me picked in. He's like, I sure it's real. I'm going to hold's see if this is real. I told him that's actually you to get me picked. You know, I'm not sure if it's real or

I'm going to hold up. So I give it to my employees. Hold on, let me be clear. Do you think I'm taking either? Yeah, I had all of us taking. You know, like let's see what happens. Well, sure enough they'll hit PRs. Everybody hit PRs.

Everybody noticed their appetite go up. Everybody knows it's better. Interesting. So it's legit. It's legit stuff. It's more of the on the hardcore end, but there's a window and when you go off You do notice a little bit of a dip for a couple of weeks before you come back up to normal next one

Next one is cordiceps Cordiceps is weird because this is a fungus that takes over insects and acts like a zombie Yeah, so the Chinese have used cordiceps for a long time It does improve stamina endurance studies will show. It's also anti-cancer, antioxidant, and it's healthy for you. But when it comes to stamina and endurance, you feel this for sure. I don't notice it as much with strength training, unless I'm doing short-rast supersets. When I did jujitsu, this was crazy. It was like, I'd take it, and within a week, I was like, my stamina was like significantly better. Well, isn't within a week, I was like, my stamina was like significantly better.

Well, isn't there a famous story of the woman's Olympic strength team? Oh, the Chinese swim team. Who knows if they were, this is really what happened, but they were winning and they're like, oh, it's court of set. Maybe they're taking some of the stuff. Oh, I thought they tried to ban them because they were taking that. No, court of set is legal. It's still legal. So you could take it. Yeah, no, I know it's still legal, but I thought that that they were making a deal about it. Yeah, we're making a deal about it because it was. The Chinese coaches said it was quarter steps. But who knows?

It might have been just them being like, yeah, it's not some undetectable hormone that we just intended. Doesn't this also have some benefits with your tolerance for like sauna and heat to us? Yes. Now that I noticed and that's other people have noticed, I don't know if there's any data to support this. That may be where the stamina comes from, the fact that you don't overheat as much. I'm wondering if that's where it comes from, because I notice I can go in the sauna forever

when I'm on horse ups. There's some crazy studies about that core temperature studies where that, remember that you put the glove that was pulled down like in between bouts and your recovery time was like in half. Yeah, pretty crazy. Lastly, this is a famous, another famous Soviet herb, they actually gave this to their soldiers

and there's some crazy studies on Rhodiola. They'll take my rats love and swim until they drown. So basically like max exertion, I know messed up, right? But rodeolyc significantly increases the amount of time, animals can swim until they drown. In athletes, this improves stamina, endurance, it's got some mild stimulatory effects,

it's also acts as an adaptogen. Some people, if they use the recommended dose, start to feel a little bog down or overheated, that happens to me. But if I use a lower than normal dose, this definitely makes a big impact. What was, I remember we talked about that study a long time ago.

If you remember, I want to hear what it was, because I remember it was like a crazy amount. Like it was, again, you correct me if I'm wrong here. But it was like the mice were thrown in a bucket with no quarter set or no rodeo, they basically after a couple of minutes, they drowned. The ones that were given it was like 10 times younger or something, it was like a ridiculous amount longer.

It wasn't like a, oh, they're 30 seconds longer and then they drowned. It was like they were able to sustain. That's why the Soviet studied this because they're like, if we go in this long drawn out, remember the Soviets, this was after World War II where it was it was crazy war and they said oh our soldiers can survive longer in cold weather no food no sleep like it's it's You know and just being out there with needing crazy stamina. That's why they invested so much time and money in rodeola

rodeo has got a lot of studies that support it and it actually works I personally use rodeo as a way to come off caffeine. Okay, so coming off caffeine, is that in red juice? Correct, that's part, that's also has course ups. The organify red juice has both, but rodeo for me helps me with caffeine withdrawal. Otherwise, it's terrible.

Because I notice it gives me a little bit energy, a little bit of stimulant effect, and I don't feel like I'm, you know, brain dead because my caffeine intake is down to zero. So there you have it. Those are the best supplements in each of the categories that we listed.

If you like our show and you want more free stuff from us, we have a lot, go to minepumpfree.com, check out all of our fitness guides. We have guides that can help you with all kinds of fitness goals, everything from building muscle to burning body fat to improving longevity. You can also find all of us on social media. Justin is on Instagram at Mind Pump Justin.

I'm on Instagram at Mind Pump to Stefano and Adam and I'm on Instagram at Mind Pump Adam. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Superbundle at MindPump Media dot com. For all performance, check out our discounted RGB Superbundle at MindPumpMedia.com. The RGB Superbundle includes maps and a ballad, maps for performance, and maps aesthetic. Nine months of phased, expert exercise programming designed by Sal, Adam, and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels, and performs.

With detailed workout blueprints in over 200 videos, the RGB Superbundle is like having sour, animal, and justine as your own personal trainer's butt at a fraction of the price. The RGB Superbundle has a full 30-day money bag guarantee, and you can get it now plus other valuable free resources at MindPumpMedia.com. If you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five-star rating and review on iTunes and by introducing MindPump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support, and until next time, this is MindPump.