ON's Foundational Stack

Spend enough time hanging out in the weight room and you'll hear the term 'stack' mentioned. They aren't referring to that massive mountain of manhole cover sized plates hanging from an iron tree. The term refers to a supplementation of supplements, like adding unflavored glutamine powder to a protein shake, or taking BCAAs with your morning multivitamin. You can stack supplements on a one-to-one basis, like the whey and glutamine powders, or you can stretch your stack across an entire day.ON's Foundational Stack is your morning-to-night solution for comprehensive muscle support. It's foundational because it's basic. Anyone who regularly lifts weights can benefit from using it, whether you're a weekend warrior, professional athlete or somewhere in between. This stack starts off with America's best-selling protein powder, Gold Standard 100% Whey. Mix up your favorite flavor right before or after your workout. The rapidly assimilated essential amino acids, including 5.5 grams of branched chain amino acids, help minimize the breakdown of muscle fiber that occurs during training while promoting the rebuilding that follows.

Fast is great, but slowly digesting protein can play an equally important role in your size and strength goals. It's a fact that the majority of muscle recovery occurs while you're asleep. Here's another related fact for you: this nocturnal period is the longest your body goes without nutrition. The word breakfast refers to breaking the fast between your last meal of the previous day and your first meal of the new one. Needless to say, fasting is not conducive to muscle building.Because micellar casein gels in your stomach, it can take up to 7 times longer than whey to digest, providing rebuilding muscles with a sustained flow of anti-catabolic and growth supporting essential amino acids well into the night. The sports nutrition industry's best-selling casein is Gold Standard 100% Casein, which caps off your supplement stack with a before bed shake. This all-micellar casein also makes a thick, creamy meal between meals. Because it digests more slowly, it'll keep you satisfied for longer than other protein shakes.Between the bookends of these fast and slow acting shakes is the Nutrient Optimization System designed to help your body make the most of all that protein. Vitamins and minerals are micronutrients, while protein and carbohydrates are macronutrients. Your body needs comparatively large doses of the macronutrients. For instance, the general recommendation for hard-training athletes is a gram of protein per pound of body weight per day. Those same athletes require a much smaller amount of micronutrients. But don't underestimate their importance.

Vitamins and minerals provide important antioxidant assistance for keeping free radicals (released through exercise, among other things) in check. They also play a role in immune system support while fueling growth and physical development. You can't get along without them. Of course, men and women have slightly different needs. Which is why ON's gender specific Opti-Men and Opti-Women high-potency multivitamins are packed with more of everything. Over 75 ingredients in the case of Opti-Men. Get the details on each one at optimen.com