The Top 10 Supplements for Strength Training in 2024

This article reviews 10 useful supplements for strength training to help you spend your money on stuff that actually works.

Key Points:

• Creatine is the best supplement for strength training. It offers increases in strength, muscle mass, and performance beyond what you get from food.
• Protein supplements and weight gainers can help provide building blocks and energy if you struggle to eat enough regular food.
• Vitamins and minerals can act like insurance policies to cover nutritional gaps.
• Omega-3 fatty acids offer several health benefits and might aid your strength training efforts.
• Supplements like caffeine and nitrate offer an immediate performance boost in the gym.

What Are Supplements for Strength Training?

Supplements for strength training come in many forms: capsules, tablets, powders, and even snacks like bars that promise to boost your energy, help you build muscle or burn fat, make up for when your diet isn’t on point, and even improve your health.

“Promise”.

Those promises are only sometimes held. Far from all supplements for strength training are backed by scientific research or do much of anything.

First and foremost, supplements cannot replace whole foods from a balanced diet. That’s not their purpose. As their name suggests, they supplement your diet, and while you don’t need them, they can sometimes give you an edge in your quest to build muscle, lose fat, and perform your best.

Remember that while supplements can help fill gaps in your diet or give you that slight additional boost you can’t get from regular foods, they’re not magic pills that replace real, nutritious foods.

These are the 10 of the best supplements for strength training.

Creatine

If you ever consider using supplements for strength training, make creatine your number one choice.

What Is Creatine?

Creatine is a substance naturally found in your body, primarily in muscle cells and muscle fibers, helping them produce energy during heavy lifting or high-intensity exercise.

Your body makes creatine, but you also get it from foods like red meat and fish. However, if you’re looking to turn your workout dial up to eleven, creatine supplements are a must unless you’re into eating four pounds of meat per day.

Of all the strength training supplements available, creatine is the only one with a documented positive effect on muscle strength and lean mass gains you can’t get from food, as documented in more than 500 studies.

There is nothing magic about this fairy dust of the fitness world; instead of granting wishes, it might help you pump out that extra rep or two. But over time, those small increases lead to tangible improvements in your strength and physique.

Different Types of Creatine Supplements

Perusing supplement stores for creatine can be confusing, as you’re met with many different types, all claiming to be the best. Here are some examples:

• Creatine Monohydrate: Creatine monohydrate is the most researched creatine type, proven to increase muscle mass, improve strength, and enhance exercise performance. Its reputation is solid, backed by a mountain of science. If creatine had a hall of fame, monohydrate would be the first inductee.
• Micronized Creatine: This is just creatine monohydrate that’s been put through a shrinking ray, making the particles smaller. Why? Better solubility in water. It might be worth a look if you find regular monohydrate gritty: it feels smoother but with the same muscle power.
• Creatine Ethyl Ester: Imagine a magician trying to make creatine more easily absorbed by the body. That’s creatine ethyl ester. However, the magic trick didn’t work as intended. Despite claims of superior absorption, research suggests it is less effective than traditional monohydrate. The disappearing act might be the creatine itself before it even reaches your muscles.
• Creatine Hydrochloride: This one claims to be more soluble in water and more absorbable, meaning you need less of it. However, when it comes to the spotlight, creatine monohydrate still holds center stage for proven effectiveness.
• Buffered Creatine: Buffered creatine tries to keep pH levels in check to reduce the conversion of creatine into creatinine (a waste product) before it’s absorbed. It claims better results with less water retention, but research has found no significant difference.

Other variants, like creatine pyruvate and creatine nitrate, are, at best, no more effective than monohydrate, only more expensive.

Which Type of Creatine Is Best?

The most effective and scientifically proven form? Creatine monohydrate. It’s the king of the creatines, with the best evidence backing up its safety, effectiveness, and muscle-enhancing benefits. It’s the tried and true supplement scientists recommend and the one you and your gym buddies should use.

In fact, alternative versions of creatine are, on average, more than 100% more expensive than monohydrate. Despite this, 88% have no evidence to support bioavailability, efficacy, and safety. Stick with creatine monohydrate: the original, least expensive, and best.

How Do You Use Creatine Supplements?

When using creatine supplements, the goal is to load up your muscles with creatine. Doing so takes around a week if you start with a so-called loading phase.

• A creatine loading phase is a short period where you consume a higher amount of creatine to saturate your muscles with this wonder molecule. You take about ~20 grams of creatine per day for 5–7 days and split it into four doses of 5 grams each, spread throughout the day.
• After filling your muscles to the brim with creatine, you lower the dose to a maintenance phase to keep your levels high by dropping to 3–5 grams daily. You can then keep this phase going for as long as you like. There is no need to take breaks from creatine.

