Supplements are designed to supplement a diet and training regime! They are most certainly not to be used as replacements for food.
When buying supplements it is important not to go overboard and buy them just because they have pretty packaging and look cool when your mates come round. Here are 3 things to consider when buying supplements:
- Are they truely supplementing your diet and training?
- Do you actaully know the effects of the ingredients and therefore how and when to take them?
- Are they proven to work?
You must buy supplements based on your fitness/health goals. Here are a list of supplements I use and why:
- Omega 3 fish oils - aid fat loss and muscle gowth, improve insulin sensitivity and metabolism, decreases inflammation which can enhance body composition. They also have various health benefits such as lowering blood pressure and your overall cardiovascular risk profile.
- Carnitine - aids fat loss, improves athletic performance by improving energy systems, increases motivation, male fertility, insulin sensitivity and enhances recovery. Take Omega 3 with carnitine to really enhance fat loss.
- Whey Protein - Improves body composition by gaining muscle a burning fat (due to the increase in protein consumption), can suppress your appetite, can improve insulin sensitivity.
- Multivitamin - I only take a multivitamin as an insurance if I don't get the required micronutrients from food. There are numerous health benefits to vitamins and minerals.
- ZMA - Enhances recovery and increases anabolic hormone levels especially testosterone.
- Aminotaur (BCAAs) - enhance protein synthesis, correlate with improved body composition, result in a better testosterone to cortisol ratio, can decrease muscle soreness
- Leucine - Leucine is a BCAA that enhances the muscle building pathway more so than other BCAAs. It is important that you take leucine with other BCAAs for the optimal anabolic response.
- Creatine - enhances atletic performance and strength and has a positive correlation between increasing muscle size and fat loss.