Casey Hofhenke

Supplement Spotlight: Onnit T+ Strength and Performance Now that our new HelmFit program has launched to go along with our flagship mixed martial arts training, I want to share some of the things that I use to supplement my training. Fitness and nutritional supplementation is a billion dollar industry, but an industry in which regulation is unfortunately lacking. That shiny, ominously named bottle of powder that you grab off the shelf at GNC or another place could have all sorts of terrible things in it, and it won't get pulled off the shelf until people start getting sick. Terrible right? That's not even to mention what's in it that doesn't make you sick, at least right away. I encourage you to pick up a bottle of EXPLODING RHINO PUMP MAXXX or whatever you can find and look at the list of ingredients. It's not pretty! Before I had children, I took whatever supplement that promised me I'd get bigger and workout harder and look cooler. After I had children, I started thinking it was probably time to start watching what I put in my body, and it turn start learning what was good and not good to put into theirs. Then I watched my grandmother rapidly deteriorate from a combination of alzheimer's/diabetes and I became terrified of what ingesting copious amounts of chemicals may do to my family and I. The quickest thing I could fix was to quit taking supplements, anything that makes you have almost immediate violent bowel movements and then feel like you could lift your vehicle off the ground and toss it a little ways probably isn't good for you. That being said, supplements work. Pre-workouts feel like the best thing ever when you are on them, you don't have to drag yourself to the gym, you'll gladly run there. It's said you can get everything you need to put in your body for optimal health from food, that's also very hard to do, and takes more time than anybody I know has. That's why I continued to search for supplements that I could use that wouldn't send me to an early grave. Luckily, after years of driving over 500 miles a day for work, I can't stand listening to the radio. That lead me to podcasts, which led me to finding Onnit. Onnit is a company that strives for "human optimization," which means a healthy body and mind. Everything they sell comes from natural resources, I even believe the shirts are made of bamboo. Every product has it's own page with every ingredient laid out and explained, what it is and why it works. They do all their own research and testing, on their own dime, to prove their stuff works. They are honest, and when you are spending money and putting stuff into your body that's very important. There were two things I really missed when I gave up all the supplements, the daily vitamins I was taking really helped with my joint pain and of course the pre-workout. I did not miss the shakes caused by the stimulants and of course the terrible stomach issues that comes with it. The first thing I tried from Onnit was the T+. It's their version of the pre-workout, however it's all natural and non stimulant. All of Onnit's supplement's are fantastic, but if you can only try one, try T+ first. It's everything good about pre-workouts without any of the bad stuff. It has all of the BCAA's you need, aids in recovery as well, and your energy will go through the roof. It also helped with my joint pain, turns out I produce below average amounts of testosterone, and that's a major cause of pain in your joints. The natural ingredient Longjack, a plant native to Indonesia and Malaysia, helps the body restore optimal testosterone levels in men. It's also safe for women, the way it was explained to me is that the natural ingredients only help restore testosterone levels if they are low, so it will not make you produce excess. So if you are like me and love yourself some pre-workout, but hate the immediate and probably more important long term side effects, give this a shot, I promise you will not be disappointed! If you have more questions, feel free to ask me or even better go straight to onnit.com and go to the T+ page, everything is there. There is also a FAQ page where tons of actual consumer questions are answered. I'll be going through some more supplements and some of the fitness tools that we use in some upcoming posts. If you want to check it all out or try some yourself please click the fancy banner at the bottom left of the page to let them know I sent you!