I'm going to start out this post with a massive disclaimer: I am not sponsored by any supplement companies, I am not a professional, and this post is simply my personal opinion, experience, and research. I wanted to address this question because in the fitness industry supplements are pushed ALL THE TIME, and this is an extremely common question of how necessary are they really.
The first and foremost answer to that question is: no. Supplements are not necessary for a diet because well they are just that, a supplement i.e. extra, an addition, etc. Supplements can be used to enhance a training regimen, diet, or a combination of those BUT you can get results without them.
I personally do not take very many supplements. If it's something I can get via my diet then chances are I won't seek out a supplement for it. Now, I am not saying supplements are bad at all but the fact of the matter is many of these products do not have long-term research done on them because frankly they haven't been around long enough for us to even study the long-term effects. I don't take that fact lightly and for that reason it will often deter me from trying out a supplement.
I take two supplements on a regular basis: protein powder and BCAAs. Yes, I consider protein powder to be a supplement because when I take it, it's meant as a way to complete my protein intake for the day so it's supplemental. I don't take protein powder every day but maybe every other or every couple days. It varies and I don't intentionally not take it every day but like I said if it's something I can get through my diet then I will take a more natural way (bump up my chicken, add in egg whites, etc.). The other supplement I take are BCAAs (branched chain amino acids) but again I don't even take these every day. I would say almost every day I workout I will have them to promote recovery and preserve muscle mass because I do workout fasted.
Again, you don't even need BCAAs because you can achieve both of those things through proper training and nutrition. One of the main things I notice with BCAAs is that they do help with making me less sore the next day but honestly that's something I can live through if I don't take them. I didn't notice any drastic changes in my muscles or physique while using them so it's not a magic supplement to help you build muscle overnight and get jacked. It's meant to help preserve your current muscle mass and promote muscle synthesis over time (not overnight). I simply just like to give my body a little boost every now and then to make sure I'm recovering properly. Also, a quick side note but I do count my BCAAs towards my overall protein intake for the day. They are amino acids and therefore your body treats them as it does a regular protein molecule. So, it can count towards your protein intake for the day. All I do is measure it out by the gram and then plug in however many grams I used for that day and count it as a protein gram.
Preworkout is probably one of the biggest supplements on the market right now but I will go ahead and say that I have tried different brands of it, and I hate them all haha! I find that I do nottttt like the feeling of preworkout at all, and often times it was so strong that it would make me sick. I workout fasted, usually around 6am, and I find that I don't need an extra boost at all. I make sure to get a good night's sleep, fuel properly each day, and my body is able to handle early morning workouts fasted. I do have a small
cup of coffee (half caff) while reading my Bible in the morning but that's all
I have before working out.
I'm not saying that preworkout is bad or that you shouldn't take
it, but I find that it's not necessary for me and I prefer not to take it. I
have found that controlling my caffeine intake is better and the ironic thing
is that less coffee helps me feel more energized over time. If I have too much
caffeine during the day then my sleep suffers and I don't have as good as sleep
compared to when I have less caffeine. I used to get stuck in viscous cycles of
being so tired so I'd have more caffeine but that would make my sleep worse so
then I'd need even more caffeine and you get the idea. I cut back and,
honestly, yes it was horrible for the first couple of weeks but I stick with 1
cup of half caff coffee in the morning (out of habit because I love coffee
haha!) and I'm good to go. My sleep is truly so much better and I wake up
feeling so much more refreshed in the morning and my energy levels are great
throughout the day.
A lot of people I know swear by PEScience and their pre-workout products plus that company does a lot of research on their products so I do have trust in them. Again, I'm wary in general because long-term research is difficult but I do stand by a lot of their products. I have personally tried out most of their supplements and even though I'm not a fan of pre-workout in general, I was able to handle their Alphamine. I used to order their protein powders all the time (until I found out I can't have whey or casein) and they send you tons of free samples so that's how I was able to try both the Alphamine and High Volume.
Since I've been decreasing my caffeine intake, though, I haven't taken the Alphamine in months. Their BCAAs are my favorite, and I can't wait until I'm out of my current stack to order the new Mango flavor! Right now, I have Slap Nutrition's salted caramel BCAAs and I like them but they're not my favorite. Word of advice: do NOT put them in plain water. I did not like that at all but it's great as a little post-workout drink! The only reason I am switching back to PEScience when I'm done is I like the fruity flavors that I can drink as I workout. I couldn't stomach the taste of the salted caramel mixed with just water because it kind of tasted like watered down coffee. But like I said I mix it up with almond milk, some PB fit, Walden farms chocolate syrup, and it's delicious that way!
Another big supplement that you will hear about is creatine, and usually that word alone is enough to strike fear in the hearts of many women haha! I think that outside of the industry creatine gets this reputation as some magical-manly-muscle-building pill that will turn women into men if they use it. Well, that's not true because a) a woman will literally never just turn into a man because a woman's body is designed to be just that-- a woman and b) all it's meant to do is promote muscle building in your body. Ladies, if you lift and take creatine do not worry about getting "manly", our bodies literally WILL NOT turn into a man's body because we are not designed that way. There are soooo many other factors such as genetics, hormones, plus the fact that our bodies can freaking tell if we are male or female. Creatine is not like a kick start to flip some switch in our body to go from woman to man. All it does is promote muscle growth in your body, which means if you are a woman all it will do is help you grow your womanly muscles. We don't even have a fraction of the testosterone that men do in order to get insanely "manly" muscles like them. It's just not going to happen so if that's your biggest worry then you honestly have nothing to worry about.
