Supplement Guide: Chocamine

Disclaimer

Supplement Guide: Casein

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Supplement Guide: Carnosine

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Supplement Guide: Carnitine

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Supplement Guide: Capsaicin

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Supplement Guide: Calcium

Disclaimer

Product Review: UN Ultra Whey Pro

Here's Universal Nutrition's answer for a whey protein product. No doubt that they have a very extensive range covering every different type of protein whether its soy, milk, egg or even just pure whey isolates; this one however is the regular bread and butter if you're not looking for specialty.

Packing 75 servings with 22 grams of protein from 3 main sources, i.e. whey concentrates, isolates and hydrolyzed whey, this gives a wider spectrum of nutrition for the body. The powder is very fine and mixability is quite good with a shaker though it still loses out to ON 100% Whey Gold Standard. But the plus side is that WheyPro doesn't taste as watered down as the latter.

The taste is actually quite unique because it is somewhat a little bitter like dark chocolate. This is however, for the chocolate flavour and I don't know what the vanilla or strawberry would taste like.

Supplement Guide: Caffeine

A versatile stimulant, but one that may lead to addiction as many coffee lovers profess.

Disclaimer

Product Review: Axis Labs Muscle Delight

This is a good tasting protein.

Yeap, sometimes after a hard day's workout, you just wanna look forward to that protein shake and rest in the thought of getting your nutrition down to pat. And wouldn't it help tremendously if that protein shake in wait tastes spectacular?

Life is about experience and while it's the long and hard road most of the time for the iron warrior, one must never forget to take a step back and appreciate the finer things in life once in a while.

Axis Labs Muscle Delight is not just about good taste, it is also a fundamentally solid protein product. It provides 32 grams of protein, 5 grams creatine, 6 grams glutamine and about 7 grams of BCAAs among other nutrients.

The drawback is of course, it only packs 15 servings a tub and the 300 or so calories each serving will whip out. Definitely not for the calorie-watchers.

Product Review: Dr. CarbRite Diet Bars

This here's a protein bar. Packin' 21 grams of protein and about 2 grams of impact carbs makes it a sweeter deal than most of the other choices available out there.

While it checks out in nutrition profile both quantitatively and qualitatively, what remains as a deal maker or breaker is taste. Unless of course you're the kind of person that can mentally block out the emetic center of the brain and down anything.

Anyway, UN's Dr. Carbrite Diet Bar tastes pretty good. Somewhat very rich though may be a little dry. Nibbling is the best way to savour the flavour as biting off a chuck may overwhelm the senses.

That brings us to the next point: flavours. There are 11 different flavours to choose from. Blueberry cheesecake, cookie dough, s'mores, frosted cinnamon bun, chocolate brownie, chocolate mint cookie, toasted coconut, chocolate banana nut with soy nuts, lemon meringue and raspberry chocolate truffle. You can always tell a product's strength from the number of flavours it has and UN has really trumped this one. Ain't your regular choc and vanilla variety you see everywhere else. The toasted coconut one actually has real coconut fibres in it.

Though sometimes I think they should know when to stop. Chocolate banana nut with soy nuts? Man, a little too funky.

Supplement Guide: Branched-Chain Amino Acids

Disclaimer

The Anabolic Halo

Key terms,

-cryogenic chamber
-anabolic driver
-sub-zero
-supercool
-crystal lattice integrity
-thermal mechanically altered driver
-advanced modification process
-particle-to-particle
-pharmaceutical
-thermomolecularly enhanced cryoanabolic compounds
-infiltration mechanism
-synergistically
-WTFOMGBBQ

Muscletech, Muscletech... what's next?

Bodybuilding.com Supplement Awards 2008

With the closure of the Olympia 2008, Bodybuilding.com has released the results for its inaugural Supplement Awards 2008.

