From testosterone boosters to horny goat weed, supplements that promise to build muscle are a big industry. They’re all marketed to people the same way: buy this product, get jacked, lose fat, look sexier, and succeed in life.
But how many of those supplements actually help you build muscle? Just because some of them helped a diabetic lab mouse put on muscle over a two-week period doesn’t mean you’ll experience the same effect. Animal research is a good way to set the stage for future human studies, but it’s no substitute.
What you eat, how you exercise, the amount of sleep you get, and what you supplement all play a role in building muscle. Just keep in mind, supplements are nowhere near as important as diet, exercise, and sleep. Those three are your foundation. Without supplements, you’ll still build plenty of muscle, assuming your exercise routine is consistent, your diet is healthy and contains enough protein, and you get enough quality sleep. Supplements are just the icing on the cake. They’ll help you push yourself a little harder.
So which supplements actually work?
Likely to Be Effective
Creatine
Creatine is a popular supplement for a reason. It’s effective at increasing muscle protein synthesis, and it improves power output, which also helps increase muscle growth.
How does creatine work? For those who remember their high school biology, creatine acts as an extra reservoir for phosphate groups. When your body starts running out of readily-available ATP (for example, when lifting weights), creatine can help donate some phosphate to ADP (to give your body more ATP). In terms of real-life application, creatine basically gives your cells a bit more extra energy.
Taking creatine can also cause 5-10 lbs of water-weight gain. The stress from extra water causes muscle cells to grow faster. This is one reason why creatine supplementation increases muscle growth over the long term. Novice weightlifters see more benefits with creatine than seasoned athletes, since they have more muscle to gain. (That doesn’t mean athletes shouldn’t take creatine though.)
Creatine is cheap, healthy, and provides a variety of benefits (as it is essentially cellular energy, it has been linked to benefits to overall health). Not everyone responds positively to creatine, meaning some people don’t see any benefits from creatine supplementation. Athletic people are more likely to respond to creatine, compared to sedentary people.
Protein Powder
Protein powder is a popular go-to supplement. Though the first protein powders to hit the market tasted like chalk, today’s powders are cheap and delicious. They’re as good as or better than other protein sources for bioavailability and amino acid balance, which makes them very useful when you want to eat chocolate with the nutritional profile of chicken. Whey and casein protein are processed from milk, and can be essentially treated as dehydrated foodstuff. And they’re high in calcium.
There’s nothing special about protein supplements, but they’re very useful for getting enough protein in your diet. Protein powder is a practical way to supplement for muscle mass and power.
Potentially Effective
Beta-alanine
Beta-alanine isn’t as effective as creatine, but if you’re into maximizing your potential, it could be worth a try. Beta-alanine is an amino acid which is turned into carnosine in the muscles. Carnosine protects muscle cells from excess acidity, like the kind that’s produced during intense exercise.
Beta-alanine supplementation is most effective for athletes that train in the 60-240 second range. Supplementation provides a small performance boost (2-3 percent), which makes it useful for athletes that are trying to cut a few seconds off their time.
Beta-alanine is also useful for lifters who tend to favor shorter rest periods and longer sets, since supplementation increases endurance and the amount of work that can be done in one go. Just keep in mind beta-alanine does nothing for power output (unlike creatine).
Researchers in one study observed an increase in muscle growth after beta-alanine supplementation, even after they controlled for the extra work people supplementing beta-alanine could do in the gym. That means that beta-alanine might help you build muscle on top of its ability to increase endurance.
