I have recommended fatty acid supplementation for bodybuildersfor years, long before it becameso popular. The details of fatty acidmetabolism are quite complicated - farmore complex than protein or carbo-hydrate metabolism - but the basicconcept is simple. Everybody knowsthat vitamins and minerals are nutri-ents

I have been an avid supporter ofamino acid supplementation forover twenty years. The reasonsare pretty straightforward and easyto understand; protein is the singlemost important nutrient for a body-builder seeking to add mass. Proteinconsumption is equally critical for thebodybuilder seeking to get shreddedand ripped prior to a competition asprotein has a “muscle sparing” effectand allows the athlete to hang ontomuscle mass even while reducingoverall caloric intake. Even if youdon’t consider yourself a bodybuilder,adequate protein consumption is criti-cal for obtaining any worthwhile fit-ness goals. At the most basic level weall want the same thing: add muscleand lose body fat. Without adequateprotein this is impossible. I will takemy protein advocacy one step furtherand point out that if you train reallyhard, hard enough to trigger musclegrowth and hard enough to burn offbody fat and don’t consume adequateamounts of protein, the body will teardown existing muscle tissue to feeditself. Brutally hard work, the kind Irecommend, requires a massive dailyinfusion of protein to preserve whatmuscle we’ve constructed. Protein isrequired for existing “muscle mainte-nance” and protein is needed to con-struct new muscle tissue. What ismuscle tissue, exactly?