If you’re like me, then you’ll probably want to get the most for your money. Hands down that means buying protein powder in bulk form and then mixing it yourself into shakes or smoothies.

Below are, in my opinion, your three best powders on the market. All are good for you, all contain everything a body needs to develop fat burning muscles, everything else is personal taste. Read the reviews and you will find the same gripes, either it tastes bad or doesn’t mix well, and that you should buy a different product. (Which by the way has the same complaints in its review section)

I’ve used all three, and I can honestly say that they taste pretty much the same. Muscle milk probably tastes the best if you are going to drink it straight mixed with only water or milk. EAS is the cheapest which means a lot to my wallet.

My advice is instead of trying to mix it with milk or water and drink it straight, is to throw some in a blender and use it to make smoothies. You will never have to worry about clumping, and any difference in taste is muted by all the other things its been mixed with.

I was able to find EAS at my local Costco for about the same price as Amazon, so I picked it up there. After a few weeks of just chocolate, I picked up another bag of vanilla. Switching between the two flavors kept my taste buds happy, and the increased protein helped my workouts benefit me to their fullest, all while keeping my wallet happy too.

I first tried “NO-Shotgun V3” when I was at Gold’s. There was a guy at a small card table giving free samples of different things. After chatting him up I asked if he had anything to take pre-workout. He handed me the NO-Shotgun and told me it would give me a ton of energy. I mixed it up in my water bottle and proceeded to chug the stuff before getting changed.

Holy cow was this guy right! I had a surge of energy, not the jittery kind you get from too much caffeine, but just the kind of energy that makes you want to just go out and take on the whole world! I don’t think it helped me lift any more weight than I had been previously and I still would get winded, but I bounced back after every set and plowed through my workout liked a possessed Energizer bunny!

The best part was that after my workout, I didn’t feel tired and had the energy to watch some Grad-school courses online and do some homework too!

I am not a big supplement pusher, but I will admit that this is some great stuff. Essentially NO-Shotgun V3 is a fast acting protein, which has been chemically packed to be absorbed into the bloodstream quickly and intact. This translates into a surge of energy, and supplies your body an abundance of materials for building up your muscles after a workout.

I highly recommend this if you are doing anything with weights!

A few words of advice. Start into this slowly. Start with less than half a scoop and work your way up to a full scoop over the course of a few weeks. When you drink it, do so about 5-10 minutes before you start working out and make sure you mix it with plenty of water (about 20 oz) and stay hydrated throughout the workout.

Honestly the stuff tastes terrible, so just chug it quick and get it over with, sipping only prolongs the pain and lessens the effect it has on your system.

So in summary, if you are in a serious exercise program (aka you are doing it regularly) and are looking for something to give you energy throughout your workout and leave you feeling good afterwards, I highly recommend NO-Shotgun V3. It won’t let you lift more, run faster, or get bigger, but it will give you the energy to train harder to do those things.

Try checking it out at Amazon.com:

• Fen-phen
• Ephedra/Ephedrine
• Alli

I realize that Both Ephedra and Fen-Phen have been out of the news for a while, but both are still pretty to get your hands on in the back alleys of the web, and I wanted people new to this stuff to have a basic knowledge of things.

Fen-Phen hit in the mid 90’s and had more than modest success. It’s actually made up of 2 drugs named Phentermine (phen) and Fenfluramine (fen). The two drugs worked independently on the nervous system. Phentermine blocked the absorption of a neurotransmitter called dopamine, raising the body’s temperature and increasing metabolic rate. Fenfluramine worked on the nuerotransmitter called serotonin which would make someone feel calm and full. Unforchunetly it was found that Fen-Phen could also lead to valvular heart disease and pulmonary hypertension, and was pulled from the market by the FDA in 1997.

Ephedra is a stimulant and a metabolism booster. These effects come from the chemicals ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. These compounds stimulated the brain, increased heart rate, and constricted blood vessels (which increased blood pressure) and increased the metabolism and heat generated by the body. These traits made Ephedra an excellent stimulant and weight loss drug. Ephedra also caused skin reactions, irritability, nervousness, dizziness, trembling, headache, insomnia, profuse perspiration, dehydration, itchy scalp and skin, vomiting, hyperthermia, irregular heartbeat, seizures, heart attack, stroke, or death, which made it not so excellent. In 2004 the FDA banned the substance. Many products today bear the term “Natural Ephedra” or “ephedrine-free” ephedra. Studies show that these alternatives are little better than Ephedra itself.

Alli, as opposed to the first 2 drugs, is actually approved by the FDA, and is meant to be used in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise. So what’s the problem? Basically alli prevents the body from absorbing about 25% of the fat you eat. But the fat has to go somewhere and this is where it gets nasty. Alli users are advised to where dark pants and bring spare changes of pants and underwear because the undigested fat comes out unannounced causing the user to literally craps their pants in a runny orange-ish mess. While the manufacturer is upfront about this and says it prevents people from cheating on their, is it really worth it? Seriously, would you rather be held hostage by your fear of craping your pants or just eat healthier and let your body loose the weight naturally?

Personally it’s not a hard choice.

Of all the amenities, the health store got more use than anything else. They sold protein shakes, fitness drinks and bars, healthy pastries and more supplements than I had thought previous to exist. (All at a significant mark up)

I don’t even want to imagine how much that little shop was raking in! But it did make me think and take a hard look at what a person really needs to get into shape.

You don’t need anything other than your healthy diet, but there are some good products out there that you all may find useful:

• Additional protein
• Metabolism enhancer
• Pre/post workout supplement
• Multivitamin

Believe it or not most everything can fall into those categories!

Protein

Compared to other nutrients, protein takes the most effort for your body to digest, it’s also the building block for muscle development. Depending on your goals you’re going to want 1.1 -1.3 grams of protein per every pound you weigh (180lbs = 198-234 grams a day). That can be a lot of protein. You can find it in the form of energy drinks, protein bars, and in a powder form. I recommend the powdered form, since it’s the cheapest in terms of dollar to protein amount. Plus you can mix it into milk or water to your own protein shake wherever and whenever you like! Look for products contain “whey” protein.

Metabolism Boosters

Metabolism enhancers are the bulk of what you will find if you go into a health food store. There’s all sort of names for them, Trimspa, Stracker, Hydroxycut, the list goes on. All do the same basic thing, they raise your body’s resting baseline metabolism thus increase your baseline caloric consumption. It’s tempting to think of these as a magic bullet, but to really see any effect you need to be exercising regularly. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THESE! Depending on the strength, there can be side effects like shaking, jitteriness, irritability, and dehydration. I highly recommending starting with a low strength version and easing your body into them.  Go with something that is all natural and even at a full dose don’t give you the shakes. Again, be very careful with these products! Consult a professional about specific products before trying them!

Pre/Post Workout Suplements

Pre/post workout supplements can help either give you extra energy during a workout to keep you working hard, or help you from feeling weak and worn out after a good workout. They typical are a drink, but a better value is to buy the powder version and mix it yourself.

Multi-Vitamins

Vitamins? Really? Yes. A good once a day multivitamin is something everyone should have. No matter how good your diet you’ll still be missing something your body needs. Ask your doctor and out of everything mentioned here it’s the one thing he will recommend to you. Don’t feel like you have to buy the fancy tailored for an age/gender one, go for a big bottle of generic stuff (it’s 99% just as good) and push them on the entire family daily.