TOP-5: Supplements for Gaining Muscle Mass Fast

Before we go any further, it is important to remember that building your desired body may take literally years to achieve. Either for aesthetic or competitive purposes, your body requires an incredible amount of time to develop and build muscles according to the level of demand you are placing on it.

The rate of your progress ultimately does not represent a linear upwards graph, where there is a continuous uninterrupted growth pattern of building muscle mass and strength. Meaning, you will certainly encounter setbacks during your fitness journey, and these may hinder your progress in ways such as unexpected injuries, demotivation, over-exertion / fatigue, ineffective use of the exercises, as well as through inadequate nutrition.

That being said, you have to strive to minimize the chances of these events, and to maximize the gains you can get from each of your workout sessions through detailed planning.

One of the crucial steps to achieve this is by choosing the right supplement to support your exercise and nutritional needs, in order to achieve a net increase in muscle growth and strength over time.

Science can help here, and the supplements listed below are medically proven to help you gain more muscle mass, and so achieve a better physique.

1. Creatine

Creatine is one of the most studied forms of supplement in the field of body building and nutritional science. It is naturally created in our body and is stored deep inside our muscles, it primarily acts as a natural source of energy for muscle contraction.

The problem is, it takes a huge amount of meat protein in our diet for us to meet the required effective doses, and to provide an enhancing effect for muscle development as adults. To give you an idea, your body needs about 3 to 5 grams of creatine to support bodybuilding per day, this is equivalent to 1 to 2 kg of raw beef meat. Such high levels of consumption will be generally difficult for everyone to attain, and for some it will simply be impossible.  

Creatine is one of the safest available bodybuilding supplements to have been studied, in fact it is used to aid patients with traumatic brain injuries and adult muscle loss (sarcopenia). The only known side effect of taking this supplement is the added weight gain it causes due to the increased water retention in your muscles.

How could it help me?

Imagine yourself being able to achieve another two or more reps of your bench press routines than you usually can, and these additional reps will allow a window of opportunity to further exert effort for your muscles, and to initiate a greater stimulus for muscle building.

Creatine provides an additional boost of energy to your muscles that allows them to perform more work, and to have enhanced exercise capacity. It allows you to accomplish greater exercise volumes, which eventually leads to more muscle over time.

Benefits:

·        Helps muscle to produce more energy

·        May increase lean muscle mass

·        Increase  exercise intensity and performance

·        Speeds muscle growth

·        Increases exercise endurance

·        Improves brain function

2. Protein Supplements (Whey)

Muscle growth relies heavily on the amount of protein we consume to support the muscle building process. As part of our metabolism, our body constantly undergoes a cycle of anabolic and catabolic phases. When in an anabolic phase, we build and maintain our muscle mass, while in a catabolic phase we break down overall masses, such as body fats and muscles.

Ideally, we will have a net anabolic rate, which means therefore that we have to ensure our body builds more muscle mass than losing it, ensuring that we are on a path to net gain over time. This is achieved by supplying our body with its much needed supplies of protein during the important window of muscle rebuilding in the anabolic cycles.

How could it help me?

Our body needs about 1.6 to 2.2 g of protein per kg of our total body weight in order to facilitate protein synthesis (muscle building). In some, this means consuming various amounts of high protein meals throughout the day in combination with high volumes of exercise. If you are into competitive bodybuilding or are an athlete, then you have to strive to meet the higher ranges of protein intake, which in turn can also take a lot of energy and effort on your part to consume, let alone to digest.

Protein supplements give you an easy to consume and easy to digest solution for meeting your daily protein needs at levels required to have a net gain of muscle mass. This effectively aids the process of anabolism and thus produces more satisfying results in body building.

There are also several studies that show us, the supplementing of whey protein can actually reduce total body fat mass in people who are overweight or obese.

However, take into consideration the fact that if you are already getting enough protein through the whole food diet, protein supplements don’t add much value to your body and are actually an inefficient method of intake.

Benefits:

·        Increases muscle growth

·        Weight Management

3. Weight Gainers

This type of supplement is typically used by people who are having a hard time to gain more weight, or who simply are not getting enough calories in their normal diet. Note that weight gainers do not directly help you to build muscle mass, but rather help you to increase your body weight and therefore help you achieve a bigger physique overall.

Remember, your body needs calories in order to move around since it is basically your body’s currency of energy, and in order for you to achieve 1 lb of body weight you need to consume at least 3,500 calories per day consistently. The excess calories you consume are eventually stored in your body in the form of body fat, thereby adding additional weight to your body.

Although weight gainers may help you gain additional weight, and are certainly beneficial for ectomorphs or real hard gainers, there is no special thing about it other than getting a high calorie drink field with carbohydrates and protein content.

How could it help me?

If you are someone with a fast metabolism and having a hard time to gain weight, this supplement may easily add 500 to 1,000 calories into your diet from a single serving. However, consider this only if you are bulking since it will add extra fats in your body at the same time.

Benefits:

·        Increases body weight

·        Allows bigger physique

4. Beta-alanine

Beta-alanine is a powerful endurance supplement and is a form of amino acids that aids in the production of carnosine, a compound which acts as a buffer for hydrogen ions. These hydrogen ions build up during high intensity exercise through the accumulation of lactic acids, this are basically the ‘burn’ sensation you get when doing an exercise. This sensation is often associated with decreased strength as you further perform repetitions of an exercise.

Beta Alanine works by lessening the effect of these hydrogen ions by boosting carnosine production, thus allowing you to keep your exercise intensity up. Meaning you may experience less muscle fatigue during high repetitions and high volumes of exercise.

How could it help me?

Beta-alanine works on your body by increasing your tolerance to fatigue and muscle “burn”, this allows you to perform additional repetitions of exercises and overload your muscles for higher tensions, which can help to maximize the benefit of your exercise set.

Keep in mind, beta alanine will exert its effect on your muscles while performing high intensity exercises, those with higher amounts of repetition at about 8 to 12 reps.

Benefits

·        Increase exercise endurance

·        May increase lean muscle mass

5. Fish Oil (Omega-3 DHA & EPA)

Fish oil contains long chain Omega-3 fatty acids, something which is very difficult to consume on a natural diet. Omega-3 is healthy for the body, it improves brain function and reduces inflammation. It also prevents muscle wasting or muscle loss.

In combination with a high amount of amino acids within your diet, Omega-3 can increase protein synthesis by as much as 50%. This means that taking fish oil in conjunction with a high amount of protein diet can actually stimulate your muscle cells to grow faster and add more density.

How could it help me?

This supplement gives your body the ability to recover faster from high intensity workouts, faster recovery means more workout sessions you can allocate for a week. It also aids your body’s anabolic cycle, which means it allows your body to gain more muscle mass.

Benefits:

·        Increases brain function

·        Increases recovery

·        Aids muscle growth

Supplements are designed only to support your fitness journey and not to replace whole foods in your dietary needs. Remember that your health relies on a combination of high quality – balanced diet and exercise.

No supplements will directly improve your physique more than consistent exercise can, as a matter of fact supplements should be the last choice on your priority list. However, there is no denying that when properly used these supplements can be powerful tools in combination with the right amount of training.

Remember to use them on their intended dosages, and to consult a medical doctor if you have any underlying medical conditions before taking them. Always read the label before use.