The 4 BEST Supplements To Build Muscle Faster (And How Much They Help) ft. Dr. Brad Schoenfeld

I remember the very first time I walked into a supplement store, I was completely overwhelmed with all the different options. Luckily, I had the sales rep there right by my side to guide me. 10 minutes later and I was set with $400 worth of different supplements that I was promised would get me and I quote, absolutely jacked. A month later though, all I had to show for my investment was an empty wallet. Fast forward to now and I've learned through research that the vast majority of muscle building supplements out there do absolutely nothing or are used and marketed totally out of context to take advantage of those who don't know any better. That being said, there are a handful of supplements that, when used properly, actually do live up to their claims and can help speed up your results. In this video, I'll cover four such supplements and go through not only how they work, but also the results that you can expect from each of them just to give you some realistic expectations, Protein powder is by far the most widely consumed supplement in the industry. Whey protein powder in particular has been shown to rank as the highest quality protein source when compared to several other protein sources, mainly because of its high leucine content, one of the main factors that determines the quality of a protein source. But this does not make it some magical muscle building supplement. Despite what your supplement store's sales rep says, protein powder does not seem to directly help you build muscle faster. Consistently eating enough protein does, and you don't need protein powder to get there, as whole foods alone can do this for you just fine. But for a few reasons, protein powder can help you do this more efficiently. First off, it's typically very low in fat and carbs and instead very high in protein content, which makes it very calorie and macro friendly when compared to various other protein sources. Second, it's convenient and can be used in many different ways to both save you time and add some more life into your diet instead of relying relying on the same boring protein sources every day. And lastly, it's actually quite affordable when viewed at a price per gram basis, with the average cost of whey protein being comparable to that of chicken breast. And this all just makes it easier for you to consistently reach the optimal daily protein intake that otherwise can be a struggle to hit, which is exactly how protein powder can indirectly speed up your growth. In fact, one meta analysis showed that in subjects who were ingesting only around 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of their body weight per day added in 50 grams of protein into their diet, mainly through the use of protein powder, they experienced significantly faster gains in muscle size and strength. Another meta analysis found similar results indicating that protein supplementation is generally associated with about a 38% faster gain in muscle and 33% greater increase in strength if you're currently not hitting the optimal protein intake. So if you're currently having a hard time getting sufficient quality protein through whole food sources alone, and then whey protein is definitely a good option to help you reap those extra gains that you're missing out on. Next is creatine, which is probably the most well researched and science backed supplement on the market. So creatine is a substance that's already naturally found in our bodies and how it works is actually very simple. Whenever we lift weights, we use something called ATP, the main energy source of our muscles. As we lift, we deplete these ATP stores to the point where we fatigue it, can no longer perform any more reps or lift the weight up. And this is where creatine comes in. It improves our strength and muscle endurance by facilitating a faster regeneration of ATP and thus ultimately enabling us to perform that extra rep or two or lift slightly more weight during our workouts. In fact, a Meta analysis reviewing 22 creatine studies found that creatine supplementation provided a boost of roughly 8% greater strength and 14% greater reps performed when compared to no supplementation. Now this doesn't sound like much of a boost, but these small gains do add up over time and have been shown to speed up the rate of muscle and strength gains as a result. But just be wary that there does seem to be quite a bit of variation with regards to the response to creatine, with vegetarians, vegans, and those who are just naturally low in creatine levels experiencing the most benefit. And lastly, I just want to emphasize that creatine does not simply do the work for you. The benefits that you get from supplementing with it only apply if you actually push, pushing yourself harder in your workouts as a result. Next is caffeine, another well researched and well known substance that can indirectly speed up our growth. Research has shown that caffeine ingestion prior to our workouts not only enhances our muscle contractions, but can also enable us to perform more reps by altering our pain thresholds and our perception of how hard we're working. As for how much of a benefit you can expect, a recent meta analysis found little to no benefit of caffeine ingestion on strength or the amount of weight you're eating able to lift in an exercise but did find quite a significant and consistent effect on muscular endurance and the number of reps you're able to perform. On average, caffeine ingestion enabled subjects to perform around two to three more rests per set, leading to about a 10 to 20% boost in their total rest performed in their workout. As a result, researchers speculate that these effects likely speed up growth over time due to the increased volume that subjects are able to achieve by ingesting caffeine prior to their workouts. However, the benefits that we see with caffeine supplementation seem to favor lower body workouts more than upper body workouts, likely because they're just generally more strenuous and require more effort. And we also see a greater effect when it's used during early morning workouts if you're not accustomed to doing them, as well as during workouts where you're sleep deprived from a poor night's sleep the night before. And one more consideration that you'll want to take into account is your habitual caffeine intake, because those who consume caffeine on a regular basis tend to see somewhat of a blunted response to its ergogenic effects. So what I'd recommend to avoid becoming overdependent on the supplement and to avoid developing a caffeine tolerance too quickly is to preserve its use for workouts where you'll reap the most benefit from it. So lower body workouts, early morning workouts, or days where you just need that extra kick are typically going to provide the best opportunity for you to reap the most benefit from caffeine. As for dosage, most studies found a beneficial effect only when using roughly 3-6mg of caffeine per kg of body weight, which can be delivered through a pre workout supplement, coffee or caffeine supplement. However, do keep in mind that this range is quite high, especially if you aren't accustomed to taking caffeine. So what I'd recommend is start on the very low conservative end and just increase as needed. Now, here to help us with the last supplement, Beta Alanine, is internationally renowned fitness expert and researcher Dr. Brad Schoenfeld, who has done a considerable amount of work within the field of supplements and the fitness industry in general. So Brad, aside from the three other supplements that we previously covered, there's actually one more that you'd also add to the list and it's Beta alanine. Would you mind just briefly explaining how exactly the supplement works?