However, you don’t have to do the loading phase. If you skip it and start with the maintenance dose (3–5 grams daily), you’ll still reach the same levels of muscle saturation. It’ll just take a bit longer, typically around 3-4 weeks. It’s like taking the scenic route versus the highway.

Creatine has no immediate effects after you ingest it, so feel free to take it whenever you want. Some studies suggest a minor benefit of taking it post-exercise, but the difference is so small that you don’t have to worry about it.

Is Creatine Safe?

Yes, creatine is entirely safe without any adverse effects. The only side effect is increased lean body mass, which is probably one of the reasons you take it to begin with. Creatine causes weight gain in the form of water, but almost all of it is stored inside your muscles, so you don’t look bloated, only more muscular.

If anything, research from the last few years shows creatine to be a promising supplement with many potential health benefits, including improved brain health in older adults.

In summary, creatine is the best supplement for strength training out there. It’s worth using for anyone interested strength and muscle gain.

Read more:

>> Creatine: Effects, Benefits and Safety

>> The Best Time to Take Creatine

References

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Caffeine

Caffeine is the most widely consumed drug in the world. It is also the most effective legal substance you can take to improve physical performance in almost all sports, including strength training.

What Is Caffeine?

Caffeine is a stimulant to the central nervous system and a naturally occurring psychoactive substance found in certain plants’ seeds, nuts, or leaves.

• When it enters your system, it nudges adenosine, a neurotransmitter that makes you tired and promotes sleep, out of the way and takes its place, making you feel more alert and awake.
• Caffeine also sharpens your mental focus, turning your brain into a laser pointer and keeping you alert and focused on your workout.
• In addition, it increases adrenaline release, the “fight or flight” hormone that prepares your body for intense physical exertion.
• Lastly, caffeine reduces perceived effort, making the struggles you’re putting into your workout feel less intense. You can fight against the burn at the end of a set and do one more rep.

As you can see, caffeine works for you in several different ways. Together, they make it one of the best supplements for strength training for anyone who wants to perform their best.

How Do You Use Caffeine?

Caffeine is the perfect pre-workout supplement when taken 60 minutes before your training session. It quickly enters your bloodstream and works its magic when you hit the weights.

A typical effective dose is 3–6 mg of caffeine per kilogram of body weight (1.4–2.7 mg per pound).

Caffeine is considered safe at those doses, although some people might get the jitters if they take 6 mg/kg without being used to caffeine. Harmless but unpleasant. Therefore, starting with 3 mg/kg is a good idea, and gradually increasing the dose, if needed.

A few studies suggest benefits from even higher doses (9 mg/kg), but the risk for side effects like tremors, nervousness, nausea, and poor sleep increases significantly at such high doses.

Which Form of Caffeine Is Best?

It doesn’t matter much where you get your caffeine from. It’s the dose that matters.

Energy drinks, caffeine pills, caffeine-enriched chewing gum, gels, caffeinated energy bars, and plain old coffee – they all work great.

The only problem with using coffee as your pre-workout is that the amount of caffeine is not standardized. You can get significantly more or less caffeine from one cup to the next, even if you use the same ground coffee each time. Also, you have to drink a hefty amount of coffee to get enough caffeine for a performance boost, and some people don’t enjoy it sloshing around in the stomach during the workout.

Is Caffeine Safe?

Yes, caffeine is safe in moderate doses.

One study analyzed 400 studies and concluded that caffeine up to 400 per day has no negative effects, like cardiovascular issues or behavioral changes.

Athletes often take more than that, and at around 600 mg per day, side effects become more common. Nothing dangerous, but shakiness, nervousness, and anxiety are relatively common. If you’re not used to caffeine, starting with a low dose, around 3 mg/kg, is better than going full boar without knowing how you tolerate it.

Read more:

>> Caffeine: Effects, Benefits, and Safety

References

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Protein Supplements

What Are Protein Supplements?

Protein supplements are concentrated sources of protein from animal or plant sources that help you meet your daily protein needs without having to chow down chicken breasts or tofu all day.

You don’t have to lift weights or even exercise to use protein powders. However, they are especially handy when you have a higher protein requirement than most people, like if you strength train regularly and want a convenient source of protein to boost your daily intake.

Protein supplements are also swell if you have a hectic schedule that makes sitting down for a protein-rich meal tricky.

What they don’t do is build more muscle than the same amount of protein from regular foods. Protein supplements are food in powder form. Their benefit is that they provide a high-quality source of protein in a convenient package that can also taste OK and is relatively affordable.

Different Types of Protein Supplements

Back in the day, you were relegated to using milk & egg protein or soybean protein that tasted, at best, decent and, at worst, like sawdust.

Today, you can get protein supplements for any dietary preferences, from vegan to carnivore, anywhere. They come in myriad flavors, and protein supplementation is no longer something slightly suspect that only strength athletes do. And today, a sizeable amount of research shows that protein supplements work.

