A few years ago, you’d find people online debating whether creatine “worked.”

There’s no real doubt about that anymore.

Creatine has been shown in study after study to improve strength, power, speed, recovery— pretty much everything that makes a workout better, especially if you are doing one of our programs like Clean Bulk, Ripped In 90 Days, or Toned In 90 Days. 

These days, instead of asking “does it work,” the question has shifted to “Is there a best time and way to take creatine?” It’s a topic that is almost as heavily debated as “Are BCAAs a waste of money” — which you can read more about HERE.

For this article, we are going to clear up any confusion you have about creatine.

Creatine: Before or After a Workout? 

The funny thing about creatine is that there really isn’t a “best” time to take it in regard to your workout. As long as you take between 2-5 grams daily, even on non-training days, when you consume it isn’t as important.

That is because its effects are systemic, meaning that you need to have it build up in your system to work, over a period of days or weeks.

This sounds great, but the only problem with taking a supplement daily is that it can be easy to forget, especially on rest days.

That’s why we recommend taking creatine post-workout on training days: it’s easier to remember. And it’s why we put a precise amount of three different types of creatine in our Sculptnation Post-Workout. There is no guesswork! You get both a clinically studied dose of creatine AND other nutrients your body needs to properly recover after crushing a tough workout all in one scoop.

But if you’re in the “I’ll drink it whenever” camp or would rather slam a protein shake after your workout, we’ve got you covered there, too.

Sculpt Nation Creatine is designed to be a single-dose of the most research-backed form of creatine, which is creatine monohydrate. Each scoop has 5g, which is all anyone needs.

Should I load with creatine?

Some people recommend starting off by taking creatine with what is known as a “creatine loading protocol,” which is typically 4-5 doses a day for five days.

Is it effective? Sure, but unless you’re desperately seeking muscle size, most people should skip it.

Here’s why: Some people experience temporary side effects from creatine loading, like bloating or an upset stomach — and these pretty much always happen during loading protocols.

The answer: Keep it simple!! Just take 3-5 g every single day, and you’ll load your muscles just as well without any of the side effects some experience with “creatine loading.”

Not to mention, supplements only play a small part in reaching your muscle-building goals. You should first and foremost make sure your nutrition is on point. You can find out how much and what you need to eat to reach your goals in the V Shred App for IOS or Android. Make sure you get that squared away before you consider supplementing.

If Creatine Is Necessary For Your Goals? 

If you are looking at all this advice and just saying, “just tell me what to do, please,” that’s why we have the V Shred personal trainer and nutritionist team. 

Maybe you are a female mainly looking to lose body fat and not sure if creatine is needed? Or are an Ectomorph body type and unsure if you need more creatine to help reach your muscle-building goals?

Not only does our expert team make personalized diet and workout plans for thousands of people every day, but they can also help you pick the best supplements for your body type and goals.

You can get your personalized meal plan here or email coaching@vshred.com to learn more. 

The post When Should I Take Creatine? appeared first on V Shred.

In this article:

How to Burn Fat with Burn PM Even While You’re Asleep

1. Choose a supplement that helps increase Leptin levels.

Think of Leptin as your body’s fat burning superhero. Leptin is a hormone the fat tissues produce and secrete. Its primary role is to signal the brain to decrease appetite and increase metabolic rate.

Studies show that how many hours you sleep directly affects your production of Leptin. Sleep too little, or too lightly, and your body’s fat burning machinery shuts down. Burn PM helps you fall into a deep sleep, which increases your Leptin levels, and keeps you burning fat 24/7. As a result, you can enjoy maximum fat-burning benefits.

2. Choose a supplement that helps decrease Cortisol

As I previously mentioned Leptin is your body’s fat burning superhero. But every superhero has a villain. In this case that villain is Cortisol, and it’s intent on making you fat especially in your stomach and love handles. Cortisol increases  sugar cravings, your appetite, and puts your body into fat-storage mode. When your under stress or tired cortisol is produced. 

It triggers the fight or flight response in correlation with adrenaline. High steady levels of cortisol can damage us mentally and physically.

Burn PM contains sleep-inducing ingredients to help squash Cortisol and increase Leptin.

3. Get Your Metabolism Working in Your Sleep

At first glance, you might feel the best way to burn belly fat in your sleep doesn’t exist, but it’s actually possible with the right combination of diet, exercise, and supplementation.

With that being said, I cannot stress enough that no matter how many supplements you are taking, they will never fill the void of proper nutrition and exercise. Please do yourself a favor and get that taken care of first. If you need some help finding the right diet and training for your body type you can take our free quiz here and we’ll match you with the perfect training and nutrition plan for your body type and goals.

