If you're thinking about buying supplements to take your gains to the next level, then
you should watch this whole video first.
'Cause supplements might not be as magical as we might think.
I totally get how it can be very enticing to start taking fitness supplements.
It might even feel like all your friends, influencers, and even ads across all social
media, are telling you that supplements can be an absolute game changer for your gains.
And to be honest, I personally think supplements can be great too…
IF you actually, positively need them.
And that's the real kicker.
Do you know exactly what supplements can genuinely do for you outside of what some fitness influencer
said about their new super awesome amino supplement that will get you gains you could never imagine.
"My new supplement, which is on sale for only 89.99 by the way, breath per month, is gonna
unlock all your muscular muscles so you can look just like me.
Oh, and don't worry about these syringes… it's just…
my dog's flea medication.
He's a big dog."
By the way, another big topic worth discussing is this clear conflict of interest with influencers
blindly endorsing all these random supplements.
It's why my photoshopped booty is not a fan of pushing magical photoshopped supplements
to all of you wonderful folks watching.
But that's a discussion for another day.
My goal with this video is to help you effectively navigate through the wild wild world of fitness
supplements and we'll do that by breaking things down into four sections.
In the end, you'll see that it's actually quite simple.
Let's get started with the first section which I call "The Need."
Just as it sounds, we have to understand how much we truly, physiologically NEED any specific
supplement.
The point of supplements is just that, to supplement things that cannot be reasonably
acquired with nutrition alone.
But, if you're pretty healthy and have decent access to a variety of foods, then there's
really only a handful of circumstances and situations where supplements are TRULY needed.
Circumstances like food restrictions due to health, religious, and/or ethical reasons.
Or, having goals like weight loss that limit calorie and nutrient intake.
And, circumstances where taking supplements is clearly more practical.
For example, if you need caffeine before the gym, it's probably more practical to drink
a half cup of water mixed with a caffeine pre-workout supplement versus trying to quickly
gulp down three full cups of black coffee.
So, yes, sometimes supplements are needed but only if you fit the proper circumstances.
But, what many people don't realize is that, even with these circumstances, you still don't
NEED the far majority of these supplements.
And this is where we get into our next section called “The Useless.”
I don't know the exact figure, but if I had to guess, I'd say that roughly 99.91% of fitness
supplements are essentially what rhymes with… fullsh*t.
Oh, my bad, well, still technically correct.
And one big reason is that dietary supplements, especially in the United States, are not completely
but extremely unregulated.
Supplement companies can make virtually any claim about their products without any solid
scientific evidence.
And sometimes when they do have evidence, it comes from a lab directly funded by the
company themselves.
That's how we end up with a bunch of supplements like turkesterone, HMB, CLA, testosterone
boosters, just to name a few, that become very popular but then quickly fades away once
actual data comes in showing a lack of fitness benefits.
They are effectively "useless."
Where things get a bit trickier is supplementing ingredients that ARE useful but companies
try to trick you into believing that having more of them beyond what you need can provide
even greater benefits.
This happens a lot with supplementing amino acids, which ARE important compounds found
in protein.
Take the amino acid glutamine, for example, which, when supplemented, supposedly can further
improve muscle and recovery.
Looking at the data, though, like in a 2018 meta-analysis, more glutamine beyond our needs
simply provide little to no benefit.
But perhaps the most persistent purveyor of this point is supplementing branched-chain
amino acids, or BCAAs.
BCAAs are super popular largely because supplementing them can, in fact, lead to more muscle growth…
as long as you don't compare it to the much more superior supplement of whole proteins.
Remember, amino acids come from protein and BCAAs are only a portion of the numerous essential
amino acids we need, all of which are found in protein supplements like soy and whey protein.
And what we found is that supplementing BCAAs along with all other essential amino acids
lead to greater muscle gains than supplementing BCAAs alone.
Essentially, BCAAs become redundant, aka "useless," if you already get enough overall protein.
And if you need more protein, then supplementing protein rather than specific amino acids is
a better option.
And on that note, let's now talk about supplements that can actually be useful.
BUT.
Don't get too hyped just yet.
Let's break things down in our next section called "The Expectation."
If you were to ask me what I think are THE bona fide, effective, legal fitness supplements,
then there's really only three that I feel somewhat confident mentioning.
And they are protein, caffeine, and creatine.
