Nothing is more confusing in the world of bodybuilding than the all-too controversial topic of muscle-building supplementation. Just flip open any muscle magazine and you will be instantly flooded with endless advertisements for all kinds of pills, powders and liquids that promise dramatic gains in minimal time.

Health & fitness supplements are a multi-billion dollar industry, and their carefully planned out marketing campaigns have been sucking in good, honest people just like you for years.

Before I go any further, I want you to truly understand one important fact…

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going!

If your goal is to achieve a strong, muscular body, I guarantee that you will not get there by pounding back bodybuilding pills and powders. If supplements actually followed up on the promises that they made, everyone would be huge and muscular.

You might be thinking by now that I am completely against the use of supplements.

This is definitely not the case!

All I want you to realize is that supplements are just that: supplements. They are there to supplement your diet and fill in those missing gaps that whole food simply cannot provide.

If you’re training hard and eating properly, supplements can definitely help you reach your goals faster than you would without them. However, supplements are not there to replace anything. They are simply there to give your program an extra boost.

The important thing is for you to learn which supplements are worth your money and which ones are not. But with the endless number of products out there and all of those greedy marketers trying to get their hands on your money, how can you possibly know who to listen to?

Luckily for you, that’s what I’m here for!

Here are a few supplements that make the cut on my “approved” list..

Multivitamins

While it may be true that natural foods contain all of the vitamins and minerals necessary for an average person to stay fit and healthy, those who train intensely with weights have much higher nutritional requirements.

Intense workout sessions place heavy demands on the body, and therefore greater amounts of vitamins and minerals are necessary to allow for optimal performance and recovery.

Taking a high-potency multivitamin everyday is a great way to make sure that you’re receiving all of the vitamins you need. Vitamins perform literally thousands of functions within your body that are not only important to overall health but are critical in the muscle-growth process.

Protein Supplements

If you’re looking to add a considerable amount of muscle to your frame, you will need to eat roughly 1-2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight every day, which should be spaced out over 5-7 meals. This is extremely difficult to do using strictly whole-foods, and this is where protein supplements come in handy.

Whey shakes, meal replacements and protein bars will allow you to easily boost your protein intake and consume a quick meal without endless preparation and cooking.

Creatine

Creatine is found naturally in fish and red meat, but in order to obtain a significant amount you’d have to eat a lot of these foods. Creatine is the most researched sports supplement available and has been shown time and time again to be both safe and highly effective.

Creatine will aid you in building muscle by hydrating your muscle cells, increasing your short-term energy stores, buffering the effects of lactic acid and by improving your recovery.

For the best results, use 5 grams daily.

Essential Fatty Acids

Otherwise known as the “good fats”, essential fatty acids are highly beneficial to the muscle growth process. Among their many positive effects on overall health, EFA’s can help to speed up your results by increasing testosterone levels, improving your metabolism and volumizing your muscle cells. Flax seed oil and extra virgin olive oil are great sources of EFA’s.

These are just a few of the basic, proven supplements that will help to enhance your gains. Just remember, supplements will NOT do the work for you! They are just one small piece of a much larger puzzle.

It’s also very important to remember that there are far more worthless supplements out there than there are legit ones. Every month a new company comes out with some new “revolutionary breakthrough” that promises huge gains. You must be aware of this and not allow yourself to get sucked into the never-ending mass of marketing B.S.

Here are a few supplements that are marketed heavily but that you should definitely avoid…

Citrulline – Considered “the next big thing in bodybuilding”, citrulline supposedly works by increasing the body’s levels of nitric oxide, which translates into greater power output and muscle growth. Sounds great, except for the fact that there isn’t a single study out there that supports its benefits.

Ecdysterone – Ecdysterone is what is known as a “plant sterol”: a compound found in plants that is structurally similar to anabolic human steroids such as testosterone. After various tests and studies, most scientists concluded that ecdysterone simply did not have any anabolic effect on humans whatsoever.

N02 – Although still a very popular muscle building and strength gaining aid that continues to fly off the shelves, anyone who pays attention to the latest research knows that N02 has basically been “debunked” at this point.

Not only is there no clear-cut evidence that arginine (the active ingredient in N02 supplements) raises nitric oxide levels in the body (the claimed benefit of these products)… but there is also no evidence that increased nitric oxide levels even have any positive effect on muscle growth or strength increases in the first place.

