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Do I Need Supplements?

POSTED BY: Lizzy Hammond    DATE: 29 March 2007

No matter what you goal, to improve your performance you need 3 main ingredients:

  1. An effective training program
  2. An effective nutritional diet
  3. Motivation and dedication

Your diet can make the difference between the success or failure of your training goals. The diet supplies the nutrients to support your training adaptations. This can be by supplying energy, creating the best environment for growth or aiding recovery after training. It''s human nature to take every possible advantage to safely maximise results. Sports supplements have been developed for this reason.

This article is intended to answer your question "Do I need Sport Supplements?" Its goal is to help you decide whether correct supplementation could improve your performance. There are a huge range of supplements out there and the choice is bewildering. The good news is, after you read this article you should be able to make better informed decisions.

History of Sport Supplements

The sport supplement industry has grown rapidly over the past 50 years. New products are continually being developed and introduced to the ever-growing range of supplements. By 2010 UK consumers are expected to spend £370 million pounds on sports supplements alone. This is mainly from the use of energy, strength and muscle building supplements.

With such a huge range of products, it can be difficult and frustrating to decide which products to try. Most importantly, you want to know whether they can help achieve your goals. Over the past 15 year, scientific research has been used to determine whether the different supplements actually work.

What are sports supplements?

Sports supplements offer concentrated forms of nutrients that can:

  • Directly improve performance
  • Provide the nutrients to support performance
  • Aid fast recovery after exercise
  • Offer convenience in meeting high nutrient requirements
  • Make up for short falls in your diet

Sports supplements contain a large variety of products to cater for all aspects of sports performance. This ranges from building muscle to losing body fat to increasing energy and endurance.

How Sports Supplements Work

Supplements act in a variety of ways to support performance gains. They can:

Supply energy

Supplements that supply energy before and during exercise delay fatigue allowing you to maintain high intensity exercise for longer. They directly supply the energy your body needs to exercise, whether it be lifting weights or running. These products include:

Improve Recovery

There are a range of supplements that aid your recovery after exercise. Immediately after a training session, your body increases its uptake of nutrients. Taking onboard nutrients in this time frame will allow for fast re-building and re-fuelling. Speeding recovery time allows your muscles to be ready for the next training session faster. This means you can train harder, more frequently. Supplements designed to improve recovery include:

Improve Strength and Power

This represents the most popular area in the sport supplement market. Consistently used during training for strength and power sports and weight lifting. Supplements designed to improve strength and power either prevent muscle breakdown or stimulate muscle growth. These products include:

Support Fat Loss

Fat loss supplements contain a range of herbal ingredients shown to reduce fat stores. They are used by males and females wanting to lose excess body fat or by weight trainers wanting that ''classic six pack'' look. Fat loss products can have several actions on the body such as:

  • Releasing stored fat from the body as heat
  • Stimulate the central nervous system to boost metabolism
  • Suppress appetite
  • Reduce excess water storage

Provide Essential Support

Essential support supplements provide you with the nutrients to maintain high training loads. Intensive training increases the wear and tear on your body, making you more susceptible to injury and illness. All of which reduces your training capacity and effects physical performance. Support supplements provide a range of nutrients to help prevent this happening. The Muscleshop essential support supplements include:

Which Supplements to Choose

Making the decision to start using supplements is just the beginning. The first thing you must decide is what''s your goal? What do you want to achieve? For example increasing your strength, have more energy for running or building more muscle. There will be a number of different supplements available to help you achieve your goal, therefore you should see the supplements available. For example, the supplements for increasing strength include:

To help you make the right choice, we''ve tried to make life simpler for you. Simply look under our key product categories for your goal to see the available supplements. Here you will find a brief description explaining the products.

Once you have identified a product that matches your expectation, go into the full product information for details on nutrition information, Q&A''s and much more. Once you''re certain you''ve made the right choice, it''s time to get started.

Unfortunately, not all supplements work for everyone in the same way. As people differ, results can vary. Muscleshop aims to carry only those manufacturers'' products whose ingredients and formulas have been subjected to scientific research, but this is no guarantee of success. However, we do our best to guide you to the supplements most likely to help you improve your performance goals. If for any reason you are unhappy with any supplement choice, you may return it within 7 days of receipt for a full "no quibble" money back guarantee.

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9 comments so far  •  Have your say and comment on this review

Alex 04/02/2008 22:58:32

I go through phases of working out really hard and gaining muscle in the gym, but being a student I find it hard to lay off going out and keep going to the gym. For anyone who wants to gain muscle and improve fast there is only one thing I can recommend and that is Maximuscle Cyclone! It is the best stuff I have ever tried. Makes me train harder and gain muscle mass very quickly. I'm currently taking met-rx supreme weigh. It's ok, but I can't wait to get back on the cyclone as it just doesn't work as well! Hope this helps you. Thanks!

Rob 29/01/2008 23:56:41

Iam 16 and 17 in a few months. i have been wieght training on and off for 2years, and done boxing for 2years but have now given that up. My goal is to build a lot more muscle and be stronger. Can i use creatine ?

John 26/01/2008 18:19:26

Hi please could you tell me which shake is best for me as i want to help increase size of muscle in gym training?

Sam 26/01/2008 13:44:59

I think Sports specific goals could be more useful. What is the best supplement stack for a rugby player? having strength, mass endurance and speed in mind?

luke 16/01/2008 22:20:29

my aim for training is to join the army, i've been working out for 5 weeks now 4 to 5 times a week. which supplements should i be taking. thank you

DENNIS HASTINGS-SPAINE 07/12/2007 02:51:57

hi,am looking to get in shape.shape as in putting on weight,and everything else that comes with it.been comparing other sites prices and yours is the cheapest by far.please advice what products i need to purchase to pursue my gaol.?

Anita 02/12/2007 16:02:53

Have been training 4times in a week and i want to use the tonalin, protein shake and vitamin to help me get toned muscle. Can l use these if istill brestfeed once a day. Thanks

alex 14/11/2007 00:59:10

I think Sports specific goals could be more useful. What is the best supplement stack for a rugby player? having strength, mass endurance and speed in mind?

Kim 10/10/2007 11:02:58

Hi, I read your article very well. I've been trying to buy protein supplement since long time ago. Here, I got a question for you. I'd like to be a toned body. So, which products is suitable for my case? And also I hope it is a reasonable price. Thanks you.

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Lizzy Hammond

Lizzy

Lizzy has been editor at SNC for 2 years. Her specialities lie within sports nutrition, in particular the ergogenic effects of sport supplements on exercise performance. Lizzy has experience in both researching and writing sports nutrition articles and working with athletes to advise and design optimal nutritional strategies for peak performance, including work with elite around-the-world sailors.

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