Supplements - The Stuff That Actually Works

Introduction – Approaching Supplementation

Supplements are something that are impossible to avoid. From their regular use on the gym floor to their accessibility on the shop shelf, the world of supplements is vast, and quite honestly, hard to wrap your head around. It seems that every year there is a new miracle supp that will help to calm you down, improve your testosterone levels, boost your energy or simply make your performance in the gym (or dare I say, bedroom) better. Every supps company wants to assure you that their product is the most trustworthy, affordable, well tested and legitimate. Whilst there are in fact many great supplements out there, many of which I take myself, it can be hard to pin point the good ones down. For the purposes of clarification, I will only be discussing both legal and natural supplementation in this article.

I want to help you gain a basic understanding of supplementation alongside your training, more specifically, what works. Whilst it may be a requirement of higher-level athletes and gym goers to use supplementation to optimise their nutrition and performance on the gym floor, for a vast majority of people, it is much easier, safer and healthier to always use a food first approach where possible. I’d always recommend this to my clients first.

After sifting through all the powders and pills available on the market, you might think you have found something that could potentially be beneficial to your training and nutrition. It is precisely at this point that you need to slow down, relax, take a breather and prevent yourself from throwing your wallet at amazon marketplace or a supps company you’ve only just heard of. Before you do anything, ask yourself these 4 vital questions, and be satisfied that you have thought them through properly:

Do these supplements help to specifically achieve the results or goals I am looking for?

How safe are these supplements to take alongside any other medications or medical conditions I might have?

Do these supplements come from a well-recognised and regulated authority, and have they undergone the proper testing necessary for human consumption?

How much scientific evidence is there to support the way in which the manufacturer claims these supplements work?

To determine whether a supplement is worth your time, or even a possible risk to your health, you need to make sure you’re completely happy you’ve answered these four questions in some detail. Even then, it can be advantageous to then seek further advice from a pharmacist, your GP or registered dietician if you're still unsure.

You should only be considering a supplement in the first place if it supports your actual goals. For example, if you’re new to the fitness game and are knocking back protein shakes by the dozen in an attempt to gain muscle and lose weight, just be aware that this isn’t how they strictly work. Alongside this, you need to make sure what you're taking is safe to do so with any digestion issues you may have. It could even be that you have an allergy to some of the ingredients. Be sure to read the entire ingredient list to make sure you’re not putting any nasties into your body that could potentially disagree with you.

Perhaps one of the most important questions to answer is, ‘what’s the evidence?’ If I ever come across something I’m unfamiliar with, I do my research. A great tool is Google Scholar. This is like a search engine but for research journals. Seriously, if you are getting your information from Instagram reels, Facebook Ads or even fitness magazines, start using this tool instead. Remember, Insta, Facebook and magazines are primarily a selling platform. Good, hard scientific research isn’t (depending on the funding of course, but let’s no go there right now). It’s way more reliable and will give you a more realistic and informed view. This will help you make a better decision. Finally, always ask for advice if you’re still unsure.

With the introduction out of the way, let’s dive into what we know has been well tested, time and again, and has plenty of evidence to back up its claims. What I’m not going to do here is include all the scientific research to back it up. The research for these supplements is so extensive, well documented and tested that I don’t feel the need to justify the claims here. Honestly, multiple books could be written. Having said that, I’d still advise doing your own if you have never taken any of the following supplements in what I would call the ‘proven’ category.

Protein Powder & Protein Bars

First on our list is perhaps the most widely recognised and used in the fitness world, and that is protein. More often than not, protein supplementation comes in two forms, protein power (or whey powder) and protein bars.

Protein Powder – Really, protein powder is arguably the most common and popular supplement for regular gym goers. For those new to protein powder, there can often be an expectation that by merely consuming it they can expect to gain lean muscle mass. This isn’t the case. Using protein powders is a great way to help increase general protein intake throughout the day and following exercise. What using them doesn’t do is ‘speed up’ results. Protein is used to help our bodies repair and build. Protein powders can also be useful for helping you to stay in a calorie deficit whilst also hitting a high protein target. This is due to the low-calorie amount often found in a protein shake. But be careful, some protein powders are advertised as ‘bulk’ or ‘mass’. These often contain high levels of carbohydrates too, which means that the calories in the product will be much higher than a simple whey protein on its own. These products can range from 250 calories per serving to well over 1000 calories per serving. In general, the correct use of protein powders should be to make up a loss of protein that can’t be gained through natural foods, quite often when we are trying to hit a specific calorie intake goal.

