It’s no secret that supplementing your gym routine smartly can lead to accelerated muscle gain. While no supplement can replace an efficient high-intensity gym routine, adding a few to your regimen can deliver significant effects in a shorter time than anticipated.
In this article, we’ll break down the 4 most effective muscle building supplements and what you should expect from each:
1. Creatine
Creatine is arguably the most popular supplement among those who are interested in muscle growth. As supplementing goes, creatine’s effects are comparatively well documented and there’s a solid foundation to claim that its popularity is well deserved.
Creatine’s benefit is twofold: it both accelerates muscle mass gain and enhances gym performance. Supplementing with creatine serves a concrete purpose - to increase the stores of phosphocreatine, which, in turn, is supposed to increase the production of ATP.
ATP - adenosine triphosphate - is a basic form of cell energy that burns during high-intensity exercise. To maximize the exercise effects, your body needs to keep producing ATP - and it often can’t keep up with the demands. Supplementing with creatine solves this problem.
A side-effect of increased ATP production is an increase in overall strength and power. Studies have shown that supplementing with creatine for 8 to 10 weeks can show between 5% and 20% of improvement in different exercise performances, such as cycling sprints, bench press rep, and half-squat power.
And if all this wasn’t enough - it directly affects muscle growth as well. Not only due to better gym performance, but through myostatin reduction. Myostatin is a protein that inhibits muscle cell growth.
Numerous studies show that combined with strength exercise, supplementing with creatine is an effective way to support muscle building.
You’ll find that pretty much every supplements store sells creatine. Make sure to get your hands on Monohydrate, as it’s been shown to be the most effective type.
2. Whey Protein
The first thing any newbie learns about muscle building is that proteins are the main muscle building blocks, and thus, without adequate protein intake there can be no muscle mass gain.
But you also learn that not all proteins are created equal and the protein source you choose to consume will also influence your muscle growth. Hotdogs just won’t be as effective an addition to your diet as a piece of salmon, everyone knows that.
Protein supplements aren’t all that different in this regard. Some protein supplements are better than others, and whey protein is acknowledged to be among the best.
Taking a whey protein supplement isn’t just a convenient way to boost your daily protein intake. It contains multiple nutrients and amino acids (including all essential nine) that promote muscle gain and fat loss in several ways, aside from simply providing an extra helping of healthy protein.
Consuming whey protein supplements on the regular will increase anabolic hormone production which in turn will stimulate muscle growth, essential amino acids (particularly leucine) stimulate muscle protein synthesis, and, last, but not least, whey protein is absorbed faster than most other types of protein making it easier for the body to utilize it as muscle-building block.
3. Nitric Oxide Boosters
Nitric oxide boosters are aimed not so much at directly promoting muscle building, but helping you build a more efficient routine for muscle gain.
Nitric oxide is a gas naturally produced by your body. Its primary function is to help with blood flow. Blood carries oxygen to the muscles, and oxygen, in turn, breaks down glucose creating your muscle fuel (including the abovementioned ATP). The idea behind nitric oxide boosters is that promoting vasodilation (increased blood flow) will create more of this fuel than your body normally would.
Or, to put it more simply, taking a nitric oxide booster is supposed to give you more energy, so that you can do more high-intensity exercises for longer periods of time and thus increase your muscle mass faster.
Some proponents also claim that increased blood flow to the muscles makes them look more pronounced, but the jury’s still out on that one.
In fact, the jury’s still out about how effective nitric oxide boosters actually are, since we don’t have any large long-term studies that would provide definitive answers. However, there have been studies that show a link between increased nitrate levels and performance improvement. We just don’t know how much of a boost comes from the exercise itself and how much of it can be attributed to supplements.
4. Ecdysterone
Ecdysterone has started gathering attention relatively recently. There hasn’t yet been much research done about it, however, there’s a theory that it could promote lean muscle mass gain as well, if not better, than steroids. Which, at least, makes it worthy of paying attention to.
Unlike steroids, Ecdysterone is a naturally occurring compound. According to a small study done on rats, Ecdysterone increases protein synthesis by around 20%. Another small study, with 46 participants, showed a significant - 19,4% - increase in muscle strength.
If properly utilized, Ecdysterone has shown real potential at promoting efficient muscle building. However, more research is required to determine the results of supplementing with Ecdysterone, including adverse side effects.
Conclusion
Supplements can be very useful when it comes to boosting your progress and performance in the gym. But, you should never rely solely on supplements.
Make sure to prioritize your nutrition and training and only once that has been done, add in a supplement to your routine.
