Q: I’ve noticed some mass-building protein supplements have a lot of fiber in them (12 g per serving). How important is fiber when trying to gain muscle?

A: Fiber is an important ingredient for anyone’s overall health and wellness. When added to a protein or weight-gain powder, it can help improve your results. Here’s why.

›› Fiber lowers the glycemic index of certain foods by slowing gastric emptying time, that is, slowing the delivery of nutrients to the small intestine and thereby the rate at which glucose is absorbed. This has a positive impact on carbohydrate metabolism and the uptake of proteins, helping you utilize a greater amount of your nutrition longer without high insulin spikes.

›› Fiber binds with some unwanted fats in your diet, reducing the amounts that can be absorbed.

›› Fiber also absorbs moisture and expands, stimulating the stretch receptors in the stomach to help you feel fuller, reducing your appetite.

›› Increased fiber improves bowel function for elimination of wastes that can make your abdominal muscles look and feel bloated.

It’s been suggested that athletes consume around 4–6 g of fiber per meal, or around 24–30 g per day for best results. High-fiber foods include most vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, whole grains (oatmeal, granola, unsweetened cereals) and many fruits.

Along with fiber, I’d also suggest trying a green “superfood” formula to help support overall digestive integrity. Emerald Balance Plus, for example, can help enhance immune function, speed up muscle recovery, and aid in detoxifying your body.

Q: My shoulders seem to have hit a sticking point. I’ve been doing 3 sets of 8–12 reps of machine shoulder presses, machine side-lateral flyes and machine rear-delt kick-backs. Any other suggestions?

A: There are many ways to stimulate your delt program, from changing up your rep range, to switching your exercises, to changing from machines to free weights, or even switching back and forth from single-joint to multi?joint movements. The bottom line is that all will yield muscle-building results as long as you train intensely.

Since you have been doing seated machine movements for some time, why not change it up to a new standing free-weight workout? Although some seated shoulder-building exercises allow you to target the delts, they do not always allow other auxiliary muscles in and around your core to come into play that may actually yield better mass-building results.

Begin your next shoulder program with standing military presses. This multijoint exercise involves not only the shoulder and arms but enlists your whole body in the movement while controlling the weights. The use of a straight bar in this exercise requires you to stabilize the body while involving multiple joints, which generally allows you to move heavier weights but also focus on the delts. This makes for a great shoulder builder because it recruits maximum muscle fibers.

Second, move to standing dumbbell delt laterals. The unique benefit of dumbbells here allows you greater range of motion than the machines and targets the delts more specifically, during both the eccentric and concentric phase of the lift. The more the muscle fibers are recruited and stretched, the more they are forced to contract, equaling more work, and hence, bigger gains.

Finally, finish off with standing slightly bent-over rear-delt dumbbell kick-backs or barbell rear-delt shoulder shrugs. Work each set to its maximum intensity.

Q: I’m 21 years old and getting into MMA. I understand you trained Kurt Angle and have worked with other MMA athletes. I work out hard at the gym five times a week, and sometimes I can’t lift as much as I’d like to and need more energy. What supplements should I take?

A: There are a ton of great energy boosters, but for hard-training, MMA-oriented athletes, I suggest nitric-oxide enhancers and creatine-based products.

These supplements are ideal for extreme athletes who need more than a pretty body and want to maintain intense sports conditioning.

There are many excellent, sophisticated creatine-based supplements out there. They include different synthesized creatine formulations that help increase muscle size, strength, endurance, power output and muscle- load capacity.

Arginine has also been ingeniously developed into more concentrated and effective forms. These cutting-edge arginine products boost nitric-oxide levels in skeletal-muscle signal cells — both slow- and fast-twitch fibers — to open and expand blood flow, put more oxygen into muscle cells, increase glucose uptake, and aid in protein synthesis for muscle growth.

We have all experienced days where we can’t get a good muscle pump from our workout. A muscle pump is actually vital for expanding muscle cells to stimulate an environment for muscle growth and recovery. Most muscle pumps are short-lasting and may not stimulate all muscle fibers. By increasing nitric-oxide production in skeletal muscle, you maximize muscle volume beyond its normal limits, accelerating both slow- and fast-twitch muscle fibers for greater strength and lean muscle development, while also improving mind-muscle coordination. That means greater muscle building and, potentially, faster hand-to-eye coordination and movement.

There are many great creatine and NO-boosters out there endorsed by MMA stars, including the Six Star line (Jeff Monson and Nate Marquardt); BSN (Forrest Griffin and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira); and Champion Nutrition (Thiago Alves).

Q: I want to cut fat and build muscle, but I don’t have much energy and my recovery is poor. My doctor said that at my age (49), I may have a lower testosterone level. I started taking DHEA and tribulus for a few weeks, but I’m not sure if they’re working. What should I do?

A: With any natural supplement you need to give it a little more time to measure your results. Personally, I feel tribulus (from the herb Tribulus terrestris) is a valuable and effective testosterone enhancer. Tribulus is from the puncture vine, which has been used for energy and as an herbal treatment for impotence. It works by stimulating the production of luteinizing hormone in the brain, which triggers the testes to increase testosterone production.

It sounds like you are suffering from andropause, the male version of menopause. (Relax — it’s very common.) Men over 40 years old basically have a lower testosterone level (under 300 ng/ml). A low testosterone level at any age affects a man’s health and mental outlook, as it can lead to decreased bone density; loss of muscle mass and strength; mood swings; memory loss; lack of energy; sexual dysfunction; insulin resistance; and increased abdominal fat.

Fortunately, there are many unique natural and safe herbal products on the market today that help stimulate and increase your own production of testosterone. They can be used individually or as blends. Many blends work not only by increasing your own production, but also by managing, regulating or reducing other negative hormones in your body, helping to create a more anabolic environment for positive health and lean muscle gain.

Tribulus is just one option. Look for more aggressive testosterone boosters that safely help keep your hormones humming. One good example is MyTosterone, a new product that contains a proprietary ingredient called Alphastat, a formulation that includes astaxanthin and saw palmetto. A recent study found that a group of men aged 37–70 raised their testosterone levels 50% after 14 days of using MyTosterone.

David Hawk, a former Mr. USA and Mr. World, is a consultant, personal trainer and adviser to NFL, NHL, WWE and NASCAR athletes.