Another year, another resolution, but hopefully this time will entail a better game plan. Time and time again the same mistakes are made from the very start, dooming any chance for fitness success. What are these repetitive mistakes? Believe it or not, the first step to a successful New Year’s fitness resolution has nothing to do with buying the latest fat burner, or best protein powder, or a gym membership. Rather it entails ensuring that you have a solid foundation of a quality multi-vitamin & mineral. Multi-vitamins and minerals ensure that your body will be able to function at its optimal level from both a nutritional standpoint and also a physical standpoint. Vitamins & minerals are essential for cellular metabolism, growth, and overall maintenance of health … this is true whether you exercise or not. However, participating in physically strenuous activity such as exercise only increases your need for such nutrients. True, there is a lot to know and understand before you take the leap of faith into fitness, but don’t fret. Knowing everything is not the answer … knowing what is essential to fitness IS. I have to admit, I didn’t know much about supplementation when I started bodybuilding. Heck, I didn’t know much about vitamins & minerals throughout my youth and most of my amateur bodybuilding days PERIOD. So then, how was I able to be so successful? I learned from an amazing strength coach in high school early on that heavy weight training was the driving factor in physical self-improvement. He beat in my head that no matter how much or how well I ate, none of it would really matter if there was not a need. I didn’t realize it then, but I certainly know now that whether the goal is increasing strength or size, or both, hardcore training dictates overall progression. So are vitamins & minerals necessary? You betcha’ … so read on and find out why. Although vital to the nourishment and maintenance of human cells, vitamins & minerals do not provide energy to the human body. Rather, they are vital to the chemical reactions that occur within the human body to release energy. Eating a properly balanced diet is essential for these chemical reactions to occur regularly and effectively so that an optimal quality of living can be achieved. Of which and how much of each vitamin & mineral is not universal, but don’t fret as the FDA (Federal & Drug Administration) has a guideline of how much an average individual needs. In fact, all brands of multi-vitamin and mineral complexes carried by retailers such as The Vitamin Shoppe have at least the recommended FDA amounts. Once you have established a strong base of multi-vitamins and minerals, the next step in my opinion is to make sure that you have a source of EFA’s (Essential Fatty Acids). EFA’s are essential nutrients that are congruent with quality living, but must be ingested as the body cannot produce or manufacture them. How important are EFA’s? Without them, you would not be able to think, see, hear, reproduce, run or even move a muscle. Enough said. I am not going to go in-depth into their countless functions, so please do your own research and learn more about how they can help you individually. I firmly believe that supplementing my diet with a quality Omega-3 fatty acid has increased my ability to run 4-6 miles daily without joint pain. I literally tried everything from chondroitin to MSM, and nothing seemed to work until I added Omega-3’s into my nutritional plan. Many could argue that I am able to run because I have dropped so much body mass in the last year since my retirement. Perchance, as I have dropped about 25 pounds of muscle … but I am still 190 pounds of solid muscle. I still shouldn’t be able to run 4-6 miles daily at 5’5” and 190 pounds. Once you have established a solid foundation of a quality mutli-vitamin/mineral/EFA complex, the next step is to find a quality protein formula that will foster your individual fitness goals. If your goal is to gain mass and your build is thin, then it is my recommendation that you select a “mass formula” … that is, one that contains at least a 1/1 ratio of carbs to protein, preferably 2/1 ration in my opinion. I think that protein is over-hyped as I don’t believe that the human body can break down and absorb more than 40-45 grams of protein on a regular basis. There are many “mass formulas” that push 60-grams per serving, which is over-kill in my opinion. The most important variable to gaining mass is QUALITY TRAINING. If you don’t break your muscle down adequately, then there is absolutely no point in saturating your bloodstream with nutrients. You will be essentially pissing and shitting out your hard-earned money … and the residual that stays behind in your system will be converted to and stored as fat. Everyday, I hear guys bitching and moaning about why their pecs and quads are not getting bigger while their dicks seem to be shrinking as their stomachs eclipse their groin area. Okay Sherlock, perhaps you are taking in a whey blend that has WAY too much sugar and filler-crap in it. Stop selling your hard efforts short and spend the extra bit of money on a better quality protein blend. A quality protein blend should at the very least contain quality whey isolate, micellar casein, and some egg protein. Why? Not all whey isolates are equal. Whey isolates (90-98% protein) are more expensive than whey concentrates (70-85% protein) because of their purity and their higher biological value, which amounts to better assimilation and subsequent muscular growth. Egg protein is today, as it was when bodybuilding first started, the best and cleanest source of protein available. When separated from the yolk, which is mostly cholesterol and fat, the egg-white is as lean and clean as you are going to get. During my years of competing, I dieted strictly on egg-whites and chicken breasts. I refrained from shakes as I did not trust that their ingredients were clean or lean enough to separate me from the rest of the competing field. I have yet to run across a bodybuilder, figure, or fitness competitor that has told me that they did not notice a stark difference in their physique once the shakes were eliminated from the dieting protocol. The micellar casein is vital once the whey and egg isolates have been digested. Unlike typical milk casein, micellar casein is not denatured and is ultra-filtered without the use of chemicals, which increases its bioavailability. From an anabolic standpoint, micellar casein is slower digesting which makes it ideal for those who want to use it as a pre-sleep protein supplement.I wrote an article on how to structure a sound nutritional plan a few months ago, so I am going to spare the details and divulge deeper into why proper supplementation goes synergistically hand-in-hand with a proper training regimen. Am I making a lot of hullaballoo about nothing? I never said that I was going to re-invent the wheel. Sure you know how to eat and train … I’ll give you that benefit of the doubt. As what BASF once claimed in a national commercial about their products, my guidance won’t show you how to eat or train … my guidance will show you how to eat and train BETTER. I literally accomplished a lot with very little supplementation (legal and illegal) in high school and throughout most of my bodybuilding career, but I wonder sometimes how much more dominant I could have been had I utilized supplements like creatine, essential fatty acids, L-arginine, BCAA’s, and such. Now that I have spent a fair amount of time working for The Vitamin Shoppe, I now understand the role and importance of such supplements from both a competitive and non-competitive point-of-view. Why didn’t I invest more time discovering this in my youth? Again, I was taught how to expect more from myself from a very early age so I naturally developed a negative attitude towards over the counter products, and definitely supplements from “under the counter” as well … LOL. Without a doubt, had I known then what I know now I would have been even better. I am a firm believer in destiny and that everything has a purpose in the whole grand scheme of things. Much like how an Existentialist believes that how we think is ultimately determined by our overall life experience or experiences, I similarly started my philosophical journey through bodybuilding with a sense of disorientation. I was “confused” because I was limited in experience, but as my experiences increased, I too became more enthralled with wisdom. As I look back today, I can see how the chaos unravels as I discover truths about me and how everything affects me inside and out. Most importantly, I can see and understand how we are all alike in our mission to live life with purpose and completeness. Please don’t hesitate to shoot me an email with pertinent questions regarding my works. I was once told that the dumbest question is the one that is left unasked … what may I ask is your question? My apologies for the big-run-on-blog … I attempted to format it correctly with paragraphs, but the stupid thing just keeps running them together. Enjoy nonetheless :)