The supplement industry is a multi-billion dollar, and its job is to sell. And just like any market whose main job is to sell, they sell a lot of crap. To be completely honest, the good majority of supplements are nowhere as effective or necessary as they are marketed…if they work at all. Here are the top 5 supplements (or group of supplements) that you should stay away from.

Testosterone Boosters

Testosterone boosters have made a relatively big move in the industry lately. “T-Boosters” can refer to a wide range of different supplements. Some examples of the most commonly used are:

• Tribulus Terrestris

• D-aspartic acid

• Fenugreek

Think about this logically, testosterone is a very potent anabolic hormone. Guys will literally inject pure testosterone into their muscles to raise their levels to an adequate level so that they’ll see a difference; taking some plants isn’t going to cut it.

The best way to raise your testosterone levels naturally is to stop drinking so much, clean up your diet, and perform heavy resistance training with compound movements. In fact, you shouldn’t even be worried about taking any supplements until you have these under control.

CLA

CLA stands for conjugated linoleic acid and actually consists of a group of describes a group of fatty acids that play a major role in lipid metabolism. CLA works from two angles. The first is that it hinders the enzyme Lipoprotein lipase, which is responsible for storing fat. Second

ly, it helps break down fat and encourages its use for energy.

This basically means that CLA prevents fat storage while breaking it down at the same time.

However, does taking exogenous amounts to cause noticeable effects in body composition? Not really.Many of the benefits that are seen in mice have not been able to be replicated in humans. Interestingly, researchers have found that one of the main factors is that the CLA isomer that is most responsible for breaking down fat (CLA-10 isomer) is not affected as much in humans as it is in mice.

BCAAs

Many people will probably be surprised to see BCAAs on this list as they are used by seemingly everybody. The use of BCAAs is heavily marketed as an intra-workout drink or post-workout to aid in recovery.

But what are BCAAs?

BCAAs stand for our Branched Chained Amino Acids which consists of three of our essential amino acids (EAAs) including:

• Leucine

• Isoleucine

• Valine

These three amino acids are the primary amino acids responsible for muscle growth, especially leucine. This is why it is so easy to believe that they are vital for recovery and muscle repair….because they are.

However, recent research has found that while these 3 amino acids are essential for muscle recovery, the remaining essential amino acids also play a role in optimizing muscle protein synthesis. Even still, assuming your protein intake is adequate, adding more BCAA doesn’t seem to add any extra benefit.

IF you do want to take some amino acids, use EAAs instead.

Basically, Any “Weight-Loss” Ingredient

In addition to CLA, we might as well cover every other weight-loss supplement so that you don’t think they must be effective since they’re not on this list. This includes the latest sups such as L-Carnitine and Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA). Ephedra was the last supplement that showed consistent benefits for managing weight loss, and since then, basically, every effective weight-loss ingredient is illegal.

These supplements generally consist of similar mechanisms in that they are involved in our metabolic systems somehow, usually by breaking down fat or carbs for fuel. The rationale is that more is better…but this usually doesn’t play out physiologically. Again, the vast majority of studies that have shown benefits (which companies get their numbers to sell) involve animals, usually rats.

The problem is that when they try to replicate the findings on humans, the results are much less favorable. Further, many of these animals receive HUGE doses. For example, in the study above, the rats received 100mg/kg body weight of ALA For a 100kg guy, that’s 10,000mg, or 10 grams a day! If you look at most supplement companies, there daily serving are below around 1.2 grams a day.

Now, the title says ” basically” because there are some supplements that can help, but they’re definitely not a magic bullet. The main two are caffeine and green tea consumption (because of the caffeine). If you are interested in decreasing your cr

avings and having more energy (which in turn burns more calories), give those ago.

Basically, Any Stand-Alone Amino Acid

Many of the most popular supplements on the market are merely isolated amino acids. This includes the popular supps:

• Glutamine

• Arginine 

• D-aspartic acid

Like the BCAAs, the problem isn’t that these don’t do what is claimed they do; it’s that taking exogenous amounts of them isolated doesn’t seem to increase their effectiveness. For example, glutamine is probably one of the most popular supplements there is on the market. It’s usually used as a recovery agent as it can aid in muscle repair. And it does.

However, these supplement companies also fail to mention that glutamine is the MOST ABUNDANT non-essential amino acid in the body. While it does do what the companies claim, there’s already a plentiful amount and adding more doesn’t heighten it’s effectiveness.

If you consume adequate amounts of protein (1.4-2.0g/kg) daily, your body will already have sufficient quantities of all the necessary amino acids. The only time when any of these MAY be helpful (including BCAAS, but you should still use EAAs) is if you are training fasted or following a very low-calorie diet.

Conclusion: There are Very Few Supplements Worth Your Money

If you find yourself thinking there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of supplements that work, you would be right. There aren’t. The list of supplements that DO work is much, much shorter. The biggest takeaway is to realize there’s no magic bullet, but you'll reach your goals with hard work and consistency. The second biggest takeaway is to save your money.

If you need additional information about supplements or nutritional help, we can provide you with a 30-min nutritional consult!