Plant-based protein powders include:

• Soy protein
• Hemp protein
• Rice protein
• Pea protein
• Nut or seed protein
• Vegan-friendly protein blends that include several different plant-based protein sources

Animal-based options are:

• Whey protein
• Casein protein
• Milk protein (a combination of whey and casein protein)
• Beef protein
• Egg protein, most often egg white protein

Of all these, whey, casein, and soy protein are the most popular.

Whey Protein

Whey protein is a high-quality protein derived from milk during the cheese-making process when the milk is separated into liquids and solids. The liquid part is the whey.

It is extremely rich in all nine essential amino acids, making it a complete protein with the highest possible digestibility and an excellent buddy for strength training. According to research, whey protein is a “valid nutritional strategy for maximizing muscle mass gain.”

Whey protein is absorbed and utilized by your body super quickly and kickstarts muscle protein synthesis like no other protein.

But that’s not all. Whey protein powder also comes with several health benefits, like lowering blood pressure, reducing inflammation, and potentially improving blood sugar control.

Casein Protein

Casein is the slow-and-steady cousin of whey. Both are derived from milk, but casein releases amino acids slowly over many hours. It doesn’t boost muscle protein synthesis like whey but gives your muscles building materials for much longer.

Casein protein is a popular nighttime snack before bed to aid recovery and build muscle as you dream of pull-ups and planks. However, like whey, you can also use it as a post-workout protein source.

Soy Protein

Soy protein powders are the most popular plant-based protein supplements for good reasons.

They are plant-based powerhouses, perfect for vegetarians, vegans, and those looking to reduce their intake of animal proteins. Unlike most other plant-based proteins, soy is a complete protein with all the essential amino acids your muscles crave.

Most studies see no difference in muscle growth from using soy protein compared to whey protein, although some give the edge to whey. In addition, it is associated with a lower risk of heart disease and some cancers.

And no, drinking soy protein shakes won’t mess with your testosterone or estrogen.

Other Protein Supplements

Apart from the big three, you have many different options to explore. Most of these are less well-researched, but there is little doubt that they work just fine.

• Pea protein is another plant-based option if you don’t use dairy and other animal-sourced proteins. Two studies suggest that pea protein produces similar gains as whey protein.
• Rice protein is another vegan-friendly option. Two studies compare rice protein to whey protein and find that they are equally effective for young lifters.
• Potato protein is a plant-based newcomer to the protein supplement scene, and it is just as effective as milk protein for boosting muscle protein synthesis. There are no long-term studies as of now, but potatoes might give your muscles more than energy.
• Egg protein was the gold standard for protein quality for many decades It has fallen in popularity lately, mainly because it’s harder to mask the egg protein taste compared to milk proteins.
• Beef protein is gaining in popularity. While there isn’t that much research on it, what there is points to beef protein being similarly effective as whey protein when it comes to body composition.

What Do Protein Supplements Do?

So, why are protein supplements so popular? What do they do, and why should you use them?

The answer is that they do the same thing as protein from any other source in your diet. They give your body the building blocks to build and repair tissues, including your muscles, repair muscle damage, and recover from your strength training workouts.

That means you don’t need protein supplements if you meet your protein requirements from your regular diet.

Their value is in convenience.

• Sometimes, you just don’t have time to sit down for a meal.
• Many people don’t feel like eating after training hard, and that’s when your muscles need protein the most. A shake can be much more palatable.
• And because protein recommendations for strength training are double that of “normal” people, eating that much protein foods, which are very satiating, can feel like a chore.

That’s why you should use them: because they can make your daily eating significantly more convenient. And because they are relatively inexpensive sources of high-quality and easily digestible protein, of course.

How Do You Use Protein Supplements?

This one is easy. You use them just like you would protein from your regular diet. They are regular proteins, not something you need to treat with special reverence.

The most common times to chug a shake are:

• Before Training: Taking protein before your workout primes your muscles for what’s to come. Doing so is especially advantageous if you train early in the morning after a long night without eating. If you have already eaten a protein-rich meal a couple of hours earlier, another protein shake before training probably won’t do much.
• After Training: This is prime time for protein. Your muscles are crying out for nutrients to kickstart muscle protein synthesis. Without amino acids from protein, your body can’t switch from losing muscle to building muscle. A protein shake gets to work quickly, and it’s often easier to drink a meal than to eat it right after a grueling workout.
• As a Snack Between Meals: Keeps your muscles fed and happy throughout the day, like snacking on building blocks for your biceps.
• To Fortify Meals With Little Protein: Got a meal lacking in the protein department? Add a scoop of protein powder to boost its muscle-building potential, and you’re good to go.

How Much Protein Powder Should You Take?

