videocam_off
This livestream is currently offline
Check back later when the stream goes live
Up next in 10
Nutritionist Reviews Lubomba's Supplement Routine — What Do You REALLY Need? | Myprotein
Jan 30, 2025
In this brand news series, we’re getting nutritional consultant and PhD Researcher, Richie Kirwan, to review the supplement routines of some of our top athletes.
Why? Well, the athletes themselves are clearly visual proof that they’re doing something right (I mean, have you seen Lubomba’s biceps?!), but we wanted Richie to give us the science-backed, evidence-based reasons why.
If you’re on a mission to get the most out of your training, then the next logical step is to nail the nutrition side of things too. We’re here to help you make the right decisions to get closer to your fitness goals — busting through all the myths and bro-science that’s out there making things confusing.
Richie is the king of breaking things down into easy-to-follow facts, so that you can make informed choices on your own supplement routine.
Still got questions? Let us know in the comments below.
**
Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/MyproteinUK?sub_confirmation=1
At Myprotein it’s our mission to #FuelYourAmbition and push you forwards on your #ForeverFit journey.
We’re here for active men and women who want to invest in themselves mentally and physically — for the long run.
Only expert-backed advice. No quick fixes — just the facts.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
have you ever been confused by all the
0:01
different types of sports supplements
0:02
easy available
0:03
in this video we're going to talk about
0:05
the support supplements taken by
0:07
my protein athlete and talk about how
0:09
they work
0:10
[Music]
0:15
how's it going guys my name is richie
0:16
kirwan i'm a nutritionist and nutrition
0:18
researcher at liverpool john moores
0:19
university
0:20
and you're watching the my protein
0:22
youtube channel this is the channel that
0:23
brings you need to know info on how to
0:25
fuel your body
0:26
and how to train to be your strongest
0:27
self so today we're going to be looking
0:29
at the
0:30
sports supplements taken by the my
0:31
protein athlete lubomba
0:33
very very important to say that i am not
0:35
recommending any of the supplements
0:36
you're going to see
0:37
in this video what we are going to do is
0:40
we are going to talk about some
0:41
of the ingredients in some of those
0:43
supplements and how they work
0:45
and how they may be able to help you
0:47
improve your performance
0:48
in the gym yeah what's you guys normally
0:51
checking in
0:51
today i'll be breaking down my
0:52
supplements and when and how i use them
0:55
i'd like to be every single very
0:56
straightforward which you'll see in a
0:57
second
0:58
and i'll explain the benefits of using
0:59
these supplements and where they're
1:01
relevant
1:01
and what i do i have my creatine 5
1:04
milligrams
1:05
and my pre-workout too straightforward
1:08
easy
1:09
okay it's talking about two things here
1:11
creatine and his pre-workout let's talk
1:13
about creatine
1:14
first so creatine is probably the most
1:17
tested and most well understood sports
1:20
supplement available what creatine does
1:24
is it's used in high intensity exercise
1:27
and what it does is it recharges this
1:29
molecule in our body called
1:31
atp and for anybody who knows anything
1:33
about physiology atp
1:34
is a molecule that is the energy
1:36
currency of
1:37
our cells every time we use atp it gets
1:40
turned into adp
1:41
and that needs to get recycled into atp
1:45
and we do that with creatine creatine
1:48
if we have high stores in our muscle it
1:50
allows us to recycle atp really really
1:52
quickly which allows us to perform
1:54
more explosively in the gym if you can
1:56
perform more explosively
1:58
you can probably lift a little bit more
2:00
do a little bit more volume
2:01
and all that volume adds up it can
2:03
potentially help you to build
2:05
more muscle and get stronger one thing i
2:07
want to point out here is he's
2:08
mentioning
2:09
it together with his pre-workout now
2:12
everybody knows pre-workout you take
2:13
before your workout with creatine
2:15
it doesn't matter when you take the only
2:18
thing that's important with creatine
2:19
is that you take it daily most people
2:22
three to five grams are
2:24
absolutely fine and what happens is if
2:25
you take it daily levels build up
2:27
in your muscles they plateau and they
2:29
remain there so that means your muscles
2:31
are saturated
2:32
with creatine so it doesn't matter when
2:35
you take
2:36
it you take it morning noon night before
2:39
workout after workout
2:40
it doesn't matter just take it daily
2:44
go to supplements require a train one
2:47
scoop
2:48
one scoop five
2:54
okay we're going to talk about a couple
2:56
