Seeing as I have way too much spare time, I decided maybe it’s time I hit the gym. I’m not looking to compete in Mr. Universe, but I just want to get in better shape and just feel better over all.
My question is, does anybody recommend the use of supplements, like creatine, whey protein, or any others, etc. (if they are even called supplements, I don’t know)?
Is there a certain time to take them, or is all that stated on the labels of the products? Thanks in advance.
The only supplements I use are creatine, glutamine, and protein shakes. Glutamine before and after workouts, and creatine post workout with a Myoplex shake. If you’ve got extra cash you can throw in some branched-chain amino acids also.
you’d need protein in order to grow from weightlifting. Creatine can help too so i’d recommend that. Creatine has also been shown to make people’s memories better. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3145223.stm
Since you’re looking for suggestions and advice rather than hard facts, I’ll move this thread to the IMHO forum.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
thanx for the responses so far guys 
and sorry for the improper placement of my post 
Sidewayz, are you familiar with Maslow’s heirarchy of human needs? There’s a lot of detail, but the basic idea is that the things people need are heirarchical, and if a lower-level need isn’t satisfied, satisfying an upper-level one doesn’t matter much.
The heirarchy is generally represented as a pyramid, with the lower-level needs in the broad area at the bottom, and the upper-level needs in the narrow area at the top.
More details are available here, but its exact nature isn’t really why I brought it up.
There’s a similar heirarchy of needs for anyone looking to get into better shape, and it can be represented in a similar pyramid.
The very bottom level, the foundation of everything, is diet. What you eat matters to the point that if you aren’t keeping very careful track of it, you won’t hit your goals. Try as you might, you can’t escape this.
The next level is training. You have to train right to become strong, to build muscle, to lose fat, to become more flexible, to become faster, to become more coordinated, to improve your aerobic conditioning, or even just to stay where you are in any of those areas.
The third level is lifestyle. Are you not sleeping enough? Are you taking a lot of bizarre drugs? Are you stressed out? Any of those things can slow down your progress.
The top level–the last thing that you have to worry about–is supplementation. If you’ve got everything else in order, intelligent supplementation can bring you much closer to your goals. But there’s no supplement out there that can make up for a deficiency in diet, training, or lifestyle.
You say you’re a beginner. That means that you probably don’t have any of that basic stuff together well enough to worry too much about supplementation. Don’t be upset–with all the misinformation and conflicting theories out there, it’s easy not to have it all together. Even advanced trainees find that they’re constantly learning new things.
I’m going to give you a list of websites that have good information. Read them, take notes, and apply what you learn. Be prepared to spend some time studying.
http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html
Good luck!