A person can boost their intake by incorporating more protein-rich foods — including meats, dairy, and legumes such as beans — in their diet. These foods also contain a range of other important nutrients and vitamins that may promote muscle growth. If the dietary approach is not possible, protein supplements come in many forms, including shakes and bars. For muscle growth, a person needs to consume more than the recommended daily amount of dietary protein.
The target amount is unclear, but research suggests that consuming more than 1. Some people believe that consuming protein supplements directly after exercising will better support muscle growth. However, research suggests that the timing of protein supplementation is unlikely to have this effect. Creatine is a compound that the kidneys, liver, and pancreas produce, and muscles throughout the body store it.
Creatine supports several parts of the body, including the muscles, and it appears to play a role in physical performance and muscle growth. The compound is also present in foods, such as meat and fish, and it is available as an oral supplement. Creatine monohydrate — a popular form of creatine — is the most effective supplement for improving exercise performance and increasing muscle mass, according to the International Society of Sports Nutrition.
Creatine monohydrate is an ergogenic supplement, which refers to its performance-enhancing qualities. Various studies have found that creatine supplementation can improve exercise performance over time, including in resistance training.
By improving exercise performance over time, creatine supplementation can lead to more significant increases in muscle mass. Indeed, several studies have found that combining heavy weight training with creatine supplementation leads to greater muscle growth, compared with a placebo. It is not necessary to take more than 3—5 g of creatine per day. However, some people find an initial loading phase beneficial.
This may involve taking around 0. Caffeine is a natural stimulant present in a range of drinks, including coffee and tea. Many people use caffeine for mental alertness, but it can also help with exercise performance. Like creatine, caffeine is an ergogenic supplement. Many studies have found that caffeine can increase performance in a range of sports, including swimming and rowing.
Findings are less clear as to whether caffeine can enhance resistance training and lead to muscle growth. A systematic review in found some evidence that caffeine supplementation could benefit resistance training. A study in found that consuming at least 3 milligrams of caffeine per kilogram of bodyweight could increase squat and bench press performance.
Increasing beta-alanine through supplementation may raise carnosine levels by over 60 percent in as quickly as four weeks.
This is significant because during high-intensity exercise, our bodies accumulate a large amount of hydrogen ions, which cause the blood pH to drop. This acidification can cause severe fatigue, decrease muscle performance, and shorten the time to muscular failure. What people chalk up to lactic acid is actually usually happening from hydrogen. Beta-alanine is thought to "buffer" these ions, delaying the buildup in the blood and allowing you to knock out a few more reps, last longer in your workout, and increase your gains over the long term.
Recommended Dose: grams per day. Beta-alanine has to be taken regularly to be effective, so don't trust your pre-workout to give you everything you need. Consider taking it in smaller doses throughout the day to reduce the harmless skin-tingling sensation that can accompany higher doses. No supplement says "I'm a lifter" as much as the post-workout whey protein shake! And with good reason. Whey protein supplies the body with a high amount of protein and amino acids that help to jump-start the anabolic process.
Whey is most often consumed after a workout to increase protein synthesis and to improve muscle recovery and restoration, although as Nick Coker writes in the article "The Case for Pre-Workout Protein," it can be equally effective when taken before training.
Recommended Dose: grams of whey protein at a time, preferably before or after a workout. You can also take it as a meal replacement or to boost your protein intake at other times.
Supplemental protein should not be your primary protein source, though. You still need to get the majority of your protein from food. Another category of muscle-building supplements that lifters and bodybuilders use to improve their results are branched-chained amino acids BCAAs , or BCAAs.
Glutamine provides numerous bodybuilding benefits, such as aiding muscle growth by increasing levels of leucine in muscle fibers, helping decrease muscle breakdown, and bolstering the immune system, which helps prevent you from getting sick and missing workouts.
Glutamine taken before workouts can help decrease muscle fatigue and boost growth hormone levels. In addition, recent research shows that glutamine might also play a role in fat loss by increasing the number of calories and fat burned at rest and during exercise. How to maximize its effects: Take grams of glutamine in the morning with breakfast, with your pre-and post-workout shakes, and with your nighttime snack. Why it made the list: ZMA is a combination of zinc, magnesium aspartate, and vitamin B6.
Intense training can compromise levels of testosterone and IGF In fact, one study found that athletes who took ZMA significantly increased their levels of testosterone and IGF-1 during eight weeks of training, while those who took a placebo experienced a drop in both T and IGF Naturally, boosting testosterone and IGF-1 can make huge impacts on muscle gains.
How to maximize its effects: Use a ZMA product that provides about 30 mg of zinc, mg of magnesium, and Taking ZMA on an empty stomach will enhance its uptake and utilization and improve your sleep quality for optimal recovery. Why it made the list: Besides being a popular fat-loss supplement, carnitine is now known to enhance muscle growth through a number of mechanisms, all of which are supported by clinical research. For one, carnitine can increase blood flow to muscles, which means it provides similar benefits to NO boosters.
It also increases testosterone levels post-workout and the amount of T receptors inside muscle cells, which allows more testosterone to stimulate more growth. In addition, carnitine supplements have been found to increase levels of IGF Add all these benefits together and you have the potential to gain enormous amounts of muscle.
How to maximize its effects: Take grams of carnitine in the form of L-carnitine , acetyl-L-carnitine, or L-carnitine-L-tartrate with breakfast, your pre-and postworkout shakes, and nighttime meals. Why it made the list: Beta-ecdysterone is a phytochemical found in plants such as spinach, where its main function is to protect the plant from insects.
Russian scientists discovered many years ago that beta-ecdysterone has anabolic properties. How to maximize its effects: To get the most out of beta-ecdysterone, make sure you get a high enough dose and take it frequently throughout the day.
Look for products that supply about mg of beta-ecdysterone and take it with meals in the morning, before and after workouts, as well as with lunch and dinner, for a total of mg per day. Why they made the list: Molecular weight is a term that refers to the mass of one molecule of a substance. Therefore, high molecular-weight carbs HMCs are essentially made up of very large, heavy molecules. HMCs such as the patented Vitargo brand are typically made from waxy maize corn starch.
What makes these carbs so special is their ability to rapidly pass through the stomach to the intestines where they can be absorbed and enter the blood. This is important after exercise because consuming carbs at this time blunts cortisol levels, prevents muscle breakdown, and raises insulin levels to help promote muscle growth and replenish muscle glycogen levels.
How to maximize their effects: Taking grams of HMCs mixed in your post-workout shake will help push muscle recovery and growth, and the insulin spike it causes will drive more amino acids, creatine, and carnitine into your muscle cells.
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