Tuesday 17th May 2016

Supplements I use and where they come from...

I'm fortunate to be supported, for one reason or another, by two companies in the supplement industry. One, BulkPowders, is I am told, now No 2 behind only MyProtein as an online brand. The other is a European reseller of branded products by the name of PowerBody. 

What this means is I can, within the limits of my two allowances, choose whatever I like from either of their product lines. So what do I have and why? Also, as you'll see, I don't get whatever is the most popular, expensive etc. I choose, I hope, wisely. Of course, on occasion, I'll road test something new.  As well as the support they give me and what I do in return I try to do reviews and even make suggestions as a consumer.

Anyway what do I use.

My all the damn time products
Creatine - I get this usually from BP. I've a spare Olimp tub from PB sitting on a shelf.

Intra drinks - again usually BP although I did like my San Intra-Fuel from PB. All intra drinks as, in essence, a combo of BCAA's and a few other ingredients. BP has brought out a new one as part of their Pro line and I'm thinking of adding this to my next order.

Whey Protein - BP's Pure series whey does me fine and they're expanding their flavours. The only ones I can no longer get on with is anything chocolate flavoured (in  fact I can't do milk or dark choc at all any more.... boo).

Post Workout Protein - BP's AfterMath (pro line)

Protein Blend - DY's TemPro from PB. This is my upstairs / night time product.

Vitamin - it's currently Orange Triad by Controlled Labs from PB but it's usually BP's Complete Multivitamin Complex (part of their complete series)

Joint products - BP's Cissus is my go to product but it's also Orange Triad right now.

Other products I use on occasion
Coconut Oil - for cooking and from BP.

Liver Support - CTD's Liver Armor from PB. 

Test support - this varies as I like to rotate products. Currently it's ZMA 810mg from BP's Pure Series (for the zinc and ZMA's rep at helping with sleep).

Not supplements but useful recent items have included a roller for my back, various shakers to add to my collection or, of course, be used as they were intended, kit bags as I will wear mine out. And quite a few bits of clothing usually a t-shirt or three.

I should also add both companies sell products I wouldn't bother with. For example I don't see the need for a half gallon branded plastic bottle. Heck I'll use a washed out 4 pint plastic milk bottle if need be. Both companies DO sell such products because customers have demanded them. If it sells then they should sell it. But as to whether or not I'll buy or try it... no.

Matrix Nutrition + Supplement Centre

In as short as possible = one and the same. Nowt wrong with that. But first the info:

The Matrix Nutrition website gives their address: 

Matrix Nutrition
Unit K3, Snowdon Road,
St Annes,
Lancashire,

FY8 3DP

The IPO office gives the address as the same and states that the proprietor owns The Supplement Centre trademark as well. It's the same address and owner:

Adam Latham
Unit K3 Snowdon Road, Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire, FY8 3DP

I'm told that if you ask SC claims to be a distributor. Hmm, of your own products. Nowt wrong with that but it does sound vague.

Anyway, lets look at the product.

One thing which confuses me is the Glutamic acid content. In both the product description and nutritional breakdown it states that it contains (approx) 24g per 100g of protein. Which would be very nice. Except that a quick look at the ingredient list thus:

Confirmation of key ingredients: Whey Protein Isolate, Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC80), Micellar Casein, Whole Milk Protein, Pea Protein Isolate, Natural and Natural Identical Flavouring, Natural Colouring, Stabilisers (Citric Acid, Malic Acid) Contains Sweetener. Sucralose. Protein analysis declared as dry matter, this is determined in the absence off water which may compromise up to 6%

Shows (in bold as per me) no protein which contains more than 19.1 percent as Glutamic acid (info taken from a rival company's PDF test results). The highest source listed is the Whole Milk Protein. Oh and that's the exact same ingredient as Micellar Casein. They are one and the same. 

The protein content is listed as 80% (80g per 100) with the WPI being (as per the standard for these things) 90+, the WPC, as listed, 80. The WMP/MC is usually around 90 and the pea protein around 84%. Throw in flavours etc and I can see the drop off of a few percent - no problem. 

It's the use of the 'key' word which makes me ask was anything else not listed? Clarity, as always is 'key' here. Companies should list what's in their products and if it varies say so and use * along with some blurb to say why.