Protein Bar – These have gained some popularity in more recent years and can be seen loitering around supermarket and petrol station checkouts, and man are they expensive! Ultimately, these serve the same purpose as a protein powder. The difference is that the bar comes in a solid, chewable form, often covered in chocolate and contains lots of other ingredients. Some bars are cleaner than others, but be aware of the calories if they are something you are keeping an eye on. Most bars will start at around 250 calories per bar. If you can squeeze them into your daily allowance, then great, use a protein bar as a snack between meals. The high protein content alongside the carbohydrate will help with satiety (the feeling of being full) and tie you over until the next meal. A much better solution than a protein shake if you can afford it. A vast majority of protein bars now contain little sugar. Fats are used in their place, which alongside protein, have little effect on the release of insulin compared to sugar. This also aids with satiety. The issue with protein bars is that due to a lack of sugar, many artificial sweeteners are used. If a bar is 100g in weight and there’s only 20g of protein, then what the hell is in the other 80% of that bar?

When considering products that contain protein, watch out for those that claim they are ‘high protein’. Not all of them actually have a huge deal of protein content. What constitutes as high protein is subjective to the individual eating it, their training programme and their current nutritional plan. High protein products can actually have as little as 10g of protein in overall, and there are some ‘protein bars’ out there that can have as little as 7g per serving. This is because the British Nutrition Foundation guidelines suggest an intake of 0.75g per kilogram of bodyweight a day for the average person. My guess is that if you’re reading this, you probably need a little more. Let’s say your 90kg for example, that would give you (according to guidelines) a daily intake of 67.5g. This means that if you had 10g of protein in a bar, then yes it would be considered high protein as you’ll have hit 15% of your daily target. Even if you’re hitting the gym just once a week, you need way more than this, but let’s not get into how much you need in this article.

When looking at whey proteins, make sure that it contains the amino acids you are looking for on the ingredient list. I’d recommend getting a product that contains your branch chain amino acids (BCAAs). These are 3 of the 9 essential amino acids (EEAs). These are leucine, isoleucine and valine. They are super relevant to muscle repair and growth. Leucine stimulates muscle protein synthesis, isoleucine aids metabolism in muscle tissues and valine stimulates muscle growth. If you have a good product with these 3 BCAAs in, then you don’t really need to take any additional BCAA supplements.

Caffeine

The majority of people assume that caffeine provides the body with a source of quick energy and is often advertised as doing so. The reality is that this isn’t the case. Caffeine by nature doesn’t actually produce more energy within the body. It is this mentality towards caffeine that overlooks the fact that energy comes from calories, which caffeine simply doesn’t have. Well, you might be asking yourself, how come I feel so good damn pumped after my pre workout..?

In a nut shell, caffeine is a neural stimulant, and it’s on this list of proven supplements because my god does it work. Some sporting regulations are even one step away from putting energy drinks on the banned substances list due to their performance enhancing quality. Caffeine allows the neurons of the brain to fire signals at a much faster rate. It does this by blocking the brain’s adenosine receptors as it is structurally similar to the compound that triggers tiredness.

As the adenosine receptors fill up natural as the day goes on, the feeling of tiredness follows. When caffeine blocks the receptors, the pituitary gland senses this increase in brain function and activity and interprets it as a stressful situation. This causes a large array of physiological changes that may differ depending on a person’s tolerance to caffeine. Over time, it is possible to build up a great tolerance. For those not used to ingesting caffeine, I definitely wouldn’t recommend a pre workout. Stick to a good old-fashioned cup of coffee and see how you handle it. Perhaps the most noticeable effect of caffeine other than the increased heartbeat and priming of the muscles, is the fight or flight response it creates within the body. This allows the body to deal with any physical stress easier than if it was to enter a situation in a more relaxed state, hence the pre-workout.

