An Important Question

An Important Question.

“What supplements and advice would you give to your younger self, with all the knowledge that you have now?”

This was a simple yet important question that was presented to me by a new customer within the store this week. In a little over half a decade of working with supplements, I have never been asked this question. The reason I find this question worth discussing is that the answer may offer younger, and maybe some older generations of fitness enthusiasts, weightlifters and bodybuilders some insight into where their focus should be when spending their wages and what to avoid.

Social Media Hype

With the sudden rise of social media influencers came a huge market for promoting fitness and bodybuilding. With hundreds of millions of eyes now constantly watching the endless amounts of content that is being posted daily there is more information, misinformation and marketing ploys than ever before. 

Thousands of influencers claiming to be fitness guru’s with seemingly no understanding of how damaging this influence can be for the millions of people watching worldwide. Their promises that their sponsors just happened to be the best, most ethical supplement company of fitness brand on the market… just like the next influencers sponsors are too! 

Why so bitter?

After working with supplements for just over half a decade, I have seen countless amounts of people buying into products that are just not necessary for them, just like I did when I was younger. Sure, this is all part of learning what works best for you. But when a famous influencer is offering advice to a young teenager, claiming that they need to purchase testosterone boosting products or pre-workouts containing illicit ingredients, something has gone wrong in the industry. 

The Focus

The focus, of course, should always be on your own individual needs and goals which may sound incredibly obvious to many. However, choosing a goal is comes naturally to many while understanding the needs to achieve that goal is not always clear. This is how many are susceptible to marketing. 

So what advice should you listen to and which products should you trust? 

In the end, every piece of advice you listen to could be someone trying to sell you something. That’s just the way of the world. Trying to decipher which supplements will be necessary for your individual needs can be difficult so the main piece of advice for beginners is that simplicity is king. Avoid the promises of magical supplements that will make you look like Ronnie Coleman in a year. Focus on products that are scientifically backed and that offer the benefits you desire, not just what someone tells you that you do.

Our blog titled Supplement Essentials will offer some more detailed advice into supplements I would suggest to someone looking for the basics. 

The Long Run

The 18-year-old-me would enter a supplement shop and ask for the pre-workout with the highest caffeine content and a mass gainer. The total price would be far above what I could afford so a choice had to be made. The mass gainer that could help me gain necessary weight and muscle mass that could potentially lead to better results when striving to be a professional bodybuilder later in life… or the pre-workout that will make my heart beat from my chest and ultimately make me leave the gym early because I was shaking so badly. 

Of course I chose the pre-workout. Because people told me it was cool and that it would make my workouts insane. They just failed to mention that it could make them insanely bad.

Pre-workouts are a tool. Just as that mass gainer was a tool. Unfortunately that day I chose to give in to peer pressure and I chose the wrong tool for the long run. The ultimate goal would not be achieved by selecting a tool that was not necessary for me at that time. The ultimate goal will be achieved by taking the time to research what would be necessary for achieving my goal and possibly even listening to the man behind the counter who knew more than me and told me to go for the mass gainer. This man is now my boss. Cheers Pawel.

An Informed Choice

I can of course only answer the question posed at the beginning of this blog in a way that would suit my goals and needs. But hopefully in doing this it may give you some indication of what advice I would offer to someone looking to achieve what I hope to achieve. So…

“What supplements and advice would you give to your younger self, with all the knowledge that you have now?”

My ultimate goal is to win as many shows as possible and achieve a pro-level status in bodybuilding. With that in mind I would tell my younger self to focus on internal health as much as I focus growing my physique. Internal markers such as vital organ health are absolutely paramount for a strong and powerful physique as well as a long and healthy life after bodybuilding. Combining quality supplements that will ensure my body is functioning correctly on the inside, with supplements that will help me showcase a presentable physique on the outside is exactly what I should focus on. 

As stated earlier, simplicity is king. Supplements to aid in joint, brain and organ health for longevity as well as the foundations of building quality muscle tissue like protein and creatine would be most beneficial for the long term goals. This of course is just a simplified list of what would be essential for my goals and would be completely adaptable for each individual.

Summary

Achieving your ultimate goal will take time, patience and plenty of effort, no amount of supplementation can change this. But it can be the extra edge that nudges you a little closer each day to that final goal. Take time to do your own research and enjoy learning along the way.