It’s time to fall into shape! I remember the days of old this was a popular slogan in our ads in the health club I managed. Beyond being a catchy ad headline it does certainly hold true. With much of summer behind us, holidays gone by and kids back to school September is often a time where the fitness industry sees new life and vigor. It’s also a time when a few new products emerge to satiate the eager consumer. I thought this week I would provide a quick guide to supplementation and a few tips on buying sports supplements.

I personally believe some basic supplementation is a very good insurance policy to the continually degrading quality of food in our supermarkets. Add to that the increase of processing and manufacturing in the food process and I feel some basic items can go a long way in improving health and wellness.

When it comes to supplementation here are a couple things I suggest you remember: 1) Build your body like you would build a house, start from the foundation and work up. 2) The best supplements available are only as good as their cost to benefit ratio in relation to your goals.

Let’s talk about the first one. What I mean by start at the foundation is consider products that reinforce your nutrition bringing it closer to optimal before you look at items more related to your specific goals. Foundation products would include things like:

• Multi-Vitamins / Phytonutrients – Reinforce your metabolism with a vitamin which may make up for what is lacking within the food you eat. Phytonutrients are powerful anti-oxidants that fight free-radicals.
• Essential Fatty Acids – make up for our lack of fish consumption by supplementing Omega 3’s in particular. Fantastic acid buffers, improve absorption of lipo-soluable vitamins and minerals among other metabolic benefits. Your heart will also thank you later.
• Glutamine – Most abundant amino acid in our body, heavily used by the immune system. Best natural source is cottage cheese but it may not be practical to be consuming 3-4 cups of cottage cheese per day.
• Protein Powders – Though I don’t believe additional protein is always necessary this is likely the most used sports supplement. Think of protein powder as a steak in a blender, only it tastes better. Protein powders offer a great amount of convenience to add some protein to each meal. For many they are a very economical and easy way to round out the balance of their nutrition plan which is why I would consider it to be a foundation product.

Beyond foundation products there is a great multitude of items promising various benefits to help you reach your goals. Some may have a great impact on your training performance and the progress you make in your fitness program. The biggest mistake I see people make is to try to implement too many different products at once. It’s very costly and leaves them guessing what is helping and what isn’t. So when beginning a new supplementation program add only one or two different products at a time to get a feel for how they may work for you.

Here are some of the most popular supplement categories and some of tips from my experience:

• Fat Burners – This one has to be first, everyone is looking for that edge. Fat burners can help with fat loss but really only in the presence of exercise and a solid nutritional plan. If you are not ready to change your lifestyle don’t waste your money on a fat burner. Nearly all are based on stimulants such as caffeine so I would strongly recommend the use of an adrenal support product if you are or have been taking a fat burner regularly. These are the products I least recommend with my own clients.
• Testosterone Boosters – Every young male believes that testosterone is the key to the fountain of muscle. Teste booster products are based on herbal compounds that aid the metabolic processes that tell our body to make more. Unfortunately what many don’t realize that additional testosterone only really shows a physical difference if you can provide significant increase to the ratio of testosterone vs estrogen within you body. At a young age from say 17-28 this is extremely difficult to do. Once we round the corner to 30 and beyond these products can produce much better results.
• Pre-Workout Aids – These are the buzz right now a combination of an Arginine compound, a creatine formula and caffeine. Arginine is a vasodilator, caffeine is a vasoconstrictor. The products do work well, though with their internal contradiction I am not entirely sure why. Right now this is probably the most popular and cost effective category for sports supplements. Nearly anyone that uses these products will receive some positive benefits, though I do strongly recommend a caffeine free formulation.
• Water – The greatest supplement in the world really, consume more of this on a regular basis and I can guarantee results from better energy levels, increased fat loss, better training performance and over all better well being. Best of all its nearly free. I say nearly free as I would encourage the use of some form of purified water. Consumption should be more than 8 glasses per day and closer to a litre for every 15-20kg of lean body weight.