As an athlete, you are always searching for the latest and greatest nutritional routines and supplements to enhance and boost performance. The nutritional supplement business is worth billions of dollars. Therefore, it is essential to know what your body needs, what works and what does not, to maximize performance and your money. Here are three supplements that you should avoid and save your cash on. And one that really works!

BCAA

BCAA’s are essential for energy production. They are needed to build new muscle. BCAA’s are essential for sports performance, strength training, and improving energy and recovery.

The Truth

The RDA says you need between 5 and 20 grams each day. Firstly, they are usually added to protein powders. Secondly, you are most likely already getting them. For example, a chicken breast has about 5.88 g of BCAA. A can of tuna has 5.2 grams. A glass of milk has 2.2 grams, and two eggs have 3.3 grams.

The Verdict

You don’t need to waste your money and buy these supplements.

Testosterone Boosters

Testosterone boosters promise to increase your testosterone levels, develop big muscles, and improve your athletic performance. Testosterone boosters have been shown to have helped people with low testosterone boost it. But you must be careful of research that gets advertised and spun. Just because it works for people with low testosterone doesn’t mean it will boost normal testosterone.

The Truth

People with normal testosterone levels have not shown any improvement. If testosterone boosters did boost testosterone, they probably would be illegal because that’s what steroids do. Secondly, they would be considered a PED and banned. In sports where drug testing is mandatory, if testosterone boosters worked, drug tests would be failed.

The Verdict

Save your money and purchase other effective supplements.

Glutamine

Glutamine is essential for building protein—this supplement promises to improve muscle recovery and protein synthesis. However, the research showed success for people who were ill and suffered from high mental stress and had decreased glutamine levels. So again, this is another supplement where the research gets sensationalized. It will not boost normal glutamine levels in healthy people.

The Truth

You need glutamine but not as much as protein. You only need about 3-5 grams of glutamine each day. But, again, the foods you eat contain glutamine. A chicken breast has about 3.7 grams. One glass of milk has 1 gram. Two eggs have 1.2 grams. Beef per 100 grams has 1.2 grams. And a handful of cashews has 2.2 grams.

The Verdict

Eating many types of food provides daily glutamine already. Another “save your money buy” because having too much of any supplement, the body will urinate it out. As a result, you will have expensive urine.

Here is What Works- Creatine

Creatine does improve athletic performance in many ways. It increases ATP in your muscles, making it perfect for high-intensity exercise. Endurance exercise and low-intensity performance do not really benefit from creatine supplementation. This is because they rely less on ATP.

Effects on Strength, Sport, and Exercise Performance

Creatine improves high-intensity exercise, strength, and power.

Using creatine significantly increases muscle strength, resistance training performance, and your one-rep max bench press compared to resistance training only.

Creatine has been shown to significantly increase sprint speed and reduce 40-meter sprint times.

Creatine supplementation improved elite swimmers’ sprint times significantly compared to swim training only.

Creatine improved 5- and 15-meter sprint times in soccer players.

Creatine has been shown to improve jump training and performance.

Proper Dosage

Start your loading phase by taking 20 grams per day for five days. Take 5-gram servings spread throughout the day four times, not all at once. This will help increase creatine storage quickly.

If you do not want to do the loading phase at 20 grams, just start with 5 grams daily.

Take creatine with a protein or a carbohydrate meal to help your muscles absorb it effectively.

After your loading phase, take 5 grams of creatine per day to maintain the level in your muscles.

Drink water throughout the day because creatine uses water to be absorbed into your muscles.

Side Effects

Creatine has been researched in and out and up and down, and to this day, it has no harmful or detrimental side effects. Also, no research says creatine is bad for your liver or kidneys.

Before you take any supplement, do your own research, and see if it is worth buying. You probably already consume it daily and can save money by buying supplements that work.

Another supplement that you should check out and that isn’t mentioned here is beta-alanine. It has been shown to be very effective.