There's little change, if any at all from the winners of 2007. In a nutshell,

Overall Supplement Of The Year - Optimum 100% Whey
Brand Of The Year - BSN
Muscle Builder Of The Year - BSN NO-Xplode
Fat Loss Product Of The Year - Nutrex Lipo 6
Protein Powder Of The Year - Optimum 100% Whey
Creatine Product Of The Year - BSN CellMass
Protein Bar Of The Year - Next Detour Bars
New Product Of The Year - MuscleTech Anabolic Halo
New Brand Of The Year - MAP
Nitric Oxide Product Of The Year - BSN NO-Xplode
Glutamine Product Of The Year - SciVation Xtend
Multi-Vitamin Of The Year - Universal Animal Pak
Joint Supplement Of The Year - Universal Animal Flex
Energy Supplement Of The Year - BSN Atro-Phex
Best Labels Of The Year - Universal
Best Ads Of The Year - Gaspari
Tanning Product Of The Year - Pro Tan Instant (hey.. this is no supplement)
Breakout Brand Of The Year - VPX
Weight Gainer Of The Year - BSN True-Mass
RTD Of The Year - CytoSport Muscle Milk RTD

Supplement Guide: Bovine Colostrum

Moo... cow's first milk.


Disclaimer

Supplement Guide: Betaine

A little something for liver support. Then again, the paradox is that if you're into fitness, you're probably not an alcoholic. That leaves... *ahem*


Disclaimer

Supplement Guide: Arginine

Oh yeah, now we're onto something.


Disclaimer

Product Review: ABB GlutaForce

Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the body and is the first to be exhausted within the hour of strenuous activity. Supplementing a daily diet with glutamine has various benefits apart from promoting recovery and muscle growth, so I've given this a shot.

ABB's GlutaForce. Good ol' L-glutamine in powder form to be mixed with my protein shakes. It's quite fine and smooth and mixes easily. Doesn't affect the overall taste of the protein and isn't gritty like creatine monohydrate.

Overall, a simple product. Get's the job done any way you look at it. Just gotta get the hang of mixing it it with regular protein shakes. A 500g tub goes a long way with 100 servings, so it'll be a while before I'll be needing to restock on glutamine.

Supplement Guide: Alpha Lipoic Acid

Disclaimer

Supplement Guide: Alpha-GPC

This one got me stumped. Nobody really goes around saying, "I need more Alpha-GPC..." but I guess knowing whether or not your supps have it helps. Seems to promote acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that works on the nervous system and muscles... hmm

Disclaimer

Product Review: Muscletech Nitrotech

Ah... nostalgia. Nitrotech was the first protein supplement I took years back. Back when it looked like this,

Yeah... kinda like first love it was. Sweet, heavenly and made me a better person... but then it got too much to upkeep so I chucked it. Lol.

Anyway, enough bullshit metaphor.. it's good to revisit supps after awhile. At least that's what I think. Gives the body a little variation. Here I have the new and improved Nitrotech in Chocolate flavour. Let's see what difference a few years can make.

It's still as fine as ever, mixes real quick and easy. Taste is as I remember it but having now tasted the magnificent Muscle Milk, I can't say this tastes as good. It's more of like a souped up version of ON 100% Whey Gold Standard. In any case, a quality product all round... spiked with creatine and carbs for "instant" growth. Now I just wonder, how does the newer HardCore version stack up with the competition?

Beijing Olympic Games 2008

I just watched the opening for the 29th Games and man is it spectacular! I think the Chinese have really set the bar and London's really gonna have to break a leg in the next four years.

Its just crazy... the amount of money they must've dumped... Costumes, lighting, pyrotechnics, just building the stadiums... and not to mention a lighted floor that would make John Travolta go psycho on a Friday night.

I wonder how they choreographed and practiced the sequences. I thought I'd only see stuff like that in video games like Final Fantasy.. lol. I'm not particularly pro-Chinese but this event is a true testament to their capability as an emerging world superpower.

Official Beijing Olympics Youtube

Supplement Awards 2008

Nominations have been cast and voting is now open at bodybuilding.com. Although not a body of authority of any sort, the website has grown to become a trusted resource for anything to do with bodybuilding and fitness. You can bet your top dollar that the supplements that win their respective category is worth every buck. I'll just wait and see.

Supplement Guide: Adenosine Triphosphate

ATP for short. I've had to endure hearing about this bugger during classes back in uni to the point of foaming at the mouth. Basically it's our body's energy molecule, hence the popular but very deadpan joke, "Aiyah, No ATPlah..." among faculty members.

Disclaimer

Product Review: Cytosport Muscle Milk Revisited

This stuff's so good I just had to go for it again. This time I opted for Chocolate flavour.

I guess you can never go wrong with chocolate... the safe flavour I would like to call it. But somehow Muscle Milk never fails to impress. I mixed it with milk and it totally tastes like a milkshake, just as the tub label says.

