The strength training supplement industry is huge.
Every day someone walks into the local GNC and Vitamin Shoppe and spends an enormous amount of money on the latest, greatest supplement they saw on tv or in a magazine. They hope the new supplement will be the magic pill they have been looking for to skyrocket their gains.
Why wouldn’t they expect this to be the magic pill? The ad in the magazine said it was the next biggest thing in bodybuilding since creatine. There were amazing testimonials and before and after pictures of people that have taken the supplement. The science that they cited in the ad made a lot of sense. Plus these companies wouldn’t lie. That would be false advertising, right?
Strength Training Supplements and the Companies that Sell Them
If you don’t know this already then I want you to understand something:
These supplement companies lie all the time!
Most of the weight training supplements out there are a scam! They swindle you into spending your hard-earned money on their products because they know you want to get bigger and stronger, and you will do anything to get it.
The companies that manufacture strength training supplements have basically no regulation. They don’t need FDA approval, which means they can put whatever they want into the supplement and get away with it.
They deceptively advertise their product by citing studies that have shown the stuff to work, not even bothering to give you the details of the study or mention that there may have been hundreds of other studies showing the stuff doesn’t work.
You can’t even trust the testimonials from these supplement companies. The before and after pictures are most likely doctored, often times taken in the same day. Even if the pictures were taken some time apart, you do not know what else the person in the picture was taking during that time period.
How do you avoid being scammed by some supplement company?
Do your research! That doesn’t mean read the ad. Find studies that support a particular supplement. If you can’t find any, don’t buy it.
Use Strength Training Supplements the Right Way
The best thing to do is realize that proper strength training nutrition is about food. If you are eating right, there should not be much of a need for a lot of supplements.
Strength training supplements should only be used when they are more convenient than food, such as at the gym during and after your workout. Other than that, most of your emphasis should be on eating tons of nutrient dense food throughout the day. This will do way more to pack on mass than any supplement could ever do.
Always remember that the best supplements for muscle gain are usually less expensive than the over-hyped crap that’s out there. There is no reason in the world to pay $80 for any supplement unless you are buying a long-term supply of it.
The best strength training supplements are multivitamins, a good quality protein powder, fish oil, and creatine. These should be the staples of your supplement regimen. Don’t even bother with anything else unless you are taking these four.
Don’t overspend on these either. More expensive when it comes to supplements usually means more hype, not necessarily better quality. Don’t just buy the cheapest you can find, but do try to find a good value.
Once you are taking the staples then you can try other things. Just remember there are no magic pills (unless you are willing to take steroids, which I don’t recommend).
Focus on eating a lot of good, quality nutritious food, and use supplements for what they are, a supplement to your food intake.