Jim Stoppani's 12-Week Shortcut To Size: Supplementation

Supplements are a critical component of the Shortcut to Size Program, because they really help you maximize muscle size and strength gains. Can you make gains without supplements? Yeah, you can make decent gains, but you can't really maximize your results.

I chose these supplements as a way to enhance your performance during the workouts and then boost your recovery, growth and strength gains.

Jim Stoppani's 12-Week Shortcut To Size: Promo

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The Science: 'Sup?

There's a lot of confusion and misconception about the safety and effectiveness of supplements.

Some so-called experts suggest that certain supplements (like creatine) increase the risk of muscle cramps and can even damage your liver. But studies suggest that with long-term use, creatine is both safe and very effective.* Additional studies back up the safety and efficacy of whey protein, casein protein, betaine, beta-alanine-all ingredients I include in this program.

The Stack

This milk protein has been suggested in research studies to enhance muscle growth and strength gains, specifically when taken around workouts.* Whey is one of the more critical and versatile supplements in this program.

One of the main reasons why whey protein is so effective for muscle growth is that it's one of the fastest-digesting protein. Speed is important, especially around workouts, because you want to get the amino acids from that protein source to your muscles as fast as possible.
Stoppani Suggestion: Dymatize Iso-100
Top Selling Whey Protein

It's another milk protein that also enhances muscle growth.* Unlike whey, casein is a very slow-digesting protein, providing your muscles with a slow and steady source of amino acids. This helps decrease muscle breakdown, which is also important for muscle growth.*

Research suggests that when you combine whey (the fast-digesting) with casein (the slow-digesting) it enhances muscle growth better than just taking one by itself.
Stoppani Suggestion: Dymatize Elite
Top Selling Casein Protein

It's really hard to classify creatine because it provides so many benefits. It's a muscle builder. It increases muscle strength, muscle power; it can even enhance muscle endurance and it's been suggested to support different health benefits, such as enhanced brain power. It's one of the most effective supplements for increasing muscle size and strength.* It also increases muscle volume by pulling fluid into the fibers.

By enhancing the amount of fluid you can have in the muscle, it increases the stretch placed on the muscle membrane; that promotes long-term muscle growth.* We're also finding new ways that creatine increases muscle growth (such as increasing growth factors, like insulin-like growth factor 1.*
Stoppani Suggestion: Con-Cret
Top Selling Creatine

This amino acid that has been found to increase muscle strength and (particularly when it's taken along with creatine) support muscle size.* Beta-alanine works by combining with another amino acid (histidine) to form a compound called carnosine.

When muscles have higher carnosine levels, they're able to contract longer and with more force. That means you can use heavier weights for more reps.
Stoppani Suggestion: Optimum Beta-Alanine Powder
Top Selling Beta-alanine

The branched-chain amino acids are leucine, isoleucine and valine. Of the three, leucine is the most critical, because science suggests it literally gets into the muscle and turns on the process of muscle protein synthesis.* However, all three work together as an energy source. The BCAAs are actually used by the muscles as a fuel source during intense training, such as when you're following the Shortcut to Size workouts.
Stoppani Suggestion: BSN AMINOx
Top Selling BCAAs

This modified amino acid has been found to support muscle strength.* There have been numerous studies that have suggested that betaine (or trimethylglycine (TMG)) supports muscle strength and muscle power.*

One theory on how it does this is that it actually increases your body's ability to make its own creatine within muscle tissue.*
Stoppani Suggestion: NOW TMG
Top Selling Betaine

It's an important source of the critical Omega-3 fatty acids, which research suggests helps enhance fat loss, but now also suggests it's important for muscle growth, as well as supporting numerous health benefits.*

The Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fats, meaning your body needs to get them in your diet.
Stoppani Suggestion: Optimum Fish Oil
Top Selling Fish oil

Being short on any of these micronutrients can actually inhibit your ability to make muscle and strength gains; so they are critical to take. Research shows that athletes, and those who train intensely, tend to be low in critical vitamins and minerals.

By taking a multivitamin, you ensure that you get adequate levels of these micronutrients, which is actually going to help support your ability to gain muscle and increase muscle strength.*
Stoppani Suggestion: Muscle Pharm Armor V
Top Selling Multivitamin

This fatty acid found in natural meat and dairy products may help incinerate body fat while supporting muscle mass and strength.* It's great for promoting healthy body composition and can be considered both a fat burner AND mass builder support.*

If you're not taking CLA already, now is the perfect time to start — for maximum benefit, you need to take CLA for at least 12 weeks. Look for cis-9, tran-11 and/or tran-10, or cis-12 on the label.
Stoppani Suggestion: MRM CLA
Top Selling CLA

Nitric oxide (NO) supplements are designed to promote the body's production of nitric oxide, which causes blood vessels to widen and allows more blood to flow to working muscles. This equates to a stronger "pump."*

Increased blood flow supports the delivery of oxygen, as well as nutrients like amino acids and glucose, which enhances energy production during workouts. Many NO supplements also contain caffeine and creatine for focus, strength, and muscle growth.*
Stoppani Suggestion: Cellucor NO3 Chrome
Top Selling NO Booster

Important for replenishing the glycogen lost during a workout. That's going to help enhance recovery and muscle growth.* Although most times of day you want to concentrate on getting low-glycemic (or slow-digesting) carbohydrates, after a workout is the one time of day when you really want to focus on doing the opposite, or getting a high-glycemic (fast-digesting carbs). You need a carbohydrate (just like whey protein) that's very fast; it gets right to the muscles and replenishes glycogen levels you depleted in the workout. It's also going to spike insulin levels. Insulin is an anabolic hormone. It helps push all those carbs into the muscle. For recovery, it pushes amino acids ... it pushes the creatine into the muscle where you want it. That not only enhances recovery, but also supports muscle growth.*

Take a good, fast-digesting, post-workout supplement (something like Vitargo, or dextrose, or maltodextrine) or you can do it simple with gummy bears, or Pixy Stix or SweeTarts). Candies like that are low-fat, but fast-digesting sugars.
Stoppani Suggestion: Genr8 Vitargo S2
Top Selling Carbs

Tough Supp-cisions

I've given you a big laundry list of supplements to take. Some guys prefer to buy supplements individually, then mix them on their own. If that seems like too much for you, there are a lot of other options. Most pre-workout supplements actually combine creatine, beta-alanine, BCAAs … some even provide betaine. If you can find a supplement like that (that you like) that has those ingredient in (or close to) the dosages I recommend, then by all means, use that option.

For many beginners, this may seem like a lot of supplements to take, but trust me -- I've given you a solid foundation of what to take to see great results from the Shortcut to Size program.

Eager to start lifting? Be sure to watch ALL the other episodes before starting the trainer! If you've checked out the other overview pages already, then let's hit the gym.