But even for these three supposedly great supplements, people's expectations of their
impact are probably too high, and they also require their own set of context.
Now I'll keep things short for this video but if you want more in-depth information,
feel free to check out my other videos on each specific supplement.
But the gist of it is that each of these "good" supplements require meeting certain conditions
to see meaningful benefit.
Protein, which I unabashedly love, is undoubtedly important for muscle and strength, but it's
only useful as a supplement if you are indeed not getting enough protein from your nutrition.
What we're starting to realize, though, is that our protein needs might not be as high
as we used to believe.
2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day, or 1 gram per pound, has been a very
popular recommendation for many years.
But in reality, there's only a handful of studies showing this having a very small benefit
and limited to more advanced lifters or significant calorie deficits.
The overall research shows that a more reasonable protein ceiling is closer to 1.6 grams of
protein per kilogram of bodyweight, or 0.7 grams per pound.
And even THEN, the differences in gains between 1.6 grams and 1.3 or even 1.1 grams isn't
all that much.
What's more important is training effectively to elicit decent gains in the first place.
So, unless you feel that squeezing every tenth of a millimeter of growth is important, then
you're likely fine with getting a bit less than 1.6 grams.
But if you really wanna hit that number, then sure, protein supplements can help if you
need it.
As for caffeine, again, we have to think about expectations.
For lifting weights, caffeine miiight help you lift 11 or 12 reps instead of 10, which
in fairness, is not bad if you're an advanced lifter.
But if you're kind of new to lifting, 1 or 2 more reps is still good but not exactly
mind-blowing, especially since you're progressing so quickly anyway, with or without caffeine.
Now, caffeine does shine a bit more with aerobic performance, so if you're doing a lot of cardio,
then supplementing caffeine might be useful.
And then there's creatine.
Creatine is one of the rare substances that people do struggle to get from their diet,
and supplementing it can be beneficial for both health and fitness.
For fitness specifically, it has shown to notably improve performance and strength with
modest improvements in muscle growth.
However, there's also conflicting data showing creatine providing virtually no benefit.
And that's partly because about 20 to 30% of people naturally do not respond to creatine
intake whatsoever, causing wildly different effects from one person to the next.
And this point is essentially the biggest crux of supplements in general.
We see this wide range of effect happen all the time in all types of supplement research,
but we never really know that because we only look at the results in terms of averages.
And that's why it's important to manage our expectations for ALL supplements.
No one can outright say that ANY single supplement can be very effective specifically for YOU,
cause we simply do not know how you will respond to them.
With that in mind, we now jump into our final section called "The Individual," or YOU.
I know some of you are probably thinking, "Oh here's the preachy part where Mr. PictureFat
tells us how we are all different and special and how we should think for ourselves when
buying supplements."
And, you'll be 100% correct.
No one, including myself, can tell you what supplements to buy except you.
That said, I would still say that before you do make any decisions, it's good to ask yourself,
"Am I truly at the point where I should even be thinking about supplements?"
The fact is, there are a lot of bigger factors to address before supplements.
Factors like thoroughly evaluating and improving your nutrition wherever you can.
Evaluating your training program to make sure it suits your goals.
Reflecting on your training itself to make sure you're putting in enough effort.
Ensuring that you're getting enough sleep and rest for proper recovery.
And, this is a big one, setting realistic expectations and goals.
And sorry to say, 6-minute abs aren't gonna happen no matter how much a Youtuber tells
you.
They're probably trying to sell you ab supplements.
Now, once you do address these bigger factors first, then you can finally ask yourself,
"Are the benefits that supplements MIGHT provide really worth it to me?"
With now knowing about the actual physiological need for supplements, the uselessness of the
majority of supplements, and needing tempered expectations of the good supplements, hopefully
you come to a more effective and satisfying answer.
And if you're unsure about a specific supplement, see if you can do a bit of research on the
main ingredient.
You can also look around my videos to see if I've covered it before.
But, again, I can't personally tell you what to take.
Except if someone tries to sell you kale supplements, then you HAVE to immediately call your local
authorities 'cause that is absolutely criminal.
If you enjoyed this video, please give it a supplemental thumbs up and share it with
your fitness influencer-loving friends.
Be sure to click on one of these videos if you want more in-depth info on certain supplements.
As always, thank you for watching and don't forget to GET YOUR PROTEIN, only if you need
it.