Stronger, Faster, Bigger – The Best Gym Supplements To Use
At some point in a fitness journey, the vast majority of “gym goers” embark on the search to find the best gym supplements. Their goals are typically on the lines of getting stronger, faster, and bigger.
More often than not, they come across useless supplements that do next to nothing, but empty out the gym budget.
Therefore, this article skips past the nonsense and gets straight to the point by highlighting and discussing the four best gym supplements and their key ingredients.
The opinions from a sport and exercise scientist who has decades of gym experience, and endless hours of reading through the research.
What Are Gym Supplements?
For those who do not know, gym supplements are manufactured products that contain specific ingredients which have shown to interact with the body after consumption.
Upon doing so, they can enhance exercise performance and physical appearance in the short and long term. Be it gaining muscle, improving strength, becoming energised, general health, etc.
A “supplement” is defined as “something that is added to something else in order to improve it or complete it”. In other words, gym supplements should only be incorporated without the mindset of them replacing a healthy, balanced diet and lifestyle.
Based on decades of experience and reading through the research, the best gym supplements are: protein, creatine, pre-workout energisers, and multivitamins.
What Do Gym Supplements Do?
Gym supplements are taken with the intention of gaining muscle, strength, and athletic performance. Four of the best gym supplements have been highlighted below.
Protein Supplements
There is absolutely no doubt that high quality protein supplements can ramp up muscle protein synthesis (muscle building).
High protein intake combined with a well thought out strength training program can promote muscle and strength gains over the long term.
Typically, the best option for protein supplements is whey due to the amino acid profile. Whey can come in the form of powders, bars, ready shakes, etc.
Creatine Supplements
Creatine supplements actually have a few benefits. Firstly, they increase intracellular fluid (water weight), giving the muscles a fuller and healthier appearance.
Most importantly, creatine saturates the muscle cells with creatine phosphate. Creatine phosphate is a substrate for ATP, or in more simple terms, energy for high intensity and rapid movements. Some examples being a heavy barbell bench press or sprint training.
Creatine loading with 20g per day can saturate the muscle cells within 5-7 days. Loading is typically followed by a maintenance dose of 5g per day.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, one could opt to take a steady dose of 5g per day. However, the saturation process can take upto 28-30 days. Nevertheless, the creatine will work just as effectively.
Pre-Workout Supplements
On the other hand, pre-workouts are designed to give almost an instant kick of energy and performance benefits.
Without giving away too much information just yet, pre-workouts with a good ingredient profile can signal for various pathways for molecules and processes.
Multivitamin Supplements
Numerous individuals fall short on specific micronutrients that should be taken from the diet. These include vitamin D, Iron, magnesium, calcium, zinc, folate, and vitamin B12.
Deficiency in any of these micronutrients can lower the quality of life. Some negative effects include tiredness, bone fractures, poor immune functions, muscle cramps, etc.
Multivitamins are excellent supplements that can help “top up” any micronutrients that have been missed in the diet.
Multivitamins can be especially useful during weight loss phases, from the reduced intake in food and micronutrients by default.
Key Ingredients for Strength and Performance
Remember that not all supplements are the same. It is important to pick supplements with key ingredients that have scientific backing.
Protein Supplements
Without a doubt, the best protein supplement is whey powder mix. A good quality whey powder should contain all of the essential amino acids per serving, including 2-3g of the branched chain amino acid leucine.
The reason leucine has been highlighted is due to its anabolic effects. A 2-3g dose signals and maximizes muscle protein synthesis through a mechanism called mTOR. Over the long term, this response is thought to promote muscle and strength gains.
Similarly, Isolated branched chain amino acids can also be helpful in certain situations. Firstly, they can be combined with lower quality protein sources, i.e., veg-based, which can then help max out the muscle building response.
Furthermore, branched chain amino acids can also be taken in between meals to give a slightly better muscle building response.
Creatine Supplements
Simplicity is key! Pure creatine monohydrate supplements are the most effective and researched creatine variants.
Give or take, a 5g serving should do the trick. Creatine monohydrate has shown to saturate the muscle cells rapidly, thereby it can modify strength and exercise performance ASAP.
In turn, this can lead to a leaner and more muscular physique. For this reason, it is best to avoid blends and other less researched variants like creatine ethyl ester or creatine hydrochloride.
On another note, creatine has shown to have brain repairing properties that may occur from impact sports like boxing, rugby, and football where head collisions are more likely than not.
Pre-Workouts
There are a handful of ingredients to look out for when considering the best pre-workout.
1. Caffeine – First of all, caffeine. After consuming caffeine, it enters the bloodstream, where it crosses the blood-brain barrier. At this point, caffeine switches off the adenosine receptors in the brain (relax receptors). As a result, the central nervous system is stimulated to give a burst of free energy.
According to the research, a dose of 3mg/kg of caffeine is sufficient for this response. Approximately, 200-300mg of caffeine 1hr before exercise should work effectively for most individuals.
2. Citrulline Malate – The second ingredient is citrulline malate. Citrulline malate is converted into an amino acid called arginine via the kidneys, which then increases nitric oxide molecules within the bloodstream.