A typical dose is 20 to 40 grams of protein, but you can take more if you want. What happens is that the muscle-building effects last longer, which is perfect if you know you can’t sit down for a meal for many hours. Nothing goes to waste if you take larger doses.

Protein is an essential nutrient, not just for muscle size and strength but for everything in life. Protein supplements are one of the most basic yet crucial supplements for strength training, at least if you struggle to get enough protein from regular foods.

Not all protein powders are created equal. Look for ones with minimal added sugars and weird ingredients you can’t pronounce.

Read more:

>> Casein vs. Whey: Which Protein Powder is Right for You?

>> Whey or Soy Protein for Building Muscle?

>> Whey Protein Concentrate vs. Isolate: What’s The Difference?

References

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Weight Gainers / Mass Gainers

Weight gainers can be your best friend if you’re looking to bulk up. Or at least lend a helping hand.

To build lean muscle mass, you need plenty of calories, preferably a surplus, to reach your daily goals. Sometimes, eating enough regular foods can be challenging, and that’s where mass gainers come in. They provide plenty of calories in an easy-to-drink solution, allowing even a so-called hard-gainer to gain weight.

What Are Weight Gainers?

Weight gainers are high-calorie supplements that pack a punch in terms of carbs, proteins, and sometimes fats. They’re like the fast food of the fitness world but with a better macronutrient profile.

Mass gainers are especially handy if you struggle to consume enough calories through food alone. For many people who have a hard time gaining weight, the eating part of bulking up is the most challenging. Weight gainers can be a shortcut to hitting your high-calorie goals without munching through a mountain of food.

What Do Weight Gainers Contain?

A weight gainer typically contains carb and protein. Sometimes, fat is added for extra calories.

• Most weight gainers have a relatively high protein content, often from whey, casein, or plant-based sources like soy.
• Unlike protein powders, weight gainers also contain plenty of carbohydrates, usually in a ratio of 1:3 to 1:5, with carbs providing the majority of the calories. They might contain fast-digesting carbs like maltodextrin, oats (slower-digesting), or a mix of fast and slow-digesting carbs.
• Some gainers also include fats from sources like MCT oil, flaxseed, or avocado powder to increase the calories further.

When Should You Use Weight Gainers?

Mass gainers are food in powdered form, nothing more, nothing less. You can use them anytime to boost your calorie intake.

• A great opportunity to refuel with a gainer is after a workout when your muscles are crying out for nourishment. That is prime time for a weight gainer shake to deliver its payload of protein and carbs, kickstarting glycogen storage and muscle protein synthesis.
• Another excellent time to chug a mass gainer is between meals. A weight gainer shake can serve as an easy-to-consume snack, ensuring your body stays in a caloric surplus necessary for building muscle.

Are Weight Gainers Safe?

Sure! Again, they are nothing more than powdered food. The only thing to remember is that they are an addition to a regular, balanced diet, not a replacement.

Read more:

>> How to Bulk: The Complete Guide to Muscle Gain

>> Bodybuilding for Skinny Guys: A Guide for Hardgainers

Nitrate Supplements

Nitrates are naturally occurring compounds found in soil and water, and they end up in our food—especially in vegetables. When you consume them, your body converts the nitrates into nitric oxide.

Nitric oxide is a vasodilator, meaning it opens up (dilates) your blood vessels wider than the smile on your face when you skip leg day.

Nitric oxide has a bunch of cool roles, like improving blood flow and oxygen delivery to your muscles, helping your muscles contract, and even making your mitochondria (the powerhouses of the cell) work more efficiently.

Benefits of Nitrate Supplements

While nitrate supplements are backed by more scientific evidence for endurance training, they are also one of few supplements for strength training that provide a possible and tangible performance boost.

For example, they allow you to do more reps in exercises like bench presses and squats and speed up your recovery time after a high-intensity workout.

So, how do nitrates help you train harder?

• Increased Oxygen Efficiency: More oxygen to your muscles means you can work out harder or longer before you feel like you’ve been hit by a bus.
• Enhanced Performance: Better blood flow can mean improvements in high-intensity exercises.
• Reduced Fatigue: You know that feeling when you can’t do another rep because your muscles are screaming in protest? Nitrates might help delay that moment, so you can keep going for another rep or two.

Together, these mechanisms allow nitrate supplements to improve maximal muscle power by ~ 5%. And five percent is a lot. Doing more reps over time is a surefire way to add new muscle tissue to your frame. Even though there are no true long-term studies on nitrate supplements, they are worth considering, especially as they offer several cardiovascular health benefits.

Where Do You Get Nitrate?

Nitrate is naturally found in beets, spinach, and other leafy greens. Some vegetable juices, like rhubarb juice, are also overflowing with nitrates.

Incorporating these foods into your diet boosts your nitrate levels naturally. On average, athletes get around 100 mg of nitrate from food every day.

