Ten things that work much better than any food supplement under the sun

Doug Hepburn and APOLLON WHEELS

Below is the extract from Brooks Kubik, The Dinosaur Strength Training Notebook:

Ten things that work much better than any food supplement under the sun

1. Squats.

2. Abbreviated training programs that focus on heavy duty compound exercises with barbell and dumbbells.

3. Supplementing your barbell and dumbbell work with heavy awkward objects (bags, barrels, beams etc).

4. Dropping the heaviest dumbbell you can find on the head of any self proclaimed ''weight train authority'' who tells you that ''genetics are everything.''

5. Ditto to anyone who advocates slow motion training. Twice.

6. The heavy pulling movements that Olympic lifters use...the exercises that have been building the biggest, thickest, strongest backs in the world for close to a century: power cleans, power pulls, power snatches and the clean and press.

7. The type of HEAVY dumbbell lifting detailed on my training tape, The Lost Art of Dumbbell Training.

8. A no nonsense, never say die, never give up attitude...a strength of mind and power of will that allows you to SMASH through any sort of adversity or obstacle.

9. Plenty of good, nutritious food.

10. Heavy partials to build tendon and ligament strength.


First preference for anyone should be good nutrition, supplements should come second. Making good food choice is also cost effective.

I have made 2 comparison below :

Comparison 1
Take for example, 5lbs Whey Protein costs around Rs 3500 here in India and makes 75 serving days which will last about 90 days.

At same price you can get following for 3 Months, daily
1. 5 Eggs daily each @ Rs 2 = Rs 900
2. 500 ml milk @ Rs 25 per Liter = Rs 1125
3. 100 Gm Cottage cheese @ Rs 140 per Kg= 1260

Totals comes to about Rs 3285

Comparison 2
Now Total protein content in a 5lb jar @ 23 gm per scoop = 1725 gm (based upon label, can't be sure if supplement company are screwing us here.)

1. 5 Eggs daily each @ 6gm per egg = 30 gm daily and 2700 Gm for 3 months
2. 500 ml milk @ 6.5 gm per glass = 13 gm daily and 1170 gm for 3 months
3. 100 Gm Cottage cheese @ 20gm per 100gm = 20gm daily and 1800 for 3 months.
This amounts to 63 gm daily and 5670 gm for 3 months.

Though a vague comparison but we can conclude that natural protein source is better than any supplement both quality and money wise.

I am gonna ditch whey protein from this month and concentrate on good nutrition.

Nutrition - Food choices

As mentioned in previous post while making food choices we should aim at getting full proteins in every meal and fruits or vegetable should be taken with every meal.

Here are some food that you should eat and other which you should avoid

“Good Foods”

Meat products
Beef
Turkey
Chicken
Lamb
Pork
Fish, salmon ,canned Tuna

Diary Products
Eggs
Milk
Cheese
Plain Yogurt
Cottage Cheese

Oils
Fish oil
Flaxseed oil
Olive oil

Vegetables and Fruits
Tomato
Lettuce
Onion
Mushroom
Cucumber
Broccoli
Zucchini
Spinach
Carrots
Brussel Sprouts
Eggplant

Blueberries
Apple
Grape
Plum
Orange
Pear
Pineapple
Strawberry
Peach

Some other
Water
Oatmeal
Protein Powder
Peanut Butter (Natural only)
Olives
Black Beans, Kidney Beans and other beans
Legumes.
Lentils
Chick Peas
Soy and soy products like Tofu, soy milk etc..
Walnuts,Almonds,Avocado and other nuts.

“Bad Foods”
Squash and other soda and calorie drinks like fruit juices
Baked Beans
Beets
Black Eyed Peas
Butter
Corn
French Fries
Potato
Refried Beans
Sweet Potato
Turnip
Biscut, cookies, Doghnuts and other bakery items
Bread
Sugary Cereal
Noodles
Pancake
Popcorn
Rice
Chocolate
Ice Cream
Potato Chips
Fruits with High GI like banana, mango should also be avoided
and any sugary stuff

These are some good food choices..and if you are choosing any good source you should be safe. Meat and dairy products are rich in protein and would also be source of saturated fats. Vegetables and fruits should help you to get your daily carbohydrate requirement. Fish oil reach in Omega-3 fatty acid could be very helpfull for fat loss and reducing cholesterol .

For nutrition plan you can refer to John Beradi "No nonsense Nutrition"

Nutrition - Basics

Here are some Nutrition tips to start with. Most of these are from John Beradi - "7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs." Here they goes

1. Eat every 2-3 hours, which comes to about 6 meals per day.

2. Eat complete (containing all the essential amino acids), lean protein with each meal.

3. Eat fruits and/or vegetables with each food meal but try to avoid fruits after evening.

4. Ensure that your carbohydrate intake comes from fruits and vegetables, with the exception of post workout meal.

5. Ensure that 25-35% of your energy intake comes from fat, with equal quantity from saturates (e.g. animal fat), monounsaturates (e.g., olive oil), and polyunsaturates (e.g. fish oil). Fish oil can very vital and is recommended to every one no matter what there goal is.

6. Drink only non-calorie containing beverages, avoid all sodas and artificial juices. The best choices being water and green tea.

7. Eat mostly whole foods (except workout and post-workout drinks).

8. Try to follow this routine at least 90% of the time which means you can have a cheat meal 10 % time and on basis of 6 meals a day it comes around 4 meals per weak. You can have what you want but still watch what you are eating.

9. Try to prepare each meal in home you can not expect to get good food if your are eating outside. so its best advice to cook all you meals for the day in morning itself.

10. Start today. I loved this advice by John and its must that you start today , maybe take a small step in right direction.

Tomorrow I will try to post the list of food and there approximate nutrients value to help you make food choices , also will list the food you should avoid in all cases.