Make sure to choose your supplements carefully. Here are a few other products that I would generally suggest steering clear of…

• tyrosine
• chromium picolinate
• taurine
• methoxy
• myostatin blockers
• carnitine

By Sean Nalewanyj

Check out my other guides on: Workout Exercise and Body Fitness

Muscle Building Supplements

Want more muscle faster? Take ibuprofen.

Ok, that’s not advice I really want to give but apparently ibuprofen and acetaminophen are muscle building pills!

A study has shown that taking the regular recommended dosage of ibuprofen and acetaminophen results in greater gains in muscle mass and strength.

The study took 36 men and women with an average age of 65 and put them on weight training program for 3 months. They were each given one of the following:

1. Ibuprofen
2. Acetaminophen
3. Placebo

No-one know what they were receiving until the end of the study.

It was expected that the increases in strength and lean muscle tissue would be observed for the placebo group. Surprisingly however, the groups taking Ibuprofen or acetaminophen saw significantly more increases.

Says Dr. Trappe,

“the chronic consumption of ibuprofen or acetaminophen during resistance training appears to have induced intramuscular changes that enhance the metabolic response to resistance exercise”.

What exactly these changes are, no one knows yet.

The results were as follows:

1. The placebo group experienced a 7 percent growth in muscle mass.
2. Those taking either acetaminophen or ibuprofen experienced a 40 percent to 60 percent larger increase than the placebo group.

Specifically, muscle volume increased 11 percent in the ibuprofen group and 13 percent in the acetaminophen group, compared with 9 percent in the placebo group. Muscle strength increased 30 percent in the ibuprofen group and 28 percent in the acetaminophen group, compared with 23 percent in the placebo group.

I have to admit, that’s significant. (Measurements taken at quadriceps).

Bear in mind that we are talking about untrained elderly individuals. Earlier, short term (24 hour) studies showed the opposite effect on young males i.e. protein synthesis levels were reduced compared with the control group.

However, therein may lie the answer. Dr. Trappe theorizes that in the long term the body may try to overcompensate “for an initial blocking of the enzyme the muscle needs to grow — prompting muscles to send out fresh and powerful signals demanding even more enzyme than the body would normally produce.” Source: bio-medicine

We have additional information on this subject you may be interested in reading: Muscle Women and Weight Lifting Equipment

muscle building supplements

Muscle supplements are the buzz around the gym these days. Anything from what works, are they safe and how to take them. The most important being what actually works. There is often so much hype involving some of these products it makes you wonder if it’s just another false promise. You see them advertised in magazines, read reviews online which more often than not are reviewed by representatives of the product. You can find many online forums out there that have actual reviews for the product, but just how accurate is it? These reviewers often get free product in exchange for a good review. This further misrepresents the product leaving you to wonder if that 49.95 purchase just made your wallet lighter instead of producing results. It’s really not your fault though. We all have been fooled at some point and into believing this product would give us that extra edge.

Don’t get me wrong, there are muscle supplements out there that actually work. However, there is just way to many products out there that do little except for the occasional upset stomach or dizziness associated with product use.

There are a few things that you can do to protect yourself:

• Ask for a sample of the product before you buy.
• Find out if the manufacturer will refund costs and accept the unused portion back for a refund.
• Make sure there is actually a way to contact the manufacturer by telephone.

In the supplement industry, there are many fly-by-night companies who are open for business one day only to have disappeared the next day.

Food is actually the best muscle supplement. Any other supplement products purchased to build muscle is not recommended until a nutritional foundation has been established.

Along with your diet plan, you may want consider vitamin and protein as a supplement. These products actually play a significant role in a supplement regimen. Most of us do not realise that a lack of specific minerals in our diet can affect our health and even slow down our ability to develop muscles.

Here are some tips when choosing your muscle building supplements:

1. Take Glutamine which is a recommended. vitamin. It may not have an immediate effect on your mass or strength variations, but nevertheless it is known to be very productive.

2. Protein supplements with amino acids help to serve as the building blocks for your muscles. The amount of proteins that you include in your diet should be up to one to two grams per pound of your weight.

3. The easiest way to gain solid muscle mass is to increase the body level of the muscle-builder, testosterone. Unfortunately, many go for the easiest yet illegal method of building testosterone, that is with the use of anabolic steroids. Steroids are basically synthetic testosterones. This product although may increase your testosterone levels and help you reach your goal, is expensive and a major health-risk. In addition, steroids defeats the purpose of a muscle supplement.

A good muscle building supplement should be natural, safe and legal. To ensure that you build your muscles properly, focus on coming up with a diet plan and training plan that suits you first before using any muscle supplement.

I suggest you check out my other guide on :Female Bodybuilder and Chest Exercises