Dietary supplements are those that add extra or missing nutrients to the diet. There are a number of different supplements for many different needs. For muscle gain and strength building, the most common supplements are protein powders, creatine, BCAAs and fat burners, among a few others.
But supplements are exactly what the name implies: they are meant to be supplementary only. And research shows that these additions offer only minimal benefits. We can continue to make good progress on our fitness goals even without the help of supplements.
BUILDING THE BODY THROUGH FOODS
Consistently relying on supplements to get you through your fitness regime would cultivate a habit that is not practical over time. The lifestyle you lead and the food you consume play a more major role in building body strength. And once you’ve learnt to navigate through your fitness routine with good lifestyle choices, building the body becomes more straightforward in the long run.
Food and Lifestyle Alternatives:
- Pre-workout supplements are generally used to spike up energy levels to enhance workout performance.
- Research shows that coffee can do the same. The caffeine from coffee brings out adrenaline, providing energy and focus to kick start the workout.
- Also, drinking coffee before working out causes fat cells to be used as energy, which helps increase metabolism and burn fat.
- Fat burning is the core of building body strength. But instead of inducing fat burning through more supplements, it is more effective to focus on maintaining calorie intake through calorie deficits, based on the advice from coaches and diet experts.
- BCAAs or Branched-Chain Amino Acids are essential amino acids that the body cannot make on its own but needs.
- It helps with muscle growth and reduces exercise fatigue, helping you work out better.
- Such acids are naturally found in proteins like chicken, fish, eggs along with nuts like almonds and cashews, lentils, chickpeas, beans and the like.
- These proteins and amino acids can help the body retain creatine, the substance found naturally in our muscle cells which help the muscles produce energy during high-intensity workouts.
- A detox helps the body to filter toxins better, while improving health and promoting weight loss. But taking supplements for this brings you there only halfway.
- There is a greater and longer-lasting impact in detoxifying your body by eating wholesome fruits and vegetables, hydrating yourself, sweating it out sufficiently and last but not least, by sleeping right.
Supplements like protein powders are essential only if an individual has difficulty in consuming enough whole foods to meet their nutrient needs. Whole foods are plant-based, unprocessed or minimally refined foods like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes and tubers.
In most other cases, supplements are simply an optional extra and are used for the sake of convenience. It is crucial to consult with fitness coaches and get the nod from diet experts on what supplements you really need, if you need any at all.
