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any of you serious into excercise and refuse supplements?

M

mizzou

Diamond Member
I have been active all my life and refused to take supplements.... more specifically stuff like creatine. Im not so against protein powder based products but.i still would never take those.

I just feel uneasy about taking something that was manufactored and only on the market with limited long term analysis.....but at the same ime ive never felt it necessary to require a supplement in the first place.

Most internet.postings, not just here, but everywhere its like no big deal. Am i a purist or am i missing out on a great leap in science that i could really benefit.from?
 
Creatine won't make or break your fitness goals. I use it and in my experience it gives me an extra rep or two on most of my lifts as opposed to without using it. It's cheap and easy to toss in a protein shake.

You get it without supplementing it from meat/fish so you can always increase your intake naturally if that were really a concern.
 
Most here don't lift/exercise hard enough to even warrant drinking water during the session.

That said I have found the older I get the better I respond to supplements especially when my caloric needs ramp up and I don't feel like eating every 3 or so hours.

Also not all supplements are bunk...there are two things though in the market that many misunderstand.

1) There is no regulation...however, some do put themselves up to the same standards as perscription meds.
2) While many products have no long-term, in-depth scientific research behind them, many do. Creatine is one that has gone back a long time. Vitamins as well. Protein powders are also proven products. ECA stacks work well if only for energy boost.
 
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Good luck trying to get enough of it through your diet. You'd have to eat about 40 oz of beef a day to get 5g of creatine. Herring actually has the most ranging anywhere from 6.5–10 g/kg, but even at the high end of the scale, it's going to be about 12 oz every day to get around 3g, which is maintenance levels.

With the amount of research done on creatine proving its effectiveness, how cheap it is (I buy 1000 grams for less than $20 which is a 200 day supply at 5 g/day), and how hard and expensive it would be (not to mention calories) to get it through your diet, I see little reason not to include it for somebody interested in strength/hypertrophy.

I really wish people would get their diet and training right before they even thought about supplements though. Those two alone will do a lot more than any supplement. After those are perfect, mess around with supplements for that last 1% performance advantage. The only supplements I'd make an exception for is fish oil and vitamin D.
 
alkemyst said:
Most here don't lift/exercise hard enough to even warrant drinking water during the session.
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F U man its hot out D:

I have one or two scoops of ON Whey each day in a shake, but aside from that I like to rely on my diet for what I need. I eat a lot of fish and have a good variety of foods, so I think I'll be fine. I do lack vegetables at times though, a multivitamin probably would do me no harm.
 
I took creatine and protein for ~2 months when I began working out in '99, but haven't really touched either (or anything else) much since. I don't have anything against most supplements, although I do feel that MANY drastically over-represent the actual benefits they have been proven to provide. Mostly, I'm just happy where I am currently, and don't see any reason to begin taking supplements now when I'm able to maintain my desired levels of strength, fitness, aesthetics, etc. supplement-free.
 
Well if you're concerned about creatine, then you'd better go to a doc and ask him to flush out all the creatine that your body produces every day.

All creatine supplementation does is increase the amount already present in your cells to improve performance.
 
I don't take may suplements, Right now I'm just doing whey. But When I'm bulking I'll cycle some creatine and it does help I can tell a difference in the first week and haven't had any bad reactions. Aside from that I'm not serious enough about getting THAT big to supplement anymore than that, I have no problem hitting 250-260 without any gainers.
 
I don't take creatine or any kind of supplements. I'm turning 40 in a few months and the closest I tried them were when they were giving free samples at Costco. I thought they were chocolates and I didn't like the taste of it. I guess I'm a purist too 🙂
 
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brikis98 said:
I just eat food. It's tasty and backed by millions of years of research.
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So is the immune system, but I'll bet you take medicine your doctor prescribes when you're sick.

*note, this is not meant as an open endorsement of supplements, I just don't buy into the whole "nature > science in all aspects" mentality.
 
Deeko said:
So is the immune system, but I'll bet you take medicine your doctor prescribes when you're sick.
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Unless it's something serious, I tend to avoid the doctor. 99% of the time they just prescribe "exercise", "rest" and "healthy food" anyway. That is, in the vast majority of cases, doctors rely on your body's ability to heal itself, including that very immune system. In the cases where it's not good enough, obviously I'll take the medicine.

Deeko said:
*note, this is not meant as an open endorsement of supplements, I just don't buy into the whole "nature > science in all aspects" mentality.
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And I never said nature > science in ALL aspects. But an overconfidence in the abilities of science/technology - and, just as importantly, the companies that make the products - is also foolish. In some areas, science has obviously improved upon what we can get from nature: antibiotics, immunization, cars, computers, and so on. In others, it's not quite there yet. For example, food/nutrition science is still in a very primitive state today. In a hundred years, maybe our knowledge will be advanced enough where we can eat a perfectly healthy diet in pill form. Today, it's not even close. Absolutely NOTHING beats a balanced diet of whole/unprocessed foods. With shoes, it's the same: studies consistently show that shoes do not change, or even increase injury rates (especially "fancier" motion controlled shoes). Perhaps in 25 years we'll build the perfect shoe, but for now, millions of years of evolution has produced a foot that is remarkably good at running without them. I'll keep monitoring the science and when I see results good enough, I'll be happy to take advantage of them. With most supplements, that currently isn't the case.
 
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purbeast0 said:
what?
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So you think most people on this forum are all athletic and train hard enough to need supplementation outside a normal diet.

lol, that's rich.

Please let's be realistic and not just give mad props and chest bumps because someone posts here.
 
alkemyst said:
So you think most people on this forum are all athletic and train hard enough to need supplementation outside a normal diet.

lol, that's rich.

