Off-Season Hockey Staple and

Situational Stacks

Staple Supplement Stack

A staple supplement stack is a stack that is run regardless of the

current training phase or goal. It covers all the base nutrients required

for optimal bodily function and gives you a foundation to build off of.

You can think about it like building a house. A house cannot be built

just on the ground, it requires a concrete foundation on the bottom.

That’s what your staple stack is, a concrete foundation that allows you

to add things to it. If this foundation wasn’t here, the house wouldn’t

work. Likewise, if these staples aren’t here, your supplements aren’t

going to work nearly as effectively, if even at all. It is only after you

have built a foundation that you can personalize and optimize your

supplement stacks with the situational options.

Once you have your foundation, then you can choose supplements

to narrow in on your goals.

YOU NEED A FOUNDATION

A proper foundation to work off of for anybody interested in improving

their overall health, conditioning and on ice performance should

include high quality sources of:

Multivitamins and minerals

Fish oil

Magnesium

Vitamin D3

Probiotics

Whey protein

These nutrients provide the ground floor in which your situational

stacks can work off of, they are a “must have” for the intensely active

population looking for serious physique transformation. Here’s my #1

recommendations for your foundation stack. I choose these for a

reason, they have delivered time and time again to support the needs

of my clientele:

Vitality

Omega-3

Ubermag

D3 Excellence

Proflora

ISO-SMOOTH

Situational Supplement Stack Options

Situational stacks are left up to you and your budget. They were

designed to offer specific scientific evidence based

recommendations to further support you in an area where you feel

you are weak, need help with, or simply if you just want to kick some

more ass and go for the offseason transformation of your life.

I cannot be with everybody purchasing this book 1-on-1, which is why

it is up to you to determine where you are weak and which one of

these stacks best applies to you. Be honest with yourself and point out

your own weaknesses. Knowing your weaknesses means you know

what you need to work on and supporting those areas will only bring

positive results. You’re only as strong as your weakest link.

Situational stack options have been broken down into 9 different

categories and with each category I will provide you with stack dosing,

timing, product recommendations and overall expected effects.

Here are the 9 categories of situational supplemental enhancement

for the Offseason Training system:

1. Muscle Gain & Exercise Performance

2. Adaptogens

3. Cholinergics

4. Nitrates

5. Libido and Sexual Enhancement

6. Sleep Quality

7. Fat Loss

8. Memory and Focus

9. Testosterone Boosters

Muscle Gain and Exercise Performance

This category has been broken down into two separate subcategories

to further specify your individual needs. The muscle gain and exercise

performance situational stack options are exactly as they sound, they

are going to kick start and drive up all your muscle building and

performance efforts and ensure you get a serious return on investment

with your time in the gym. This can have some big carryover into your

name being all over the score sheet.

When you’re in the gym you want to be investing your time, not

spending it. These stacks ensure you are going in there to get the job

done and get out with the results you have been looking for.

For Muscle Growth

Creatine: 5g daily

Nitrates: 500g of chosen vegetable with pre-workout meal (see

below for details)

Caffeine: 200 – 500mg 30mins pre-workout, no more than 3x a

week, At any time you take caffeine, you can take L-theanine

(200 - 400 mg) alongside for improved attention and focus

Alpha GPC: 300-600mg 30-45mins pre-workout

Best options to optimize all of the above and put on as much muscle

mass as possible is to run:

Elevate

PPK

Blue Star creatine

If exercise exceeds 1 hour in duration (Ex. Endurance training or

Hockey Game)

In addition to the above stack, incorporate:

50-75g carbohydrates steadily during exercise. Ensure that this

lasts the full duration of the activity and that it is not consumed

in one bolus dose at the beginning because it can potentially

cause gastric distress, which is the last thing you want during

training.

10g BCAA’s pre-workout (or) pre-game

5g beta alanine at any point in the day, preferably with the meal

pre-workout.

Best options to run the above to improve endurance would be to

incorporate:

BCAA

PPK

UCAN

Quadricarb

Adaptogens

Why you should take them

Adaptogens are a category of supplementation that work primarily

for homeostasis within a specific system or tissue. What this means is

that it supports certain areas of the body by going in and bringing

things up that are too low, and bring things down that are too high.

Adaptogens seek balance.

For example, rhodiola rosea is adaptogenic to your stress hormone

system and has the ability to bring cortisol up if it is too low, or bring

cortisol down if it is too high. Additionally, it has also been shown to

raise testosterone levels. It’s important to care about this because it

doesn’t “amplify” anything, it simply corrects it. Making you a healthier

athlete and providing the perfect environment to build muscle mass

and burn body fat.

