 Alright everybody, how are we? What is going on and welcome back to the final video of this post-competition prep series. Today's video I'm going to talk about supps. Supplements. I competed as a natural, a natural bodybuilder. I wouldn't say I'm an actual bodybuilder but I competed naturally. That means no performance in enhancing drugs. You talk to some people and you say you're natural and they ask you, well did you take protein powder? You know, obviously they're trying to make a joke, they're trying to take the piss and usually someone will say, well yes I do take protein powder and I do take creatine and I do take a pre-workout and I do take aminos and all that shit. And then the, you know, the spiteful person will come back and say well you're not natural. Okay. Alright mate, well I'm going to say drug free. So yes, I competed as a drug free bodybuilder. Today's video I'm going to talk about what supplements I took. Well, there was none. Do you need protein powder to grow muscle? No. Do you need protein powder to reach a certain amount of protein per day? Well you don't need it. Do you need amino acids to maintain your muscle whilst doing faster cardio? Well you don't need it. Do you need a multivitamin? You don't need it. I mean some may say you do need it but if you're taking in a lot of wholesome, good foods, I believe you can probably get away with it. Do you need a pre-workout? Look, I'm a massive caffeine consumer but I didn't use a specific pre-workout. I use coffee instead. So look, I've gone through a lot of the basic supplements there that most natural bodybuilders would use. And I'm happy to say that for the majority of my prep, literally until the last four weeks, I did not use a single supplement. Not one. And I was quite surprised because things like pre-workout, I use not only, well, not just for the effects but also just as a bit of a motivating factor. You get in your pre-workout routine. You make up your pre-workout drink. And you smash it back and you go and smash a workout effectively. This time I didn't. This time, let's go through. Let's go through the supplements I named. Okay, so multivitamins. I didn't take multivitamin. I probably could have. I probably should have but I didn't. So the fact is I saved money and I didn't take it. I feel like I got a decent amount of nutrition through my food, which is what we'll go on to next. So protein powders. Did I take a protein powder? No, I didn't. Not one the entire time. Now, there were times when I was dieting that I wanted a protein powder so I could mix it with something to make a sweet protein snack. But I still didn't do it. And that's dumb. That is really dumb on my part. I probably should have had a protein powder for those last few weeks to have a chocolatey or, you know, caramel flavoured snack or whatever. That's not going to include a huge amount of carbs or fats. And I can tell you that a nice tasting protein powder when you are dieting tastes like dessert. It really does. So I kind of, I don't know, I fucked up on that one, I feel. So no protein powders, but the only reason I'd have a protein powder would be to, you know, yes, have a sweet snack at the end of the night, but also allow me to reach a certain amount of protein per day a bit easier. You know, like a protein shake versus a chicken breast as a post-workout meal. I don't know which one's going to be better. I chose the chicken breast during this prep. So no protein powders, no multivitamins, pre-workout. We mentioned it previously. The main ingredient I'm looking for in a pre-workout is caffeine. All right? I'm a caffeine addict. I love my caffeine. This time I decided to not spend the money on a pre-workout and I decided to just have coffee. So I would have two, three shots of coffee before I went to the gym and it works a charm. The one thing that I will mention, the one thing I missed at certain times is a pump supplement. So if I'm going to have a pre-workout, I'm going to want not only caffeine, but I'm going to want some sort of pump supplement. So whether that's glycerol or whether that's citrulline malate or a mixture of the two, that's what I'm looking for. And that's something I did miss, you know, certainly on days when you're low carb, you don't have a pump. Something to just help you feel a bit more volume in your muscle would help. So moving forward, I'll probably will get a pre-workout. It might not be a stimulant based pre-workout, but it certainly will have some sort of pump supplement. The only other supplement I've ever used and I've had experience with is an amino acid powder. So usually I'd go for optimum nutrition, amino energy, which includes both amino acids and caffeine. But this time, so the one supplement I did get, and the one supplement I used for the last four weeks, and I've continued to use it because it tastes amazing and it lasts forever, is some aminos. So I've decided to go with my old favorite from Silvation Extend. And well, maybe the brand's called Extend now. Nutribolt. No, it's Silvation. Okay. Silvation Extend is a BCA powder. They've got electrolytes in there now. I would say go for the grape flavor. It is absolutely delicious. And literally, I bought this two months ago, and it's still got plenty in there. So when people ask me how much was it, and I tell them it's $90, they pretty much have a fit. But then I say, well, it's 90 servings. And a liter of water, you're only going to have one serving at the very most. So that's 90 liters of, you know, aminos. That tastes amazing. So certainly was a price I was willing to pay. And it was the only supplement I used. So as a natural bodybuilder, as a drug free bodybuilder, I really did do it naturally. And I guess this video is just to talk about it, which is what I always do on this channel. Whatever I'm doing in life, whatever my opinions are, I will bring them to this channel, hopefully not fucking off anyone too much. But at the end of the day, you can't please them all. The longer I'm on YouTube, guys, the more I realize that you simply can't win them all. You can't please everybody. And those that will love you will love you. And those that will hate you will hate you. All you've got to do is be yourself. Peace out, guys. Thanks for watching.