If your goal is to get “roid” big, then I guess there is a need for supplements. If your goal is to be healthy and look good, there is no reason for supplements. I gained 20lbs. of muscle and 100lbs on my bench weight, all without supplements. I got to a point where I peaked but a little change in my diet fixed that problem. I just don’t see the need to take a supplement unless you are in it for a competetion. my $.02
but good luck if you decide to take them. I hope they work well for you.
GNC brand Creatine Monohydrate, Vitamin packs and whey protein seems to work really well for me. I may switch to weight gainer/protein shake to see if I can put anymore weight on.
WWF wrestler Rick Flair works out at the same gym as me. I thought I’d through that in there.
Does he yell WOOOOOOOO!!! when he lifts?
x2
yeah, everyone puts on muscle and weight on their bench without supplements. but how fast did you plateau? you don’t have to get roid big on supplements. they help with a variety of things. i have bad joints, and i take glucosamine/chondroitin/msm. thats a supplement that i need to lift. what about the person who diets/cardio, does everything right? is taking a fat-burner wrong? if you go the gym, i respect what your saying. but with all due respect, you are talking about supplements like you live in 1995. honestly, there are so many things at gnc/vitamin world/atf that are good for you, its ridicolous. even if a guy wants to stay in shape, he needs supplements. ever take l-glutamine? its an amino acid that helps reduce muscle soreness. even if you lift light, you need it. or your body breaks down your muscle before it has been repaired. if anything, going all natural without them is worse then taking them. supplements are what the name says. they supplement your body with what it needs. do you play sports? gatorade is a supplement. so whats the difference in drinking a gatorade after b-ball, hockey, running, etc, as to taking creatine and aminos?
and someone try and please answer with an intelligent response.
yeah, everyone puts on muscle and weight on their bench without supplements. but how fast did you plateau
thats the big thing i struggle with. i can gain power on bench but we end up plateauing on our workout and we try changin it up some but we run out of time and summer hits and we drop weight since we become more active or work more and have less time to lift. its a cycle. we booost up and then summer comes we drop alittle, then school we boost up more
i couldnt imagine trying to lift without some supplements…as i have noticed more gains with them than without, cuz there has been periods of time where i was on nothing.
Practically lived in the gym for 16 years…How did I make it without supplements?
Start a new 16 years WITH supplements and then compare!
Compare what? How much money I can spend?
A good basic “stack” is a multi, creatine, and protein. Now a multi is good for anyone to take for obvious reasons. The creatine is dirt cheap, I have almost a year supply for $24 and the protein you can get cheap as well…$20 can last you 2-3 months…so I say the bang for your buck is really good considering how much they can help you progress.
that’s insane
I may not put on weight as fast as someone taking supplements, but I don’t really care. I have heard people say that supplements can help you and I have also heard that these supplements don’t really do anything. I talk to people at the gym who said these supplements are completely healthy and I have heard people say that they are not healthy for you. I don’t want to take that chance. I will stick with eating healthy and working out to stay fit. If I want to bulk up hardcore and be a musclehead, I will take supplements.
If you not lifting competetivley or are on a schedule, there is no need for them. I’m not saying they don’t work, I’m just saying that if your working out just to stay in shape or for personal goals, a good diet is all you need.
Sure they help recovery time, and you might be less sore, but if your not on a schedule for a competition, whats the hurry?
Pain and soreness are part of the game. Hell, that is what I lifted for! Nothing felt better than leaving the gym totally spent, or being so pumped that you couldn’t comb your hair. Thats also how I made gains. Less pain, time to add more weight. After lifting for a period of time you can read your body, it will tell you when its time to add weight or take a break.
