Think about it, if you're lookin' for that proverbial "Magic Bullet" but your program sucks, then you're just kidding yourself. Unless you're logging everything in your fitness program similar to the way a performance athlete does, then you'll never know if any performance or weight loss supplement you're taking is really helping your efforts or not.As a Houston personal trainer there's a few things I'd like for you to keep in mind. Only some of the supplement companies' products will give you any real benefit, contrary to what they have led you to believe. Additionally, at best, those that do, will give you only a whopping one to three percent improvement. Cool, huh...NOT!
Something else that is a little known fact to most folks is that ninety plus percent of their products don't have any real positive effect at all...and some may even have a negative effect instead. Even cooler, huh? Furthermore, a good portion of the companies don't have a lot of science behind their products to back up their claims. But consider this foremost: if you're not tracking your exercise and diet correctly, or worse yet, you don't have a set program in place, then don't waste your hard earned money.
This is because you simply will not have a clue as to whether or not you are just getting a temporary placebo effect or what. Sadly, by the time you figure out that the Pixie Dust you've been taking hasn't done a darn thing to enhance your performance or weight loss efforts, it may be several months down the road. Guess what? That's already been factored in by the supplement companies. Guess what else? They are already there at the crossroads waiting for you with a smile and lots of "Bling Bling Ads". Ever wondered why you see so many "Brand New Whiz-bang "products coming at you each month? Yep, that new one that caught your eye while being touted the other day online is just THE ONE performance or weight loss supplement to do the trick and just has to be what's missing in your program. Right? Wrong! Don't get sucked in my friend!
And please, remember, that if you are not documenting as much as you can in your fitness program and I mean taking regular body compositions and tape measurements, recording sleep patterns, meal timing, nutrient timing, the time of day you exercise, your exercise choices and the duration and intensity of exercise etc., you simply will not have the information necessary to make an informed choice. Just don't go for the hype. Remember, a performance athlete who is on their game will know pretty quickly whether or not a supplement is helping. In their world one to three percent is huge and could definitely be the difference between winning or losing in their chosen sport.
So what should be in your supplement regime? Omega 3's, a good multi vitamin, minerals, anti-oxidants and such will give you a good base and you should take a hard look at that and get some of these in your life. There are some very good products out there. Additionally, you should evaluate your protein intake levels. If you simply cannot get the protein in each day that you need from food, then using protein powders can be a great way to get in the protein your body requires.
As a Personal Trainer in Houston, I always start out by getting my clients to look at all of these nutritionals and I highly recommend they make them part of their lifestyle. After, and I do mean only after you've established a solid exercise plan, a consistent diet, a realistic supplement program and most importantly are getting real results, you could then try to pick it up a notch by trying out a performance or weight loss supplement. Be sure you choose one that has a proven long term track record, as well as a decent amount of peer reviewed data behind it. Stay away from the hyped up supplements that have no real verifiable science behind them.
Another heads up, look carefully at the ingredients when you are looking at the product you are wanting to try. You might just get a big surprise! It has been my personal experience to find that it is not uncommon for many companies to put far less of a particular ingredient in their product than what the research called for.
You should always test out a supplement individually to see how it impacts your results with your body and remember to not get sucked into buying several at one time. All you'll have at the end of the day is total confusion and an empty wallet if you by chance get pulled in to doing so. This is so because, should you get some positive results, you just will not know which of them is doing the trick. Conversely, should your results lack luster altogether, you will not know if one of the supplements canceled out the others or not. Just go at it one supplement at a time so things do not get muddied up. Also, keep in mind some supplements don't always work the same for all people.
For instance, Creatine is an excellent example of that very same phenomena. Creatine has an incredible number of studies as well as an enormous amount of data behind it. Now, if you were to take a cross section of 100 males, on one end of the spectrum the guys there could take a kilo a day of the stuff and get no results at all, (not something I recommend though,) and on the other end of the spectrum those guys can just look at the container and their muscles pop out like no other(just gotta hate those guys!) most males realistically fall slightly one way or the other from the middle and gradate out towards either end. So you can see, it is important for you to test products to see how effectively they work with your particular physiology.
A major must do item that should be on your "to do" list prior to taking any supplement is to check in with your physician to be sure that it will not have any negative effect on you. This is especially true if you are taking any medications that may react with a supplement you are considering. After you've checked in with your Doc and he's given you the go ahead, remember to log as much info as you can around your fitness program as this is key to helping you to determine the effectiveness of the product you're taking.
