• Supplements. This is a huge business, around $20 billion in sales in the US alone according to an industry lobby group report. Very few of those dollars are well-spent. I recommend protein supplementation for some individuals, fish oil caps for those who don’t eat a lot of fatty fish, and maybe some creatine for a more advanced trainee. But these aren’t going to cost more than $30-$50 per month on average. Wander into any health foods store, GNC or the like, though, and you’ll find shelves upon shelves of mass gainer, fat burner, testosterone booster, and general make-you-lean-and-strong-right-now! pills.  Too bad none of them do very much at all besides slim down your wallet. One humorous example is that of “Surge Recovery”, a post workout drink marketed by Biotest that “turns on the muscle gaining, hyper-drive switch.” (You can read more sensational claims about the product here.) At about $2/serving, this drink had better be pretty amazing! Alan Aragon did an analysis of Surge earlier this year comparing it to chocolate milk and ultimately concluded that the two were equally effective (based on the research done to date). Chocolate milk, however, is less than half the cost per serving for all the hyper-drive switch muscle building you could want.

• Exercise equipment. We’ve all seen the infomercials promising six-pack abs, bulging biceps, or a toned butt—all in just six minutes a day! More nonsense. The most advanced equipment most people will ever need to get fit and look better are a nice set of dumbbells, a bar with some weights, and a comfortable pair of shoes for exercising. After all, Olympic and professional athletes are using this same basic, time-tested things to get stronger and faster. Can you imagine Usain Bolt ditching his squat rack for a Shake Weight?

• Fads. Books, diets, articles, gurus, coaches, and programs. Every month there’s something new, from the South Beach and Zone diets to P90X, Marine-style bootcamps, 6 Ways to Build Bigger Biceps, and so forth. All of these have one thing in common: they promise fast results. And most of them are either very flawed or make outrageous claims. See my post on bootcamps for the kind of ridiculous claims that are common, and which completely undermine the credibility of what could otherwise be a decent program.

It’s hard for me not to take all this nonsense a little bit personally. I’m a trainer, I make claims about my product, and I charge money for that product. Unlike many of these companies, though, I like to think that 1) I make realistic promises and 2) I deliver on those promises.

Even if the industry continues to sell overpriced, unproven products to make a quick buck, I’d also like to think that consumers can become more informed about health and fitness.  That’s what I try to do when training my clients, and with the content of this blog.

Some take away points: the best supplements are extremely inexpensive – they run me at most $50 or $60 a month and this includes at least 2 protein shakes a day, creatine, and fish oil.  Employees at GNC or similar retail outlets will often try to upsell worthless products like NO Explode, complicated protein formulations, enhanced creatine compound, and pro hormones. None of that stuff is worthwhile, and is extremely expensive as well.

Where to Start

Buying a jug of whey protein powder and making a shake to drink along with a piece of fruit is probably the easiest and most effective “supplementation” I can recommend.  If you find yourself hitting up a Starbucks and Tim Horton’s once or twice a day for a bagel and a muffin, switching to a scoop of protein powder and a banana will not only reduce your overall caloric intake, but also provides a filling and nutritious snack full of protein and vitamins.

Hit up Supplements Canada for some reasonable prices on protein powder blends. The stuff is much cheaper in the US, but at around $40 a 5lb jug will last over a month at 2 scoops per day.

Your results may differ.

Fish oil capsules are another supplement that almost everyone will benefit from. The modern diet has very little Omega 3 Fatty Acid content – a near miracle drug. The easiest way to increase your intake of this type of fat is to supplement with fish oil capsules. Look for bottles that contain lots (100+ grams) of eicosapentanoic (EPA) acid and docosahexanoic (DHA) acid, as this is the stuff that will do your body good. Alternatively, you can simply eat more fatty fish like salmon throughout the week. However, that can get pretty expensive and you’ll need to be mindful of mercury content. A month’s supply of capsules (around 4/day) shouldn’t cost more than $20 or so with Walmart being a better bet on price than a health food store. If you want to learn more about healthy fats and fish oil check out an article by Alan Aragon here. He cites a lot of studies to back up the almost too good to be true benefits of Omega 3 Fatty Acids.

Creatine and a multivitamin are other cost effective supplements you can look into. However, they’re going to offer fewer benefits than a diet of adequate protein and added fish oil. If you don’t (and won’t) eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables, it might be worth looking into a multivitamin. Otherwise, keep it simple.