Articles:

Supplements Aren’t the Quick-Fix Answer

Throughout my years as a Strength Coach, I have been asked countless times, “what supplements should I be taking,” or “what supplements do you recommend to improve strength, increase weight, recover faster,”…etc. Whether it’s an athlete, a coach, or a pushy nutrition salesman trying to get me to push their product on my athletes, my answer has always been the same, “Don’t take anything!”

Through the various positions I have held in athletics I have been handed endless stock piles of supposed nutritional aides, recovery drinks, and performance enhancing shakes from supplement dealers. The vast majority of those products have ended up in the trash. Athletes have seen those products and practically begged for them, claiming they need them to gain a competitive edge or enhance their skills. Most of those athletes have tried many of those supplements. At one point I ran across an individual who had been taking 12 different supplements at the same time to get bigger and stronger. The one common trait among all those athletes who have asked for supplements or have taken them as a diet staple… they never got bigger or stronger taking them. However, many of those athletes did make great gains once they stopped using them.

Often through my experience it has been that those that are desperate for supplements and practically live off of them are the ones that are not training properly to make any kinds of gains anyway. When an athlete in the past questioned me about these pills, powders, and such; we would sit down and evaluate their training that they had been doing. In almost every instance it was shown that they had been doing too much work, and were not given a well designed training program. Their programs did not afford them adequate time for recovery, taxed the same energy systems relentlessly, and focused too much on lifting more and more weight every day, followed by an endless array of plyometrics. Once the athlete stopped taking all that stuff and began training properly, tremendous gains were seen in strength, speed, power, and in one instance, too much muscle mass began to develop.

For individuals of non-athletic backgrounds, the guy in the gym who just wants to get bigger and stronger, or the person who wants to lose weight, the same can be said to them. Since being out of the competitive arena and now in the private sector, I have seen these same eager misguided individuals, led by quick fix promises, struggle with what they should take. The simplest answer is, “take nothing, eat healthy and re-evaluate your training.” Chances are, things are not in balance, you’re training too hard, or not doing the right things that you need.

For those of you reading this that are either taking supplements or considering taking supplements, I have this in closing to say. The supplement industry is not regulated by the FDA, feeds off of people’s weaknesses to make fast gains, and is out to make a quick buck. Too often there are fillers and gums in these supplements that are not healthy for people to be taking. Too often what the label says on the bottle is not what is in them. Too often the supposed protein that is in there is in an un-digestible state and can not be used by the body. Too often the vitamins or minerals are either unusable or in such high doses that you excrete most of it anyway. Eat healthy, eat a variety, eat often, and train smart to make gains or lose weight.

Written by Kevin Ebel, January 2007
Published in the Stevens Point Journal, January 30, 2006

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