Make Your Own Bodybuilding Supplements for Weight Gain (1)

Far back in 2003, I wrote my first homemade supplement recipe for making homemade Celltech. Back then creatine delivery supplements, usually made up of creatine and a carbohydrate such as dextrose, were extremely popular, and in most cases, a bit pricey. I was a poor kid back then trying to make ends meet, and there was no way for me to afford those. So looking at the key ingredients, I simply decided to go with a homemade version. It was extremely cost effective, and worked exceptionally well. That recipe made the rounds on the internet for sometime, and I got tons of great feedback on it.

Many years later, after trying out too many supplements and writing reviews on most of them, I've gathered a bit of a knowledge on bodybuilding supplements, and many of the ingredients used in them. In reviewing many of these energy, endurance, and recovery supplements, I've come across a lot of different ingredients. While a lot of these are simply "fillers", there are a few ingredients that I find consistently in various different supplements that have really piqued my interest. As such, I ordered online these ingredients by themselves, at very low prices, as compared to buying a highly marketed supplement that contained some of these ingredients.

Let me say that the effects were every bit as good as I expected them to be, and then some. Strength, energy, endurance - this had it all, and the best part is that because it's a homemade sports supplement for bodybuilding, it was dirt cheap, with loads of servings. Read on if you're up to making your own pre and post work supplement.

Pre Workout Supplement for Weight Lifting 

Most are aware that pre workout and post workout nutrition is critical. It is important to feed your muscles before workout, and right after workout. This is called the bracketing method. Pre workout and post workout supplements typically include some protein, a high amount of carbs, some creatine, and can include various other ingredients. My goal here was to make a very low cost, simple yet extremely effective pre and post workout supplement. 

With that said, this homemade weight gain supplement includes four (4) main ingredients - five (5) if you include the whey protein. Here they are:

• Micronized Creatine
• Waxy Maize
• Beta Alanine
• Citrulline Malate
• Whey protein

In this homemade weight lifting supplement guide, I will explain these ingredients in some detail, provide a recipe for making it, and then provide the cost breakdown. But first, let's start off by explaining what some of these ingredients are, and why I included them.

I'm sure most probably knows what creatine is and does. I have many articles and guides written on creatine:

Guide to Creatine Supplements (4 part series)
Creatine Supplements Compared (3 parts)

Simply speaking, creatine increases the energy of your muscles. It does this by increasing the amount of ATP available as the energy source for muscle contractions. In a more detailed description, ATP is the initial fuel for your muscle contractions. (ATP stands for adenosine triphosphate.) The ATP provides energy by releasing a phosphate molecule, and it then becomes ADP (adenosine diphosphate).

The energy produced by this lasts for about 10 seconds, after which more ATP must be produced. This is where creatine phosphate comes in and gives its phosphate to the ADP making another ATP. This ATP again, is used as energy. You can think of it as the more creatine you have, you'll be able to produce more ATP and thus generate more energy during workouts.

Your ability to generate ATP depends on your supply of creatine. The more creatine you have, the more ATP you can make. Having the extra creatine in your body allows you to work your muscles to the maximum potential - letting you squeeze every bit out of them.

I've always used and stuck with regular creatine, just because it works, and it's inexpensive. While some of the creatine derivatives make claims that sound fantastic, their effectiveness is debatable as research have shown. So I just stick with regular creatine monohydrate. Cheap, effective, and it works.

Post Workout Supplement

Post workout nutrition is just as important as pre-workout, perhaps even more important. The key nutrition requirements of any good post workout supplement must include carbohydrates and whey protein. Protein is needed for protein synthesis, and carbohydrates for replenishing glycogen stores. Looking at our short list of ingredients, protein and carbohydrates are both included.

More interestingly, waxy maize is no ordinary carbohydrate. It's known as Amylocel, and it is a high molecular weight (HMW) carbohydrate. Unlike the standard dextrose many supplements use, waxy maize does cost more. Being a high molecular weight carbohydrate, waxy maize has a low osmolality rate, a much lower osmolality rate compared to high GI carbs such as dextrose, which have a much higher osmolality rate.

What does that all mean?

Osmolality simply means the concentration of particles in a solution. This is probably not the most scientific definition, but most of the scientific definitions are barely understandable. A solution that has a lower osmolality than blood is referred to as being Hypotonic, which means that a low osmolality solution passes through the stomach faster as compared to a high osmolality solution. What this simply means is that a high molecular weight carb such as waxy maize starch will pass through the stomach much faster into the small intestines than other carbs such as dextrose - in a nut shell, it will get to your muscles much faster.

I have a long article explaining waxy maize in detail here.

Below are links to the exact supplements I used in my stack.

>> Click here for Dymatize Micronized Creatine
>> Click here for Citrulline Malate
>> Click here for Now Foods Beta Alanine

Alternatives:

>> Click here for Optimum Nutrition Micronized Creatine
>> Click here for Optimum Nutrition Glycomaize (Recommended over Monster Maize)

Although Cytosport Monster Maize cost a bit more than Optimum's Glycomaize, I went with it because it comes pre-flavored (and also testing it out for the first time), while Optimum's Glycomaize is unflavored. I would suggest going with Glycomaize, since it is more economical.

Continue to Part 2: citrulline malate and beta alanine >>