Are bodybuilding supplements needed?

The question on many bodybuilders lips are: do I use supplements or not, and are they worth investing in.

Let’s break this down and have a look shall we.
There are numerous reasons why athletes as well as bodybuilders look into/take supplements, they are:-

• Concerned that their food supply does not contain the right amount of nutrition
• Not trusting pharmaceuticals
• Understanding that diet alone will not achieve optimal levels of nutrition.

Supplements will include

• Vitamins and minerals
• Amino Acids
• Herbs

The worrying thing about supplements is that anything that is classified as a dietary supplement is not required to meet FDA standards, let alone any other standards. It worries me to think we take them and they are not regulated or any safeguards are put in place to make sure that the purity of something that is sold to help benefit us isn’t 100% regulated by anyone, so anything can be added without our best interest at heart..

It turns out that they are not made to meet the same or similar safety requirements as prescription medication or any other manufacturing standards, seems that they are not required.
There are no requirements to meet product potency or purity ratings so they do not need to show what they claim on the side of the tin, and that they have any real effect on your health and what they claim to do.

Some groups have tested and are suggesting that a number of supplements can and may deliver on only advertising claims, so these claims are making young bodybuilders starting out to go spend their hard earned cash on things that may not help them on a big scale, but only on a short scale.

My personal option is that supplements are overrated, I found in my own training, that when losing weight food supplements helped, but other supplements weren’t working the way I wanted them to, but I have heard testimonials from other who have used certain products that they have helped then gain a certain level, but like most, it’s all up to you and your training and how far you push yourself.

It’s only recently that more and more bodybuilders become users of supplements and steroids because of the volume strength training, this started to challenge the trainers to the best of their potential and they wanted to go past their point of known return also known as “the wall” they had hit. The younger bodybuilder’s spent up to 7 days a week in the gym (this is normal for most hard core bodybuilders) but when you’re in a gym with al big blokes and girls, it does make you want what they got and give you the hunger, so they went out and found things to help them push even further, and some worked hard with little to show for all their hard work.

This to me is a waste of time and your energy, if you start off using infrequent, short, high intensity weight training sessions, followed by the required cool down and recovery period, you will see a difference in next to no time and with no help from supplements or steroids.

But this is my opinion, so when looking at supplements please look more closely, ask other bodybuilders for their advice and so as much research as possible, nothing worse than spending the cash and getting no results.

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