Dear supplement company owners please get your labels right

In the past I wrote on how it has been a little frustrating for me when, on occasion, I see what looks like a daft error from an otherwise good to go supplement company on their product labels. I've added that I'd like some basic nutrition knowledge from those purporting to sell products of some nutritional value.

Previously we saw what amounted to some very good sales people answering the helplines & customer service desks at pretty big nutritional companies. In particular Bill Phillip's EAS as was (not now he's sold it on some years back). As a potential customer I'd have wanted to know that the person was a little more on the ball than just reading from the catalogue and spouting the company line.

Equally, while it's not 'knock-able' to be able to say that an owner of said company is great at marketing, awesome at getting staff and so on - and so a good business man and company owner, yet knows less than useful amounts on his product line. Of course running the ship, a la a captain, does not require you to know how to service an engine, fix a sail and so on. Yet most bodybuilding supplement companies are started and employ people with a passion for the sport who they are servicing with their products.

I'd also like to add that I am by NO MEANS any sort of expert. I do however, have a PC with access to a shed load of info and SOME EXPERIENCE. My memory, especially as I get older and or more busy, is not to be relied on so I'll keep files, refer to references and the like. Two minutes of searching via Google nearly always throws up a snippet of info I'll need. If it's a defining bit then copy, paste and save = job done.

As an example of experience myself, my then business partner and a buddy of ours had on one occasion popped down to a company which we were looking to get flavoured Whey Proteins with. We do the usual hellos, drink a welcoming coffee and so on then pop into their developing kitchen / lab. I'd last seen something like it when I worked (many years ago) with the Quality Control and development team at the now defunct Hygrade Meats of Peckham.

We sampled various concoctions at differing levels. They spoke, if briefly, of how some flavours are very hard to mimic (butters for example) talking about biscuit flavour, butterscotch, mint and so on. The high level of flavouring consumption as well as finishing off a pint of a pre-made mix (cos I was hungry) left me farting for England. While there our buddy spotted, as did I, some samples being made up for another company. A mental note was made. They probably shouldn't have left it out (perhaps it was there deliberately for some reason).

Anyway, all those years at Hygrades, more of using supplements and then the added experience of trying to market and sell our own products leads me to be bale to, if not with a degree or certificate, to at least spot what seem like schoolboy errors. 

If, for example, I know that 99% of artificial flavourings are simply chemical mixes with zero fibre content and that the same can be said of most protein powders then when, as was pointed out to me, I see a product apparently coming back with a test result (on the companies own website so they are not being sly by hiding said info) with a 7+ percent fibre content one asks why? It might be a lab error - the decimal point moved. One the main nutritional panel it states 210mg of fibre - not high at all. But on the ILS lab report it says 7%. Now in some lab tests the test itself is done separately for each bit of info and for others it's 1 test for several. Hence some test results are averaged out for the size of the sample (lets use 100g as an average). 

If the fibre content is 7-percent then that's not 210mg but 2.1g or 2100mg. If it was 0.7% that'd be the 210mg. Schoolboy error see? As would be using a lot of cocoa powder in a chocolate protein product and then using the same info on all the flavours. Even, as has been said, giving the lowest result, so as to show better results if the products are tested outside the company's lab of choice by an independent it would seem better, if only in my opinion, to give accurate results.

In the example given it seems to suggest a fibre content of 7% on a toffee flavoured whey protein. It's possible but very unlikely to contain, if any, fibre and having said it does, as per an ILS test, one asks how? 

This then results in no holes to pick at. Given the work being done by many concerned consumers and by the businessmen themselves in a touch market during a recession having an excuse to doubt a product is not going to be good. I completely understand that if said company has, as has been claimed (I've no reason to doubt it), many hundreds if not thousands of products lines it can be hard to keep track of everything being sold nutritionally but I suggested two things which are, I hope, useful.

1) Any product developed in house and sold under the company's own label should, one might hope, be one of the few that they, said company, know everything about and 
2) Just asking for and keeping copies of ALL nutritional info on each product as added to the 100-1000 product line. Give one person responsibility to check over said lines (don't add 20 a week otherwise he'll never catch up!!) and produce an in-house file for ALL working there, esp customer service, to refer to. An idiots guide if you will to Product X. 


Simples.


Finally, if at all unsure just hang fire and bollock the person who developed the product or does the test or prepped the info for you so you, company owner, don't look daft when questioned by a simple gym bunny... with access to google.