Anyway, I realize that this really makes a good nighttime protein supplement. Unlike before, I avoided taking the Mocha Joe version at night since it contains caffeine. Now, I've been taking my choc on nights where the supper crave kicks in and I find that it keeps me satiated nicely until morning when I'm ready for breakie. Gone are the days where I wake up feeling like an Ethiopian child.

Packin' 32 grams of protein per serving and a whole lot more... Muscle Milk may not be quite the bang for your buck but it's quality stuff and at 300+ calories a serve, makes quite a good in-between-meals snack.

The Supplement Guide

Foreword and Disclaimer

5-Hydroxy-Tryptophan
Adenosine Triphosphate
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Alpha-GPC
Arginine
Betaine
Bovine Colostrum
Branched-Chain Amino Acids
Caffeine
Calcium
Capsaicin
Carnitine
Carnosine
Casein
Chocamine
Chondroitin
Chromium
Citrulline Malate
Citrus Aurantium
Coenzyme Q10
Collagen Hydrolysate
Conjugated Linoleic Acid
Creatine
Digestive Enzymes
Diindole
Dimethyl-Aminoethanol
Ecdysterone
Echinacea
Egg Protein
Eurycoma Longifolia Jack
Evodiamine
Fenugreek
Fibre
Fish Oil
Flaxseed Oil
Forskolin
Gamma-Linolenic Acid
Ginkgo Biloba
Ginseng
Glucomannan
Glucosamine
Glutamine
Glycocyamine
Green Tea Extract
Guarana
Guggulsterones
Gymnema Sylvestre
HMB
Hoodia
Huperzine A
Hydroxy-Citric Acid (HCA)

Supplement Guide: Foreword and Disclaimer

narutard

Have you ever felt lost whenever you tried to read the Nutritional Facts of a supplement? With words like ‘Guanidino Propionic Acid, Gynostemma Pentaphyllum or Rutaecarpine 95%’ it’s almost as if the supplement companies deliberately want to confuse you or simply do not care if you understand the product at all.

Well, I’ve had my fair share of that feeling and having been in the dark for awhile now; I’ve decided to create a supplement guide that will hopefully cover the major ingredients out there. As much as this will be a valuable learning experience for me, perhaps it may also help you or anyone with the interest to enhance their diet.

I am certainly no nutritionist/dietician but my background has provided me the skills necessary to understand the aspects of nutrition. My sources for this Supplement Guide include fitness magazines such as Flex, Muscle & Fitness, IronMag, Men’s Health, etc; websites such as Bodybuilding.com, NutritionData.com, etc; hearsay, gossip, superstition, newspaper articles, TV programmes yada yada. Thus, as with all advisory-related matters, please do read the following disclaimer.

Disclaimer
The subsequent posts/entries in relation to this Supplement Guide are for information purposes only and I am not liable for the effects of the reported supplements or products, legal or illegal or any loss, injury or damage caused by their use. It is your responsibility to abide by the laws and dosage allowances specific to your country of residence. Always consult a doctor before commencing supplementation or changing dosages. Some supplements may not work effectively outside specific dosage ranges and may potentially cause harm if taken in excess. Not all supplements, combinations of supplements, or dose ranges of supplements may be suitable, safe or effective for everyone.

Stay tuned...

The Science of Supplements

Perhaps a question all consumers on this side of Earth tend to ask is, "Sure this thing works ah?" or "REAL or not?" in typical Asian flavour combo-ed with an equally skeptical mentality. Especially so if the 'wants' are seemingly a little out of their league - like losing 20 pounds or conversely, gaining 20 pounds. Well, here's one for the haters and non-believers...

Supplements ain't hocus pocus mumbo jumbo concocted in some stonehenge by druids or in Baba Yaga's apothecary o' voodoo mystics obscura. Maybe those 'ubat kuat lelaki' stuff usually advertised on lamp posts or whatever is, but certainly not cutting edge supplements borne from the scientific method.

I should know, having spent my tertiary education on the subject matter of science. Now its not so much about the level of education here... even a lawyer, engineer or architect who've spent thousands in the pursuit of knowledge may not be the wiser. Simply because theirs is a different stream of knowledge. I'll cut to the chase.

Behold. The metabolic pathway chart. This bitch of a chart shows various processes that occurs in the human body. Like how sugars are stored in the liver as glycogen, etc. I remember wrestling with this chart in the examination halls as though I was looking for Aztec ruins during my Cell Metabolism paper. This bible of physiological processes was put together by scientists after the deaths of many rats/mice I'm sure of it. Oh yeah, the one on the left is truncated. The real deal is about 4-5 times the size of that.