If you already have your diet and training in check adding a night time fat burner like Burn PM will send your metabolism into overdrive while decreasing your appetite and bloating.  get your diet and training regime correct try incorporating foods that burn belly fat such as cayenne, green tea, lean meat, and grapefruits into your fat-burning diet. Instead of the usual junk you eat, munch on these belly fat-burning foods instead.

Lastly, stick to a consistent sleeping pattern. Staying up too late at night increases your stress levels and appetite while decreasing your metabolism rate and insulin sensitivity.The quantity and quality of your sleep directly affects your metabolism, energy levels, and fat-burning ability. So it’s important your getting enough consistent sleep every night.

4. Suppress Your Appetite

You can naturally suppress your appetite by sticking to a healthy diet. If you usually consume a lot of junk, you won’t get the long-lasting energy you need to conquer the day.

Follow a diet consisting of fiber, protein, minerals, and vitamins. Combining these foods will help cleanse your digestive tract and feed your muscles the nutrients they need to grow.

People also tend to opt for high-calorie snacks when they’re running low on sleep, so stick to a regular sleeping pattern and stay away from easily accessible junk foods.

Those snacks may give you a quick energy boost, but sleep is still the best way for your body to recover. There’s no substitute for a deep, body-recovering slumber.

5. Take the Best Fat-Burning Supplements

To maximize the results from your fat-burning workout routines, combine every workout with the right supplements. Here’re the ingredients your night time fat-burning supplement needs to have:

A. Raspberry Ketones

There are times where we just want to slice our belly open and suck the fat out. While that’s not normally possible, Raspberry Ketones can do something similar.

It’s an ingredient that helps burn fat fast by boosting your metabolism. Raspberry Ketones have been shown in animal studies to help your body eviscerate fat within your body’s cells.

Plus, it produces Adiponectin. This protein plays a vital role in regulating and maintaining healthy metabolic levels.

When paired with effective fat-burning exercises, Raspberry Ketones will supercharge your fat loss.

B. L-Tryptophan

L-Tryptophan has been scientifically proven to be on of the most powerful natural sleep aids in the world

This important ingredient helps crush Cortisol, and makes it easier to fall into a deep, muscle-building, fat-burning sleep. As a result, you can enjoy better, deeper periods of sleep while maximizing the fat-burning zone.

Sadly, the body doesn’t produce L-Tryptophan.That’s why it’s ultra important to get this powerful ingredient into your body through supplements. Burn PM uses a potent strain of L-Tryptophan to help you get better sleep and improve performance.

C. White Kidney Beans

Your overall body fat levels increase when your system converts starch into fat. Want to stop your body from converting starches to fat? Exercise helps burn off excess starches from the food you eat, but unfortunately, there will always be some left in your bloodstream.

White Kidney Beans have been proven to help prevent your body from using those extra starches and blocks them from becoming body fat. As a result, you can maintain a steady lean, fit weight.

D. Lemon Balm Leaf

Too many fitness buffs neglect the importance of sleep. While you do need to put in some extra work to achieve your fitness goals, it’s equally important to provide your body with the rest it needs.

Lemon Balm Leaf is a powerful natural sleep aid. Remember, sleeping deeply every night helps curb cortisol levels, which helps your body get out of fat-storage mode while turning on your body’s fat-burning machinery. Lemon Balm Leaf is loaded with antioxidants and improves digestion, which can help your body torch fat faster.

If you’re having trouble sleeping at night, using a supplement like Burn PM that contains lemon balm leaf will help you get that relaxing, deep slumber every night.

E. Saffron Flower

Saffron Flower is loaded with special antioxidants, including crocetin and crocins, that hunt down and destroy fat in your bloodstream. Saffron Flower’s antioxidant blend is so powerful that studies have shown it can support healthy glucose, help with triglycerides, and help lower LDL cholesterol levels in your blood while increasing your body’s energy expenditure and burning fat in your lower body.

This means that Saffron Flower can improve your health while helping you lose fat faster by increasing the number of calories your body burns, even while even while you’re dozing off to dreamland.

F. Green Coffee Bean Extract

If you want to burn belly fat fast, you need to regulate and maintain your insulin and blood sugar levels. When the body produces more insulin, you tend to feel hungrier and the body stores belly fat.

Not even the best fat-burning workouts would have any effect if you have high insulin levels. As such, if you want to sculpt a solid six-pack, you need to keep your insulin levels at bay.

