Supplements
Nutritional supplements are a multi-billion dollar industry.
There are thousands of brands and 10s of thousands of products, to cover a wide variety of uses. Most of the supplements in the world of weight training are not FDA approved. This means we can never know if a new supplement is useful or useless, harmful or harmless. It is up to those of us that enjoy experimenting with various supplements, to review them and to tell the world what we think. Check out my bodybuilding supplement reviews and other articles linked to nutritional supplements.
The most common types of supplements we take are:
Some of the supplements are complete bunk, while others can mean the different between a 5 lb fat loss an a 10 lb fat loss. Yet other supplements can help add a solid 5-10 lbs of muscle on a lean frame. Some supplements can help us get to sleep, like Melatonin, while others can help us get on with our day when we are tuckered out, like Biotest Hot Rox Extreme.
Protein Supplements
In my opinion, protein supplements make up the most useful category of supplements available to us. Protein bars are like quick replacements for fast food. Instead of stopping at McGreasy or Burger Prince, just grab a Pure Protein bar out of your pocket or glove box, and woof that thing down. Protein bars and shakes make quick, convenient breakfasts… or lunches, or dinners, or snacks for that matter. Post workout shakes are vital for replenishing blood glycogen levels and kick starting protein synthesis. Yes, the protein supplement is probably the most useful supplement in the world of weight training and conditioning.
Fat Loss and Energy Supplements
Nearly 52% of US adults drink coffee. Americans spent an estimated $35 billion on fat loss supplements in 2007. These days, most fat loss supplements inherently give us an abundance of energy, either due to caffeine or to a “proprietary blend”. It is our job (yours and mine) at Project Swole to narrow down this field of supplements in order to determine which ones are safe, which are effective, which are cost effective, and which ones will straight up kill ya. My absolute favorite energy supplement, hands down, is Biotest Hot Rox Extreme. Though since there are about 5000 other ones, we are tasked with figuring out if there is indeed a better product.
Muscle Building Supplements
Steroids have been banned. Prohormones have been banned. HGH has been banned. Heaven forbid, M1T has been banned. About 95% of alleged muscle building supplements do not work at all ::cough cough DHEA cough::. So what does work? There are some natural Tribex based testosterone boosters that work a little bit, see Biotest’s Alpha Male or Tribex. There are some anti-estrogens that work a little bit. A couple years ago, we could get Superdrol and some stuff called eMax that were pretty powerful alternatives to the banned substances. But what is out there right now? Well we’ll just have to investigate.
So that it. If you have a budget for supplements and you are looking for something above and beyond regular food, you could go with protein supplements, meal replacers, vitamins, antioxidants, bone and joint rejuvenators, thermogenics, Melatonin, and maybe 5-HTP for mood. Other than that, I’ll have to really dig into the supplements market and see what is worth researching, testing, and reviewing. At that time, feel free to read up on my nutritional supplement reviews.
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