Why use Supplements

The main purpose behind taking supplements is to increase your serum testosterone and growth hormone levels to their optimum level, and manipulate insulin production so as to create the best anabolic environment for the body. But there are three other major reasons why supplements should be strongly considered by the bodybuilder.

The first is to help your body make up for any deficiencies it may already have. Because of the strict nutritional practices and the stress of training for bodybuilders, they may have an increased need for certain vitamins and minerals. Large quantities of potassium and zinc, for instance, can be lost through sweat and urine. Magnesium, sodium and iron may also be severely affected in the athlete who trains for prolonged periods of time in hot weather.

Our environment can also contain pollutants or otherwise fail to provide for our needs. Poor agricultural practices, industrial waste dumping, and indiscriminate disposal of urban wastes can have a great effect on the quality of food you get in your diet. Soil erosion can also impact the nutrients received in the food you eat. In a high fat diet, where you're eating plenty of meat, the quality of grazing conditions for cattle can also influence the nutrients you'll receive. By using vitamin and mineral compounds, we hope to clear up any deficiencies that may arise in this area. As such, they serve as a kind of nutritional insurance policy. If you do have deficiencies, supplements will clear these up. If you don't, the compounds you'll be supplementing won't hurt you, and they'll give you the security of knowing you'll have no nutritional problems that will affect growth and overall health.

Another area important in the decision to use supplements is that of preventive nutrition. You'll also want to protect yourself from some of the nutritional pitfalls that can come from heavy training. Potassium is one of the essential dietary minerals, and it can be lost in sweat. This can be especially important to the bodybuilder, because even mild potassium deficiency can lead to fatigue and decreased performance. Similarly, chromium has also been shown to be essential in carbohydrate and fat metabolism. Since the need for chromium increases with exercise, and modern refined diets provide little chromium, there may be a big need for it in a number of cases. Whether chromium also provides for other anabolic effects has yet to be proven, but I prescribe it in the Anabolic Diet as a precaution against any possible deficiency.

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