vitamin supplements

Do you guys use vitamin supplements? Do they work? I've heard your body can't use it and generally you piss it out. Does anyone have any info? Thanks.

I should but I don't.

Generally what I've come to understand is that all those pills and tablets have a tandency to go through the system sometimes undigested. And even the best tends to be shoddy compared to what you get from fruit and vegetables.

ADEK are fat soluble and will stay in the system. B and C are water soluble and unneeded vitamin will be pissed out. For instance polar bear liver contais ridiculous amounts of vit A and people have died from overconsumption of A by eating the liver. I don't think that's possible with B & C.

I actually have some cod liver oil right in front of me, with omega 3 fatty acids, and vits A, D & E. (now why don't I eat it?... think I'll pop a couple right now.) The body produces it's own vit K so that's normally not a worry. That and some beer for the B and some orange juice for the C would do it I think.

Do they work? Well, vitamins that are absorbed (instead of healthying up shit eating rats) work. But it's not like you begin to glow in the dark. I think a lot of people expect too much. Your body has more of what it needs so you can be healthier. Think that's mostly what you can expect. (I hear people complain that "...the ad said I'd get so much more energy - like the athletes in the ads I suppose - but I don't notice anything...")

Yeah, I would probably guess that so long as you're eating a proper diet and don't have any medical conditions which would cause a deficiency of any of the vitamins then you don't really need them, you're like just going to end up overdosing and your body wont even bother to absorb them.

I remember reading once that most of these pre-pack suppliments contain something like 500% your daily recommenced intake in just a single pull.

Heston

it wasnt the original question but RB mentioned cod liver oil, I sometime get sore joints from grappling and that always works within two to three days... not a vitamin issue... a sinovial fluid issue??

...regarding general health and vitamines, i spent about 20 years in a home and away gym--weightlifting way before formal martial arts training. i got sucked into every fake food and vitamine regimine. that's what one did in the gym--to kill the bordem i guess. supplements, powders for milk shakes, met-rx bars, etc etc etc---inositol, creatine, everything some egg head made up to fool us meat heads. if i knew about injectables--at the time i only was familiar with the shit-orals, i'd probably have gone in for steroids. i just hated mediocraty (sp?). in the end, i can honestly say that i think it did fuck all; the best shape of my life came from fruit juices, steamed veggies, broth boiled ground and lean turkey breast (and similar stuff), egg whites, and all pre-atkins-ish eatables that serves as a pyramid for about three months of trimming down from a bulk up and power course. it wasn't absent of carbos--that would be misleading. it's just that my carbs were from bananas, fruit juices, sugared coffee by the tank and little else (not rice and pasta, etc). i was even able to cut back on my work outs and put more into them infrequently--making collosal gains in proportionate strength and appearance. people were asking what my new training was...about half the exercise and less shit to eat.

like RichardB, i heard the multi vitamines are a piss-out, a harvard study kind of lumps them in a catagory of, "what your body needs it'll probably pull out from the multi and piss out the rest". but you should get a green multi--if that's what you're after...so your body treats it like food and hangs onto it longer. it is also advisable--same study, to take a high quality calcium supplement in addition (most people apparently don't meet their requirements here).

having said that. what i do now...eat food with chilis, work out hard, drink alot of tea and forget all that shit--i just spent way too many years and much too much money getting all caught up in it. and i haven't the taste--pardon the pun, for it anymore. i have supplement battle fatigue. and the score is finally:


meat head 1
egg head 0

a close match but i pulled ahead in the sudden death after the tie

Russel, you said you were able to work out less and gain more.Can you elaborate?

training for visible results is a lot about diet- its hard to accept because its counterintuitive but if you want to get bigger and look better you will probably need to train less frequently and really clean up your eating habits

though training more often and eating lazily is more fun

Richie
ha ha. yeah mate, even though i know how the body likes to recouperate. i'm pushing the envelope every day with my boxing routines, knowing academically that my biceps are sometimes worn thin, and shoulders, etc. but i'm addicted to old school work-outs. and the image of masters doing 1000 this, and 1000 that every day--every day until their body explodes and they become one of the immortals

Technics1210

muscle groups need time to heal. they become more efficient with the less is better, quality over quantity theme. and as we men get older, even less is better, muscles are even more efficient in the catabolism/anabolism (break down, repair, build up and grow) theme.
so this is why 'dorian yates', etc...will do like three sets, and one muscle group a week.
realistically, without all the human cadaver and testosterone mush milkshake, you and i (metaphorically speaking) can gain alot from something like:

mon/thur: back and biceps
tue/fri: chest, shoulders and triceps
wed/sat: thighs and calfs

with maybe several warm up sets, and one or two to failure--why it's nice to have a partner with things like squats and bench press.

reps too high--definition bruce lee body
reps too low--bolo the chinese hercules body

reps just right--say 8 to 12 range of honestly burning out at these ranges, and you have a good balance


having said that, i stumbled on these ideas by accident one year:
i was able to make my body--which had years of overtraining and muscle memory in all fairness, completely change in appearance from a crossfit style burnout workout of:

3 cycles of///

chin-ups to failure
diamond push-ups to failure
squats to failure
calf raises to failure

and this was just because i was bored and needed to not worship the gym like a deity for a bit.

i did this routine on a mon/thurs split with little else other than extreme diet adjustments.

after that, i realized how not to get to points of extreme burnout, and i gradually increased my routine to include things that worked more muscle groups like the first mention routine theme--with no more than 3 sets per lift, and only one or two movements per muscle group (i liked squats vs. leg press; bench with dumb bells, vs. universal--which for me was only a machine for the injured as they get back into lifting; dead lifts i liked; i also used to be the only lunatic applying masses of weights to the back of my head as i did neck work; i had a folded towel on the back of my head for one direction, the side for another neck range movement, etc etc etc.
i discovered that lifting more like a powerlifter/wrestler gave me a real advantage even sparring because i found i could jump higher, run in faster, hit faster, hit harder. it was so counter intuitive for me, because i had previously been taught to think of "common ladies, feel the burn" style aerobic lifting as more important to the pugilist.

i became kind of a minimalist for time spent in the gym, but i wouldn't leave if i didn't feel completely fooking spent in 30 minutes or just over. sort of cycled station lifts until burn out, one or two times hit on one week.

i hope my gibberish makes sense. that's the best i can do 'at work'

Thanks. I had no idea about this.