Anyway, supplements affect you by targeting certain processes in your body whether it's providing more of a substrate (material used) or by shutting off pathways. For example, understanding muscle activity. Just look at the chart you can see familiar stuff like glutamine, alanine, glucose, etc.

So there you have it. The power of science at work.

Product Review: BSN NO-Xplode

Ah... the one and only, NO-Xplode. Revered as the best nitric oxide booster for your car body by professionals, amateurs and recreational users alike, this product has been the top seller worldwide for as long as I can remember. Almost every year since its debut, NO-Xplode has been seated #2 in Bodybuilding.com's Top 50 Bestsellers. And their list (which by the way, is not category based) is updated monthly.

I've had my first taste of this stuff years ago back when there were only two flavours and I had a go at the Blue Raspberry. I won't say it tastes great as there's a bitter aftertaste but all that is now history with this new flavour: Orange.

I was thinking, 'Heh, not gonna be easy to pull this one off.' I mean, orange juice is a common drink in most places. BSN might get away with blue raspberry cos we've got no benchmark against that (blue raspberry juice?) so we'll either go 'mmm good' or 'bleargh..'

Anyway, it's good to say that their Orange flavour tastes great. I just wanna suck it up when I'm at it. What could be better than having the same crazy pumps and no bitter aftertaste?

Product Review: Axis Labs Creatine Ethyl Ester

Creatine. Defined as a nitrogenous organic acid that occurs naturally in vertebrates and helps to supply energy to muscle and nerve cells; it was discovered in 1832 by Derek Edward Bye who later named it after the Greek work for flesh: kreas. Amazingly enough, it was till about a century later in 1900s that creatine was popularized as a sport supplement during the Barcelona Olympics. I have read somewhere though, that the earliest use of creatine was during World War 2 by soldiers but I'm not gonna bother validating that.

The first creatine product is a simple monohydrate - creatine complexed with a molecule of water. Then came the glamour versions of malates, dicreatines, esters and whatnot following the immense hype the compound received in less than 2 decades. Difference? Absorption rate, serum half-life and potential side effects such as cramping, bloating and water retention.

hmm... my watermark seems too small...

I had my experience with the plain ol' creatine monohydrate some years back. And I've also had the more glamourous dicreatines, krealkalyns and malates. What I've not tried is the ethyl esters... hence the bottle in my hand above. This creatine is in capsules and dosing is about 3 caps a serve. Not very large caps at so I'm not complaining after having to take M-Stak.

I guess it's more convenient not having to drink liquid all the time. Just pop 3 caps and rest easy in the thought of getting creatine in the blood.

Product Review: UN M-Stak

I wanted to try UN's Isostak for my choice of methoxyisoflavone... But at the last minute I flipped out and decided to go for broke with UN Animal M-Stak.

Mother*#($&%@-Stak

The 'M' of course can stand for many things. Mass-stak, Methoxy-stak, Meta-stak, Mother-of-all-staks, etc. But whatever it is, this will get the job done. While not as punishing to take as the Animal Pak, (note: I'm not the crazy Spanish dude) the M-Stak comes in 21 packets meant for a 21-day cycle. Each pack has 4 tabs and 4 caps. These components which are coloured blue and red for the caps and varied shades of brown for the tabs all have their own functions such as to potentiate androgen activity, regulate insulin, boost energy, prevent muscle breakdown (anti-catabolic) and inhibit estrogen. Sounds scary? Well it's not really.

might take awhile getting used to to these...

Taking a pack sort of puts my body in overdrive. I just gotta eat everything and anything under the sun to keep fuelled and always anabolic. No point fussing too much about the quality of food, just keep the pangs of hunger away. Let's see the difference in 21 days. Rage on.

Product Review: Nutrabolics DecaStack

Now this is interesting... for the uninitiated, 'Deca' is more affectionately known to refer to *ahem* anabolic steroids; but that is a misconception. 'Deca' is actually referring to decanoate, the salt/esterified form of decanoic acid and commonly used as a vehicle of sorts to progressively release a compound in the body. The infamous 'Deca' you may or may not know, uses decanoate but attached to a steroid compound. So when a product by the name of DecaStack comes about... you get people going like... "wah.. this is the hard stuff!"

