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This series, entitled “The Supplement Symposium” will take a look at various supplements and which ones you can (or should) utilize for specific goals. In Part One, we discussed the debate of whole foods vs. supplements. Part Two covered the supplements everyone should be taking for good general health. Now in Part Three, we will look at the supplements that can aid in your quest to build strength and muscle mass.

 

Whether you’re a professional IFBB card-carrying bodybuilder, or a typical weekend warrior, you are probably looking to maximize the results from the hours you invest working out at the gym. Everyone wants to utilize the precious anabolic windows and ensure that they are making optimal gains in strength and muscle mass, and a good chunk of the supplement industry is designed with those goals in mind. There’s a lot of garbage out there, but below is a list of the five supplements that would give you the most help in developing strength and building/maintaining your hard-earned muscle.

 

1. Protein Powder

 

The workout-nutrition discussion usually begins and ends with some sort of protein powder supplement. Depending on your goals, there are various different types to help meet your needs.

 

- Whey protein hits your bloodstream quickly and delivers valuable amino acid building blocks to help repair your damaged muscle tissues and generate quick muscle-protein synthesis, making it one of the best post-workout drinks. It also happens to have nifty benefits like boosting immune functioning. “Hydroslate” is absorbed the fastest - hydrolyzed simply means the molecules are already chopped into smaller bits, which save your digestive system some work.

 

- Casein protein is released at a much slower rate than whey, and studies have shown that strength gains with casein are superior to whey. Taking casein protein (or eating cottage cheese, which contains a good dose of casein) before bed can ensure that your body is still working to rebuild your muscles while you sleep.

 

- Mass-gainers are usually shakes that have ridiculously high amounts of protein and high-glycemic sugar-based carbs designed to take advantage of the post-workout anabolic state and insulin response. The goal is to replenish glycogen stores and flood your system with extra nutrients to promote mass building. These shakes are usually loaded with more calories than a typical meal.

 

2. BCAAs

 

Branched-Chain Amino Acids are the specific amino acids that your muscle fibers are comprised of, specifically the amino acids L-isoleucine, L-leucine, and L-valine. Supplementing with them has been shown to have numerous benefits, including increased protein synthesis, increased exercise endurance and energy and the ability to cause an anabolic state. When taken during or around workout times, they have also been shown to reduce muscle soreness, increase post-workout testosterone, increase lean body mass and strength and even increase your growth hormone and insulin. Essentially, they are the perfect workout supplement. They can be a bit pricey, and you usually have to drink a lot of shakes or take a lot of tablets to get sufficient amounts to see the benefits, but adding these to your workout nutrition might just give you the best results of anything other than post-workout drinks.

 

3. Creatine Monohydrate

 

You’ll find natural sources of creatine in red meat, but creatine monohydrate was one of the first supplements to become popularized by the bodybuilding community and is by far the most tested supplement on the market. Creatine doesn’t actually make you stronger, but it does allow you to do more work. Basically, your body uses phosphates attached to creatine to replenish your ATP stores, and since ATP is the currency of energy in your body, I’m sure you can do the math and see how this allows you to do more. Since there is a limit on how much creatine you can effectively use in your system, it is vital that you follow the “loading” instructions (high dose for 5-6 days followed by reduced doses thereafter) so you aren’t wasting precious creatine. Since creatine does pull water into your cells via osmosis, you can experience both bloating and cramps/dehydration, but drinking extra water can help to alleviate this problem. And for the record, creatine does not cause kidney problems; that’s a myth.

 

Beware of bad marketing and labeling – companies like to add all sorts of whacky things to their creatine supplements and claim that they increase the benefits or absorption, etc. This is a bunch of bologna since the chemistry doesn’t work like that. You can’t attach any of these other products to creatine, so essentially you’re paying extra for creatine monohydrate diluted with whatever they are adding and probably even some filler product. Try to find the purest creatine monohydrate you can, and leave it at that.

 

4. Beta-Alanine

 

Beta-Alanine is kind of like the new kid on the block in the supplement industry--in that it’s relatively new, but it’s quickly building a reputation as the biggest thing since creatine. It has been shown to increase work capacity, reduce fatigue, boost recovery and improve both aerobic and anaerobic thresholds (muscle and general endurance). While the benefits really come from being able to do more work, beta-alanine might even chemically aid in increasing muscle mass and decreasing body fat. It is mostly considered a performance enhancer, but increasing the amount of work you can do in the gym will do wonders for your strength and muscle gains.

 

5. Testosterone Boosters

 

I’m sure you are aware of the effects testosterone has on your body composition, specifically in terms of muscle mass and body fat. Increasing your testosterone levels is of utmost importance when it comes to having favorable ratios of lean body mass to fat. The research is still not definitive, but there have been natural supplements that might just raise your T levels. These herb extracts are Tribulus terrestris, Vitex agnus- castus, and Eurycoma longifolia. Each of these compounds uses a different mechanism, but they all have been shown to possibly increase natural T production. It’s pretty hard to argue with the results of the Bulgarian Olympic lifting teams who have been allegedly using these supplements for years. I would use these as a last resort, but if you feel like you need to increase your testosterone levels, I would give one of them a try.

 

If you really want to make sure that you are reaping the benefits from slinging all that iron (or rubber) around, make sure that you have your workout nutrition under control. These above supplements might be just what you need to put you over the top when it comes to achieving your goals.

 

Peter Bauman – Peter is a chef first and personal trainer second. With a background in the biological sciences and degree in psychology, Peter knows how to make food that tastes great and keeps you lean and healthy.