Please let's be realistic and not just give mad props and chest bumps because someone posts here.
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you said most people on here don't work out hard enough to warrant a need to drink water during their session and i said 'what?' ... wtf does that have to do with supplements?

and yes, i do think a lot of people on this forum will benefit from supplementatoin greatly over just a 'normal diet' as you say, and i think a lot do, including people who have replied in this thread, myself included.

this is a forum dedicated to health and fitness ffs...
 
purbeast0 said:
you said most people on here don't work out hard enough to warrant a need to drink water during their session and i said 'what?' ... wtf does that have to do with supplements?

and yes, i do think a lot of people on this forum will benefit from supplementatoin greatly over just a 'normal diet' as you say, and i think a lot do, including people who have replied in this thread, myself included.

this is a forum dedicated to health and fitness ffs...
Click to expand...

You have to look at who you're responding to.
 
purbeast0 said:
you said most people on here don't work out hard enough to warrant a need to drink water during their session and i said 'what?' ... wtf does that have to do with supplements?

and yes, i do think a lot of people on this forum will benefit from supplementatoin greatly over just a 'normal diet' as you say, and i think a lot do, including people who have replied in this thread, myself included.

this is a forum dedicated to health and fitness ffs...
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Well most aren't only considering a good multi and some minerals. They are talking the more or less 'fitness' supplements.

I agree most (especially with processing in foods done so much no matter how well you buy) would benefit from vitamins, minerals, and essential fats/oils.

I have found even those that think they have great diets are really short-changing themselves on important things.
 
mizzou said:
I have been active all my life and refused to take supplements.... more specifically stuff like creatine. Im not so against protein powder based products but.i still would never take those.

I just feel uneasy about taking something that was manufactored and only on the market with limited long term analysis.....but at the same ime ive never felt it necessary to require a supplement in the first place.

Most internet.postings, not just here, but everywhere its like no big deal. Am i a purist or am i missing out on a great leap in science that i could really benefit.from?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't take vitamins or supplements or anything. Closest I get is protein shakes, but just as a meal replacement - sometimes it's easier to fit a liquid meal in when you're eating 5-7 small meals a day. I'd rather just eat healthy food than take anything extra.
 
I don't so much refuse as I figure I'd rather try to get what I need by improving my diet first. Granted, I don't lift, I only really run seriously and do a bit of cross training. I've considered getting some whey to add to my post run shakes just because it's a convenient way to get a large, quick dose and I've read that you're supposed to do that after long runs to avoid burning too much muscle. I've been too lazy to get any so far though.
 
mizzou said:
I have been active all my life and refused to take supplements.... more specifically stuff like creatine. Im not so against protein powder based products but.i still would never take those.

I just feel uneasy about taking something that was manufactored and only on the market with limited long term analysis.....but at the same ime ive never felt it necessary to require a supplement in the first place.

Most internet.postings, not just here, but everywhere its like no big deal. Am i a purist or am i missing out on a great leap in science that i could really benefit.from?
Click to expand...

I took supplements when I was younger in order to speed things up, but I don't do it any longer because
1) Expensive
2) Uncomfortable with the maintenance required

#1 is fairly obvious.

#2 is where I am not comfortable with the idea of it remaining in my body to achieve the strength I want.
 
Supplements are just that; supplements. They're supposed to make up for something that is lacking in your diet. My diet is balanced, and I've never noticed a difference when taking supplements. I tried creatine, but I eat a good deal of fish & meat, and I didn't notice a single lick of difference. I do take some protein powder in my morning shakes, but that's just because it's cheap and a way to get some more protein in. The only supplement I would consider taking would possibly be Vitamin D, because my diet is lacking in that when I'm in cutting/maintenance phases.
 
MrMatt said:
Supplements are just that; supplements. They're supposed to make up for something that is lacking in your diet. My diet is balanced, and I've never noticed a difference when taking supplements. I tried creatine, but I eat a good deal of fish & meat, and I didn't notice a single lick of difference. I do take some protein powder in my morning shakes, but that's just because it's cheap and a way to get some more protein in. The only supplement I would consider taking would possibly be Vitamin D, because my diet is lacking in that when I'm in cutting/maintenance phases.
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There is some stuff out there that can do things that no change in diet will. I'm 33 and started using D-Aspertic Acid several months ago to help improve my natural testosterone production. For me the overall improvement in recovery, mood, and progress in the gym has been dramatic. Prior to using it I tried several different eating strategies (no carb, low carb, paleo, etc...) and none of them can even remotely compare in effect.

I admit the hard science behind using it is extremely limited and there is no long term studies done on it. But I get my blood tested regularly for other issues and so far everything looks good to my doctor. It's all about risk vs. gain for me.

And then there's the variety of supplements I use for my joints, I literally could not lift heavy 5 days a week without fish oil, glucosamine, cissus, and topical capsacin creams.

Granted I have very specific goals to my training (I'd like to compete in local powerlifting meets). I'm not doing this for general health and well being. Otherwise I wouldn't be willing to dump all this stuff into my body every single day.
 
MrMatt said:
Supplements are just that; supplements. They're supposed to make up for something that is lacking in your diet. My diet is balanced, and I've never noticed a difference when taking supplements. I tried creatine, but I eat a good deal of fish & meat, and I didn't notice a single lick of difference. I do take some protein powder in my morning shakes, but that's just because it's cheap and a way to get some more protein in. The only supplement I would consider taking would possibly be Vitamin D, because my diet is lacking in that when I'm in cutting/maintenance phases.
Click to expand...

If you noticed no difference with creatine then you either took it wrong or genetically don't have the proper receptors.
 
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