Success Without Supplementation?

I'm just wondering if anyone here has been very successful without any sort of supplementation, even protein.

I'm asking because I think a lot of the supplement and protein consumption is excessive. While taking glutamine and fast absorbing protein powders and whatnot after a workout may be the ideal scenario, it's probably not necessary in most cases.

I don't remember exactly what he said, but there's a quote from Jake Shields out there somewhere saying you don't need nearly as much protein per day as people think. I think it must be true because there are plenty of days where I'm sure I don't even get 1g of protein pound of body weight and I'm not wasting away to nothing. I also have a friend who has gotten pretty massive over the past year without any post workout protein drinks or anything... just good workout habits.

Also, I know this may be stretching it, but think back to anywhere before say the previous 50 years... no one was probably consuming protein drinks or even eating directly after working out.

I'm currently only taking about 30g of plain whey protein isolate (trying to stay off sugar and especially sucralose and aspartame which are in a lot of protein powders) after a workout just in case. Other than that I'll only take a scoop at breakfast if I'm not eating any other protein or something. My diet other than that is ok... not super high or super low in protein. I do eat a ton of nuts though. I do wonder if I'm hindering my gains by not getting enough protein, but I seem to be doing ok so far.

So anyway, I guess in the end I'm just wondering if anyone here has seen really decent progress with just a regular diet and no protein supplementation or anything?

Sure thing dude, have you heard about monsters like Saxon, or Inch? In times those guys trained, there were no steriods, supplements, complex training routines, its only about one thing - hard work. And those guys were the strongest men who ever walked on this earth. No one today, no bodybuilder, powerlifter, anyone, is stronger than them, I'm sure of it.

If you want protein, carbs and calories, drink alot of skimmed or lowfat milk, Im out of protein and Im doing it like that, if somebody says you cant be successful without supplements, and you absolutely need them in order to be bigger/stronger/whatever, punch him very, very hard.

Currently Im out of protein and I use milk, the thing is, I feel even better, when I had protein, I took it everywhere, I dare to say that I was psychologically addicted to it, every hour, I had thoughts like "If I dont sip any protein in next 30 minutes, Im not going to build muscle/Ill lose muscle/whatever" Do you think that is happening now, when my biggest protein source is sh*tty commercial milk? Hell no. I had just 2 GVT sessions out of boredom on my vacation in italy, and to be honest with you, I grew almost overnight, I won't do any hyperthrophy routine right now, otherwise Ill grow too fast in size. Yea, and I'm not taking whey.

Awesome thanks for the reply.

I've never heard of Saxon or Inch, but am looking up Arthur Saxon right now... love that kind of stuff. On a similar note think back to say ancient Greece. Looking at the statues and sculptures from the time some of those guys were absolutely ripped. I'm sure they had a very high meat diet, but definitely no supplements.

I've read about milk being a good substitute actually, but have recently mostly stopped dairy for other reasons (replaced it with nuts which overall are a lot healthier I think and a lot less processed).

And yes I know exactly what you mean by psychologically addicted... I know the feeling. Starting to get hungry and being paranoid about your body eating your muscle, or missing a protein shake and worrying about not getting enough protein etc.

Anyway, gonna go read about those old time strong man guys now .

EDIT: Wow... this Saxon guy could do a "two hands anyhow" lift with 448 lbs.. that's insane. Video of the move below.

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