FAQs About Supplements

There is ample research showing that some supplements help improve performance or body composition, but never feel that you must take them in order to achieve your goals in this or any other sport. The foundation of your success will always be your nutrition, training, and recovery. Supplements may bring you a few extra percent of improvement, but remember that they are a supplement to your nutrition and training regimen, not the core of it.

Creatine comes in many forms, with the most common being creatine monohydrate. Our recommendation, if you choose to supplement, is creatine monohydrate for low cost or, for a slightly higher price, Kre-Alkalyn. Kre-Alkalyn has personally yielded the most consistent results, and has the advantages of not requiring loading or cycling, not causing water retention, and a lower dosage than other forms.

Creatine is a supplement that is nearly as widely used and researched as protein. Its purported benefits are increased strength and strength endurance (more reps with a heavy weight), and there is substantial evidence showing its effectiveness in this regard. I would therefore say “yes” to both of your questions. It functions by being stored within muscle cells (where it also naturally occurs) as a source of fuel for very high intensity activities, and by supplementing the diet with it we are able to increase the amount stored within our muscle cell and increase our ability to work at a high intensity. Try it! You can always stop taking it if you don’t see any improvements.

When choosing a brand of protein, some things to look for are minimal processing, a combination of multiple sources of plant proteins, and organic or raw ingredients. This will ensure that the product is as nutritious as possible, has a broad spectrum of amino acids, and will have the least possible industrial contaminants. Some brands we highly recommend are PlantFusion, SunWarrior, and Vega.

A protein supplement is an easy and convenient way to increase the protein concentration in your diet without increasing calories too much and has been shown to aid in muscle recovery and growth, but getting too much protein from supplements rather than whole foods means you are missing out on a lot of nutrition found only in whole food. Our rule of thumb, if you choose to supplement with protein powder, is to keep supplemented protein under 20% of total protein intake (and preferably closer to 10%). This will ensure that you are getting the bulk of your protein from healthy, nutrient-dense sources like lean meat, eggs, legumes and whole grains, cheese, etc.

A multivitamin/multimineral is the first supplement we recommend to anyone we know, weight lifter or not. Vitamins and minerals do not directly affect muscle growth and they do not necessarily affect exercise. Although they are not a source of energy, they do perform highly specific metabolic functions, especially in energy metabolism. In other words, they make the better environment in your body for muscle growth to occur as a result of real muscle-growth factors. Although these micronutrients don’t themselves enhance athletic performance, they’re necessary to achieve optimal levels of performance. That’s why they should be part of your muscle-building regimen as well.