of ingredients
2:57
in the pre-workout so one of those is
2:59
l-citrulline
3:01
l-citrulline is an interesting compound
3:03
because what it does is it can help to
3:05
release something called nitric
3:07
oxide in your blood and the function of
3:09
nitric oxide
3:10
is it causes our blood vessels to dilate
3:13
or to get bigger
3:14
you might wonder why is that important
3:16
well potentially
3:17
if your blood vessels are dilated you
3:19
can pump more blood
3:21
into your muscles which allows you to
3:23
work a little bit harder
3:24
in the gym so some studies have shown
3:26
that it can increase the amount of reps
3:29
to failure that somebody can perform on
3:31
a given exercise
3:33
so it may help you get a little more
3:36
volume in the gym and like we said
3:37
earlier
3:38
volume if you get more of it can
3:39
potentially help you to grow muscles one
3:41
thing that's really really important
3:43
with l-citramine is that you take enough
3:46
of it
3:46
so doses in the range of six to eight
3:49
grams and that is a big dose six to
3:52
eight grams of l-citrulline
3:54
are what's shown to be beneficial in
3:56
studies so make sure
3:57
you're getting enough another thing is
3:59
that you take it
4:00
at the right time so about 45 minutes to
4:03
an hour
4:04
before your strength training session is
4:06
about to begin
4:07
okay you want to give enough time to the
4:10
supplement
4:11
to get into your blood so you can start
4:13
feeling the benefits
4:14
you see a lot of people walking into the
4:15
gym and taking their pre-workout or
4:17
taking
4:18
their energy drink as they're walking
4:20
into the gym
4:21
about to start their session that is
4:24
pointless they are going to get the
4:25
benefits
4:26
of those supplements 45 minutes into
4:28
their session so as they're ending up
4:29
their session
4:30
potentially uh so don't be those guys
4:33
make sure you take it 45 minutes to an
4:35
hour beforehand
4:36
another compound that you'll find in
4:37
this supplement is something called beta
4:39
alanine
4:39
so beta alanine is the supplement that's
4:42
responsible for that
4:44
itchy feeling itchy skin that you get
4:46
with some pre-workouts
4:48
it's an effect called parasthesia
4:51
it's perfectly safe but it does feel
4:53
weird especially
4:54
if you're not expecting it now beta
4:57
alanine helps by increasing levels of a
4:59
compound called carnosine
5:01
in your muscles when carnosine levels
5:03
are high we can use it as
5:05
a lactic acid or a hydrogen ion more
5:08
specifically
5:08
buffer what that means is that when
5:11
we're working out
5:12
we generate hydrogen ions and they're
5:14
actually what cause that burning
5:15
sensation
5:16
if we're working out really really hard
5:18
if you've got plenty of carnosine
5:20
you can buffer those hydrogen ions you
5:22
feel less pain and you can potentially
5:24
do a few more reps and like i said
5:26
earlier if you can get more reps in
5:28
you can get in more volume you can train
5:30
harder and you can potentially grow
5:32
a little bit more now here's something
5:34
really really important with beta
5:35
alanine
5:36
beta alanine is similar in the way you
5:38
take it to creatine
5:40
you need to take it daily like i said
5:43
you want to build up the levels of
5:44
carnosine in your muscles
5:46
and to do that you have to load creatine
5:48
for a certain amount of time
5:50
all of the studies that show beneficial
5:52
effects of beta alanine
5:53
in a sports situation are taking doses
5:56
of between
5:56
four and six grams of beta alanine
6:00
a day okay and you need to take it daily
6:03
again it doesn't matter if you take it
6:05
before a session or after a training
6:07
session
6:07
just take it every day so read your
6:10
supplement labels
6:11
make sure you're getting four to six
6:13
grams every day
6:14
and ideally you should be taking
6:16
beta-alanine alone
6:17
because you're probably not going to be
6:19
training every day finally
6:21
the real star of any pre-workout is
6:24
going to be
6:25
caffeine okay and this one contains a
6:27
good 300 milligrams of caffeine
6:29
and that is a decent kick your average
6:32
cup of coffee
6:33
probably contains less than 100
6:34
milligrams of caffeine and caffeine
6:36
works pretty simply
6:37
it helps to reduce sensations of fatigue
6:40
when we're training it makes us feel
6:42
like we have more energy
6:43
it also makes us feel like we can do a
6:45
little bit more and that's usually
6:47
enough
6:47
to help us perform a little bit better
6:48
in the gym again it's
6:50
all about being able to do more
6:53
work in the gym that's how these
6:55
supplements can potentially help
6:57
so caffeine can probably help you do a
6:59
few more reps
7:00
get through a slightly harder session
7:01
and over time that all
7:03
adds up to more strength and more muscle
7:05