Gotta love google

Ya gotta love it because it more or less sees all and tells all. For example, in the last year or so we've seen a small handful of new companies come to the market which sell what used to be termed 'bulk whey'. Be that in 5-kilo tubs or pouches. One such company is Pro-10.com A quick five minute google and you can come up with the company directors name. Another minute and you can find out that he is also a director of USN here in the UK.

So, it would seem, the bigger brands are realising the value of the 'bulk' market. Last years valuation of MyProtein at some £60m may have encouraged that. While it is entirely possible that the director (google it yourselves yer bums) can and is director of more than one company I suspect (my opinion naturally) that USN backs Pro-10. If so I'd like to see a certain open-ness. Thus, if you went to a similar site, some small blurb to that effect.

Hell, and this can be applied in many, many cases, why have an 'about us' page that just 'sells' the brand. Why not an actual name now and again.

In their 'about us' page it states 'Pro-10.com has been created by a dedicated team of Dieticians, Nutritionists and Sports Scientists to create a great selection of precision engineered Sports Supplements that help you achieve your fitness, nutritional or bodybuilding goals.' 

I wish we knew their names because they aren't listed as directors nor anywhere on the Pro-10 site. They don't seem to have been given a mention on facebook. Again, in my opinion, I'd like to see these names if only so I, as a potential customer (thus you the reader too) could see what qualifications they had and who they worked for and so on. On more than one occasion we've seen people with little or no knowledge of the subject of nutrition in ANY form running a company. So when you ring up and discuss the product you're buying they know next to f'all. Some VERY BIG names in sports supplements have employed better sales people than customer service crew with a little basic nutritional knowledge. Once I suggested to one smaller company that they all had a basic product spec folder on the desk of each of their customer service people.

Get ALL your shit right = best results

I'll admit up front that very few of us, myself include, get all our 'shit' right all the time but...

The combination of rest, recovery, food / nutrition AND training work together to give you the best results. 

Training

When, as I have mentioned in passing to gym buddies recently, I see guys chatting away while training (not between sets - during) you know the lack of focus and effort will equate to mediocre results. God forbid I hear them outside the gym environment claiming either 1) this trainings easy or 2) I train hard but nothing happens.

Here's the thing - basics/compounds+hard work+intensity of effort is training. Chatting on mobiles or to buddies while you go through the motions is not.

Pick-me-ups and sleep

I've written before about either overuse of pre-workout products as a boost - starts off on fire and a few scoops and sessions later and 'it doesn't work any more', followed by 'I'm not sleeping. Join the dots guys, join the f'kin dots!!

Sleep and recovery

Others have stated what I'll state now - the newbie habit of weekends out late and enjoying themselves does not equal great restful sleep. Late night coffee or cola does not. Late night movies do not. You get the idea? A god nights kip following a hard leg sessions helps with recovery as does a good nights sleep before a hard workout. It has been said that recovery from training is as important as the training itself and you wont find me arguing with that.

Nutrition

Bare in mind I rep for a supplement company and enjoy my protein package gratefully received every month in return for my agreed work... but some young guys will ask about the latest article or new fangled product just on the market. You ask the right questions and they aren't eating the basics, their training is... shit and sleep - for girls etc etc. Here's the deal - Product X wont do shit if the rest isn't in place. I'm happy to debate and argue about said products with the informed on various forums but only from the view that you're eating right before spending £30+ on a small tub of something new and potentially wonderful.

Start with 3 square and if you can four. Eat your damn breakfast! Make sure each meal has some protein and make sure your totals for the day (so-called 'macros') workout to decent numbers. Throw a decent protein and or creatine supplement in and THEN add on other.

Oh and eat for what you wish to be and not what you are (unless that's the thing you want). So less calories for weight loss and more for gains. Take baby steps to get there - so don't be 200 and eat for 240, be 200 and eat for 205 then once there, 210 and so on.

None of what's written is new - just keep it in mind.  

Food is a tool

As an member of a few of the larger forums I see many posts and threads of the kind where in the member seems to have issues with food as a tool. Moaning and bitching about how certain products don't taste right or aren't sweet enough. Other complaints include 'it's hard to eat X amount' and so on.