I did this for years and made some HUGE personal gains, so I know it works. No need for supplements. Hell supplements would have delayed that feeling that I was shooting for…This thread was starting to look like a sales pitch, so I had to throw in my $.02
its obvious peoplthink they are right. your right, you don’t l-glutamine. it really doesn’t build muscle, it just stops muscle soreness. you don’t gaotorade/red bull/etc. only water. you don’t aspirin when your body hurts. your right. i got to be as big as i am with only lifting, i was wasting my money on supplements all these years, and the crazy part is, i never took any for mass. i took mostly recovery/joint, so i could lift heavier on my own. wow, i am such a fool. i should stop taking them right now, lose a lot of size, and then cry in every fitness post about changing my workout every week because im stuck in a plateau, or i can’t get any stronger. thanx for clearing up my 15+ years experience, ace certication, 30+ powerlifting trophies, my #3 bench in a.d.a.u(lifetime drug free-tested every meet). i am such a moron, please, give me your workout.
spoken like a 3 year old. You asked for serious responses, we gave them, and now you act like a little bitch.
I don’t give a fuck what you do for your workouts and how big and strong you are. I lift to keep myself healthy, and adding supplements is not part of that.
I wonder why the actual doctors and pharmacists I have talked to all said these supplements aren’t all that good for you, but all of the muscleheads say the are perfectly safe. :dunno:
certain supplements have been around for years…and so far i have heard of no long term effects. some things may have effects, but basic stuff will not hurt you.
the only supplements i use, are nitrogen/energy supplements for improved blood vessel tone, and energy. this i have used on and off few months at a time like your suppose to.
and the only other thing is either meal replacements (MRP) or protein mixes which is good for recovery by giving you a good source of protein and amino acids which your body needs.
those are basic
but it basically comes down to what goals your tryin to achieve. if your just goin for health and decent fitness, then you dont need supplements. but for real gains in power/size, its best to use supplements. but it also depends on body types…or genetics. some ppl can grow easily with minimal efforts, while others struggle to gain size/mass/strength.
do whatever works
Why does it always have to be about money? There are cheaper alternatives to most supplements on the market. You can buy plain and cheap Arginine, Glutamine, Creatine, and Whey Protein at a variety of places.
There really is no way to compare a new 16 years to the existing 16 years. But if you could, you could compare the new training log to your old training log that you kept. You could see how quickly you added weight or increased reps. How much faster or slower you reached your bench press goal, or whatever goals you were trying to achieve.
There really is no right or wrong answer here. Taking supplements doesn’t make you right or wrong, nor does not taking them make you right or wrong. It is simply a matter of your preferred method of training and how you want to achieve your goals. Some people clearly think they are unnecessary while others have seen the benefits.
More than once I have worked out so hard, I couldn’t perform my job the next day. Not a problem if I sat behind a desk or had worked at a convenience store, but I was loading 53’ tractor trailers by hand at the time. I ultimately had to scale back my workouts just so that I could perform my job. If the recovery supplements existed back then, I certainly would have taken them.
i must have hit a nerve with someone here. good, now read on and learn, and welcome to the year 2006. YOU CAN TAKE SUPPLEMENTS EVEN IF YOU JUST WORKOUT TO STAY IN SHAPE!!! they are not going to make you into a roid monster. they are to help your body recover faster, grow easier, and so on. it has nothing to do with size!!! it really annoys me when people think creatine, aminos, etc are going to have long term effects. there are no long term tests because they have only been popular for around 20 or so years. but have you ever seen/read anyone die from creatine? or aminos? its cool you want to do it all natural, and im not trying to change that. but supplements are part of natural lifting. they don’t piss test for creatine. if you take vitamins, thats a supplement. my point is they are cheap, they are safe, and there are so many variations for whatever you need. if you want to just stay in shape, try taking l-glutamine, a multi vitamin, protein powder, and maybe some carnitine. you wont get any bigger, but your muscles will respond a lot better to your workouts, you will not plateau es easy, and your workouts could be more intense without any problems. there is a big difference in taking them for size/strength, and for just being healthy. everyone else who replied seems to know that except you.
These products will also, remove stains from clothing, cure rickets, clean up the environment, kill fleas on your pet, solve world hunger, and if you happen to lose a leg, just rub some of this on and you’ll grow a new one…this stuff has been around for 150 years, used to be called…SNAKEOIL…
snakeoil…lol some of it maybe…but some is definately proven
snakeoil, your right. it doesn’t work at all. why is it everyone wants to say they don’t work/waste of money? any of you typed that, do you know how/when/right amount to take? if you do, then none of you would say its a waste of money.