However, you want 300–600 mg to get the actual performance benefits. That means you must use a supplement unless you really really love beetroots or drink a liter of rhubarb juice with your pre-workout supplements.

Nitrate supplements usually come in the form of beetroot powder or concentrated beet juice, designed to give you a more immediate and potent nitrate boost.

How Do You Use Nitrate Supplements?

You can use them as a regular pre-workout 2–3 hours before exercise on training days.

However, if you want the potential health effects, use them daily on a regular basis. You get both the performance and health benefits without the need to time your intake to the minute.

An effective dose is 300–600 mg of nitrate. A standard 70 ml beetroot juice shot gives you around 300–400 mg of nitrate.

References

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Omega-3 Supplements

Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated essential fats, which means your body can’t make them, so you must snag them from your diet. But if you don’t get enough of them from regular foods, you can also get them in pill form.

What Are Omega-3 Fatty Acids?

There are three main types of Omega-3s:

1. ALA (Alpha-linolenic acid): ALA is primarily found in plant foods like flaxseeds, chia seeds, and walnuts. Your body can convert a tiny bit of ALA into EPA and DHA, but it’s not very good at it.
2. EPA (Eicosapentaenoic acid): Found in fish and seafood, EPA dives deep into your body to fight inflammation, among other essential functions.
3. DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid): Also found in fish and seafood, DHA is essential for brain function, health, and development and is a key component of all your cell membranes.

EPA and DHA are considered more biologically active and beneficial for your health than ALA, although all three play a vital role in maintaining a healthy body.

If you only eat plant-based foods, you have limited sources of EPA and DHA, but algae and algae oil ride to the rescue. In fact, the omega-3s in fatty fish aren’t produced by the fish. They are just the middlefish; the omega-3s come from the algae the fish eat.

Omega-3 fatty acids are associated with numerous health benefits, including reducing inflammation, lowering heart disease risk, supporting mental health, and supporting brain and eye development.

Dietary guidelines recommend eating at least two servings of fatty fish per week. Consider supplementation if you do not consume fish regularly.

Benefits of Omega-3s for Strength Training

Omega-3 fatty acids have several potential benefits for your gains.

• Inflammation Reduction: Omega-3s are known to reduce inflammation. Less inflammation means faster recovery after workouts and is especially helpful for older adults. Now, some inflammation is essential for gains in lean muscle mass. You don’t want to take anti-inflammatory pills after training if you don’t need to, but fish do the body (and muscles) good.
• Muscle Protein Synthesis: Some evidence suggests that omega-3s might boost muscle protein synthesis (a fancy way of saying they help build muscle). The research is inconsistent, but whatever omega-3s do for your muscles, it’s positive.
• Increased Muscle Strength: Some studies suggest that omega-3 supplementation could increase muscle strength and function, especially in older adults.

How Do You Use Omega-3 Supplements?

There is no need to consider the timing of omega-3s, but it’s best to take them with a meal containing some fat to boost absorption.

• While there is no current consensus on what an effective dose of omega-3 is, general recommendations suggest around 1 gram per day.
• For athletes who want both the anti-inflammatory and health benefits, 1 to 2 grams of EPA and DHA combined, with a ratio of EPA to DHA of 2:1, has been successfully used in studies.
• Lastly, for the potential muscle and strength gains from omega-3s, you’re looking at a high dose of 2 to 4 grams total of EPA and DHA daily.

Even the highest of those are safe, as both FDA and EFSA safety recommendations limit omega-3 consumption to 3 to 5 grams per day.

In summary, most studies suggesting weight training benefits from omega-3 supplements look at older adults. However, recent research finds that they also improve muscle strength in younger people, making them both a great supplement for your health and one of the promising supplements for strength training.

Read more:

>> Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Effects, Benefits, and Safety

References

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Capsaicinoids

This one isn’t for building muscle mass but to get shredded. Or at least lend a helping hand on the way.

What Are Capsaicinoids?

Capsaicinoids are the spicy little devils hiding in chili peppers that give them their fiery kick.

Capsaicin is the most well-known of these spicy molecules, making your mouth feel like it’s burning up.

They’re not just for heating up your dinner plate, though. These spicy compounds have potential effects on health and fat loss.

How Do Capsaicinoids Work?

Capsaicinoids help you lose body fat in three ways:

• Increased calorie expenditure
• Increased fat oxidation
• Decreased appetite

Capsaicinoids boost your metabolism, meaning they help your body burn calories faster than it usually does, like turning up the heat on your internal calorie-burning furnace.

Using a capsaicinoid supplement burns around 50 extra calories per day.

That might sound like little, but it adds up over time. Everything else being equal, 50 extra calories burnt every day means 5 pounds of body fat, poof! Gone! That’s a highly simplified equation, of course, but it illustrates how what might seem insignificant builds up over time to greater effect.

