The Lowdown On Ten Popular Sports Supplements | Workout & Exercises slideshows | Physical activities center

Weight Gain Powders - Bulk Up Or Made Up?

Weight gainers sell primarily to people struggling to gain weight, as the name suggests. Their prime markets might seem to be skinny young men, desperate to put on slabs of muscle quick. But they sell to experienced lifters and bodybuilders too. So the question is, do they work? Well, yes and no. Weight gainers are pretty simple: it's a pile of powdered food, effectively. A typical weight gain formula delivers between 1000 and 1500 calories in two scoops, as well as around 50g of protein. That's certainly going to result in weight gain, but muscle gain? The bottom line is, weight gain products will cause you to gain some fat, whatever you do. If your training consists of serious, heavy weightlifting or some equivalent, you'll stand to gain muscle too, but the results will vary based on your training and genetics. They're not a magic bullet, but for some people they're useful supplements.

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www.livestrong.com/slideshow/550744-the-20-most-overrated-supplements/#slide-2

CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) - Fat Loss Favorite

Conjugated Linoleic Acid is a fat found naturally in meat and dairy products. It became the buzz supplement for those looking for an extra edge when laboratory tests on rats showed that it caused breakdown of fat cells. The real question is whether it works on humans in the same way, and how significant the results are. The jury's still out on CLA, and in a way that's an answer in itself. If it has an effect, it's a relatively limited effect, at least at the doses typically taken. There's a point of view that taking up to four times the usual dose can have radical effects, but most of the evidence supporting this is anecdotal rather than coming from good scientific studies. Studies tend to vary ion their conclusions on the effects of CLA. If you're eating enough red meat and/or dairy products, you may be getting plenty of CLA anyway. If you're vegetarian, or you don't like meat or milk, the best advice is to try supplementation and see if anything changes. If previously stubborn fat melts away, great - but for most, it won't.

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L-Glutamine For Muscle Growth And Immune Support

L-glutamine is an amino acid. Muscle is made of proteins, and proteins are made of amino acids. The claim for L-glutamine is that it increases muscular size and endurance, and as a result it's sold to bodybuilders and strength athletes. But is it doing them any good? Glutamine is strongly implicated in muscular recovery and plays a role in the immune health of the small intestine. Glutamine has been shown to stimulate production of Human Growth Hormone (HGC), and is also thought to help reduce catabolysis, the process by which the body turns to its own tissues as a source of energy during training. However, the results to be got from glutamine vary. For some more advanced athletes it's one of those supplements that people swear by, so I'm unlikely to change anyone's mind; for beginners, your time and money might be better spent elsewhere.

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Whey And Casein Protein Powders For Extra Protein

Whey is the residue left over from cheesemaking, while casein is the protein which makes up cheese. Both of these form a big part of the protein supplement market and one thing they have going for them is that they're usually comparatively cheap. But are they a good idea? Whey is probably the cheapest protein supplement you'll come across and for that reason alone it's one of the best. For people struggling to get enough protein into their diets, especially vegetarians, whey protein is a good choice. But it's a dairy product so check the labeling; some less pure whey supplements contain lactose. Look for whey isolate, not whey concentrate, if lactose affects you badly. Casein has a good amino acid profile - that is, it contains a good mix of the right amino acids to be broken down and rebuilt as human protein. It's also known for being absorbed slowly. That makes it a good choice for day-long supplementation but a poor one for immediate post-workout nutrition. Some people are intolerant of casein, but it's rare; otherwise, it's a good choice, though whey is absorbed faster and is often cheaper.

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D-Ribose (Pentose Carbohydrate) For Endurance

D-ribose is a recent 'big thing' in fitness; pentose carbohydrate is a technical description of D-ribose. So what's the fuss about? D-ribose is a sugar which is produced in the body as a food source. Supplemental D-ribose is sometimes used by doctors to improve exercise capacity in people with genetic disorders that prevent sufficient energy production by the body, or in people with damaged heart muscle. So you'd think that would mean it could help you too, even if you don;t have those problems. You'd be wrong. Studies show no improvement in exercise endurance, in intensity or in muscular hypertrophy. On the other hand, there's no evidence of any unwanted side-effects either.

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Deer Antler Velvet - Growth Hormone Source Or Myth?

Deer Antler Velvet (DAV) made the news recently when sports mag Sports Illustrated ran a story claiming an NFL player, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, had looked into using the supplement to deal with his torn triceps. DAV is just what it sounds like; it's the velvet surface from deer antlers. The way deer antlers grow means that DAV is filled with growth hormones and the boast is that the supplements made from them should behave like an infusion of human growth hormone. In fact, though, there's no evidence that DAV has any real effects. It's more likely to act as a placebo than to deliver real benefits. You wouldn't think so to hear Mr. Lewis' strenuous denials, though: it's a banned substance in the NFL!

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Sports Jelly Beans - For Enhanced Sports Endurance?

Sports jelly beans are really little capsules of carbohydrates. They're supposed to increase endurance by delivering easily metabolizable carbohydrates to athletes whose bodies' glycogen stores have been depleted. And do they work? Yes. But so would anything else. Using any food with a lot of short-chain polysaccharides and monosaccharides will have the same result and so will sports gels and high-carbohydrate sports drinks. Raisins scored exactly equal to sports jelly beans in terms of increased endurance, for instance - and athletes, on average, rated them more pleasant to eat. Sports jelly beans work fine, but they don't do any better than any other little nuggets of carbs.

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Garcinia Cambogia - Does It 'Melt Fat' Or Not?

Garcinia cambogia is a source of hydroxycritic acid. Hydroxycitric acid plays a part in modulating the metabolism of lipids - fats - and the jump was made: Garcinia melts fat! Well, not really. There's no laboratory evidence that hydroxycitric acid actually affects fat metabolism, fat loss or fat quantity in the body of human subjects. One study tried using a water-soluble potassium-calcium salt of HCA. This performed far better than a placebo, but no other version of HCA did any better than a placebo. The evidence suggests that potassium helps you lose weight, but HCA has no discernible effect.

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Without Proper Nutrition You Won't Succeed

Supplements are called that for a reason: they're supposed to supplement your normal intake of food and beverages, not replace them. If you live off junk food, milkshakes, whey protein and creatine monohydrate you need to rethink where your money is going. Consider this: without micronutrients, you don't absorb macronutrients properly. If you want to process your carbohydrate, fat and, yes, protein intake adequately, make sure you're eating your greens. As an athlete you'll need more antioxidants than sedentary people - a lot more. And if you're not eating a good, balanced, clean diet with plenty of vitamins and minerals, your protein powder, let alone more esoteric supplements, won't be doing you any good. You build a winning body in the kitchen as well as the gym!

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Supplements Should Supplement Your Training. Nail Your Training First!

Look at your training program. Who are you getting your training ideas from? You don't need the latest complex system for professional athletes if you're just starting out, but if your training doesn't add up neither will your results. It really is that simple. Just as you can't train your way out of a bad diet, you can't hope to supplement your way out of poor training scheduling or practices. Nothing you can take a scoop of or pop a pill of will take the place of doing your homework, then hitting the gym and doing the work., and that's the way it should be.