Sure. Beta alanine is an amino acid and it increases muscle levels of a substance called carnosine. It actually increases carnosine more than taking carnosine itself. Carnosine is a hydrogen ion buffer and hydrogen ions are acids in the body. And you feel that when you get a burn, when that burn starts to build up, when the hydrogen ions in turn start building up, it's going to interfere with your ability to continue training. And the buffering effect of carnosine allows you to get additional reps. Based on.

The research you've covered, how much of a benefit can the average lifter expect to get in terms of actual performance benefits and additional gains from taking the supplement?

I would say that from what we have, you get an extra couple of reps, it might enhance you to enhance your ability and it is specific to higher rep training. So training with, let's say, 10 reps and above, if you're doing, let's say, a set of three reps, three rm, and it's going to be primarily in your ATP system, your ATP phosphocreating system, so it really isn't going to help you in that respect. You're not going to get much acidic buildup and thus the buffering doesn't really affect it. So when you're training with 10 reps, 15 reps, 20 reps, that's when you're going to see this benefit to buffering the acids and potentially allowing you to get an additional couple of reps. And.

Then I guess those additional couple reps would just add up over time in terms of increase volume and then potentially increase muscle growth as a result.

Correct. There's really not a lot of longitudinal work to look at it. Does that actually enhance your muscle building effect? But logically that would be the case where if you're able to increase the volume load at a given loading range, then it would enhance your ability to build more muscle.

Lastly, how exactly does one go about safely taking the supplement to maximize its benefit?

It takes several weeks, usually three to four weeks, before its full effects come into play. And the general consensus from the literature, it's about 4 to 6 grams a day. And you'd want to spread out the dosages so it's generally less effective. If you're taking one lump sum of, let's say, if you're taking five grams at once, it's better to spread it out into less, 2 or less grams per serving. So let's say 3 servings of 2 grams spread out in the morning, afternoon and evening. The symptoms that you'd get are the side effects. Generally you're a tingly sensation and some people kind of like that, but it can be, I think, kind of annoying and spreading out. When you're taking it in larger dosages, the effects of the tingling sensation are magnified, so when you're spreading out the dosage it will reduce the tingly sensation.

So hopefully you're able to see that supplements are not magic. You still need to put in the work, and even then they aren't extremely effective. But the little boost that you do get from each of these supplements can add up to a meaningful difference over time, especially when you do combine them with the right training and nutrition program and for step by step program that uses science to guide you week after week with your training, your nutrition and even your supplementation so you can truly maximize your results and simply head on over to builtwithscience.com and take our analysis quiz to discover the best program for you and your specific body. And big thank you to Dr. Brad Schoenfeld for his oversight and involvement on this video. I've left some links down below for you guys to check out his work, including his recently launched book that I personally read through and would highly recommend as it goes through pretty much all of the applicable research out there regarding muscle growth. Anyways, that is it for today guys. I hope you enjoyed this one. Please don't forget to show your support by giving the video a like leaving a comment down below as to what you'd like to see me cover next subscribe to the channel and turning on notifications for the channel as well. This all really does help me out. Thank you so much everyone. I'll see you next time.