Luckily, Green Coffee Bean Extract contains Chlorogenic Acid which has been shown to keep your insulin levels from spiking and may help keep your blood sugar regulated. It has also been shown to help reduce the amount of fat absorbed from your diet, and reduce the fat stored in your liver by increasing your body’s natural fat burning hormone, adiponectin.

Why not just drink coffee? Unfortunately Chlorogenic Acid is destroyed when coffee is roasted. Luckily, we’ve isolated this powerful fat loss agent and loaded a maximum dose into Burn PM.

G. Dandelion Root

We all know how troubling indigestion, constipation, and bloating are. Luckily, you can ease these symptoms by supplementing with dandelion root.

It’s a natural digestive aid people all across the globe have been using for centuries now. Up to today, many use Dandelion Roots to help promote a healthy digestive tract.

Dandelion Roots also provide the body with vitamin A, which is important to maintain a strong, disease-resistant immune system.

H. Melatonin

Melatonin is a holistic ingredient that can help you shed fat whether you’re awake or asleep.

Apart from being a potent sleeping aid that helps you achieve a deep, body-healing slumber, it also increases your body’s levels of “Beige” fat.

Beige fat increase your body’s thermic-sensitivity to exercise. Quite simply, this fat helps your body shred more fat every time you workout.

Every dose of Burn PM gives your body the Melatonin it needs to help you fall asleep, and increase beneficial Beige Fat.

I. Vitamin D3 Cholecalciferol

Fitness is a 24/7 journey, and you have to keep track of your body all the time. That’s why you should find a way to help your body burn fat on its own even during your idle moments.

Otherwise, you limit your fat-burning process to the hours when you’re awake and moving. Luckily, you can increase leptin levels, suppress appetite, and boost metabolism around the clock with vitamin D3.

Vitamin D3 plays a major role in increasing the amount of leptin in the body. That way, there’s more than enough to burn body fat even during your inactive state.

Plus, vitamin D3 signals your brain to curb your appetite. In fact, an Australian study showed that a vitamin D-fortified breakfast can drastically reduce your appetite for the next 24 hours.

This is the perfect supplement for gym-goers who plan to go on a low-calorie, low-carb diet but still need sufficient energy to hit the gym.

If you want to maximize the hard-earned results from the belly fat-burning exercises you routinely do, then you should start taking the right supplements as well. Proper diet and exercise can only take you so far in your fitness journey. Taking supplements that contain all the key ingredients, such as Burn PM will help you achieve a fit, lean, well-sculpted body by shedding off unwanted fat even as you sleep.

Watch the video below for an easy-to-follow, super quick HIIT workout you can do at the park, gym, or even at home designed to lose belly fat and amp up your fat loss journey:

Are you willing to try Burn PM to achieve a well-sculpted, lean physique? Share your thoughts with us in the comments down below!

Up Next: 8 Best Supplements For Weight Loss Regimen

The post How To Burn Fat In Your Sleep appeared first on V Shred.

In this article:

1. Including Supergreens in Your Meal Plan
2. Why Supergreens Are Important for Your Fitness Nutrition
3. List of Supergreens and Their Benefits
4. Benefits of Supergreen Supplements

Important Greens for a Healthy Diet

Including Supergreens in Your Meal Plan

We get it. Eating pounds of green fruits and veggies isn’t easy. Here’s some motivation to getting these supergreens into your diet, how they benefit you, and how you can easily add it to your diet without dreading the taste.

Why Supergreens Are Important for Your Fitness Nutrition

Supergreens help your fitness nutrition by promoting weight loss, health, and improving your everyday performance. There are a number of green leafy vegetable benefits to take advantage of.

1. Enhanced Energy

Some greens are great energy boosters. They are low in calories but contain enough carbohydrates to fuel your energy levels. Their magnesium content can also boost your metabolism to quickly turn your carb intake into energy.

2. Cleanse and Detoxify

Most greens are full of antioxidants. Their antioxidants help get rid of the free radicals in your body and aid in the prevention of developing cancer. A green smoothie every 2-3 days is enough to boost your detox diet.

3. Immunity Support

Any type of green vegetable contains natural compounds that help support a healthy immune system. The compounds enhance the proper function of immune cells in the gut and skin.

4. Portable Superfood

Greens are full of nutrients, especially when you eat them raw. Unlike most foods, greens have higher nutrient contents such as watercress. Including any of these greens in your diet can help you meet a few recommended daily nutrient intake.