They also decrease your appetite, which can be very helpful on a weight-loss diet when you usually feel hungry and grumpy. Two mg or more of capsaicinoids daily reduces calorie intake significantly, according to a 2014 meta-analysis.

In addition to the potential fat-melting effects, capsaicinoids positively affect your health in several ways. They widen your blood vessels and improve blood flow, stimulate the release of nitric oxide, lower inflammation and oxidative stress, and track down and scavenge free radicals, those unruly molecules that refuse to follow the rules, causing chaos in your body at a microscopic level.

How Do You Use Capsaicinoids?

Capsaicinoid supplements made from chili peppers at a dosage of up to 10 mg daily help you burn more calories and increase fat oxidation.

Most studies use 2–6 grams of capsaicin per day, primarily from cayenne pepper, but increasing those doses somewhat can boost the effect without harmful side effects.

Capsaicinoid supplements are very safe. The most common adverse effect is feeling a burning sensation in your stomach, which can be unpleasant but not dangerous. Nothing is really burning; the capsaicinoids are just tricking your nerve fibers into thinking they are on fire. The good news is that you can prevent (or at least reduce) this from happening by taking the supplement with a meal.

Before you start guzzling hot sauce by the bottle, let’s temper your expectations a bit. While capsaicinoids can indeed contribute to a slight increase in calorie burning, they’re not magic fat-melting potions. 

Incorporating them into a balanced diet and regular exercise regime boosts your fat-loss efforts, but they won’t do the hard work for you.

However, they can help you lose body fat by revving up your metabolism and burning fat, making them one of the go-to supplements for strength training when it comes to getting lean. Almost all “fat-burners” are scams, but capsaicinoids are a natural and safe option that actually works.

References

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Beta-Alanine

Beta-alanine is a relatively new supplement, with the first human study published as late as 2006. Since then, it has become one of the most popular supplements for improving performance in high-intensity exercise. But is it also one of the best supplements for strength training?

What Is Beta-Alanine?

Beta-alanine is a non-essential amino acid, which means your body can make it. You can also get it from foods like meat and fish.

However, getting more of it might improve your workout performance. You need 10 times more beta-alanine than you get from a typical diet to enhance athletic performance. That’s where beta-alanine supplements come in.

How Does Beta-Alanine Work?

Taking beta-alanine supplements aims to build up the levels of another amino acid, carnosine, which is stored in your muscles.

Beta-alanine doesn’t directly boost your muscles as soon as you swallow it. In other words, beta-alanine is not a pre-workout supplement (even though it’s often included in them).

Instead, it teams up with histidine, another amino acid, forming carnosine. During high-intensity training sessions, carnosine acts like a defender of your muscle pH level, fighting off acid buildup.

When you’re lifting heavy or pushing through high-intensity intervals, your muscles produce lactic acid. Carnosine acts like a buffer, delaying this sensation, which means you can potentially squeeze out a few more reps or last longer before muscle fatigue sets in.

In essence, beta-alanine helps improve muscular endurance and performance during high-intensity exercises.

Also, beta-alanin and creatine are a great combo, according to some studies. They work together for even greater increases in performance than the sum of their parts.

Earlier studies demonstrated significant strength and power improvements in people taking beta-alanine supplements during strength training. However, recent research does not see much of a strength difference between beta-alanine and placebo, and it doesn’t seem to improve body composition.

Therefore, it’s hard to recommend beta-alanine without reservation. Many lifters swear by it, but science doesn’t fully support it.

How Do You Use Beta-Alanine?

The typical dosing strategy involves around 3.2–6.4 grams of beta-alanine over the course of 2–4 weeks. That supplementation protocol loads your muscles with carnosine and improves performance.

Once that’s done, you can reduce your daily intake to 1.2 grams and continue to cruise with muscle carnosine levels at 30–50% above normal levels.

Since beta-alanine is famous for causing a tingling sensation (paresthesia), spreading the dose throughout the day or opting for a sustained-release formula can keep the tingles in check.

Timing isn’t crucial since you aim to build up carnosine levels over time, not get a quick pre-workout boost.

Is Beta-Alanine Safe?

Yes, beta-alanine is safe. The only known adverse effect is skin tingling.

The tingling effect is entirely harmless. Some people find it annoying, while others use it to psych themselves up for an intense training session. That’s why beta-alanine is a popular ingredient in pre-workout supplements, even though it doesn’t have any immediate performance-enhancing effect.

Read more:

>> Beta-Alanine: Effects, Benefits, and Safety

References

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Multivitamin and Mineral Supplements

Vitamins and minerals are organic compounds and elements that your body needs in small amounts daily to function properly.

Your body can’t produce most vitamins and minerals, so you must get them from your food.

