When you get into the fitness world, you get hit with a bucket load of information about three main areas: nutrition, training and supplementation. The world is flooded with theories and publicity scams and we end up getting lost in this globalized sea of information.

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We could spend the whole day talking about those subjects or even start a forum to have a discussion about them. Undoubtedly we would have millions of different ideas and opinions. Today let’s just focus on one of these subjects: Supplementation.

First of all, supplementation, like the word states, is a supplement. That means something extra, an addition if you will. It doesn’t need to me something synthesized or chemical, it can just as well be a natural ingredient (which in it’s way becomes a chemical along the way). It isn’t something new to humans, there have always existed supplementation practices throughout our evolution, specially in the health sector. We can’t not mention that sport is also health. After all, who are we if not our bodies?

When we discover the sports supplement industry for the first time, as consumers it can be overwhelming. There is a ton of competition in the market and we are immediately hit with promises that don’t come true and magic formulas. Unfortunately, magic doesn’t exist.

Many brands, we are sure you’ve seen this if you have done some research, list a proprietary blend or formula in the ingredient list. It isn’t enough just to see the ingredients; it is crucial to know dosages. Imagine you’re going to bake a cake, if I only give you a list of ingredients, it’ll be useless, right?

This method of creating a proprietary blend should serve only as defense from other companies (since there is a lot of competition and there could be the risk of someone copying a product), but unfortunately that isn’t true. Instead of that purpose, many companies take advantage of this fact to make more money. A quick example, coca-cola has a proprietary blend, it says what it contains, but you have no idea in what dosages.

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The ingredients can be very effective, but only in the right amounts, and many times only when combined with other ingredients that optimize their effect. Don’t make the mistake of buying things you don’t know enough about. If you don’t know what they are, try and do some research on the internet to know more about a certain ingredient. Surely you will find a trustworthy source if you look hard enough. Alternately, you can ask someone who is well informed about the matter. Look for product reviews and studies, or talk to us (for example). Here is the crucial part: Do we actually need a supplement to reach our goals?

To make things easy, let’s put it this way: if you have a cold, you aren’t going to take tooth ache pills and hope for the cold to go away, are you? Most supplements (not just sports supplements) work if there is a deficiency of an element in our bodies, it’s as simple as that.

We’re not going to go in on this for now, because we don’t want to bore you to death with scientific facts and make this article too exhausting. Once again, try and find trustworthy sources of information for you “supplementicious” adventures. Don’t think that all supplements are a scam, because that isn’t true, and also don’t think that they are bad for your health, because that isn’t true either.

There is quite a lot of prejudice around this subject. For the average family, that isn’t in the fitness world, supplements are work of the devil or powdered cancer. But, our team will take you on a trip into this world that helps us so. Due to the advantage they offer when used right, we’ll talk about many supplements in our articles. Including the infamous creatine.

Until then.