A lot of people I know swear by PEScience and their pre-workout products plus that company does a lot of research on their products so I do have trust in them. Again, I'm wary in general because long-term research is difficult but I do stand by a lot of their products. I have personally tried out most of their supplements and even though I'm not a fan of pre-workout in general, I was able to handle their Alphamine. I used to order their protein powders all the time (until I found out I can't have whey or casein) and they send you tons of free samples so that's how I was able to try both the Alphamine and High Volume.
Since I've been decreasing my caffeine intake, though, I haven't taken the Alphamine in months. Their BCAAs are my favorite, and I can't wait until I'm out of my current stack to order the new Mango flavor! Right now, I have Slap Nutrition's salted caramel BCAAs and I like them but they're not my favorite. Word of advice: do NOT put them in plain water. I did not like that at all but it's great as a little post-workout drink! The only reason I am switching back to PEScience when I'm done is I like the fruity flavors that I can drink as I workout. I couldn't stomach the taste of the salted caramel mixed with just water because it kind of tasted like watered down coffee. But like I said I mix it up with almond milk, some PB fit, Walden farms chocolate syrup, and it's delicious that way!
Another big supplement that you will hear about is creatine, and usually that word alone is enough to strike fear in the hearts of many women haha! I think that outside of the industry creatine gets this reputation as some magical-manly-muscle-building pill that will turn women into men if they use it. Well, that's not true because a) a woman will literally never just turn into a man because a woman's body is designed to be just that-- a woman and b) all it's meant to do is promote muscle building in your body. Ladies, if you lift and take creatine do not worry about getting "manly", our bodies literally WILL NOT turn into a man's body because we are not designed that way. There are soooo many other factors such as genetics, hormones, plus the fact that our bodies can freaking tell if we are male or female. Creatine is not like a kick start to flip some switch in our body to go from woman to man. All it does is promote muscle growth in your body, which means if you are a woman all it will do is help you grow your womanly muscles. We don't even have a fraction of the testosterone that men do in order to get insanely "manly" muscles like them. It's just not going to happen so if that's your biggest worry then you honestly have nothing to worry about.
I personally have never taken creatine but I know plenty of women and men that do. There is meant to be a deadline of usage, though, which I'm not sure if that is pushed a lot because obviously companies want you to buy their products. When you first start taking creatine, you can do a sort of "boost" dose where you take a certain number of grams over maintenance (this is called the loading phase). So starting out you could do up to 20-30g for the first 5-7 days then cut back to a maintenance dose of anywhere from 2-5g for about 5 years. It's recommended that you only take it for up to 5 years but there are still plenty of people who use it beyond that time frame. The research goes both ways but I think it would have to depend on the individual and their body. One of the main things would be to watch how your kidneys are functioning and keep an eye out for any potential adverse side effects.
So there you have it! Just some basic points about common supplements out there on the market. I know I didn't even touch on certain ones like sleep aids, joint supplements, fat burners, or any of the other numerous products available. I'll give my honest opinion and say that I doubt they're really worth the money or the effort in taking them because I know that I personally have been able to achieve all of my goals in the past few years without them. So, I'm not too concerned about my current lack of supplements because as long as you tap into your body's natural functioning and manipulate your diet/exercise that way then I don't really see a need for so many supplements. Again, not saying if you take any of these supplements then that's bad, but I'm just always in the mindset of "if I've achieved everything this far without them do I really need them down the road?".
Besides, I'd much rather spend my money on peanut butter and ice cream haha! The real MVPs of how I've built my muscles :)
Totally kidding (sort of ) but seriously, though, carbs are your muscles' best friend. I'm definitely a big believer in doing things the natural way and achieving my results through tweaks in nutrition and training regimen. That's simply my personal opinion, and I get that not everyone shares that but this post is just meant to be my take on supplements! If you are thinking about venturing with certain supplements my biggest piece of advice is this: please do your research. Don't just take it because a friend told you about it or there's a huge hype about it in the fitness industry. We have to be smart for our bodies and make good decisions so if there seems to be reliable and valid research on the product then by all means make the decision you think is best for you!
So there you have it! Just some basic points about common supplements out there on the market. I know I didn't even touch on certain ones like sleep aids, joint supplements, fat burners, or any of the other numerous products available. I'll give my honest opinion and say that I doubt they're really worth the money or the effort in taking them because I know that I personally have been able to achieve all of my goals in the past few years without them. So, I'm not too concerned about my current lack of supplements because as long as you tap into your body's natural functioning and manipulate your diet/exercise that way then I don't really see a need for so many supplements. Again, not saying if you take any of these supplements then that's bad, but I'm just always in the mindset of "if I've achieved everything this far without them do I really need them down the road?".
Besides, I'd much rather spend my money on peanut butter and ice cream haha! The real MVPs of how I've built my muscles :)
Totally kidding (sort of ) but seriously, though, carbs are your muscles' best friend. I'm definitely a big believer in doing things the natural way and achieving my results through tweaks in nutrition and training regimen. That's simply my personal opinion, and I get that not everyone shares that but this post is just meant to be my take on supplements! If you are thinking about venturing with certain supplements my biggest piece of advice is this: please do your research. Don't just take it because a friend told you about it or there's a huge hype about it in the fitness industry. We have to be smart for our bodies and make good decisions so if there seems to be reliable and valid research on the product then by all means make the decision you think is best for you!
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