5. Boost Fat Loss

Greens’ low-calorie content and detoxifying potential help with weight loss. Some also contain nutrients that promote fat burning and help curb your appetite.

List of Supergreens and Their Benefits

1. Kale

Kale is one of the most nutritious greens around. Its fiber content aids digestion and promotes cardiovascular health. It also improves blood glucose levels to help with diabetes, prevent asthma, lower blood pressure, and decrease the risk of developing cancer.

2. Spinach

Spinach is second to kale as one of the healthiest supergreens. It has a mild flavor but filled with tons of nutrients. 180 grams of spinach contains about 7 mg of iron.

3. Beet Greens

Beet greens are often taken for granted and thrown into the garbage disposal in favor of the beet root. The greens of this vegetable are actually a type of superfood filled with fiber.

4. Romaine Lettuce

The fluffy leaves of romaine lettuce contain high amounts of antioxidants which can help prevent cancer. Its vitamin B content helps fight depression and boost male fertility.

5. Leaf Lettuce

If you don’t have romaine lettuce, the classic leaf lettuce is just as nutritious. Include two cups of this leaf vegetable in your daily salad to meet your day’s recommended intake of vitamin K. Vitamin K is an essential nutrient for strong bones and helps promote bone damage.

6. Chicory

The ancient Egyptians used Chicory as traditional medicine. Today, it’s often used to enhance the flavor of coffee. This green is also an appetite stimulant and can help lower your cholesterol levels.

7. Chinese Cabbage

Chinese cabbage can help lower inflammation in women. It can deactivate inflammation markers in your body which also helps lower risks of heart disease.

8. Parsley

Parsley is full of antioxidants to help prevent diseases. Its vitamin K content also promotes bone health while its aroma helps you control your appetite.

9. Chard

Chard is a supergreen which can help fight type 2 diabetes. It’s full of different types of antioxidants that can help prevent inflammation, decrease insulin resistance, and aid in the regulation of blood glucose levels.

10. Watercress

Watercress has a nutrient score of 100 because every gram of this supergreen is laden with vitamins. It has more beta-carotene than apples and a serving can help meet your daily intake of vitamin K.

Dubbed as a “fountain of youth,” this supergreen promotes younger-looking and glowing skin. It also prevents the development of cancer and DNA damage.

Benefits of Supergreen Supplements

It can get difficult to include all of these greens in your weekly meal plans. That’s where supergreen supplements come in and help make your diet healthier and easier. Each serving gives you:

• A perfect serving of fruits and veggies: it takes away the trouble of wondering if you’re taking enough.
• Better taste: you don’t have to worry about any bitter taste.
• Superior absorption: each serving is specifically made to be more potent.
• Versatility: so you can use in smoothies, protein shakes, or baked into food.
• Includes other goodies: like collagen and antioxidants.

Know the best sources of protein if you’re considering going vegan or just want to take a break from eating meat:

Without greens in your meal plans, you’re missing out on a lot of essential nutrients. A daily serving of these supergreens can help maximize your bulking or cutting diet. At the same time, supergreen supplements make it easier for you to meet your daily nutritional requirements.

Do you have more questions about greens and supergreens supplements? Drop them in the comments section below!

Up Next: Diet Plans For Weight Loss | How To Choose The Right One For Your Body

The post Supergreens Need To Be A Part of Your Diet. Here’s Why (And How) appeared first on V Shred.

NeurOctane | 7 Reasons Athletes Need Brain Supplements

1. Protects Your Brain From Dangerous Radicals

Taking the best brain supplements such as NeurOctane is important to shield ourselves from brain-damaging free-radicals. These compounds are the leading cause of brain degeneration.

Tip: Apart from taking brain vitamins, fitness buffs should supplement with antioxidants as well. Doing so will detox the brain and body leading to better athletic performance.

Free-Radicals: Dangerous compounds that negatively affect our physical, mental, and emotional health.

2. Naturally Raises Dopamine and Serotonin Levels

Keeping a healthy level of serotonin is important to ensure proper body functions. These affect the way our muscles, digestive tract, and cardiovascular system work.

NeurOctane is one of the best natural stimulants to promote dopamine and serotonin production in the body. A good level of these chemicals will improve the way our mind and body communicate with each other.

Apart from improving overall strength and function, these brain pills also have a positive effect on our mood. With that, athletes can show up at the gym feeling refreshed and motivated no matter what day of the week it is.

Dopamine: It’s a compound the body naturally produces when we’re feeling happy. High levels of dopamine also improve our cognitive and motor skills. It may lead to better physical, emotional, and mental capabilities.

