Do Supplements Make a Difference?

Uh, okay. My personal experience with creatine: I liked it, I gained a lot of mass, but it felt soft. Fish oil makes my joints feel great, I’m old, and fractured an ankle about a year ago. I take 8 Flameout’s a day, and it feels good. Metabolic Drive is filling, and adds a lot of protein. I kept muscle mass while dieting with it. For the large part, the basics deliver as advertised. I use generic BCAA’s…honestly, I don’t notice anything much.

I live off protein powders. They’re just another form of food. Sure I could get all of my protein from eggs, fish, chicken and red meat, and I do get the vast majority from those sources, but protein powder is just so damned convenient.

I’ve used creatine, and I think it made some difference on higher rep ranges, 5-10. There are a lot of different opinions on creatine, some say it works for them, others say they don’t see any difference. It’s so cheap that you might as well try it yourself.

I take vitamin C, zinc, and fish oil daily. I can literally feel the difference in my body when I stop taking these for a few days. I also take magnesium, but only a few days out of the week.

I haven’t tried BCAA’s yet.

[quote]Player wrote:
no I don’t have a lot to learn and I probably look better than you do. What I meant is that BCAAs are my favorite and they are safe, really you are playing the expert without being able to even understand what I am saying. BCAAs are amino that are metabolized directly in the muscle for repair, creatine helps in the production of ATP…

The point of this thread is to discuss the importance of supplements in a program and if they can really make a real difference, not for some “expert” ass to talk shit and say I know nothing. I ignored the first time but fuck, you are really anoying.
So people what are your replies for BCAA megadosing for muscle mass [/quote]

Drivethruhero? is that you?

Protein powders are started to used as I had to up my calories and Whey protein is really convinient. ON 100% Whey, cheap and fairly high quality. I see that fish oil is a no brainer for anti-inflammatory properties and joint health. Creatine is also a favorite here (i don’t wanna use it for personal reasons). `

I don’t think I’ll be using other supplements besides the Protein Pwds ans fish oil, which are cheap and effective

It depends on what supplement you are talking about, and also what you mean by the word “work”

Almost all supplements are over rated by the company that makes them. For example, gain so much lean mass in such a time period, be leaner in 30 days etc.

That said there are some good supplements, that have been tried and tested and we all know are useful

Whey protein.
Fish oil
Creatine
ZMA

probably a few more others can list but thats about all I have ever tried and all I think I will ever need to get to my goals.

You have to keep things in perspective when considering what supplements will help. For example I like to use a protein powder because of convenience. There are times where I have to get up for work at 3:30am. At this time in the morning I dont want to spend the time eating nor do I even have an appetite. It is much easier to drink a shake at this point. There are other times in the day where I may not have time to eat and again a protein powder comes in handy.

I also like using fat burners or Spike shooters. I see other people drinking countless cups of coffee all day. Too me Id rather just take some pills or sip on Spike to give me the boost.

There are other supps which have more “main stream” use and seem to have enough research behind it such as Fish Oil, Saw Palmetto, COQ10, ect…

All in all I believe there is a bunch of garbage on the market though there are supps that are beneficial. However if you are using NoXplode and Cell Tech so you can look like Ronnie Coleman or Jay Cutler be preparred to be disappointed!

Supplements aren’t steroids.

If you’re diet and/or training is shit, you won’t get results even with supps.

ZMA irish, saw good result using it. What did you see? Better sleep, improvements in your workout or some help in building lean mass? This is a supplement I already considered using…

Only been using ZMA a few months but I do feel slight improvements in my sleep even though i still often wake up a few times to pee (Real pain in the ass for years now, probably due to drinking lots of water all day)

besides that, its cheap to get ZMA and highly recommended by others.

Anyone try viagra?, just kidding.

I just started taking a greens supp, similar to superfood, and i feel a noticeable difference in energy levels. other than that and protien everything i supplement is mostly preventive such as joint compounds and fish oil. heres the thing about supplements though- just because one works for one guy doesn’t mean it will work for the next

Yes, they do make a difference.

Assuming your talking about supplements for powerlifting or bodybuilding (which is what this site is about), then no supplement will do shit without proper diet and exercise.

But everyone already knew that bit, right?

[quote]burbanky wrote:
no[/quote]

Care to elaborate?

i think that the basics are key to reaching your goals as efficiently as possible… heres some of my experiences

protein - unless you have an unreal appetite and time to cook i couldn’t imagine getting my protein requirements for the day with out it

BCAA’s - help to ensure your getting these essential amino’s… great idea

EFA’s - unless your pounding the fish they will help with joint, neurological, and tissue health

Glucosamine, Chrondrotin MSM - my joints wouldn’t function without them at this point lol

multi - deffinitly essential for overall health and to assist in the absorbtion of other macronutrients

creatine - helps to increase training capacity to a degree with me, deffinitly worth using if it helps your capacity for work

caffeine / preworkout sup. - while not a necessity, helps with energy levels, especially on days where it is lacking

ZMA - helps improve sleep quality, worth a shot for the money

milk thistle - i had elevated liver enzymes and it lowered them back to normal range

Pedialyte - lol a leg day must for me!, helps keep the nausea away for as long as possible on the heavy sets

and TC the way in which you made this topic made you seam as though you weren’t knowledgeable on the topic and to be honest some of your posts had supported that, so please don’t make personal assaults on those trying to help you

I’m very impressed with Biotest stuff… everything just works as advertised-and then some. But they only make a “difference” because I workout with a goal in mind and eat far better than before(and simpler). Surge has made the most difference.

I always want to throw up after leg days as squats are the shit, any ideas or some cheap supplement for that?

Supplements make my wallet super-ripped.

[quote]Player wrote:
Thanks for the answers, BCAAs are the only supplement that makes sense for me and seems to be safe (don’t want to take creatine). But I heard that mega-dosing them can be bad as there are other aminos that compete to go to the brain, causing a dopamine level decrease and a prolactin increase (True?).

Fish oil seems great also, even for health.[/quote]

are you serious with this creatine not being safe notion, haha that sounds like the 14 year old at the gym. There have been a shit load of studies about creatine’s safety.

[quote]Player wrote:
I always want to throw up after leg days as squats are the shit, any ideas or some cheap supplement for that?[/quote]

did you even read what people post… pedialyte

[quote]Player wrote:
I always want to throw up after leg days as squats are the shit, any ideas or some cheap supplement for that?[/quote]

Confused. Are you looking for something to keep you from puking?

The nautious feeling is usually from a lactic acid buildup. Just make sure you’re drinking enough water during the workout.