A lot of people think I’m anti-supplement since all we carry in the gym is protein powder. Over my now 13 years in Taiwan, I’ve talked to countless people who think a single greasy chicken leg a day provides all the protein they need. After pulling my hair out over this, I decided to carry the best protein powder I could find and I told people to drink it once a day. So the need for a protein supplement was blazingly clear to me.
The need for other supplements is less clear, so I don’t have a pharmacy at the gym. The main reason is that for most any other supplements to work, someone’s training and diet have to be squared away. Is your’s squared away?
Think of it as a hierarchy: training first, diet/nutrition second, rest and recovery third, supplements fourth. Thinking like this clears it up. I don’t care what you eat or how much sleep you get, you’ll never be fit if you don’t train. Training is ALWAYS number one in my book. We just don’t move enough. I’d rather you have a bad diet and awesome training than the other way around. You can burn off a donut or cookie but you can’t eat your way into muscle or cardio benefits.
People with solid training should then look at diet. This is an area that screws many people up but it’s effects are profound. Then are you getting enough sleep? Are you trying to recover while all stressed out?
Only when these elements are in place will supplements help. And even then, it’s a big maybe. Believe it or not folks built muscle before creatine or NOX was on the market.
Think of adding a nitro system to a car. The nitro only works when the engine, transmission, tires, etc. are in top shape. Putting a nitro system on your broken down Buick station wagon isn’t gonna work.
It really pains me when people who are obviously not doing the work or eating right ask me why I don’t carry more supplements. I usually want to tell them the truth — they don’t need them and should train smarter and more first.
So keep that in mind when the magazines try to sell you the latest product.