Bodybuilding Supplement Basics

The problem with the bodybuilding supplement industry is that there is so much hype with very little objective information. When you look at someone you would like to emulate, often times they are doing steroids in addition to whatever supplements that they tell you they are taking. The advertising and media blitz that surrounds each new product can be mind numbing.

Do these products work? Can you gain lean muscle, without steroids, by using bodybuilding supplements? Absolutely. Bodybuilding Supplements can help you make greater strides, while shortening recovery time and decreasing the need to over eat to ensure you get enough protein. The main problem comes when you try and decide which products to use to help you meet your goals. There are so many products out there, how do you know where to start?

My goal here is to help with those questions. As a football player and weightlifter, as well as a supplement company owner, I have the long term perspective on the industry to help you make logical decisions about where to start. I've see ghb come and go from the supplement market. I've tried many andro products, and came to the conclusion that few of them worked. If you've got any unopened Mag-10 laying around, give me a call. I tried tribulus, nothing. However, in my 20 or so years of lifting weights to enhance my athletic performance, I did see several products that I would swear by. Those products continue to be the basics of any supplementation program.

The first product I would use is creatine. I've used this as party of my training program for at least 15 years. I swear by it. If you aren't concerned about staying super lean or have a really high metabolism, I would go with Cell-Tech. Something about the sugar in the mix seems to really increase the results. If you are trying to get ripped, plain creatine will do.

L-Glutamine - I added this to my training program in the last several years and swear by it. It was part of my program when I made my personal best bench press. If you wonder what it does, from Wikiepedia "In catabolic states of injury and illness, glutamine becomes conditionally-essential (requiring intake from food or supplements). Glutamine has been studied extensively over the past 10–15 years and has been shown to be useful in treatment of serious illnesses, injury, trauma, burns, and treatment-related side-effects of cancer as well as in wound healing for postoperative patients.^[8] Glutamine is also marketed as a supplement used for muscle growth in weightlifting, bodybuilding, endurance, and other sports. Evidence indicates that glutamine when orally loaded may increase plasma HGH levels by stimulating the anterior pituitary gland.^[9] In biological research, L-glutamine is commonly added ^[10] to the media in cell culture."

BCAAs - Branch Chain Amino Acids - I found that these helped me to avoid trying to stuff down obscene amounts of protein every day and allowed me to still make consistent gains. You can get it in powdered form and it is relatively cheap.

I'd also recommend a protein powder. I always like isopure, in part because of it's convenience.

There are also a lot of other products out there that have benefits, but if you are getting started and are on a tight budge, you can expect to see consistent gains with this approach. Then you can experiment with adding additional products to increase your gains, without the possibility of failure. As a hard gainer, I swear by this approach.