i remember the very first time i walked
into a supplement store
i was completely overwhelmed with all
the different options
but luckily i had the sales rep there
right by my side to guide me
10 minutes later and i was set with 400
worth of different supplements that i
was promised would get me
and i quote absolutely jacked a month
later though all
i had to show for my investment was an
empty wallet
fast forward to now and i've learned
through research that the vast majority
of muscle building supplements out there
do absolutely nothing or use and market
it totally out of context
to take advantage of those who don't
know any better that being said
there are a handful of supplements that
when used properly
actually do live up to their claims and
can help speed up
results in this video i'll cover four
such supplements and go through not only
how they work
but also the results that you can expect
from each of them just to give you some
realistic expectations
protein powder is by far the most widely
consumed supplement in the industry
whey protein powder in particular has
been shown to rank as the highest
quality protein source
when compared to several other protein
sources mainly because of its high
leucine content
one of the main factors that determines
the quality of a protein source
but this does not make it some magical
muscle building supplement
despite what your supplement stores
sales rep says protein powder does not
seem to directly help you build muscle
faster
consistently eating enough protein does
and you don't need protein powder to get
there
as whole foods alone can do this for you
just fine
but for a few reasons protein powder can
help you do this more efficiently
first off it's typically very low in fat
and carbs and instead
very high in protein content which makes
it very calorie and macro friendly when
compared to various other protein
sources
second it's convenient and can be used
in many different ways to both save you
time and add some more life into your
diet instead of relying on the same
boring protein sources every day
and lastly it's actually quite
affordable when viewed at a price per
gram basis
with the average cost of whey protein
being comparable to that of chicken
breast
and this all just makes it easier for
you to consistently reach the optimal
daily protein intake that otherwise can
be a struggle to hit
which is exactly how protein powder can
indirectly
speed up your growth in fact one-man
analysis showed that in subjects who
were ingesting only around 1.2 grams of
protein per kilogram of their body
weight per day
added in 50 grams of protein into their
diet mainly through the use of protein
powder
they experience significantly faster
gains in muscle size and strength
another meta-analysis found similar
results indicating that protein
supplementation is generally associated
with about a
38 faster gain of muscle and 33
greater increase in strength if you're
currently not hitting the optimal
protein intake
so if you're currently having a hard
time getting sufficient quality protein
through whole food sources alone
then whey protein is definitely a good
option to help you reap those extra
gains that you're missing out on
next is creatine which is probably the
most well researched and science-backed
supplement on the market so creatine is
a substance that's already naturally
found in our bodies
and how it works is actually very simple
whenever we lift
weights we use something called atp the
main energy source of our muscles
as we lift we deplete these atp stores
to the point where we fatigue
it can no longer perform any more reps
or lift the weight up
and this is where creatine comes in it
improves our strength and muscle
endurance by facilitating
a faster regeneration of atp and thus
ultimately enabling us to perform that
extra wrap or two
or lift slightly more weight during our
workouts in fact a meta-analysis
reviewing 22 creatine studies
found that creatine supplementation
provided a boost of roughly eight
percent greater strength
and 14 greater risk performed when
compared to no supplementation
now this doesn't sound like much of a
boost but these small gains do
add up over time and have been shown to
speed up the rate of muscle and strength
gains as a result
but just be wary that there does seem to
be quite a bit of variation with regards
to the response to creatine
with vegetarians vegans and those who
are just naturally low in creatine
levels
experiencing the most benefit and lastly
i just want to emphasize that creatine
does not simply do the work for you
the benefits that you get from
supplementing with it only apply
if you're actually pushing yourself
harder in your workouts as a result
next is caffeine another well-researched
and well-known substance that can
indirectly speed up our growth
research has shown that caffeine
ingestion prior to our workouts
not only enhances our muscle
contractions but can also
enable us to perform more reps by
altering our pain thresholds and our
perception of how hard we're working
as for how much of a benefit you can
expect a recent
analysis found little to no benefit of
caffeine ingestion on strength or the
amount of weight you're able to lift in
an exercise
but did find quite a significant and
consistent effect
on muscular endurance and the number of
reps you're able to perform
on average caffeine ingestion enabled
subjects to perform around two to three
more reps per set
leading to about a ten to twenty percent
boost in their total arrest performed in
their workout as a result
researchers speculate that these effects
likely speed up growth over time due to
the increased volume that subjects are
able to achieve
by ingesting caffeine prior to their
workouts
however the benefits that we see with
caffeine supplementation
seem to favor lower body workouts more
than upper body workouts