How you should take them

To supplement ashwagandha, take 300 - 500 mg of the dry root

extract 30 – 45 minutes before exercise.

To supplement Panax ginseng, take 200 - 400 mg, 30 – 45 minutes

before exercise. The Panax ginseng supplement should contain 1 - 3%

ginsenoside.

To supplement Rhodiola rosea, take 500 mg of the extract SHR-5. This

dose is intended for preventing stress from an upcoming event. To

supplement Rhodiola rosea pre-workout, take 80 - 160 mg, 30 - 45

minutes before exercise.

Best way to cover all your bases and get the best out of the

adaptogenic supplements:

Without a doubt the best adaptogenic supplement on the market is

Allostatic Stamina. Supplement with 1-2 caps, 2x daily separated by 4-

6hrs.

Cholinergics

Why you should take them

Cholinergic’s are a group of compounds that up-regulate the activity

of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is a

neurotransmitter involved in many things “speed” in the body.

Including transmission of thought, memory and muscle contraction.

Higher available acetylcholine levels = greater muscle contractions

and mental clarity. Cholinergic’s are often used only by advanced

athletes, not because it doesn’t work for beginners, but because

beginners most often are unfamiliar with the topic. I want the clients

of the Offseason Hockey System to receive every possible benefit they

can and encourage you incorporate a type of cholinergic into your

regime.

How you should take them

CDP-choline: Take 250 - 500 mg, 30 - 45 minutes before exercise. Do

not take more than 1,000 mg of CDP-choline at once.

Alpha-GPC: Take 300 - 600 mg, 30 - 45 minutes before exercise

Huperzine-A: 100mcg 30-60mins prior to exercise. Do not run for longer

than 8 weeks without taking a break.

Best options to incorporate cholinergics to improve cognition, power

output, focus and motivation:

Elevate

Alpha GPC

Fast brain 2.0

Nitrates

Why you should take it

Nitrates are compounds found primarily in vegetables, specifically,

leafy green vegetables and beetroot. After efficient digestion, nitrates

are broken down into nitrites and can be converted to Nitric Oxide on

an “as needed” basis. Higher Nitric Oxide levels during exercise

provide a variety of benefits such as:

Increased muscle pumps

Increased metabolic stress

Increased vascularity

Increased removal of fatigue inducing by-products

Increased IGF-1 and VEGF-1 levels

Increased nutrient delivery to working muscles

Nitrate supplementation has been shown consistently in research trials

to improve both anaerobic and aerobic energy systems, blood flow,

work capacity and increased recovery rate.

Nitrate supplementation in the doses necessary to produce a positive

result are not currently on the market, due to dosing regulations, which

is why it is best utilized through proper pre-workout meal plan timing.

Incorporating leafy greens or beetroot with your pre-workout meal in

large enough quantities can have a profound and scientifically

proven positive benefit on your workout.

How to take it

Nitrates are optimally supplemented and absorbed using food

products but having it in liquid form, such as juicing or in a blended

shake consumed 60-120mins pre-workout. This keeps solid food and

fiber from sticking around in your stomach while you’re trying to train

but still allows for you to utilize the effective nitrates found in the food.

The optimal nitrate dose is in the range of 6.4 - 12.8 mg per kilogram

of bodyweight. This corresponds to approximately:

440 - 870 mg for a 150 lb person

580 - 1,160 mg for a 200 lb person

730 - 1,450 mg for a 250 lb person

Slightly over a pound of beets, radishes, or any leafy green vegetable,

including lettuce, rocket, spinach, crown daisy, and swiss chard will

provide enough nitrates for an optimal training session, increased

muscle pumps and improve performance. Blend this up and get

training!

Libido and Sexual Enhancement

This category of supplementation is geared towards the men and

women who are looking to improve desire and performance in the

bedroom. There are a lot of compounds on the market for this corner

of the industry, unfortunately the majority of them fall short in the

research and do not provide any real benefit. Here’s one that does

have some good research with it:

TRIBULUS TERRESTRIS

Why you should take it

Tribulus has been shown through research and also through consistent

reports and reviews to be a powerful libido enhancement agent.

How to take it

Optimal supplementation with tribulus terrestris is to have 200 – 450mg

per day with a minimum 40% steroidal saponin content. Best taken

with food.

Best way to incorporate the above to ramp up libido:

Tribulus from Blue Star Nutraceuticals contains a serious dose of Tribulus with

the proper extract percentage along with many other ingredients to

support libido enhancement and adaptogenic homeostasis.