Serotonin: This chemical is vital to maintain and improve brain function. It’s responsible for relaying messages from one part of the brain to another.

3. Boost Your Information Retention

If you’ve ever had difficulty memorizing multiple chunks of information, then you might need a brain boost. NeurOctane is a brain supplement that improves the mind’s ability to retain information.

Whether it’s a new workout routine or important details at work, brain boosters will help you remember them. Try taking NeurOctane to improve your short-term memory.

4. Improve Your Memory

Long-term memory is just as important as short-term information retention. A poor memory may be the sign of brain degeneration.

As we grow older, both the mind and body need more supplements to maintain peak performance. If you don’t have a healthy mind, how can you expect to be at your absolute best at the gym?

5. Fight Anxiety and Improve Mood

Mental health issues such as anxiety and depression can be really troublesome, especially if you can’t pinpoint the reason why you’re feeling down.

However, like any other disease, these all start from our own mind and body. Imbalanced hormone levels generally cause these issues.

Luckily, taking vitamins for the brain may help maintain a healthy balance in the chemicals and hormones in your body. Try taking brain booster supps that increase dopamine and serotonin. These may help alleviate anxiety and depression.

Important: Mental health problems should never be taken lightly. The best way to conquer them is to start by cleansing your mind and body.

If you have a toxic body brimming with unhealthy junk, then your mind will fill itself with negativity as well. Exercising not only leads to a better-looking body, but it also helps promote a healthy mind.

6. Rapidly Relieve Stress

We may not realize it, but stress can negatively affect the way we look, think, and perform. Think about it, all your best workout sessions happened because you were having a good day.

On the other hand, working out with a preoccupied mind might even lead to injuries. Start taking brain enhancement supps today to relieve and remedy stress.

Plus, a stressed-out mind produces cortisol, testosterone-sapping hormones. If you want to achieve a lean, fit body, then you need to maintain a healthy level of testosterone.

Using brain health supplements is exactly what we need to relax.

7. Improve Focus and Alertness

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by V Shred (@vshred)

A top-performing body stems from a focused mind. Taking focus pills is a surefire way to enhance mind IQ and give your body the power it needs to beat your last PR.

What Ingredients to Look for in Focus Supplements

Here are some of the ingredients your brain supplement should have:

1. Bacopa Monnieri

It’s an amazing neurotropic that helps you dramatically lower your stress levels, alleviate anxiety, and support a positive mood.

At the same time, bacopa monnieri also helps promote normal inflammatory responses and improve both memory and brain function by removing free-radicals in your brain.

2. EnXtra (Alpinia Galanga Extract)

It’s an amazing plant extract that acts as a 100% stimulant-free brain supplement. It rapidly increases mental alertness, focus, and energy.

Human studies in the BAOJ Nutrition Journal showed that EnXtra can boost mental alertness and acuity for up to five hours without increasing blood pressure or heart rate. Also, unlike stimulants, this brain boost ingredient does not end in a huge energy crash.

3. NOOPEPT (N-Phenylacetyl-L-Prolyglycine Ethyl Ester)

Studies on animals show that this powerful compound can raise the brain’s NGF and BDNF levels. They are both important compounds to improve cognitive function, information retention, and long-term memory recall.

Neurotrophic Growth Factor (NGF): They play an important role in the regulation of growth, development, maintenance, and division of specific target neurons.

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF): These support existing neurons while promoting the growth and production of new neurons and synapses.

4. Piper Nigrum Fruit Extract 95%

This ingredient supports the effectiveness of nootropics in the brain while serving the function of one as well. It acts as an MAO inhibitor to increase your dopamine and serotonin levels.

Also, it’s a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory supplement that can protect your brain from certain diseases.

5. L-Theanine

Hyper-powerful amino acids that can help fight anxiety, relieve stress, increase focus, and improve sleep quality. Studies also show that combining L-theanine with coffee enhances its energizing effects while removing the jitters.

Watch the video below and learn a simple trick to stay motivated when you’re trying to get in shape:

Exercising isn’t solely about maintaining a shredded six-pack. You need to take good care of your brain as well.

Try to create a healthy balance between your mental and physical health. Start taking NeurOctane today to take your workouts to the next level!

Would you take NeurOctane to boost your athletic performance? Share your thoughts with us in the comments down below!

Up Next: The 30 Day Fitness Challenge | Should You Do Them?

The post 7 Reasons Why Your Brain Needs A Boost When You’re Working Out appeared first on V Shred.