  
Well you're an athlete so food is now a tool. If you're a bodybuilder and wish to weigh a set amount you need to eat, by gradual increments, the amounts required to sustain the amount you wish to weigh. It's no good whining and bitching about how you've not gained any weight when you eat for what you weight now. If you weigh 120 and aren't gaining weight - here's a clue - eat more!!! Ditto for those who weigh more than they'd like to be.

Oh and another thing - don't think diet. Sheeetttt... don't even use the diet word. Think lifestyle. What you are about to do and what you'll continue doing is now your daily habit. If you think 'diet' then it's framed by a set time: 8 weeks, 16 weeks and so on. Not 52 weeks, 2 years and and onwards.

Throw in, as above, the member who says 'I can't' or 'I find it hard to eat such a large amount of food'... well d'uh. Don't go 2000kcals a day to 4000kcals a day in a week. Not only is this a recipe to being bloated, and worse, failure it's also not going to slowly add muscle. Your stomach will complain. But throw in an extra 200kcals a day for a week, up it another 200kcals next week and so on until you hit the target. Subtract to lose. The same kinds of rules apply to upping protein. It's not different than the rules for adding weight to the bar in the gym.  

Perhaps I'm old school - maybe I am now having hit 40+ ha ha. Or overtime I've learned what the 'old housewives tale' about, for example, Cod Liver Oil - it doesn't have to taste nice to do you good. So close your eyes, open wide and neck it!!

There is, I think, occasional hints of OCD / being anal, with some of the neophytes. It's arguable that the more twitchy ecto-morphic obsessive is also the kind of athlete that will struggle. But think on - either you've made some decision to be a better, bigger, stronger, leaner whatever it is you wanted or you haven't. If you must post these sorts of comments on-line have a look before you click the button that puts it up and think... am I expecting some sort of great insight or secret from the other members or do I need to man up??

Tax on sports nutrition drinks? Are you kidding me?

Let's see how long I can keep this sh*t up eh?

Starting with the VAT ON SPORTS DRINK PETITION This petition is for those of you who think the most recent UK budget in which some ass at the treasury decided, in their wisdom, to suggest that us supplement users pay 20% more. Yep due to what I think is some stupid decision making tribunal decision (but who knows for sure) on sports drinks becoming mass market and drunk for refreshment they  have now decided to include protein drinks too.

Now, as has been argued, it's one thing to suggest that an isotonic drink such as well known Lucosade, Powerade et al, might be found (as they are in your local shops chilled drinks cabinet and is drunk1) cos it  tastes nice and 2) cos it's refreshing but not 3) cos of it's nutritional content. Fair enough says I. They have super-ceded their former sports drink only status and fallen into, by virtue of growth and acceptance, common 'cold drink' status.

But can the same be said of a protein drink that you mix and shake YOURSELF!! Seriously. I don't drink 100g of Bulkpowders unflavoured whey mixed with water and 3 sweeteners for it's refreshing qualities. Nor as a 'beverage' like tea. I drink tea and coffees for tea and coffees above mentioned qualities - that and the caffeine. 

My gut instinct is the industry has grown. When companies like GSK buy (again - about the 3rd or 4th time MM has sold or been brought out) Maximuscle for what - £85million? When MyProtein was purchased (not quite 100%) for what gave it a value of £60m and when the industry itself, not health food, seeds and nuts but just sports supplements only, was suggesting a gross of around £300m in 2005, 2006 or 2007 (I forget which) then HM Gov seizes on an opportunity to garner some cash during this recession. HMG suggest, via their own C&E site that the wedge only amounts to between 10 and 12 million quid. Hardly seems worth it. 

That's without the questions, as asked by others - but hell include me in agreement, asking about how an industry which supports and promotes, for the most part, a healthy lifestyle. Throw in the 2012 Olympic year and you ask why guys and gals that train, typically earn more (yesterdays Daily Mail suggested that those hitting the gym 3 or more times a week earn more - or was it those earning more hit the gym more...), think of their health and are looking to lose weight or become lean muscle beasts, then get charged more to carry on? Does HMG want us to be fat, not in the gym, don't give a damn slobs? 

Just on the business aspect alone the margins, as many wholesalers and retailers in the industry have pointed out , on high protein drinks are NOT big. As a former seller of the same I agree 100%. You're not looking at 30% margins in the bulk sector. Now throw 20% on top... damn!!

So sign and share, share and sign. Or get out your hankies now and weep when the time comes - you'll only have your indifference to blame.