Can you build muscle on a student budget? We know it’s possible. Here’s how to spend your budget wisely to stay in shape during your student years.
Buying supplements on a student budget
Going to the gym between the ages of 18-21 is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you’re the envy of everyone aged 22+ with amazing ability to pack on muscle, stay lean, and make crazy gains. At this age, your body and hormones are primed for success. But on the other hand, your student budget makes eating, supplementing and training more of a challenge.
But we don’t just think it’s possible to eat and supplement well on a student budget: we can prove it!
Here are the top 10 supplements and food products every student should put on his or her shopping list before hitting the Uni gym.
Pure Whey Protein™
It all starts with protein, and Pure Whey Protein™ is the best and most cost-effective protein powder for students. Just because it fits your budget doesn’t mean it’s inferior quality. Quite the opposite: Pure Whey Protein™ is (as the name suggests) pure whey protein with an impressive protein percentage, great bioavailability, and amazing cost-per-serving.
What does that mean for you? It means you can stay on top of your protein requirements without needing to buy extra servings of expensive meat or fish, without needing excess fridge or freezer space and without needing to cook all your protein!
With whey protein powder, just mix with water, or milk, and you’re good to go.
Complete Multivitamin Complex™ (tablets and powder)
Student life can put a strain on your health and immune system. Long hours studying, all those 9am lectures, late nights in the library… (that’s the version we’ll stick with, anyway!) – it all puts your body and mind under pressure which can mean training is an extra stress.
To support your body and give it the best chance of staying healthy from Freshers’ Week to Graduation, choose a multivitamin which contains absolutely everything your body needs.
Our Complete Multivitamin Complex™ is available as multivitamin tablets and multivitamin powder and makes getting all your vitamins and micronutrients super-simple. Just three tablets a day and you’re good to go. You’ll feel the difference.
To go more up market, take a look at SPORTS MULTI AM:PM™ – an AM PM vitamin supplement in our Pro Series that is Informed Sport approved.
Complete Greens™ (tablets and powder)
Let’s face it, getting leafy greens, salad and cruciferous veg on your plate isn’t a priority during student years. And you might not have the fridge space anyway. But your body doesn’t know that you’re a student, it just knows it needs greens to stay healthy and build muscle the best way it knows how.
So here’s a great idea: take a greens supplement every day. That way, it really doesn’t matter how little actual green veg you cook. It’s all here for you, in our Complete Greens™ (tablets and powder) in one daily dose.
In fact, it’s probably better than eating a small amount of dodgy-quality veggies, because it packs a massive amount of varied veggie micronutrients and plant phytochemicals. You don’t even need to think about it.
Boost energy the healthy way
Coffee is the mainstay of student life, but there is a better way. Better for your lean, muscle-building physique that is. How about Complete BCAA Energy™, an all-rounder pre-workout which can also be sipped on during the day whenever you need an energy boost.
BCAAs (branch chain amino acids) support your muscle tissue and help prevent muscle loss even when your diet and stress levels aren’t the best.
And what about our Complete Protein Coffee™? This amazing best-seller is just like instant coffee (and great quality instant coffee at that!) but with added whey protein which mixes flawlessly with hot water. No lumps or clumps, just a delicious cup of coffee with a bonus serving of quality protein. Boom!
We’ve also got Matcha Green Tea Powder, an advanced and pure form of green tea which gives a gentle energy lift with a ton of other health and wellbeing benefits. A great all-rounder to add to your daily student supplement stack.
Best foods for your student kitchen
Forget instant noodles and endless rounds of toast. If you want to build muscle, stay lean, and actually improve your physique whilst you’re a student, you need to eat smart. That doesn’t have to mean expensive, though. Here are three things you can add to your food shopping list which will massively improve your chances of being the best-looking body on campus.
Liquid Egg Whites give a massive dose of protein with no carbs and no fat. Hugely adaptable, you can make them into omelettes, protein pancakes, or stir into oats (the possibilities are endless). And they don’t need to be stored in the fridge until you open them. You could stack the bottles up in your room.
Our new Active Seasonings™ go a long way and the little stackable pots don’t take up much room. With tons of flavours to choose from, they’re great for flavouring meat, fish or any savoury meal. We’ve even got a tandoori flavour so you can create healthier versions of student curries!
Diet Noodles bulk up any meal without unwanted calories. They’re made from Konjac fibre, which is practically zero calorie.
Hangover cure
Even the college gym King gets hangovers!
For those Thursday mornings after sports-team Wednesday bar crawls, or to help you get through the weekend, sip on Complete Hydration Drink™. Designed to give your body what it needs on hot, sweaty training days, it’s also amazingly good at getting you through the horrors of a hangover. Give it a try: everyone will be asking how you feel good enough to get to the gym the morning after!
Visit the Student Zone for more of our student articles: recipes, supplements, training and lifestyle hacks to help your student days boost, not bash, your physique. Come out the other side looking better than you went in with our great ideas.