Can't blame them, with a name like that you can't even tell what it supposed to do. That's why you're reading this. DecaStack from Nutrabolics is a pre-workout formula with its core ingredients being: arginine, creatine and glutamine. Pretty nifty to have this 3 in a dose. What's more is that they're all bound to decanoate for sustained released.

Well, the supplement mixes easily... looks ok, smells ok but the one thing that really got me was the taste. Phew... its like one confused mother of a drink. Fruit Punch says the sachet.. I'm just wondering which fruits. Maybe Nutrabolics used my all time hated honeydew.. I dunno.. Taking my first gulp... I looked like this

ninpou: neck break no jutsu

As for its effects... it definitely kicks ass. I took that serving before my night badminton session and I could noticably feel better endurance and strength. Not to mention clarity but that's surely from the caffeine like all other pre-workout supps. Now if only I could get past the mental barrier of the taste... Or maybe try the orange flavour... hmm

Animality

Universal Nutrition's Animal line... absolutely not for the weak. Like the Bad Touch goes, 'we ain't nothin but mammals'.. it doesn't ring any truer when you think about it. These products are designed to harness the power of the human body's metabolic processes to achieve your fitness goals whether its bulking up or cutting down. And judging by the sheer amount in dosage, you can be damn sure this stuff works. Take Animal Pak for example, the bodybuilder's multivit.

11 tabs a pack. Now how heavy is that? Which other multivitamin product can even come close to that?!? This ain't your UPHA chewables with fancy shapes and stuff. Just big brutal chunks of enzymes and cofactors.

i aint shittin' ya...

Not convinced? How about Animal Cuts... 7 tabs a pack. 2 packs a day. 21 days straight. I dont think there are other thermogenics out there like this. Understandably so.. this is hardcore. Competition grade. Recreational users better stick to something easier to handle or risk letting yourself down.

I could go on about the other stuff like Nitro, Pump, Stak, MStak and Flex but what really gets me going are the Animal articles written by their resident monsters in the iron asylum. Nevermind the sass.. these words of wisdom lifts your spirit and motivates you when once again you begin to dread the pain, the weights and the life that is hardcore.

So which animal will it be for you?

or...

Product Review: Scivation Xtend

Recovery... such a simple word but one that has had many meanings to me. I won't go off a tangent now so recovery in a fitness context would simply mean the process of repairing the body after sustaining stress. It's always been a battle for me due to my frequent badminton sessions and can literally be a pain in the ass, especially for back-to-back sessions.

I decided to try the best glutamine for 2007, AKA Scivation Xtend since it claims to have a precise blend of BCAAs in a 2:1:1 ratio; glutamine, citrulline malate and vitamin B6, thus keeping the body fuelled for endurance while preventing muscle breakdown during a workout. I was advised to sip the product as I workout to give my body a steady supply.

crummy pics yet again..

Flavour of choice: Refresing grape. I'm beginning to like Scivation products cos they taste great. But then again, most recovery drinks are designed to taste great bcos the last thing you'll want is a goddamn shitty-tasting mix to bugger you at the end of a great workout. Anyway, no complaints.

I made a mental note to gauge the effects of this supplement and upon waking the next day... well... I don't feel as bad as I should, but I guess that's fair. It'll be miraculous if I woke up acheless after my usual badminton sessions. Too early to judge this one. I might be updating based on my experience.

In the meanwhile, all I can think of is this

heat knuckle.... extend!

Product Review: Scivation Vasocharge

Pre-workout drinks have always been a fascination of mine. Why? Cuz its effects kick in almost instantaneously, unlike creatine and protein which give results after a couple of months. Having said that, it's doesn't take much to get me to try some new pre-workout drink to gauge its effects.

In the spotlight this time is Scivation's Vasocharge. Little is known about this brand on this side of the world but it should not be sidelined, having had their Xtend declared as the best glutamine product year 2007. But that's a another story for another time.

sorry bout the crummy pics... but this is as good as it gets for now

Vasocharge according to its ingredients is basically a creatine + arginine spiked with a bit of tyrosine and caffeine (like most pre-workout formulas) to induce the following effects:

1. Increased mental clarity and alertness
   
2. Promote bloodflow via nitric oxide vasodilation
3. Decrease fatigue and increase oxidative ATP production (energy lah)

That's just the gist of it. Apparently Vasocharge also incorporates beta-alanine, l-carnitine and vitamin B complexes among other things. Understandably so, since these compounds enhances energy production and have antioxidative qualities.