let's see what else is in this
7:07
inbox way so for my post workout two
7:10
bananas
7:11
two scoops of weight 21 grams of protein
7:14
per
7:14
scoop
7:25
okay for his post-workout he takes whey
7:28
protein
7:29
and a couple of bananas whey protein is
7:32
probably one of the highest
7:34
quality protein supplements you can take
7:36
do you need to take a protein supplement
7:38
after your training not necessarily you
7:40
could have
7:42
a high protein meal just with some meat
7:44
or eggs or
7:45
other protein sources but protein
7:48
powders
7:48
can be a really convenient way
7:50
especially if you're busy if you're in a
7:52
rush taking a protein powder can be a
7:53
really quick way
7:54
to get that protein into your body after
7:56
a session the great thing
7:58
about whey protein is that it's really
8:00
really quickly absorbed
8:02
and it contains a lot of lucy
8:05
leucine as we know is the amino acid
8:07
that helps to stimulate muscle
8:09
protein synthesis and that's exactly
8:11
what you want to do
8:12
after a heavy training session
8:16
probably one of my favorite and the most
8:17
underrated supplement
8:19
i think it's one i just encourage you
8:20
that i like to have before i go to bed
8:22
so this is what put on the process of
8:24
recovering sleeping
8:26
and ensure that the muscle of course is
8:28
the source of aminos
8:30
to recover okay so he takes a
8:33
pre-bad protein supplement so just to
8:36
give you an idea why would you want to
8:37
take
8:38
some protein before you go to bed well
8:40
if you think about it
8:41
when we're sleeping that's probably one
8:43
of the longest periods of time
8:44
most people are going to go without food
8:46
you're going to go to bed you're going
8:48
to be eight hours
8:49
hopefully without eating anything
8:52
what's going to happen in that time is
8:54
we're going to have an increase
8:55
in something called muscle protein
8:57
breakdown perfectly normal it happens
8:59
while we sleep
9:01
but if you take some protein before you
9:03
go to bed
9:04
you can increase muscle protein
9:06
synthesis the process that we use for
9:08
building muscle
9:09
just before you go to bed and you can
9:10
hopefully sustain that
9:12
for a few hours while you're sleeping so
9:14
that'll reduce
9:15
the overall amount of muscle protein
9:18
breakdown
9:18
so in the long run it may potentially
9:21
help you build more muscle
9:22
it's also a good way to increase your
9:25
total
9:25
daily protein again you don't need to
9:28
take a protein powder before you go to
9:30
bed you could use something like a
9:32
high protein dairy product like quark or
9:35
cottage
9:36
cheese but for some people it may be
9:38
more convenient to have a protein powder
9:40
and if you're taking a protein powder
9:42
before you go to bed
9:44
just make sure that it's predominantly
9:46
casein
9:48
so what's casey well in milk we have two
9:51
main types of protein we have about 20
9:54
whey proteins which are soluble and then
9:56
we've got about 80
9:57
casein proteins which are insoluble and
9:59
when we're making cheese those
10:01
casein proteins are what coagulate
10:03
together and actually
10:04
form the cheese now the big difference
10:06
between casein and whey protein
10:08
is that casein is much more slowly
10:11
digested
10:12
so that means if you take it before you
10:14
go to bed it's going to get into your
10:16
bloodstream slower
10:17
and it's going to have a slower more
10:18
steady release of amino acids
10:21
while you're sleeping and potentially
10:23
that can help
10:24
with a little bit of muscle growth
10:26
during the night remember it's not going
10:28
to completely change your life if you're
10:30
taking protein before you go to bed but
10:31
like i said
10:32
it could help you increase your total
10:34
daily protein
10:35
and help get a little bit more muscle
10:37
growth in there over time
10:39
of course this is a bonus it must stack
10:43
so especially when i'm trying to add
10:44
more mass increase my calorie intake
10:47
and low sugar alternative to a mustang
10:49
is probably the best option for me
10:51
because i do not want to again overload
10:54
the sugar but make sure that i get my
10:56
calories
10:56
in and my protein containing
10:59
carbohydrates
11:00
which are essential when you're bulking
11:03
so
11:03
we're looking at a mass scare and mass
11:06
gainers
11:06
generally consist of two things protein
11:10
and a source of calories and those
11:11
calories can be either carbohydrates and
11:14
usually a lot of carbohydrates
11:15
and maybe some fats the whole point of a
11:18
mass gainer
11:19
is to get a lot of protein and a lot of
11:21
calories into your body for people who
11:23
have difficulty gaining weight or who
11:25
are trying to get
11:26
a lot of calories we're burning a lot of
11:28
calories during the day again do you
11:30
