Although we have plenty of supplement reviews from customers within our store, we have received a number of requests to expand our more formal and comprehensive reviews area that is managed by Amino Z.

So, we've got our act together and as of today, we will be releasing regular supplement reviews. This will help you to make some more informed decisions when purchasing supplements.

I would firstly like to introduce Marc Daley who has been appointed the reviewer for supplements on the main website reviews area. I asked him to forward me over some information about himself so you can get to know the person behind the reviews:

I’ve been serious about training and lifting probably since the age of 20, so that puts me training consistently now for 6 years (being 26 now), before that I just occasionally dabbled in the gym and played sport but never took it really serious. I guess I reviewed my life and goals at that age and decided I wanted to transform myself and improve my life for the better.  From there it really grew and I sucked up as much information on the subject as possible reading whatever I could about diet, training and nutrition. Since then it’s just snowballed from there and I find myself where I am now, I’ve got a lot of self taught knowledge on the subject and probably due to my scientific background feel in love with the science behind it all. Right now I’m completing my PhD at Sydney University in the field of climate change and coastal response, the flexibility of the degree affords me a lot of time to concentrate both on my research but also devote additional hours to my passion/lifestyle of working out and training.

Training wise I like to keep my sessions short and intense striving to lift moderate to heavy loads, yet maintaining good form. With this approach I’m drawn to the merit of Max OT, although as I’ve said you can’t maintain this over a long period of time, so I’ll normally adopt this type of approach for a 6-8 week period before either taking a week off (or a deload week) then moving back to the more general hypertrophy type (6-12 reps) training. I try to keep my programs and training on a good rotation, butI always find myself gravitating back to Max-OT at some point.  Cardio wise again I like to go with similar type intensity favoring HIIT training (Bike or Treadmill), although recently I’ve discovered a love for boxing and have been going to boxing classes (not that fitness first boxing crap), at the local North Sydney PCYC boxing gym. In terms of a training I find I respond really well with a 4-day split (Mon, Wed, Fri and Sat) and normally implement 2-3 cardio sessions a week (2 in my bulk), I’m a firm believe of maintaining a good cardio base all year round for general health and well being. If I’m trying to cut or bulk I’ll generally do this through my diet.

In terms of supplement experience am keen to give most things a go, but don’t swallow a lot of crap the industry puts out. If I could just pick one supplement obviously the most important would be protein, but I think there’s merit in Creatine,  Nitric Oxide and lately I’ve become a huge fanboy of the BCAAs intraworkout, either purple wraath or xtend (with xtend probably taking the prize). Also worth considering for those that train serious would be a good multi, l-gluatmine and FishOil. I’m a firm believer that supplementation only really makes up 10% of the puzzle though and I’d have to give most emphasis to diet (60%), training (30%).  Really first and foremost if you don’t get your diet and nutrition in check you aren’t going to see any results.

You can check out Marc's training journal in our forum area too and see how his training is going. I encourage you to join in the conversation!