Where supplements actually fit

A supplement shop stocks hundreds of products. You could measure the effect of three.

The order of operations

Training you complete carries most of the result. Food that matches your goal carries most of the remainder, and sleep carries most of what is left after that. Supplements adjust the margin at the end of that chain, and the margin is thin.

Most people run the chain backwards. A pre-workout will not rescue a week of five-hour nights, and no powder makes up for eating at maintenance on a gaining phase. Get the top of the chain right and the bottom becomes worth discussing.

The short list

Creatine has more research behind it than anything else in the shop, and the effect is still modest: a few per cent on strength, and a little more work completed per session, which compounds over a program. Three to five grams a day, any time of day, no loading phase needed. It is also cheap.

It pulls water into the muscle, which shows up as a kilo or so on the scale in the first fortnight. That is water, and it belongs there.

Protein powder is food in a shaker and worth judging as food. If your meals reach your protein target, it adds nothing. If the day comes up short, it is the most convenient 25 grams available.

Caffeine works. A dose before training raises the effort you can tolerate, which is worth most on the heavy days. It also has a half-life of five to six hours, so the same dose at 4pm trades against tonight's sleep, and sleep sits above caffeine in the order.

Creatine in detail

Creatine monohydrate is the form with the research behind it. Other forms, creatine hydrochloride, buffered creatine, creatine ethyl ester, cost more and show no additional benefit in controlled studies. Monohydrate dissolves in water, costs a few cents per serving, and has been studied for over thirty years.

The dose is 3 to 5 grams per day, taken at any time. Morning, evening, with food, without food. The timing makes no measurable difference. You do not need a loading phase. Loading at 20 grams per day for a week fills the stores faster, but 3 to 5 grams per day reaches the same level within three to four weeks. Loading also causes stomach discomfort for some people, so the slower path is the more practical one.

You do not need to cycle creatine. There is no downregulation of natural production that requires time off. Take it each day and continue for as long as you train.

The weight gain in the first two weeks, about a kilo, is water stored inside the muscle cells. It is not fat. The water supports the contraction process, which is part of how creatine adds a rep or two at the top end of a set. If you stop taking creatine, the water leaves over a week or two and the scale drops back.

The performance gain is small per session and meaningful over a training block. In a set of 8 reps at a heavy weight, creatine might add one rep. Over a twelve-week program, that extra rep per set adds up to more total volume, and total volume is one of the primary drivers of muscle growth. The gap between 8 reps and 9 reps on each working set across 36 sessions is hundreds of additional reps by the end of the program.

Kidney safety has been studied in healthy adults across dozens of trials. No evidence of harm at the recommended dose exists in healthy populations. If you have existing kidney issues, discuss it with a doctor before starting. For healthy people, 3 to 5 grams of monohydrate per day carries no known risk.

When protein powder earns its place

Protein powder is a food product, not a supplement in the pharmaceutical sense. It is dried milk protein (whey or casein), dried egg protein, or dried plant protein in flavoured form. Your body processes it the same way it processes the protein in a chicken breast or a tin of tuna.

Whole food is the better source in most meals because it comes with micronutrients, fibre, and satiety that a shake does not provide. But whole food is not always available.

A 6am training session leaves no time for cooking breakfast beforehand. A shake at 5:45am delivers 25 to 30 grams of protein in two minutes. A desk lunch with no microwave and no fridge makes a pre-mixed shake the difference between hitting the protein target and falling 30 grams short. Travel days, airport layovers, and hotel rooms without kitchens present the same gap.

Whey concentrate is the cheapest form and works for most people. Whey isolate has less lactose and suits those who notice bloating from concentrate. Casein digests at a slower rate, which makes it less useful around training and more useful as a late-night option if you want to spread protein across more hours. Plant-based blends made from pea and rice protein match whey on amino acid profiles when the blend is designed for it. Pick whichever your stomach tolerates and your budget supports.

In the situations above, the powder earns a place in the bag. Outside those situations, a meal covers the same ground with more food volume and more satisfaction. For protein targets by bodyweight, see protein in plain numbers.

Pre-workout decoded

The active ingredient in most pre-workout supplements is caffeine. A standard serving contains 150 to 300 milligrams, which is one to two strong coffees. Caffeine raises alertness and lowers perceived effort, which translates to more work done in a session.

The tingling sensation on the skin comes from beta-alanine. Beta-alanine buffers acid in the muscle during high-rep sets and has a small effect on endurance performance. The tingling is a side effect, not a sign the product has kicked in. Many people assume the tingle means the supplement is active. It means the beta-alanine has reached the skin, which happens whether you train or sit on the couch.

The rest of the ingredients list, citrulline, taurine, B vitamins, proprietary blends, has either weak evidence or none at the doses present in a single scoop. The label lists them because a longer ingredient list sells more tubs. The caffeine accounts for most of the effect.

A cup of coffee before training provides the same caffeine dose and costs less per serving. If you prefer the taste or the convenience of a pre-workout powder, it will not harm you at the listed dose. If you train in the afternoon or evening, watch the caffeine total for the day, since the half-life means a 4pm dose is still half-present at 10pm. That matters more for your sleep than any other ingredient on the label. For more on fuelling training sessions, see eating enough to train hard.

The rest of the shelf

The rest, from fat burners to the pre-workout named like a video game, does less than any of the three above. Spend the money on food instead, or keep it.

A written program and a fridge with protein in it will do more this year than the whole aisle, and you buy the program once.

General guidance, not medical advice. If you take medication or have a condition, check with someone qualified before adding anything, creatine included.

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