Supplements for Strength Training a round up on what's not going to waste your time or money

Supplements are for reasons more down to market forces and advertising the actual effectiveness a huge part of the fitness an health industry.  However for some reason in the Muscle building and Strength training world they are held up to even higher levels of importance.  Their prevalence and absurd claims for the most part are often easily ridiculed or derided.  However to try and take a more productive stab at the problem instead of going on a tyraid against their evils lets have a look at some of the benefits some supplements could have to your training.

I will preface this by saying I have used supplements very sparingly through my lifting career and have for the most part found them to be nothing more than a convenience item.  However some people just want to try any little thing to get an edge there for allow me to help you use your time more productively.

To be included in this list a supplement has to cover 2 or more of the following criteria :-

1 - Have a sufficient weight of scientific evidence (significant findings in either a systematic review or meta-analysis of sufficient quality)

2 - Be more convenient or cheaper replacement for food stuffs and provide a similar role.

3 - Allow a tested athlete to pass a drugs test.

1 - Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine is one of the few supplements in the strength training world that actually has a weight of scientific evidence behind it's effectiveness for strength and muscle building.  Nissen and Sharp (2003) who performed a meta-analysis on over 250 supplements found that creatine was one of only two that had an effect larger than that of control.

They concluded that it had a muscle increase of 0.36% per week lager than control and a strength increase of 1.09% per week larger than control.

Whilst not worth changing these are still statistically significant differences and therefore worth your consideration.

We will cover how you will implement the supplements suggested into your daily routine in the concluding section.

2 - β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate or HMB

The other supplement found to have a significant effect on strength and muscle size when added to resistance training was you guessed it HMB.  They found that HMB increased muscle size 0.28% per week more than control and muscle strength 1.40% higher than control.

Again as is the case with creatine Mono-Hydrate not exactly game changing but a supplement with a scientific weight of evidence and there fore maybe worth considering.

3 - Whey Protein

Whilst the effectiveness of whey protein over food stuffs remains to be demonstrated outside of small trials and single studies (to the author's knowledge) the use of a high protein diet (1.3 to 1.8g per kg bw and 1.8 to 2.0g per kg of bw in periods of calorie deficit) and it's effectiveness for muscle growth, recovery and muscle retention are supported strongly anecdotaly and in sports nutrition literature.

For a 100 kg athlete to consume 1.3 to 2.0 g means an intake of 130g to 200g a day or in terms of chicken 600 to 1000g of chicken breast or other meats. 

This can turn into an expensive recommendation therefore for the sake of the bank account and convenience I would recommend you take 20-40% of your intake of protein via whey unless you can afford or have the time for whole foods in which case they are superior.  With the one tentative exception of post workout.

4 - Caffeine 

Caffine has been shown to have an effect better than placebo or control in both  systematic review and meta-anlysis it also has the distinct honour of being the only "supplement" use on a almost daily basis but I normally consume it in the form of a strong coffee or can of zero monster.

In terms of strength training you should take it 45 to 60 mins before exercise and with a dose of 6 to 9mg per Kg of bodyweight.

How do I put this into use? 

We will layout a daily routine for a 100 kg strength athlete you can work out your own doses based off the 100 kg figure so if you are 75 kg multiply the values henceforth by 0.75 and if you are 120kg multiply them by 1.2 etc.

Morning

Breakfast - 1 scoop whey protein, 1g HMB and 5g creatine with normal meal (25g of protein) also  

1 Hour pre training - 60-90mg of caffine

1 hour post training - 1 scoop whey protein (25g), 1g HMB and 5g of creatine

Before bed - water and 1g HMB

This is to be added into a normal routine including 3 meals with 70-90% of carbohydrates ingested post workout as part of a dinner or post workout shake.  

The amounts of food and contents of which you ingest will ultimately have a much greater impact on your performance.

To echo my statements at the start of this article the following are your ultimate determining factors of success.

1 - your training

2 - your food and water intake

3 - your sleep 

4 - your recovery methods (stretching, mobility, massage)

5 - your mental acuity

6 - maybe supplements?

Marc.