Echo Supplements - Advice

Muscle Building for Beginners

Just getting started and want to gain some muscle but a bit unsure where to start? Read this article to get an overview of training, diet and supplements suited to the beginner!

Boditronics Company Profile

Boditronics company profile with an at-a-glance guide to their most interesting products.

Supplements Glossary?

Supplements from Aminogen to ZMA explained in 1 or 2 lines, a great quick reference guide!

How Many BCAAs in a Protein Shake?

Something we get asked fairly often is "do I need a BCAA supplement, I think I get some from my protein shakes already..." - this is usually based on an off-the-cuff comment by someone else that doesn't really understand it. This is a pity as it is pretty simple to work out - so I will give an example using Sci-Mx Ultragen Whey Protein. You should be able to do this on your own tubs, every good protein supplement will give and amino acid profile on the side of the tub!

Protein Comparison

It can be difficult to choose a protein supplement if you have to keep on switching between open windows and reading through the manufacturers descriptions. To make things easier we have compiled a list of the proteins we stock and the protein percentage in each one - this is a fairer comparison as the serving sizes vary a lot!

Pre-Workout Comparison

The pre-workout category of sports supplements is one where you will find a HUGE difference of opinion among people - and also the most difficult to say for sure what is 'working' and what is the placebo effect, where people will convince themselves that they had a good workout because their favourite star was in the advert for the product!

All In One Comparison

Buying an all in one supplement is meant to make life easy - as the name suggests you shouldn't really need to buy anything else apart from maybe a multivitamin and extra protein. We have put the values in this table per DAILY serving - as recommended by the manufacturer which is usually pre & post workout so 2 servings.

Amino Acid Comparison

Comparing the amino acids supplements on offer is fairly difficult if you are trying to compare the amino acid profile of each one - so we've done it here but to make it fit the page we have labelled the products with numbers, which are the column headings - hopefully this is clear enough! To make a couple of things clearer we have marked up the branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) in bold and the essential amino acids with an asterisk (*).

Creatine Comparison

We have divided up our creatine products into some groups to make things easier - these are creatine monohydrate, other creatines and creatine-based products. This should allow us to give a good and fair comparison of all the creatine based products on sale at Echo Supplements!

Weight Gainer Comparison

Buying a weight gainer is fairly simple, you need to know how many calories you want to make up and then what source of carbohydrates you would like to get these calories from. Generally low GI, complex carbs are considered a more 'clean' source of calories than high GI carbs. We have given the macronutrient breakdown (protein/carbs/fat) per 100g of the product, as the serving sizes vary considerably

Different Protein Types

When you are buying protein based supplements you will see many different types of protein listed and the prices vary depending on the type - to help you out with this we have put together a little 'cribsheet' to look at when trying to remember what the difference between a concentrate and a hydrolysate is!