Remember, at the end of the day, caffeine is a drug. There is no disputing this. It alters your brain chemistry as any other drug would. Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s necessarily safe for everyone to consume on a regular basis. I see people in their late teens tripping out on this stuff in the gym all the time. Know your limits and use it to your advantage safely and wisely. As a nutritional advisor, I’d never recommend more than a standard cup of coffee to a client 30 minutes prior to their workout if they wanted to get a boost.

In general, and this is for most people, it’s safe to have up to 400mg of caffeine per day without any negative effects. Some people may even consume up to 1000mg per day. This often does come with side effects though, including jitters, headaches and trouble sleeping. Caffeine is ultimately like any drug. The more you use it, the less receptive your body becomes to it.

Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine has been a very popular supplement, especially for bodybuilders and weight-based sports, since it’s initiation as a supplement dating all the way back to 1912. It has been studied extensively over the years and its effects on the body’s physiology. Time and again it has proven to increase strength and performance every time it has been under review. I have seen creatine supplementation have a benefit on my own training. Having said that, don’t jump at this, still take your 4-step questioning approach before picking up the scoop.

The body naturally produces creatine on a daily basis and has a small amount of it stored within the skeletal muscle. This creatine storage in the body allows for a maximal effort of around 1-2 seconds before it becomes exhausted. The need for supplementation here is simple enough; an increase in physical performance over short periods of time. This is why it has become so popular amongst regular gym goers, weight lifters and bodybuilders.

A large majority of websites and forums will advise a loading phase of creatine before taking a regular dosage on a daily basis. This would typically mean taking 5g of creatine at 4 different intervals throughout the day for between 5-7 days. Following this, it is then advised to commonly ingest 3-5g a day. The reality is that this might not really be necessary for a typical gym-based programme, and simply taking a daily dose would be sufficient enough without loading.

When talking about the creatine found in the human body, it is referred to as creatine phosphate. This is involved in the body’s energy production and aids in the formation of adenosine triphosphate, more commonly known as ATP. When using creatine as a supplement, it ultimately allows for the body to store more creatine within the muscles to be used during exercise, especially that of resistance training.

The research on creatine is extremely extensive, and again, it is very positive. It is worth noting however that each person’s amount of stored creatine is individual to them. The ‘creatine ceiling’ will differ from person to person. As a more general rule of thumb, a standard amount of creatine in the muscle equals around 0.5% of the muscle’s total weight. As an example of this, a person who has a lean muscle mass of 50kg could only hold up to around 2.5g of creatine. This just goes to show that whilst there aren’t any immediate dangers from overuse of creatine, the body can only utilise so much from your pills and powders. If anything, don’t waste too much money, as it’s not that cheap.

Wrapping It Up

As I mentioned at the start of this article, I would only be discussing the natural supplements that have been proven multiple times to enhance the gains we work for in the gym. Protein, caffeine and creatine are the big three. I use all in plentiful supply on a weekly basis, but that doesn’t mean I don’t take precautions where necessary. Like I said, if you’re new to these guys, take a slow and gradual approach. Make sure that protein supps agree with your bowel and digestive system before you start gulping down several scoops of the stuff a day. Caffeine should be approached with even more caution. Some caffeine drinks will have upwards of 400mg of caffeine in them, which if you haven’t had time to build up a little immunity, can actually fuck with your heart. With creatine, do your research and make sure you get some without all the unnecessary additives and agents. Keep it clean, and this goes for protein too.

Honestly, I would only advise these supplements to clients who fit the bill. I would expect the client to be focussing on maximal lifts or high-intensity training. Also, these supps might be applicable to those involved in team or individual sport who require sudden movement to perform their sport with success. When it comes to resistance training, they may also be advisable for those wanting to follow a programme of progressive overload, where they see their reps increase during a set week on week. If you don’t fall into one of these categories, I wouldn’t worry about them right now. Maybe a simple cup of coffee will suffice.

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