Question
Given all you know about training and supplements, what are the best pairings? If you had to choose one type of training method that works best with one supplement, what would that look like?
Answer
The real answer is: It depends.
It Depends On Your Goals
If you’re just starting out and wish to build as much muscle as humanly possible, that’s one answer (say, Super Squats paired with a weight gainer or creatine monohydrate).
If you’re a woman just looking to maximize fat loss, that’s another (Some form of lactic acid tolerance training, paired with the E/C stack or days using E/C rotated with days of solo Yohimbine HCL – provided you tolerate them).
But the BEST answer that’s going to serve the highest % of people well and give you the best of all worlds… is still some form of 5 x 5 training, coupled with flooding your body with EAA’s before and during that training. Let’s call that the re-comp template.
Depending upon what your diet looks like, the re-comp template will help you in bulking up, slimming down or as it name implies… trading fat for more muscle.
And it isn’t a very complicated switch… want to lose fat faster? Move through your 5 x 5 program faster. Cut the rest periods by half or more – you’ll see what I mean.
EAA’s won’t put weight on you as fast as creatine, but the weight that does come on will be solid muscle, not some mix of H20 and muscle.
Ditto for going the other way: EAA’s won’t burn as much fat (in the short run) as ephedrine/caffeine. But over the long run that is extended and extreme dieting, you’ll be left with more muscle (due primarily to their anti-catabolic action).
Which burns more fat at rest, 24/7.
Consider Cost to Benefit Ratios
Also, consider the cost to benefit ratio. Creatine is no longer the bargain it once was. A kilo of the good stuff (Pfanstiehl creatine – lab tested to be 99.9% pure) will set you back anywhere from $42 to $75 – whereas before it could be had for just $20!!
Ephedrine is no longer a bargain either, ever since they banned supplements containing it and big pharma can now charge highway robbery prices for Bronkaid and Primatene tabs, given they’re the only options left (how convenient, huh?).
In contrast, you can still get 330g of NOW’s EAA’s for just $25. That’s just a smidgeon more than the $22.60 I bought it for back in 2017 and the $20 I paid for it more than a decade ago, when I was still working Synthagen’s EAA ratios out.
Anyway, I hope you can see why I think so highly of the basic 5 x 5 protocol and EAA’s. It’s just a very flexible, cost-effective option for most.