However, a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement can serve as a nutritional insurance policy when your diet isn’t always 100 % on point.

What Are Multivitamin and Mineral Supplements?

Multivitamin and mineral supplements contain many of the micronutrients your body needs every day in a small pill-shaped package – vitamin C that protects your cells, calcium for strong bones and teeth, iron for blood, zinc for your immune system, and magnesium for muscle function and nerve transmission, to name a few.

They are no substitute for a balanced diet of whole foods. Those provide a complex nutritional matrix that supplements cannot fully replicate, including dietary fiber, bioactive compounds, and antioxidants.

Instead, they act like a nutritional safety net, designed to fill in the dietary gaps when your eating habits might not cover all the bases.

They come packed with a bit of everything—Vitamins A through Zinc—and a convenient way to ensure you’re not missing out on essential nutrients.

Do You Need a Multivitamin and Mineral Supplement?

Need? Perhaps not. But it guarantees you’re getting all the essential micronutrients you need.

When you lift weights, you need slightly more of some micronutrients, and unless you track everything you eat, you might not get enough.

For example, 90 % of athletes might not get an optimal amount of zink, more than 20 % are clinically deficient in magnesium, and vitamin deficiencies in athletes have been reported for thiamine, riboflavin, and B6. And almost half the US population doesn’t get enough vitamin D.

In other words, a multivitamin can serve as a good safety net if your diet is more hit or miss than a consistent bullseye. You won’t see any immediate results in your training from taking one, but long-term micronutrient deficiencies make it harder to achieve optimal results.

Take one per day, and you’re good to go.

Are Multivitamin and Mineral Supplements Safe?

A multivitamin that provides no more than the recommended daily intake of any micronutrient is safe for healthy people.

Some multivitamins contain excessive amounts of one or more micronutrients, are likely overkill, packed with more than you need, and lead to expensive urine rather than massive muscles. You want a high-quality product that meets your daily needs without going overboard.

References

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Essential Amino Acids (EAAs)

The protein you eat contains 20 amino acids, nine of which are essential or indispensable. Your body, with all its wondrous capabilities, can’t produce these bad boys on its own.

That means you must get the essential amino acids (EAAs) you need from your food. Fortunately, a balanced, high-protein diet provides plenty of them.

However, you can also get EAAs from supplements.

What Are Essential Amino Acid Supplements?

Amino acids from EAA supplements and protein foods are the same in their molecular structure and roles in your body. In practice, there are a few significant differences.

• Essential amino acids from food are part of complex proteins that your body must break down during digestion. That process takes time, and the amino acids are released and absorbed relatively slowly.
• EAA supplements, on the other hand, provide free-form amino acids. You absorb them quickly into the bloodstream because they don’t require extensive digestion, which can benefit post-exercise recovery and muscle protein synthesis.

So, while the essential amino acids themselves remain unchanged regardless of where you get them from, the path they take to their muscle-building targets varies whether you get them from food or supplements.

They aren’t muscle-building supplements per se, as they don’t do anything regular protein doesn’t do, but they are an effecitve way to ensure your body has access to high-quality building blocks.

When Are Essential Amino Acid Supplements Useful?

Now, if you already eat plenty of protein (>1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight or >0.5 grams per pound), your body is likely swimming in a sea of amino acids, including all the EAAs it needs.

However, there are a few scenarios where EAA supplements could lend a helping hand to your muscle-building efforts.

• You don’t enjoy eating a meal before or after training and don’t like regular protein shakes. You can quickly choke down an EAA supplement before or after workouts without feeling overly full, giving your muscles the amino acids they need for recovery and growth.
• It might be easier on your digestive system. For someone consuming very high amounts of protein, digestion can sometimes tax the gastrointestinal system. EAA supplements provide part of your amino acid needs without adding significant digestive work.
• You get a full muscle-building effect with fewer calories. Bodybuilders often go through bulking and cutting phases, the latter requiring precise calorie control. EAA supplements contain all necessary amino acids without extra calories from fats, carbs, or even the non-essential amino acids in whole food sources. This makes it easier to maintain lean muscle mass while in a caloric deficit.
• Vegetarians, vegans, or people with dietary restrictions might find essential amino acid supplements helpful to hit their amino acid quotas.
• Older lifters need a rapidly absorbed protein to maximize muscle protein synthesis, and it doesn’t get much faster than free-form EAAs. The effect only lasts briefly, but the boost is quite powerful.

Should You Use EAA Supplements?

Should you take an EAA supplement if you’re already devouring protein like it’s your day job?

If your diet is rich in high-quality protein sources (meats, eggs, dairy, quinoa, soy, and so on, you’re likely already hitting your EAA targets.

If it’s not, your number one priority is to increase your protein intake from whole foods.

