Fitness 360: Carl Roberts, Hard Corps Muscle Supplementation

Carl Roberts takes supplements at their name—additions to a sound diet. Most of his supplements supply only what he is not able to get throughout consuming whole foods.

That sounds simple, but in the beginning, supplement taking can seem confusing. The gathering of supplement intelligence takes time and research, but it's so worth it.

Carl's Supplementation Philosophy

"I started out lacking knowledgeable about what I was taking," Carl says. "Now I do a lot of research about what supplement contain and purport to do. If you don't know what a supplement is supposed to do, you shouldn't be taking it. It's as simple as that."

Carl eats a lot of whole foods, but sometimes, he'll replace a meal with a protein shake. He occasionally takes a pre-workout supplement, but cycles on and off them. He says the best pre-workout for him is black coffee and BCAAs … pretty simple. And of course, he takes creatine before and after workouts.

"Start with protein, creatine, and multivitamins," Carl says. "These are the basics."

Now that Carl achieved some physical success, won our 2012 contest, and switched to a career in personal training, he hopes to keep his shape continuously: "It's a big part of my life, my job now. I am a personal trainer at the gym, so I try to make the gym a big part of my life. My goal here is to help and motivate others. If it wasn't for other people out there for me to look up to, I probably wouldn't be where I am today."