likely because they're just generally
more strenuous and require more effort
and we also see a greater effect when
it's used during early morning workouts
if you're not accustomed to doing them
as well as during workouts where your
sleep deprived from a poor night's sleep
the night before
and one more consideration that you want
to take into account
is your habitual caffeine intake because
those who consume caffeine on a regular
basis
tend to see somewhat of a blunted
response to its ergogenic effects
so what i'd recommend to avoid becoming
overdependent on the supplement
and to avoid developing a caffeine
tolerance too
quickly is to preserve its use for
workouts where you'll reap the most
benefit from it
so lower body workouts early morning
workouts or days where you just need
that extra kick are typically going to
provide the best
opportunity for you to reap the most
benefit from caffeine
as for dosage most studies found a
beneficial effect
only when using roughly three to six
milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of
body weight
which can be delivered through a
pre-workout supplement coffee or
caffeine supplement
however do keep in mind that this range
is quite high especially if you aren't
accustomed to taking caffeine
so what i'd recommend is start on the
very low conservative end and just
increase as needed now here to help us
with the last supplement of beta alanine
is internationally renowned fitness
expert and researcher dr brad schoenfeld
who has done a considerable amount of
work within the field of supplements in
the fitness industry in general
so brad aside from the three other
supplements that we've previously
covered
there's actually one more that you'd
also add to the list and it's beta
alanine
would you mind just briefly explaining
how exactly the supplement works
yeah sure beta alanine is an amino acid
and it increases muscle levels of a
substance
called carnosine and it actually
increases carnosine more than taking
carnosine itself
carnosine is a hydrogen ion buffer
and hydrogen ions are acids in the body
and you feel that when
you get the a burn when that burn starts
to
build up uh when the hydrogen ions in
turn
start building up you're gonna it's
gonna interfere with your ability to
continue
training and the buffering effect of
carnosine allows you to get additional
reps
based on the research you've covered um
how much of a benefit can you average
lift to expect to get in terms of
actual performance benefits and
additional gains from digging the
supplement
i would say that from what we have you
get an extra couple of reps it might
enhance you to enhance your ability and
it is specific
to higher rep training so training with
let's say
10 reps and above if you're doing let's
say a set of three reps
3rm it's going to be primarily in your
atp system your atp phospho-creating
system
so it really isn't going to help you in
that respect you're not going to get
much
acidic buildup and thus the buffering
doesn't really affect it so when you're
training with
10 reps 15 reps 20 wraps that's when
you're going to see this benefit to
buffering the acids and
potentially allowing you to get an
additional couple reps
and then i guess those additional couple
reps would just add up over time in
terms of
increased volume and then potentially
increase muscle growth as a result
correct there's really not a lot of
longitudinal work
to look at it does that actually enhance
your muscle building effect but
logically that would be the case where
if you're able to increase the volume
load at a given loading range
then it would enhance your ability to
build more muscle
lastly how exactly does one go about
safely taking the supplement to maximize
its benefit
it takes several weeks usually three to
four weeks before its full effects come
into play
and uh the general consensus from the
literature
is about four to six grams a day and
you'd want to spread out the dosages so
it's generally less effective if you're
taking one lump sum of
let's say if you're taking five grams at
once it's better to spread it out into
less
two or less grams per per serving
so let's say three servings of two grams
spread out in the morning afternoon and
evening
the symptoms that you get are the side
effects generally you're a tingly
sensation and some people kind of like
that
but it can be i think kind of annoying
and spreading out when you're taking it
in the
larger dosages the effects of the
tingling sensation are magnified
so when you're spreading out the dosage
it will reduce the
tingly sensation so hopefully you're
able to see that supplements are not
magic
you still need to put in the work and
even then they aren't extremely
effective
but the little boost that you do get
from each of these supplements
can add up to a meaningful difference
over time
especially when you do combine them with
the right training and nutrition program
and for step-by-step program that uses
science to guide you week after week
with your training
your nutrition and even your
supplementation
so you can truly maximize your results
and simply head on over to
buildwithscience.com
and take our analysis quiz to discover
the best program for you
and your specific body and big thank you
to dr brad schoenfeld for his oversight
and involvement on this video
i've left some links down below for you
guys to check out his work
including his recently launched book
that i personally read through and would
highly recommend as it goes through
pretty much
all of the applicable research out there
regarding muscle growth
anyways that is it for today guys i hope
you enjoyed this one please don't forget
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this whole really does help me out thank
you so much everyone i'll see you next
time
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