The Informant

QUESTION: I’m curious. If you work with a lot of supplement manufacturers and know what ingredients they’re using and in what amounts, then what supplements do you use?

ANSWER: I workout in the morning and had a very hard time finding something I could take to get me going, yet not make me sick. I found AMINO ENERGY by Optimum Nutrition to be quite useful. Pure aminos and lots of caffeine make it a very useful product upon waking to help you get out of the catabolic state you're put in during sleep. The new GERANIUM 20 product is quite useful before training or just for fat loss. Two great creatine/cell volumization products I use are GP3 by Advanced Genetics and of course Creatine Freak by PharmaFreak. Next, my protein powders are a staple in my day; I drink anywhere from 3-4 shakes a day. I use 1st PHORM's LEVEL-1 (in the evening for it's time-released protein blend) and KAIZEN's whey protein (in the day for it's fast-acting protein). Neither of these products are cheap but they're formulated well and taste outstanding. And last but not least, I love my flavoured amino acids.

But all this doesn’t mean these are the only companies that make great products. I’ve had my eyes opened to the “ins and outs” of this industry, and I’ve developed a couple of easy ways to make sure you get what you pay for. First, buy from a reputable company! I can’t stress this enough. If you have been to the offices of the top supplement companies, as I have, you’ll see they put in a hell of a lot of work to make sure they have a good product. Their quality standards are impeccable as they have too much to lose. Second, this one is simple: Make sure you like it. Formulation is one thing, but you then have to be able to stomach it. If I am going to drop $60 on a product, I had better damn well be able to stomach it.