However, if you’re pushing your limits with intense training, are on a restrictive diet, or find it challenging to consume enough protein, an EAA supplement can be helpful.

How Do You Use Essential Amino Acid Supplements?

A good dosage is 10–15 grams of EAAs with at least 3 grams of the amino acid leucine.

• That is enough to maximíze muscle protein synthesis for an hour or two. Perfect after a workout to tide you over until you get home to a real meal.
• You can also take EAAs between meals. Doing so doesn’t interfere with the protein from the meal before or after.
• Another option is to boost meals’ essential amino acid content with EAAs. For example, a plant-based meal without complete protein can become as muscle-building as a meal based on animal proteins with a shot of EAAs on the side.

Read more:

>> BCAA vs. EAA: Which Is Better For Your Gains?

References

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Four Supplements for Strength Training to Stay Away From

There you go! The ten supplements for strength training listed above are backed by scientific research and proven in gyms worldwide.

You don’t need any of them to get great results, but they can lend a helping hand and, in some cases, like creatine, offer unique benefits.

But are there times when you should save your hard-earned money and leave the pill bottles on the shelves?

You bet. At best, most supplements for strength training lack evidence for their efficacy and are a waste of money or even potentially harmful at worst.

Here are four to avoid.

Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs)

Branched-chain amino acids are three of the nine essential amino acids: leucine, isoleucine, and valine.

Together, they are some of the most important amino acids for muscle growth. Leucine, in particular, kickstarts muscle protein synthesis.

If BCAAs are so great, why shouldn’t you use them?

Because they don’t do their job on their own. Without the other essential amino acids, they are like a Lego construction worker trying to build a tower but running out of bricks.

BCAAs on their own are only ~20% more effective than a sugar pill and nowhere near a complete protein like whey.

Branched-chain amino acids can help reduce muscle soreness and help with energy production during exercise, but that’s about it. For the muscle-building effects, stick with EAAs or a protein powder.

References

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Read more:

>> BCAA Supplements: Benefits and Side Effects

>> Whey Protein vs. BCAA: Which is Better?

>> BCAA vs. EAA: Which Is Better For Your Gains?

Testosterone Boosters

Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone crucial in maintaining and gaining muscle mass and strength.

If you could boost your testosterone using a legal supplement with no adverse effects, that would be great.

Unfortunately, most of the ingredients in supplements for strength training marketed as “test boosters” are either not backed by research or sold in too small amounts to do anything. In addition the rare study that shows they are effective for anything other than wasting your money is often funded by the manufacturers.

Also, if testosterone boosters do work, it might be because they contain illegal substances. Compared to other supplements for strength training, those claiming to be able to alter your hormones are some of the biggest offenders.

In short, if you suspect your testosterone levels might be low, see your doctor for a possible prescription. Off-the-shelves testo boosters are generally rubbish.

References

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Fat Burners

With a few exceptions, like capsaicinoids, which can lend a small but helpful hand in burning fat, most “fat burners” on the market don’t work as advertised.

Some might contain a few effective ingredients, like capsaicinoids, caffeine, and green tea, but they are marketed as something special and sold for much more money than they are worth.

Supplements for strength training meant for fat loss can only work two ways if they want to stay legal: lowering your appetite, thus helping you eat fewer calories, and increasing the number of calories you burn.

For a fat burner to do what many of them claim to do, they’d have to alter your hormones, which would automatically place them in the prescription category. Moreover, several studies suggest long-term adverse effects of fat burners, including a lower resting metabolic rate.

So, stick with things like caffeine and capsaicinoids that work and are safe in moderation. If a fat burner claims outlandish things, it’s very likely trying to sell you a lie.

References

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Glutamine

Glutamine is a non-essential amino acid, meaning your body can make it when needed. It’s also the most abundant amino acid in your protein foods.

That sounds like supplementing with extra glutamine is unnecessary, right?

You’d be correct. It is.

Even though glutamine supplements are sold to athletes and bodybuilders to reduce muscle breakdown, elevate growth hormone levels, improve muscle recovery, and boost immune function, there are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of studies showing that they don’t work.

Glutamine supplements might benefit some people under certain conditions, but those people are not healthy, strength-training people who eat a reasonably healthy diet.

The best thing you can say about glutamine supplements is that they are safe. There are no reports of adverse events, no matter how much glutamine you take. That’s no reason to spend money on this supplement, though.

Read more:

>> Glutamine Supplements: Beneficial or a Waste of Money

References

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Final Words

You’ve guzzled down the knowledge on the best supplements for strength training, armed yourself with the power of protein, and now stand on the precipice of gains untold.

Hopefully, this article will save you money when deciding which supplements are worth your hard-earned cash for reaching your fitness goals.

Thank you so much for reading!

For more supplement reviews, check out StrengthLog’s Supplement Guide, our free guide, where I review 26 of the most popular ones.

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