need a mass gainer
11:31
absolutely not you can get all of this
11:33
through whole foods
11:35
but for some people it can be a really
11:37
really
11:38
convenient way to get all of those
11:40
calories
11:41
into your body in a quick and efficient
11:44
maybe even a cheap way too
11:47
so in terms of vitamins vitamins and
11:49
minerals are essential
11:50
if you didn't know vitamins and minerals
11:53
are essential
11:54
now you know we needed these for our
11:56
body to function properly
11:58
of course our immune system as well as
12:00
cognitive purposes so
12:02
zinc and magnesium vitamin supplements i
12:05
have if i go to bed
12:07
okay so zinc and magnesium what he's
12:10
taking here is something called
12:12
uh z m a zinc magnesium and aspartic
12:16
acid this particle is actually a form of
12:18
periodoxy
12:19
b6 a lot of people take zma because
12:22
they think that it is going to boost
12:25
their testosterone
12:26
now unless your zinc and magnesium
12:29
levels are
12:30
really really low and you're deficient
12:33
it's probably not going to have any
12:34
effect
12:34
and we don't have any solid studies that
12:36
show that it increases testosterone
12:38
at all but if you're deficient or if you
12:40
have a really really poor diet which i
12:41
really hope you don't
12:43
you need to sort that out with a better
12:44
diet quality
12:46
maybe it could help improve your zinc
12:48
levels there's not going to be
12:50
really any improvement in your
12:52
testosterone there's also
12:54
some people who say that magnesium can
12:56
help with sleep
12:58
again there's not a huge amount of
13:00
conclusive evidence to say
13:02
that it does some people might find it
13:04
benefits
13:06
probably not and d3
13:09
and vitamin b12 vitamin d3 is probably
13:13
one of the
13:14
most important vitamins anybody can take
13:18
the reason i say that is
13:19
because vitamin d in general it's not
13:22
found in our diets in high enough levels
13:25
unless you're eating a lot of liver and
13:26
if you eat too much liver you can get
13:28
too much vitamin e
13:29
mostly we form vitamin d when we get
13:31
sunlight on our skin
13:33
and i don't know about you but most
13:34
people here in the uk are not getting
13:36
that at the best of times and especially
13:37
not with coco right now
13:39
so taking a vitamin d supplement is a
13:42
really really good idea because there
13:44
are
13:44
huge amounts of people in the population
13:46
that are suffering from vitamin d3
13:48
deficiency a d3 supplement is a really
13:51
good idea
13:52
taking anything between one and maybe
13:54
even four
13:55
thousand international units of vitamin
13:57
d a day could be a good idea
13:59
it's also a good idea potentially if
14:00
you're worried about it to get your
14:02
vitamin d levels checked he also takes
14:04
vitamin b12
14:05
now funnily enough b12 deficiency is
14:08
actually pretty common
14:09
it's more common in people who are
14:12
following a vegan diet because
14:13
it does not occur in plant foods
14:16
naturally
14:17
so if you have a poor quality diet
14:20
taking some b12
14:21
may be a good idea especially if you are
14:24
a
14:25
vegan if you are it is definitely
14:26
something you should be supplementing
14:28
with
14:29
so these two will be very difficult to
14:31
consume through food alone
14:33
supplementation is the most logical
14:36
thing
14:36
to do so guys that's my basic protein
14:39
intake and what i've been using
14:41
especially in the last three months in
14:43
the lockdown oh
14:44
i feel like i said a lot there guys
14:46
let's go check it in check it out
14:48
okay so he takes a lot of supplements
14:50
the thing is you don't
14:52
need to take a huge amount of
14:53
supplements to get big and strong
14:56
there are some that are really really
14:57
beneficial that we just don't get from
14:59
our diet
15:00
really easily like vitamin d3 for
15:02
example creatine for example
15:04
really really solid ones to take other
15:07
ones like taking a protein supplement or
15:08
protein powder can be really really
15:10
beneficial because they're convenient
15:12
they might be cheaper for you as well
15:14
than getting whole foods but remember
15:15
the base of your diet needs to be based
15:18
and built
15:19
around whole healthy foods that are
15:21
going to help you
15:22
with your goals we're going to provide
15:24
you a lot of vitamins
15:26
minerals fiber and all of the other good
15:28
stuff that you need to stay healthy
15:30
and if you can stay healthy longer you
15:32
can train better and you can get bigger
15:34
and stronger
15:34
so what do you think of the video answer
15:36
any questions for you let me know in the
15:38
comments below
15:39
i'll see you in the next video
#Fitness
#Vitamins & Supplements
#Steroids & Performance-Enhancing Drugs
#Bodybuilding
#Sports Drinks