Sleep Quality

Improving in sleep quality means improving in quality of life. The

quality in the way in which your sleep patterns are dictates so much

about you. I say quality because quantity does not always mean a

good night’s sleep. In fact, there are tons of people out there getting

7-9hrs of sleep and yet not waking up with energy. Feeling like they

have to drag themselves out of bed and use an alarm or else they will

sleep even longer.

This is common, but not healthy.

Ideally, you would sleep 7-9hrs per night, uninterrupted, and wake up

the next day bouncing out of bed without a coffee. That is a good

indicator that while you’re sleeping, you’re also recovering and

entering deep levels of sleep. Your sleep is involved in:

Your potential to build muscle

Your fat burning capability

Your neurotransmitter pools

Your energy levels

Your ability to regulate glucose levels in the body

Craving control

Natural anabolic hormone levels

Overall health profile

Sleep is one thing that absolutely can NOT be overlooked. If you’re

not sleeping properly, then these situational options are for you,

BECAUSE if you’re not sleeping properly, you’re going to plateau in no-

time. It is one of the most important aspects in getting to your goals.

This was made very clear in the recovery manuals.

Normally when talking fitness, people bring up training and nutrition.

Yet sleep is as equally pivotal to the situation. If this is an area where

you lack, it should be your #1 priority before anything else.

Here’s some suggestions on improving sleep quality and a stack to

ensure you’re covering all your bases.

MAGNESIUM

Why you should take it

Magnesium deficiencies are highly associated with the active

population due the the fact that magnesium is depleted during

physical activity and is also required for the detoxifcation of cortisol, a

stress hormone created during exercise. Additionally, magnesium

deficiencies are directly correlated with low and impaired sleep

quality.

People with healthy magnesium levels in their body (which is rare mind

you, even in the supplementing population) have much higher levels

of sleep quality. Improvement in sleep quality will have an immediate

impact on improving your body composition.

How to take it

Magnesium is best supplemented with 200 – 400mg of elemental

measured magnesium per day after 4pm. If going with 400mg, try to

spread this out over 2 – 3 meals, and always take your magnesium

with food.

MELATONIN

Why you should take it

Melatonin is a sleep hormone that your body already produces.

Production increases as you begin to exposed to less and less light

(hence, getting tired at night time). Light can affect the overall

production of melatonin, which can happen to a lot of people

because you go home after work and turn all the lights on. This can

impair optimal melatonin production and keep you awake longer

then your body would have wanted to.

This hormone is heavily involved in your circadian rhythem, which is

your sleep / wake cycles and is often used by functional medicine

practitioners to correct circadian rhythems in those who suffer from

insomnia or people with shift-work schedules at their job.

How to take it

Melatonin is a compound in which many people report effective

doses at different levels. Some see an effect at 500mcg, whereas

some see effects at 1mg, 3mg, or 6mg. For the purpose of improving

your sleep quality, start at 500mcg, and try that out for a week before

moving up in dosage. And do that, with each 500mcg jump for a full

week until you find your lowest effective dose. Example:

Week 1: 500mcg

Week 2: 1mg

Week 3: 1.5mg

Week 4: 2mg

Week 5: 2.5mg

Week 6: 3mg – I slept great this week! I’m going to keep it here.

Melatonin should be taken 30-60mins before bedtime as it will induce

drowsiness, and should never be taken over 6mg and not for over 60

days in a row.

STACKS

For people who have a tough time getting to sleep

Take 200 – 400mg magnesium with your effective melatonin dose

30mins before bed

For people who always wake up tired

Take 200 – 400mg magnesium with 3g glycine 30mins before bed.

Glycine is best used intermittently and loses effectiveness if taken

nightly, so it’s best to take this on nights where restfulness is a high

priority.

Best options to ensure optimal sleep for athletes:

Vitality

RestoREM

Ubermag

Glycine

Serenity 2.0

Fat Loss

If you’re a competitive hockey player and you are above 12% body

fat, this should be your #1 priority. The length of time in which this takes

you to get to 12% and under will depend on your current level of fitness

but I can assure you it will be worth it.

Higher levels of body fat do not increase your strength, muscle gain or

any biomarkers for health and fitness. Once you’re lean, you will

produce more testosterone and build muscle mass at a faster rate

due to the increase in insulin sensitivity that comes with being lean.

You will also be much faster on the ice without carrying a pack sack

of fat on you.

