If your goal is to build muscle, and you’re trying to find the right supplements, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. You have a sea of products to choose from.

Which ones work? Which ones don’t? When you are faced with this dilemma, there is only solution. Turn to the clinical research for your answer.

Creatine

If you had to chose one, and only one, supplement to help you build size, it should be creatine. Creatine is arguably the best supplement for building muscle mass…and strength, and power, and speed, and improving recovery, too!

There are hundreds and hundreds of clinical studies proving that creatine supplementation increases lean mass, improves strength, enhances athletic performance, speeds up your recovery, and so much more. One study, for example, found in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise (2002) showed that participants consuming creatine gained significantly more muscle mass and improved their bench pressing power compared to the placebo group (1).

And this is just one of many studies on creatine. No other sports ingredient has a track record for safety, performance, and results quite like creatine.

Whey Protein

Whey protein is derived from milk and has the highest biological value of any protein.

It delivers a complete amino acid profile and absorbs incredibly fast, too. Its fast absorption is especially beneficial because it helps immediately boost protein synthesis, reduce muscle breakdown, and speed recovery.

Like creatine, whey protein has the published goods to back it up. For example, researchers reported in the International Journal of Sports and Exercise Metabolism that 10 weeks of whey protein isolate use resulted in significantly greater gains in lean muscle mass, a reduction in fat mass, and significant improvements in strength (2).

A Pre-Workout

Pick up a high quality pre-workout and take your workouts to the next level. This is the kind of supplement that you know is or isn’t working for you after the first time you take it.

Pre-workouts are designed to increase energy, improve focus, promote greater muscular pumps and deliver immediate strength increases. These core benefits will help you train with heavier weights and increase the number of repetitions you perform.  And this is critical to encouraging new muscle growth from every workout.

Note: Most (but not all) pre-workouts contain one to three grams of creatine, too. So make sure you account for any creatine content when using a separate creatine product.

References

• 1. Kilduff LP, et al. Effects of creatine on isometric bench-press performance in resistance-trained humans. .Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2002 Jul;34(7):1176-83.
• 2. Cribb, PJ. et al. The effect of whey isolate and resistance training on strength, body composition, and plasma glutamine. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2006 Oct;16(5):494-509.