The last time we checked, there were over 40,000 supplements for sale in the US alone. That’s friggin’ ridiculous.
While we know that certain supplements can be useful in a muscle-building program, really, we think most guys overestimate how important they are.
In our coaching program — and at the seminars we give — we’re asked more questions about supplements than any other topic, by far. And this whole supplement thing seems really confusing to most guys.
So today, we’re gonna make things very simple for you. We’re just gonna come out and tell you exactly what supplements we have our clients use when it comes to building muscle.
And guess what? There are only five.
But first, let’s talk about how we decide whether to use a supplement or not.
You see, the supplement industry is kinda like the Wild West: lawless, unregulated and filled with shady people. And that’s being nice.
That’s changing, but it’s changing very, very slowly.
Still to this day, products are mislabeled, meaning things that are on the label sometimes aren’t in the bottle, and things that shouldn’t be in the bottle somehow find their way in.
That’s not good.
And on top of that, companies regularly sell supplements that haven’t been tested to see if they actually work, or worse, if they’re safe for regular use. Also not good.
So if it’s such a big mess — and it is — then what exactly do we do?
One approach, and it’s a perfectly legitimate approach, is to simply take nothing. The truth is — you don’t need supplements. After all, they’re supposed to supplement other things, like the food you eat and the training you do.
And lots of guys have built muscle over the years taking nothing at all. So that’s where we start in Scrawny to Brawny. Taking no supplements at all is okay. You have our permission.
But here’s the thing: some supplements have tons of research behind them — publicly available research that anyone with an internet connection can read.
Of course, to read it, you’ve gotta get through a ton of scientific jargon. But it can be done and that’s where good advice comes from. Legitimate research. Evidence. And experience with clients.
So we have the intrepid Doctor Berardi on staff and that’s what he does — makes sense of the mountains of legitimate research. And then we turn that into a few, simple recommendations for our clients.
Guys who really just want to know how to gain muscle.
So, the two strategies that make sense are: 1) to avoid supplements altogether, or 2) to examine legitimate research and use that to decide.
Now, let’s get into the second strategy, since it’s the one we use most often.
In all the research we’ve looked at, there are really just 5 supplements we recommend – supplements that can reliably help you build muscle.
Here they are:
First, there’s fish oil. You may have heard a lot about Omega-3’s – and fish oil is the key source. There’s tons of research, fish oil’s great for building muscle, and it’s even been shown to improve mood and motivation.
Secondly, there are multivitamins. As you’ve probably heard, the modern diet often leads to small deficiencies of certain vitamins and minerals. These deficiencies can slow your metabolism and impair your ability to build muscle – among other things. And a good multivitamin can help fix that.
Third, there’s protein powder. Protein powder’s not entirely necessary if you get enough protein from the foods you eat, like lean meats, chicken and fish. But since most scrawny guys need to pump up their protein significantly, it helps to have a good protein powder around to throw in a blender with some other healthy stuff when you’re crunched for time or want a quick muscle-building meal.
Fourth, there’s creatine monohydrate, the most researched supplement in all of sports science. It’s a white, tasteless powder, that can translate to more strength and muscle. Make sure to go with creatine monohydrate.There are other forms of creatine out there but they’re just not that effective.
Finally, there’s a post-workout drink. When you’re in the gym, you’re not actually building muscle — you’re tearing it down. A good post-workout drink is a mixture of of high-quality protein and fast-acting carbohydrates, and it helps your body rebuild and recover.
And that’s it.
A lot of thought and research have gone into these recommendations. This is what we use personally – and they’re also what we have our clients use.
Nothing more.
Now, rather than go into details about how much to take of each, and all that stuff, we’ve put together a really useful Supplement Cheat Sheet, which you can download on this page and print out for yourself.
In it, we explain exactly how we use each supplement we recommend.
Now, we give this talk at seminars all the time. And right about now guys start putting their hands up. “But what about this supplement? What about that supplement?”
Here’s the answer. If it’s not one of those 5, it doesn’t make the cut for our guys.
So if you have a question about a supplement that we didn’t talk about, just know that we’ve been doing this a long time, and we’ve seen it all.
If it’s not one of those 5 — fish oil, multivitamin, protein powder, creatine monohydrate and post-workout drink — then we don’t use it regularly, and neither do our clients.
So go download that cheat sheet and give it a read.
And come back tomorrow for our final lesson:
“Why Most Guys Fail To Build Muscle, And How Not To Be One Of Them.”
See you then.