10 Things you need to know to stay fit for life #9

 

I am 61 years old and I look better than you. I am more fit, more flexible, more virile and stronger than 99% of the people in America over 40 years of age. How did I get that way? How can you get that way and more importantly; how can you stay in great shape for 61 years? How do you stay Fit For Life?

 

I believe that lifetime fitness is a multifaceted program that has 10 key components. In the next few weeks I will be discussing the 10 secrets you need to know to stay fit for life.

 

 

# 9 Vitamins and Supplements

 

I am a firm believer that you need to take vitamins and supplements to help your body recover from vigorous workout programs and  to stay healthy. Many people do not eat the right foods in the right combinations and many people do no give their body the extra supplements that it requires to grow new muscles after a hard workout or stressful week.

 

I always take a good multivitamin and there really is no best one to recommend. If you have good eyes and can read the extensive list on the labels of most multivitamins you will find that most of the more popular names have just about the same ingredients with a few exceptions. All the name brands give you the MDA (minimum daily requirements) plus a lot more. And most of the big name brands also give you specific extra vitamins and minerals for your age group or exercise group. I don’t think you can go wrong picking any of them to use. I am sure that some more expensive vitamins have more ingredients and offer other features, but I have never found them necessary.

 

I do however find that you definitely should take your multivitamins daily. If you are taking a “super” brand with tons of extra stuff in it, it will be very difficult, painful and even dangerous when you get off it. About 25 years ago I was involved with the fastest growing MLM in the US that sold a Life Extension Vitamin that had absolutely huge amounts of everything. It was great, it was fine, it made me feel great, but when the company went out of business that particular vitamin was never available again. My body completely crashed and I felt like I had the flu for almost 5 days. I was unable to function normally, tired, listless, and weak. Why? Because when your body is not required to naturally produce enzymes and other substances because it is getting them from outside sources, it actually shuts down the body’s normal activity to produce such a substance.

 

If you ever use Chapstick for a few weeks, and then stop using it, you lips will get chapped because the natural substances your body produces to stop your lips from chapping will now longer be being produced by your body, because it is getting it from somewhere else. If you ever use a nose spray that last 4 hours to open your sinus and you use it for more than a few days, your body will stop making the necessary products to keep you nasal passage open and every 4 hours on the dot your nose will close up and require you to use more of the nasal spray. You body has become addicted to the extra supplements or products you are using and when you get off them, you go thru withdrawal and it can be very painful, even dangerous. So I do not recommend taking a “super vitamin” supplement that overwhelms your body and no longer requires your body to make most of the things it needs on a daily bases. You will be in for a bad withdraw period if you can’t get the super vitamin you will definitely live to regret it. So I don’t’ recommend you take anything as a vitamin or mineral supplement that you can’t buy conveniently and that you might find yourself not being able to afford or to get anymore for various reasons.

 

I also believe if you are doing a vigorous weight lifting, running, or fitness program you need to take extra protein. You can get that from your foods, or from a protein drink or shake, or protein bar, etc. But you definitely need to be taking extra protein if you are working out extra hard or want to grow new muscle. I also like to take supplements like NO Explode that give me a great pump and extra energy to workout harder and longer. You will be amazed at the results you feel almost immediately when you take one of the NO2 products. I have taken creatine when I was trying to get stronger, but there is water weight that goes with that. I never take or advocate taking Steroids for 2 reasons. One they are illegal (and that is more than enough reason) and 2: they are incredibly addictive and have severe side effects. They work so well that it is almost impossible to force yourself not to continue to use them. If you are taking bodybuilding steroids you will get huge, stronger and ripped with less work. I know it sounds funny, but you can lift less weights and get stronger, do less reps and get bigger and you can work out less time and get bigger and stronger on steroids. They simply work that well.

 

Look at the baseball records that were broken with during the steroid area. These records had stood for 50 years and no one came close to breaking them. When Bonds and McGuire and Sosa started taking steroids their homerun power doubled. They went from hitting 30 to 40 homeruns to 70 and finally 75. Ridiculous but that simply shows the incredible power that steroids can have, and that is really a good reason to ban them. They simply work too well, have too many side effects and if you are in a competition with someone taking steroids and you are not, you simply don’t have a fair chance. So please don’t take them, you will regret it and it is not worth the dangerous side effects they can have. You can get supplements at GNC or elsewhere and those are completely legal and will give great results.

 

To summarize, I think you should definitely take vitamins and mineral products, but do not need the “super” ones that are hard to get and cost too much. You should also take some supplements that will help your workout and grow your muscles. There are lots of articles, books and information sites on the Internet that can give you all the details you need about these products. Try some and see how they work on you and how you like them.

 

 

For more info: Grandmaster Ted Gambordella is the author of 42 books and 24 DVD’s. For more info see his website www.blackbeltinabox.com