This environment signals for the smooth muscles in arteries to relax. The subsequent effect is an increase in blood flow to the muscle for a “gym pump”, and better endurance to squeeze out some additional reps for muscle gains. Inline with the research, a 6-10g dose of citrulline should be effective.
3. Beta-Alanine – Beta-alanine is not essential, but makes a great addition to a pre-workout.
Beta-alanine increases a dipeptide called muscle carnosine. Carnosine acts as a buffer of lactate, which can promote exercise endurance, i.e., longer distance running or higher reps in the weights room.
In the longer term, this can improve body condition and exercise performance. One harmless side effect of beta-alanine is a skin tingling sensation. Give or take, a ~4g dose of beta-alanine should take effect.
Multivitamins
A multivitamin and mineral supplement should contain the vast majority of micronutrients. Women tend to need iron due to menstruation, thereby could benefit from supplements that contain it.
Whereas men should avoid supplements with iron to reduce the risk of iron overload and its side effects.
How to Use Supplements Wisely
It is not just as simple as taking a gym supplement. To reap the best results, it is important to consider dosage and timing, along with some other important factors.
Protein Supplements
There is no strict timing on when to take protein supplements. Protein supplements can be used at any time of the day to either replace meals, be included in smoothies, baked or taken as a snack. A 20-30g serving of whey powder should be enough to boost muscle protein synthesis.
The simplest way to take whey would be to mix a serving with 200-300ml of water using either a blender or shaker cup.
Branched chain amino acids are a little different. Branched chain amino acids do not have the ability to stimulate muscle protein synthesis alone as they are not complete forms of protein.
Nevertheless, they can boost the main amino acids for muscle growth when added to a lower quality protein source.
Another method of using branched chain amino acids is to take them in between meals, which can lengthen the anabolic response of a protein meal.
Branched chain amino acids can simply be mixed with 200-300ml of water using a fork or shaker cup.
Creatine Supplements
Creatine monohydrate comes in many forms, but powder is most versatile in use. To use creatine monohydrate, simply scoop 5g using a teaspoon or a scooper.
This small dose can practically be mixed with anything, including juice, water, smoothies, whey shakes, etc.
There are no strict rulings when it comes to creatine timing. Some people like to take their creatine after workouts with the thought that it saturates muscles to a higher degree. Unfortunately, there is not enough data to support this claim.
For those who want more rapid creatine saturation, a creatine loading phase is ideal. In which case, an individual would take 4x5g per day (20g).
The best way to consume this could be to split the creatine across meals and snacks. After a 7-day period, one can transition to a 5g maintenance dose.
Pre-Workouts
Whatever form the pre-workout, it's best to take it 45-60 minutes before a workout. This is the timeframe that the substances, i.e., caffeine, would take to reach the bloodstream and take effect.
If the pre-workout is powder based, simply mix a serving with 200-300ml of water. There is also an option to acquire each of the highlighted ingredients to create a preworkout.
Do not overdose to avoid caffeine and negative side effects. A 3 weeks on and 1 week layoff period seems to help avoid developing a tolerance to certain ingredients like caffeine.
Multivitamin
Multivitamins are the easiest supplement to take. Simply pop a multivitamin with dinner, be it a tablet, gummy, powder, etc.
Take Home Message
Gym supplements can complement a well-balanced diet and workout routine. Gym supplements work by switching on certain pathways in the body to promote strength, muscle, and performance in both the short and long term. The best gym supplements are: protein, creatine, pre workouts, and multivitamins.
Protein supplements should contain all of the essential amino acids to boost muscle building. Creatine in its purest monohydrate form works best.
A preworkout with caffeine, citrulline malate, and beta-alanine should be most effective, any additional ingredients are a bonus. A multivitamin should cover the majority of the known micronutrients.
References
Wilson, J.M., Wilson, S., Loenneke, J.P., et al. "Effects of Amino Acids and their Metabolites on Aerobic and Anaerobic Sports" Strength and Conditioning Journal. 34(4): 33–48, 2012
Wilborn, C.D., Taylor, L.W., Outlaw, J., et al. The Effects of Pre- and Post-Exercise Whey vs. Casein Protein Consumption on Body Composition and Performance Measures in Collegiate Female Athletes. Journal of Sport Science & Medicine. 12 (1): 74–79, 2013
Andre, T., Gann, J., McKinley-Barnard, S., et al. Effects of Five Weeks of Resistance Training and Relatively-Dosed Creatine Monohydrate Supplementation on Body Composition and Muscle Strength, and Whole-Body Creatine Metabolism in Resistance-Trained Males International Journal Of Kinesiology & Sport Science, 4(2): 27–35, 2016
Kruszewski, M., Merchelski, M., Kruszewski, A., et al. Effects of Multi-Ingredient Pre-Workout Supplement and Caffeine on Bench Press Performance: A Single-Blind Cross-Over Study Nutrients 14(9): 1750, 2022
Ward, E. Addressing nutritional gaps with multivitamin and mineral supplements Nutritional Journal 13 (1): 72, 2014