{"id":13880,"date":"2017-11-27T09:19:53","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T09:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bulk.com\/uk\/the-core\/?p=13880"},"modified":"2022-08-30T16:18:29","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T15:18:29","slug":"what-supplements-should-you-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bulk.com\/uk\/the-core\/what-supplements-should-you-use\/","title":{"rendered":"What Supplements Should You Use?"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

You’re reading an article on our blog \u2013 so of course people should use all kinds of supplements! Or, should they?<\/p>\n

Apologies if my answer disappoints you but: it depends.<\/p>\n

Boring, I know. Useless, perhaps. But it does open up for diving deeper, figuring out what exactly it depends on, and hopefully answer a much more interesting question: what supplements should you use for your goals?<\/p>\n

Supplementation<\/h2>\n

The use of supplements can be found in its definition.<\/p>\n

Supplement, noun (\/\u02c8s\u028cpl\u026am(\u0259)nt\/)<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. a thing added to something else in order to complete or enhance it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    You’ll often hear recommendations for this supplement or that, on the basis that it’s “good for training”. But training can mean so many things.<\/p>\n

    You can train for a marathon or you can train for a powerlifting meet. You can do CrossFit or you can do yoga. Your exercise can be tough and intensive or it can be light and mostly for fun.<\/p>\n

    Should you really “complete or enhance” all those modalities the same way?<\/p>\n

    Of course not.<\/p>\n

    Further, supplements add to your existing diet and no two people eat exactly the same food. Even if you’re following a specific diet, chances are it’ll still be different from everyone else following the same diet.<\/p>\n

    Someone loves broccoli (me!) while another hates the green mini trees. Someone else gets a lot of their protein from nuts<\/a> and another from beans.<\/p>\n

    So does it make sense that everyone complements their diet with the exact same supplements?<\/p>\n

    Of course not.<\/p>\n

    Supplementation should be specific. What to choose, if any, depends on what your goals are and what you need help with.<\/p>\n

    Thus, supplements should be taken in a targeted manner.<\/p>\n

    Mathematics<\/h2>\n

    If supplements “complete or enhance” your training, you will first have to have do that training properly. Else there’s nothing to enhance!<\/p>\n

    I like to think of it as arithmetic. (Don’t worry, this will be easy!)<\/p>\n

    Say that your training effort is a scale from 0 to 100. The lowest being a couch potato and the highest an Olympic athlete training three sessions per day.<\/p>\n

    You probably land somewhere in-between.<\/p>\n

    Let’s say an imaginary Joe’s training effort is 30 \u2013 he trains a few times per week but nothing too strenuous; a brisk jog, some light machines, that sort of thing.<\/p>\n

    An imaginary Jane’s training effort is instead 70 \u2013 she hits the gym multiple times per week, lifting heavy weights, moving with a purpose, and does complementary hill sprints on top of that.<\/p>\n

    Then we factor in supplements. Let’s say they add something like 0-10%.<\/p>\n

    Joe buys everything he can get his hands on: 30 + 10% = 33 training effect.<\/p>\n

    Jane instead only uses the basics: 70 + 5% = 73.5 training effect.<\/p>\n

    Jane got more out of her supplements than Joe did, even though she used a lot less. Joe on the other hand would’ve been a lot better served by instead simply training harder.<\/p>\n

    So, should you use supplements?<\/h2>\n

    Supplements do work but you have to work too if you want to get the most out of them.<\/p>\n

    So before you hit Buy, ask yourself the following:<\/p>\n