Are Bodybuilding Supplements The Guaranteed Path To Muscle Building Results?

Often when the term "natural bodybuilding" is thought of, those who participate in such a hobby think of intense weight training workout sessions and disciplined 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 genetic potential. Since using steroids is avoided due to their serious health risks, bodybuilding supplements become the "safe" and legal drug alternative that bodybuilders are urged to consider.

Because very few who experiment with bodybuilding supplements have performed their weight training workout plans without using such products, they are unable to analyze the true effectiveness of the bodybuilding supplements they are constantly consuming, and therefore, mistakenly attribute any fat loss or muscle building to these products, even when making modifications to a weight training or diet regimen that, in fact, is the foundation for any fruitful fat loss or muscle building pursuit. Instead of conducting legitimate testing to note muscle gain or fat loss with specific bodybuilding supplements using an identical weight training and diet routine, many feel frustrated with their muscle building or fat loss progress, and once they return from a vacation with renewed weight training enthusiasm, they not only search for a new weight training workout routine and diet, but also purchase numerous bodybuilding supplements to use simultaneously, and if they gain muscle or lose fat, they do not credit the weight training workout plan or diet, nor do they consider the ease of building muscle following a layoff with nearly any marginally effective routine, but rather feel that the bodybuilding supplements are the catalyst behind any positive improvement, even when this progress is only temporary.

This biased hypothesis leads weight lifters around the world to believe that bodybuilding supplements are a requirement for results, and infamous bodybuilding magazines, most of whom generate the majority of their advertising profits from bodybuilding supplement manufacturers, also convince the readers that they must, without question, adopt bodybuilding supplements as the weapon of choice to maximizing muscle gains, especially when champion professional bodybuilders are shown holding the latest supplement gimmick (of course, he fails to mention that his muscle building results are due to steroid abuse as opposed to supplement use!). Nevertheless, the overwhelming message sent by the bodybuilding industry that these products are the natural key to impressive muscle building fuels many to accept this as truth, and the bodybuilding supplement industry thrives as a result.

But what's the truth 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 disappointed with their own muscle gains, despite the use of bodybuilding supplements, and have therefore devised a motto that I hope all who read this article will decide is logical enough to consider adopting for their own muscle building or fat loss pursuits. Most bodybuilding supplements do not offer advertised muscle building or fat loss results, and you will spend thousands (or may already have) proving this to be factual, but even if you were to find a bodybuilding supplement that allowed you to build muscle mass or burn fat quicker than is possible through a properly structured weight training workout plan and bodybuilding diet, you will then potentially risk long term health. The only possible way of knowing for certain whether an artificially induced product will potentially pose a risk to health is with a long term controlled study as to its impact, and since no such long term controlled analysis will ever exist on any bodybuilding supplement, you should be weary of their safety since, as we know with smoking, legality does not ensure safety, and, over long term use, there are serious concerns that bodybuilding supplements can lead to cancer, organ failure (due to added stress on the kidneys, liver, etc), endocrine damage, and premature death.

For those bodybuilders who wish to maximize 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 quicker than is possible through weight training and diet alone are clearly not an option. You can either heed my warning, or waste thousands as do so many each year searching for the ultimate steroid replacement that offers no side effects, when this, in fact, is an oxymoronic statement that has no realistic way of being fulfilled.

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