Insulin sensivity is your body’s ability to feed the muscles cells with

incoming nutrients as opposed to feeding your fat cells. We want your

muscles intaking those carbohydrates and amino acids for muscle

mass, energy and pumps. Being lean will not only drive muscle

growth, but also make it easier to stay lean due to its natural ability to

increase your testosterone and insulin sensitivity.

If you’re not lean yet, we’re going to have to work on that first. In

which case, the following situational supplement stack options should

be on your list.

CAFFEINE

Why you should take it

Caffeine for fat loss is potentially one of the most well-rounded options

and provides several benefits. Caffeine drives up adrenal output,

which increases energy and catecholamine release.

Catecholamine’s are things such as epinephrine, nor-epinephrine

and dopamine. Each of them produce high amounts of energy,

attention span, motivation and focus. All things to enhance the

amount of calories you burn in a single day simply by driving up

energy levels and exercise intensity.

Additionally, caffeine works to burn fat in two ways. Caffeine has a

thermogenic effect, so it will increase heat in the body and also has a

lipolytic effect. Which will turn on the gene’s in your body responsible

for fat burning.

How to take it

For fat burning purposes, caffeine should be supplemented at 100-

200mg, 2x per day.

WHITE WILLOW BARK

Why you should take it

White willow bark is metabolized into salicylic acid which is very similar

to aspirin. The way is which it works is it compliments other fat burners

potential, specifically caffeine and synephrine. Many people are

familiar with the effective (yet damaging) fat burning stack

ephedrine, caffeine and aspirin. You can think about white willow

bark like the “aspirin” to caffeine and synephrine. A much safer stack

all together and white willow bark produces fantastic fat-loss results in

proven clinical trials.

How you should take it

White willow bark is normally stacked alongside caffeine for

enhanced fat burning capability. The two can be taken together with,

or without a meal. Although to improve workout performance, it is

best to have one of these servings pre-workout.

YOHIMBINE

Why you should take it

Yohimbine increases the susceptibility of your current fat cells to be

used as an energy source. Yohimbine is an effective fat burner for all

populations and has also been shown to target the stubborn areas,

such as the “love handles” which always seems to be one of the

hardest fat loss sites.

Yohimbine is effective but is not recommended to be run for extended

periods of time. People with anxiety should be cautious when

supplementing with yohimbine as it can elevate these symptoms

along with rapid heart rate.

How to take it

The typical yohimbine dosage range, as part of a stack, is 2.5 – 7.5 mg

(250 – 750 mcg), taken twice a day for a total daily dose of 5 - 15 mg.

5-HTP

Why you should take it

Supplementing with 5-HTP helps to reduce carbohydrate cravings

(which seem to be the main craving for the majority of the population

when leaning down) by increasing the production of the

neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin is your “feel good” and “happy”

neurotransmiter that will drive good moods, better sleep, reduced

stress and reduced carbohydrate cravings. Making the lean down

process a whole lot less stressful and more effective.

How you should take it

5-HTP is best taken in the evenings with a meal. The optimal dose

being anywhere from 300-500mg. This total dose is recommended to

be split in two smaller doses, of either 150mg or 250mg.

Best way to incorporate the above to boost fat burning efforts:

The fat burner Blade is an all in one fat burning powerhouse containing

all of the above nutrients in one shot.

Memory and Focus

This is an area many of us struggle with in life. There are so many

entertaining distractions out there that much of our day is wasted

either watching tv, watching movies, going through social media

pages like twitter, facebook and instagram, playing video games and

also having thousands of apps available at your finger tips.

This technology age can be used to enhance productivity, or

absolutely destroy it. Many people have a goal, or a school project,

or a business purposal that they want to get done but simply just don’t

end up doing it because one or a combination of the above

distractions waste the day away.

The situational supplement category is to ramp up memory and focus

so you can increase your productivity on whatever it is your need to

do, and remember what you studied last night while you’re writing

your exam.

Additionally, this will drive performance on the ice or in the gym by

keeping your head in the game and keeping you “in the zone”. This

also helps those players who have a tough time remembering certain

plays the coaches put together.

BACOPA MONNIERI

Why you should take it

Bacopa Monnieri is effective for all age groups and has been used in

the past in traditional Indian medicine to improve cognition and

memory. It has a strong ability to improve working memory, which

refers to the ability to focus on a topic in order to understand and

retain it.

The way the research is leaning is that you must take it for a month in

order to begin to start seeing effects and that for those who take it for

less then a month don’t receive much benefit.

How you should take it

To supplement 150 mg of bacosides, take 300 mg of a supplement

with a 55% bacoside content. To supplement the leaf powder,

assuming a 10-20% bacoside content, take 750 – 1,500 mg.

