Are The Supplements You’re Taking A Mere Waste Of Money?

Who wouldn’t want to take a pill and watch fat magically come off or the muscle magically appear? The supplement industry knows we all want a quick fix and because of this there are way too many ineffective supplements on the market.

Here is the challenge: how are you supposed to separate fact from fiction? After all, I’m sure you don’t want to waste money on useless pills and powders.

Well, here are some fitness supplements that haven’t lived up to their hype:

1. Arginine: The supplement companies claim two things about Arginine. One, that it increases vasodilation-the expansion of blood vessels. Two, that it increases growth hormone. The problem with taking large doses of a single amino acid is that it can block the absorption of others. Moreover, even if Arginine did increase growth hormone production, the body would decrease its own internal production.

2. Mitochondrial transporters: The main supplement here, carnitine, helps push the contents of fat cells into mitochondria-the sites where fat burning takes place. Keep mind, however, that you are much better off spending money on food than carnitine.

3. Cell hydrators: Cells grow whenever they are hydrated. And creatine is a cell hydrator and volumizer. Creatine, however, does not work as good as the supplement companies claim. It does have an effect on your body, but don’t expect massive gains here.

4. ZMA: ZMA is a blend of zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6. The claim here is that ZMA increases levels of testosterone and IGF-1, anabolic hormones that help muscle repair itself. Again this logic is flawed because the body doesn’t operate on such simplistic terms. Even if this supplement did increase hormonal output, your body would simply counteract the effect by decreasing production.

5. Protein powders: Protein powders will never be able to rival whole foods. After all, whole foods in the right combinations have the slowest digestion rates you can get. And slower digestion rates translate into better protein synthesis.

There is lots of money to be made by selling supplements. So expect many more supplements to be hitting the market again and again. The key is to not buy into the hype and stick to what has worked for centuries: regular food.

Writer Katherine Crawford, a fitness physiologist and former flabby arms sufferer, instructs on how to do arm toning exercises. Unearth how to get sexy and toned arms by exploring her blog with advice on how to get skinny arms right now!