Can Bodybuilding Supplements Offer The Easy Road To Muscle Gain Or Fat Loss?

Whenever the term "natural bodybuilding" is thought of, those who participate in such a hobby contemplate intense weight training workout sessions and structured bodybuilding diet plans, but one additional variable, supplementation, is promoted as a requirement for any individual to excel in building muscle mass to his or her natural bodybuilding potential. Since using steroids is avoided due to their dangers, bodybuilding supplements are promoted as the legal and "safe" steroid substitution that bodybuilders are urged to consider.

Because few who dabble with bodybuilding supplements have performed their weight training workouts without using such products, they are unable to test the true effectiveness of the bodybuilding supplements they regularly consume, and therefore, mistakenly attribute any muscle gain or fat loss to these products, even when making modifications to a weight training or diet routine that, in fact, is the foundation for any successful muscle building or fat loss pursuit. Instead of conducting legitimate experiments to note muscle growth or fat loss with specific bodybuilding supplements using the exact same weight training and diet plan, many tend to become frustrated with their muscle building or fat loss progress, and once they return from a vacation with renewed weight training zest, they not only search for a new weight lifting workout routine and diet, but also invest in numerous bodybuilding supplements to use simultaneously, and if they build muscle or lose fat, they do not credit the weight training workout routine or diet, nor do they factor in the ease of muscle building following a sabbatical with nearly any marginally effective routine, but rather are convinced that the bodybuilding supplements are responsible for any positive improvement, even when this progress is short lived.

This biased hypothesis leads weight lifters around the world to believe that bodybuilding supplements are a required component for excellent results, and popular bodybuilding magazines, most of whom generate the majority of their advertising profits from bodybuilding supplement companies, also convince the readers that they should, without question, adopt bodybuilding supplements as the weapon of choice to enhancing muscle building, especially when champion professional bodybuilders are shown holding the most recent supplement gimmick (of course, the professional bodybuilder fails to mention that his results are due to steroid abuse as opposed to supplement use!). Nevertheless, the predominant message sent by the bodybuilding industry that these products are the natural key to dramatic muscle gains fuels many to accept this idea as truth, and the bodybuilding supplement industry profits as a result.

Yet, what is the real story behind the bodybuilding supplement propaganda? I have been involved in weight training for well over a decade, and through my own experience, along with emails received from those who are frustrated with their own muscle building, despite the use of bodybuilding supplements, and have therefore designed a standard of thought that I hope all reading this article will decide is logical enough to consider accepting for their own muscle gain or fat loss career. Most bodybuilding supplements do not offer advertised muscle gain or fat loss results, and you will spend thousands (or may already have) proving this to be true, but even if you were to find a bodybuilding supplement that enabled you to gain muscle or lose fat faster than is possible through a correctly designed weight training workout routine and bodybuilding diet, you will then no doubt risk long term health. The only method of knowing for certain whether an artificially induced product will harm long term health is with an extended (several decade) controlled study as to its impact, and because no such legitimate research will ever exist on any bodybuilding supplement, you should be skeptical of their safety since, as we know with the deadly smoking epidemic, legality does not ensure safety, and, over long term use, there are serious concerns that bodybuilding supplements can result in cancer, organ failure (due to added stress on the kidneys, liver, etc), endocrine damage, and premature death.

For numerous bodybuilders who wish to enhance muscle gains and fat loss, yet value the term "natural" due to its connection with health preservation and clear rejection of any potentially risky external aids towards such progress, bodybuilding supplements that claim to build muscle or burn fat faster than is possible through weight training and diet alone are a contradiction to such a philosophy. You can either heed my warning, or waste large amounts of money as do so many each year searching for the ultimate steroid replacement that offers no side effects, when this, in fact, is an oxymoronic fantasy that has no realistic way of being fulfilled.

By: Francesco A. Castano

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Francesco Castano authors MuscleNOW.com, a workout plan for muscle gain without supplements or drugs. He also owns IncrediBody.com, an online fitness superstore selling protein powder at guaranteed lowest prices.