Body Building Supplements - Keeping It Real
The question of bodybuilding and performance-enhancing supplements has taken the sporting world by storm in recent months, but most of the controversy centers around highly-paid professional athletes and their use of banned substances.
For most bodybuilders, the question about bodybuilding supplements is not whether they work well enough to make them worth the risk; it is whether they work at all. But there is such a wide variety of bodybuilding supplements available, and so many claims are being made for them, that saying none of them work is simply inaccurate.
There are, of course, as there always have been, charlatans selling products which promise to take pounds off overnight, but they remain in the stores just until enough disappointed consumers lodge false advertising complaints. The unfortunate thing about them is that those disappointed consumers will now cast a jaundiced eye on nutritional supplements which actually benefit people.
Understanding Claims
Some bodybuilding supplements, in fact, most of them, claim they will help you build muscle. What they usually do not say, because it seems so obvious to serious bodybuilders, is that they won't build muscle unless the people taking them are actually doing strength training. But there are still consumers who buy them in the hopes of having their bodies start turning fat into a muscle as soon as they swallow the supplement.
Bodybuilding supplements, like all nutritional supplements, are meant to be used in conjunction with a person's diet, to compensate for any nutrients in which the diet may be deficient. Some bodybuilders, for example, do not eat enough protein because most protein sources contain fat.
Yet, without sufficient protein, their bodies cannot build new muscle. So, to ensure that they are getting adequate amounts of protein, they take bodybuilding supplements containing protein and creatine. There are several types of bodybuilding supplements with protein.
Types Of Protein Supplements
Whey protein bodybuilding supplements are ideal because they contain all the essential amino acids which the body needs but can't produce, and they are highly absorbable. Casein protein has a high concentration of glutamine, which speeds recovery. Soy protein also has all the essential amino acids but does contain isoflavones, which are very weak plant estrogens.
Protein bodybuilding supplements, and all other varieties, are good for maintaining your nutritional balance when you take them in the recommended amounts. More is not better, and can even be harmful. As with all dietary supplements, you should practice moderation.
- Caffeine
Caffeine may be the most widely used stimulant in the world, and for good reason. It has repeatedly been shown to be an effective ergogenic aid in both endurance exercise and high-intensity activity. However, when it comes to strength performance, the effects of caffeine are a little muddier.
While there's some research suggesting caffeine consumption prior to resistance training can increase one-rep max (1RM) for the bench press, other studies have found no strength benefits from caffeine.[2,3,4]
That being said, caffeine has been shown to decrease rates of fatigue and lower perception of effort, which may be of benefit during high-intensity, high-volume workouts, or if you just need a little pick-me-up before hitting the weights.
No comments