Whether your goal is to grow muscle strength or size, we’ve taken the guesswork out of best food supplements shopping with the best products to help you get as big and strong as possible!
If your goal is to get as big as possible, these eight products will help you do it.
Best Food Supplements:
Caffeine
Caffeine may be the most widely used stimulant in the world, and for good reason. It has recurrently been shown to be an effective ergogenic aid in both endurance exercise and high-intensity activity. However, when it comes to strength performance, the effects of caffeine are a slight muddier.
While there’s some research suggesting caffeine consumption prior to resistance training can increase one-rep max (1RM) for the bench press, other studies have found no strength benefits from caffeine.2,3,4
Recommended Dose: 150-300 milligrams 30-60 minutes before your workout.
Branched Chain Amino Acids
If you’re a strength athlete, we can’t think of a single purpose not to take BCAAs during your workout. Besides the fact that they taste delicious, sipping on BCAAs between sets may help speed up the recovery and repair processes after a hard workout.
A 2010 study published in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism found that participants who consumed BCAAs at 100 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight, or about 9 grams for a 200-pound individual, experienced significantly less muscle soreness and damage following a high-volume squat protocol.
Recommended Dose: 6-10 grams before or during your excercises.
Citrulline Malate
Citrulline malate (CM) was originally marketed as an “antifatigue” best food supplements . In fact, if you were to travel back in time about 40 years, you’d find CM being approved to treat both mental and physical fatigue in post-surgery patients. More recently, CM has become popular for its boosting effects.
The benefits seen with CM supplementation are most likely credited to the synergistic combination of both L-citrulline and malate, which may help to increase rates of ATP during exercise.
Previous investigations have shown that a single dose of CM increased the number of repetitions performed during an upper-body resistance training protocol and reduced soreness at 24 and 48 hours post-exercise.
CM may be beneficial in improving workout performance during upper- and lower-body multiple-bout resistance exercise in resistance-trained men.
Recommended Dose: 8 grams of CM taken 60 minutes before workout
No Boosters
Nitrate-rich foods like beets, radishes, and pomegranates are a great way to boost the production of nitric oxide (NO). Nitrate-Rich Foods Like Beets, Radishes, And Pomegranates Are A Great Way To Boost The Production Of Nitric Oxide (NO).
Recommended Dose: 500 milligrams of beet root juice or pomegranate extract 30-60 minutes before your workout.
Glutamine
While this nonessential amino acid may not deliver earth-shattering PRs, it does play an important role in repair and recovery. Glutamine works by eliminating excess ammonia, which can accumulate during intense workout, helping to regulate your body’s acid-base balance.
Recommended Dose: 20-30 grams a day, consuming 10 grams post-workout
Fish Oils
Fish oils are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, which provide numerous benefits for the body. For strength athletes and bodybuilders, we’re most concerned with their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Intense resistance training can cause microscopic tears in your muscle fibers, leading to muscle damage and inflammation. While some inflammation is desirable, too much can delay the post-exercise recovery process
Recommended Dose: 2 grams daily, ideally with a meal
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