To Supplement or Not to Supplement

Starting your fitness journey can be a lot of fun, but it can also feel quite overwhelming at times. There are so many things that you need to know. What is the best workout program to follow? Should you stretch before each workout? Is CrossFit a good idea? One of the biggest questions that people have is whether to take supplements or not.

This article will explore both sides of the argument and help you to make an informed decision as to whether supplements are right for you.

The Case for Supplementation

Many of the anti-supplement crowd will claim that instead of buying supplements, you should focus on getting all the nutrients you need through diet alone. There is a strong case for this being true. But there are a couple of issues which the anti-supplement crowd fail to address.

For starters, getting all your nutrients through a diet is not that easy! If it was then obesity and metabolic diseases would be virtually non-existent. Eating the right food at all times requires the following:

• Time – to cook and prepare meals for yourself and your family takes more time than most people have. Particularly single-parents, or people working multiple jobs.
  

• Money – The myth that eating healthily is cheaper than eating junk food has continued for too long. Having the time (see above) and energy to cook meals from scratch is something that you need money for.
  

• Education – Nutrition is a highly complex subject, and the information available to the public is often misleading. Do you avoid dietary fat completely (low fat diet) or base your entire diet around it (Keto)? Are carbs good for you? Or bad? Education is crucial for a diet to succeed.
  

• Space – If you are sharing a kitchen with 4 other people, then is cooking a healthy meal a realistic option? You would be surprised how many people don’t have access to sufficient refrigerator space to store meals (for example).

We’re not anti-diet here, we just wanted to point out that not everybody finds it easy to eat a healthy diet. Sure, a home-cooked high protein breakfast is better than a protein shake and an apple, but if you have 10 minutes to get to work the protein shake is a lot more realistic!

But even if you do follow a perfect diet, there are still areas that you may struggle to cover. If you live in a colder and less sunny climate then vitamin D may need to be supplemented. If you are looking to build muscle mass, then you may struggle to consume enough protein without a shake. If you want to improve your performance, then getting enough creatine monohydrate in your diet is almost impossible without supplementation.

Supplementation takes a lot of the hard work out of dieting, and by making it easier, it can make establishing habits a lot more efficient. The whole point of focussing on your fitness and nutrition is to eventually change your habits for the long term, and why not make this as easy as possible?

The Case Against Supplementation

The biggest problem with supplements is the price tag. While the cost per serving of a protein shake is actually quite low, you still have to purchase a huge tub of the stuff. You could easily spend upwards of $100 on supplements in your first month of training!

And for what? An extra percentage improvement on your bench press? The truth is that most new gym goers could avoid supplementation for the first 6-12 months of their training and see no difference to their results. Buying creatine when you’ve never held a barbell before is a little like spending $500 on a top of the range driver just before your first golf lesson.

Too often, supplements are seen as a magic bullet solution to any nutritional problem. Want to lose weight? Take this pill. Want to build muscle? Take this powder. Want to lift more? Drink this shake. Whereas the real way to build muscle, lose weight, and lift more, is to be consistent with your training, sleep well, and eat the right foods.

Spending money on a personal training session, a nutrition eBook, or a good quality cooking pot could probably get you better results than most supplements.

To Supplement or Not to Supplement

You’ve heard compelling cases for and against supplement use, but what is the right answer? Well, there isn’t one. The answer differs from person to person. Some people may benefit from taking supplements, while others would do better to focus on their diet and training. For the majority of people, the answer lies somewhere in the middle.

There are some supplements that can really help you to train better, recover better, and feel better. For example:

• Whey protein powder - great for building muscle, preserving muscle during diets, and recovering from training.
  

• Creatine monohydrate – the perfect supplement for training hard in the gym and getting that extra rep out of tired muscles. Creatine is great for strength, hypertrophy, and performance.
  

• Vitamin D – Perfect for winter when many people see a lot less sunlight than usual.
  

• Caffeine – Used for weight loss and for performance benefits.

If you don’t have the money for supplements, almost all of these can be found in food and drink. You can get your protein from dairy, meat, pulses, and tofu. You can get vitamin D from fatty fish and dairy, and you can get a decent amount of caffeine from coffee.

Many fitness experts talk about supplementation as the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae. That extra 5% that isn’t vital but is a welcome addition. If you feel that you can afford to supplement and are prepared to work hard in the other aspects of your life (diet, sleep, recovery) then supplements are a great way to accomplish your goals.

If you don’t have the budget, or you aren’t fully committed to training and diet, then supplements are unnecessary. You need to decide what direction to take yourself in.