Additionally, this should always be taken with food.

L-THEANINE + CAFFEINE

Why you should take it

Taken together, these two drastically improve energy, drive, focus

and attention span. The L-theanine is taken alongside the caffeine to

drive down the excitability of the compound, keeping it a smooth,

controllable, good energy without the jitters.

How to take it

To supplement these two, take 200mg of each supplement 30 minutes

prior to the event where you need increased focus and attention

span. Stimulants are more pronounced on an empty stomach, so if

you need a better jolt, take it on an empty stomach. If the stimulation

is too much for you, take it with a meal or decrease the dosage.

It should also be mentioned that in this category, the cholinergics

situational options can enhance this cateogry even further.

Best options to enhance memory and focus:

Elevate

Vitality

Fast Brain 2.0

Focus Response px

JavaStim

Alpha GPC

Uber DHA px

Testosterone Boosters

Testosterone is one of the top anabolic hormones in the body.

Elevated levels of testosterone in the body lead to drastic, positive

changes in:

Protein synthesis

Insulin sensitivity

Muscle growth

Muscle repair

Energy levels

Libido

Competitive drive

Motivation

Nutrient partitioning

As you can see, testosterone levels in a guy who is interested in

building muscle and burning fat can make or break you. You definitely

want to ensure your time isn’t getting wasted in the gym and that your

anabolic hormone levels are operating at their peak.

This is often the difference between the genetically gifted and the

guys who struggle to make any progress, their levels of natural

anabolic hormones in the body. This can be anything from genetic to

simple mineral deficienies in the body. Incorporting the following

strategies will ensure you’re getting your testosterone levels where

they should be.

MAGNESIUM

Why you should take it

Magnesium is an important mineral and is currently the #1 mineral

deficiency in the United States.

Magnesium deficiencies are associated with poor sleep quality, low

testosterone, muscle cramps, muscle tears and poor ability to

regulate circulating carbohydrates. Magnesium is an absolute must

and is up there in contention with any other nutrient important enough

to be taken year round.

Additionally, magnesium is lost through sweat, which makes it that

much more necessary for athletes and the active population to

consume it supplementally.

How you should take it

Supplement 200 – 400mg daily elemental magnesium. Best taken in

split doses after 4pm.

ZINC

Why you should take it

Zinc is another important mineral lost through sweat and physical

activity. Additionally, low testosterone is directly correlated with low

levels of zinc. Zinc is absolutely necessary for optimal testosterone

production.

Zinc is also required for the creation of new muscle tissue in the body,

so if you want to build muscle, you’re going to need adequate

circulating blood levels of zinc. Additionally, there isn’t a single nutrient

that zinc doesn’t effect. All incoming nutrients are effected by how

much zinc you have in your body. If you don’t have enough zinc,

many, if not all of these nutrients will not reach their positive health

potential within the body.

How you should take it

Zinc should be supplemented in the range of 25 - 30 mg of elemental

zinc per day. Best taken with meals.

VITAMIN D3

Why you should take it

Vitamin D plays a role in the production of steroid hormones and

normal levels of vitamin D in the blood raises testosterone levels. The

problem is almost everybody doesn’t get enough sun to get the levels

to adequate, which is still a far cry from optimal.

Vitamin D is an extremely cheap, safe and effective supplement and

is recommended for nearly everybody except those who live near the

equator and get lots of sun. This is especially true for those who live in

a country that has a winter season. During these months the vitamin

D absorption from the sun is close to zero, making it that much more

effective in keeping your testosterone levels high during these time

periods.

Vitamin D also improves bone health and is a regulator of the

neurotransmitter serotonin which is your “feel good” and “happy”

neurotransmitter.

How you should take it

Vitamin D3 should be supplemented in the range of 2000 – 3000IU per

day. Best taken with meals and before lunch.

CREATINE

Why you should take it

Creatine is always discussed for its proven benefits to increase power

output and anaerobic work capacity. Which are amazing benefits

and are the prime reasons why most supplement.

What is commonly overlooked is its reoccurring ability to increase

testosterone in men. In the research, men 18-35 years old consistently

have 20-25% increases in testosterone with creatine supplementation.

This increase in testosterone goes hand-in-hand with its power output

benefits and provides a very well rounded supplement for muscle

building.

How you should take it

The standard dose for creatine monohydrate is 5g per day, although

if you have a large amount of muscle mass you can increase that

dose to 10g a day.

The best options to get your testosterone levels up:

Vitality

Status

Restosterone

Uberzinc

Ubermag

D3 Excellence

Allostatic Stamina