Beginning any exercise routine can be difficult, especially if you aren’t used to it or are overweight. Clearly, there is nothing wrong with wanting to get healthy by either losing excess fat, toning your body, or boosting your wellbeing. But it is actually possible to do it improperly, which can cause serious issues with your muscles, internal functioning, and mental health.

Your diet will also cause problems if it isn’t changed correctly, as some people mistakenly believe that simply eating less is the best way to lose weight.

Depending on the results you desire to achieve you will need to work out in a very particular way and eat a very specific diet for the best results. For example, body sculpting requires protein intake while weight loss requires a low-carb diet. Because of the dietary requirements of each goal, it can sometimes be difficult to attain a steady intake of all the necessary vitamins and minerals you require and supplement mixtures known as stacks can help.

Stacks are specially formulated powder mixtures specifically designed to help you work towards a particular goal. Experts in physiology have designed workout stacks for every type of goal imaginable, from simple weight loss to peak strength and restorative sleep.

These stacks usually consist of vitamin and mineral supplements essential to the goal in mind, as well as powdered foods and other healthy ingredients.

Photo, Bradley Dunn.

Workout Stacks for Weight Loss

Losing weight is perhaps the most popular reason that people begin working out in the first place. The health risks associated with being overweight are now very well known with regular exercise and healthy weight being known to reduce the risk of heart disease, lowering blood pressure, and reducing cholesterol.

All of these are extremely serious issues that even young people who don’t often exercise can be subjected to. In addition, type-2 diabetes is a serious condition that has become so serious that in the US alone, 34 million people are affected.

You might assume that simply starving yourself is a good way to lose weight, but it is not. You should definitely aim to reduce your calorie intake since weight gain occurs by consuming more calories than you burn during your day.

However, losing weight the safe way isn’t as difficult as you may think and fat loss stacks have been developed with nutrition in mind, and contain ingredients such as caffeine and green tea for increasing metabolism as well as appetite suppressants and good fats that are used for energy rather than carbohydrates.

Photo, Karsten Winegeart.

Workout Stacks for Body Sculpting

For most people who regularly exercise, weight loss isn’t usually the primary goal but rather a means to an end, that end being a toned body that looks great. This takes the dedication and hard work that many usually don’t bother with as most body sculptors will work out 2 to 3 times per day. However, if you are able to attain the positive mental attitude required for seriously sculpting your body, the results are amazing.

Celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Halle Berry, and Nicole Scherzinger are prime examples of women who have sculpted their bodies.

As mentioned, you will have to work very hard in order to sculpt your body and the dietary requirements can be extreme since it requires a balanced mixture of high-quality proteins, healthy fats, and various specific vitamins and minerals. For this reason, you could consider using a good quality sculpting stack usually made up of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), nitric oxide boosters, whey protein, and magnesium.

It should be noted that the use of such a stack should accompany a healthy and balanced diet with the same goal rather than replace it.

Photo, Victor Freitas.

Workout Stacks for Strength Training

Another common goal of working out is to increase strength, especially among men. Fat burning exercises accompanied by very specific strength training procedures such as weight lifting are typically used to increase the strength of muscles, and while there are vitamins and minerals that help with increasing strength, the primary concern for such extreme workouts lies within the repair and maintenance of muscles and muscle mass since muscle is built by actually repairing them using proteins, which makes them larger and stronger each time they are synthesised.

The use of stacks by bodybuilders is very common and it may not even be possible to achieve some of the results that many bodybuilders do without the correct and necessary stack. Creatine is usually the primary ingredient of a strength stack as it promotes mass, but is usually combined with Beta-Alanine amino acids that promote the effects of creatine, and casein proteins for increasing the rate of muscle synthesis.

Testosterone is also required for extreme bodybuilding so there are stacks that have been specifically designed for women.

Photo, Dane Wetton.

Workout Stacks for Emotional Wellbeing

Working out and exercising isn’t just about bodybuilding, weight loss, and sculpting, but also extends to improving general wellbeing and mental health. Studies have shown that exercising alone, no matter what type, increases serotonin and dopamine production in the brain, causing the natural feelings of euphoria at the appropriate level.

A good example of this is the feeling you get by accomplishing something like a job promotion, figuring out how to do a task, or completing a project, and deficiency in these has been linked to anxiety and depression.

Poor nutrition has also been linked to mood disorders which have an adverse effect on sleep, sexual performance, and emotions, and foods such as olive oil, Omega-3-rich fish, and sweet fruits are known to boost serotonin. However, for some help in maintaining a good emotional and general wellbeing state, specific stacks have been made.

These stacks contain multivitamins including B, C, and D, antioxidants from leafy greens, and pro-flora bacteria that help promote a healthy gut known as prebiotics and probiotics.

Taking up exercise for any reason isn’t easy at first and there is a lot more to it than simply starving yourself and then going for a run; which is actually quite dangerous to do. Instead, a balanced and varied nutrient intake is required and can be completely different depending on your goals: weight loss, strength, or sculpting.

The use of stacks (specially formulated powders for consumption as a drink) has been professionally created so that you can completely enhance your workout and intake the nutrients that your body requires. Weight loss stacks contain metabolisation boosters and appetite suppressants while sculpting stacks boost oxygen levels for improved performance, and strength stacks include the necessary proteins for building muscle.

Well-being stacks can be used in conjunction with any of these (or on their own) and contain mood-boosting ingredients such as multivitamins, antioxidants, and probiotics.