What is the best muscle-building supplement, that answer can be very difficult to answer because I don’t think there is one supplement, rather their many “best muscle-building supplements” as it really just depends on your goals and what you value.
But if you are looking for a cheat for rapid muscle growth, this is not the answer, you will still need to put in the hard work with countless intense workouts and a good diet.
What Are The Best Muscle Growth Supplements?
- Creatine
- Protein Powder
- Branched Chain Amino Acids
- Beta Alanine
- Pre Workout Supplements
What Do Muscle Building Supplements Do?
There are so many different positive effects of muscle-building supplements, some of them could simply improve performance when resistance training or further stimulate the muscle for enhanced muscle growth.
Though you can get many of these muscle growth supplements in a healthy diet, it can be difficult to get enough to optimize muscle growth.
Creatine
This includes any form of creatine, whether that be creatine monohydrate or creatine HCL as most of them have been shown to have equally effective.
Creatine has been shown to
- Improve strength
- Increase lean muscle mass
- Decrease muscle recovery time
Out of all of the muscle growth supplements out there creatine is the most tried and tested one out in the market, and has been shown to be the most effective supplement to promote muscle growth.
If you are looking for a recommendation I would say Optimum Nutrition Micronized Creatine Monohydrateis one of the best creatine supplements currently for sale. But if you are looking to save some money I would recommended getting pre-workout supplements that are high in creatine, if you are unsure of which creatinpre-workoutsts to choose I have an article on 5 of the best creatine pre workout.
Protein Powder
To get the most out of protein most people recommend about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, or 2.2 gram per kg to maximize muscle growth. For most people this recommendation can be extremally difficult to reach for one reason or another, this is where protein powder comes in to make to protein goal easier to reach.
Protein powder has been shown to
- Help build muscle
Though most protein powders only help you build muscle that is not a bad thing, as with any other supplement the most important aspect of building muscle mass is your protein intake, and they way I like to think about it is that your building a house with just your hands. Though most protein powders just help with muscle growth, some them could have other benefits by adding a healthy amount of branched chain amino acids/essential amino acids.
Personally one of my favorite protein powders is Biotech USA — Iso Whey Zero, as it tastes great, is relatively cheap with 88% protein contents per serving.
But if you are lactose intolerant you have to be careful, as many whey protein powders contain some kind of lactose. The solution is to look for protein powders with the word isolate in the name. You can fin some great options here.
Branched Chain Amino Acids/BCAAs
Branched Chain Amino Acids are one of the most useful supplements for muscle growth, and will often be found in other supplements such as protein powder and pre workout supplements. But the problem here is that most of these other supplements don’t contain enough BCAAs for you to get the full effects.
BCAAs has been shown to
- Promote muscle protein synthesis
- Decrease muscle fatigue
- Reduce muscle soreness
BCAAs are great, though they can be found in many different pre-workouts and protein powders, most of them just don’t have enough for you to feel the full effect. Another great reason to take BCAAs is the three essential amino acids, this is because they are not found in food making BCAAs the best way to increase your essential amino acid intake.
One of the best BCAA supplements out there is Optimum Nutrition BCAA capsules coming in at a great price on Amazon at $41.84 AUD or 100 servings and 200 pills or if you want it in powder form it come at $52.90 AUD for 60 servings.
Beta Alanine
Beta-alanine is another great supplement for muscle growth, and it can be found in pretty much any animal product, but it is also one of the most common ingredient in pre workouts. But again they run into the same problem that BCAAs that if can be difficult to find enough beta Alanine in a normal diet, and that is where beta-alanine supplements come in.
Beta alanine has been shown to
- Increase exercise performance
- Increase strength
- Decrease muscle fatigue
Though you can find beta-alanine in many different forms of protein it can be hard to get the optimal amount which is around 2-5 grams of it naturally. An example is that a chicken breast contains anywhere from 0.2 to 0.5 grams of beta alanine, which means you would need a minimum of 4 chicken breasts a day to reach the minimum optimal amount.
Pure products is a great option for your beta alanine needs, coming in for $40 AUD for 500 grams or $45 for 1 kg.
Pre Workout Supplements
Pre workout supplements is another way to improve your muscle growth journey, this is because with the right pre workout you can give your workouts an edge. This is important because I personally believe the intensity most important part of muscle growth, and most pre-workouts have the right ingredients should give you the energy and focus to pump out some intense workouts.
Pre-workout supplement has been shown to
- Improve your strength
- Increase energy
- Increase endurance
- Increased focus
Pre-workout is another great option if you are looking to improve your fitness journey as sometimes you just need the extra hit of energy for you to really pump out those sets.
I also feel that pre workouts also have the most variety when it comes to potential benefits, as some could contain those essential amino acids, some could contain creatine monohydrate, or some could have an excess amount of caffeine to push your workouts to the next level.
I like Gorilla Mode by More Plate More Dates, as its formula makes you feel like a gorilla in the gym, pumping out sets like it is no body’s business.
However Gorilla Mode has a lot of caffeine and I suggest that you only use it if you are at least an intermediate lifter of not already more advanced. If you are newer to the gym and still looking for a pre-workout to choose I recommended Low caffeine pre-workouts that still get the job done.
Warp Up
We all know that the journey to try to gain muscle can be extremely difficult for many people. But all of these options are great if you want to boost muscle growth, and I don’t think you can go wrong with any of their whether you pick the whey protein powder and the creatine monohydrate, either ,way I think you are going to see a significant improvement in your muscle growth journey.
For each section I only recommended one of my personal favourites, and there are many more option that I both like and dislike, but at the end of the day what I like may not be what you like.