Taste-wise, I would say that Vasocharge is one of the best pre-workouts I've had. The flavour was electric lemonade and it was zesty! Doesn't have that dreadful aftertaste most pre-workouts have and blends quite well I must say.

Efficacy? I'm still uncertain about this one. I took a dose before one of my night badminton sessions and couldn't sleep long after that. Pretty strong. Don't recall increased strength but definitely more alert. I sweated more than usual as well. I'm not typically a sweaty monkey, but the difference was notably there. Must be the arginine methinks.

All in all, a good supplement since it's not too high on the budget and give its blend of ingredients, kinda gives you a bit of everything. I'm thinking that a bit of everything in every supplement ultimately adds up to something substantial. Man.. how chinaman is that..

reminds me of my chinaman bosses.. you mofos need to get smarter

Product Review: CytoSport Muscle Milk

This post marks the beginning of what I hope will become a comprehensive databank of info about supplements. This of course is limited to my budget in my quest to try out all everything under the sun so it may be awhile from one post to another.

What better way to start off than with CytoSport's Muscle Milk... at first glance, I had my doubts about this product since it doesn't really look catchy but a valuable lesson learnt is never to judge (in this case) a product by its looks. With a friend's recommendation, I lugged a 2lbs tub of Mocha Joe home.

man..i need to take better pics

As I was too anxious to try it out, I whipped up a serving right away upon reaching home. The first thing that hit me was the taste of it, simply phenomenal. I've tasted many protein drinks before but this one's a winner by a longshot. Damn, even with just water its texture is rich and creamy. The only problem was I couldn't sleep that night. Caffeine? Yeah, should've guessed since it's Mocha Joe. But strangely though, I didn't have this problem again even after taking it late at night. Acclimatized maybe? I don't usually take caffeine so the first serving must've really had its kick.

In terms of effectiveness I think there's little to doubt here. Muscle Milk's concept is that its designed to mimic mother's milk, the superfood for growth. Heh, imagine that...

good album...

Its proprietary blend is termed EVOPRO, a protein matrix of whey isolates, whey concentrates, whey peptides, caseinates, etc. What this does is that it essentially keeps your body fuelled with protein for an extended amount of time after consumption. At 32 grams of protein a serve, that's damn good news. The downside is that there's only 15 servings in a 2 pounder tub so it might not be the protein of choice for those on a budget.

Well, I'm convinced. But I'll prolly go for it once in a while to break the monotony of just sticking to one particular whey protein (100% whey gold standard anyone?) all the time.

Supplements: Luxury or Necessity?

A random thought came to me one day about supplements, hence the title. I've always had the approach that supplements are more of a luxury; something only reserved for those with the spare buck to spend on improving that one aspect of life which truly matters - health. However, I'm getting more and more convinced that supplements are becoming increasingly important. Especially so in the urban setting, where quality of food is restricted by budget (as is the quality of everything else), pollution levels ever increasing and non-stop work-related stress. Top it off with mooring news of food shortages and how the nutritional value of food these days ain't like they used to be due to soil depletion, poor animal husbandry, diseases, etc; and you know it isn't a pretty picture for the one joy of life: eating. Nevermind the joy, most people these days just eat to be satiated. 3 meals a day. 365 days a year. Just eat to live on not conciously minding the quality of food till one day, all that char koey teow screws them over with cardiac arrest 30 years down the road.

Back to the topic. Having had a go at supplements for awhile now, my opinions are:

Pros

1. Convenient. In so many ways. My stomach's a black hole and I can eat every 3-4 hours. Supplements keep the hunger pangs away till I get to solid food.
   
2. Nutritional facts readily available allows for better diet management. I know this is starting to sound serious but honestly, if you give a damn about supplements, then you need to give a damn about this.
3. Concentrated nutrition. Keeping in mind my earlier rants, how much real food does one need to take to get your daily requirements in both macro and micro nutrients? Supplements (good ones) are engineered and laboratory tested to provide as they should.

Cons

1. Price factor. Supps ain't cheap and any decent gym-goer or sportsperson can attest to that. But it's all about being savvy to manage this.
2. Delusions of grandeur. Gotta be wary of products claiming to do this and that. Rome wasn't built in a day and no amount of supplements will make you Mr/Ms Universe tomorrow. Also, it's a good idea to find out what you're gonna put into your body. Some ingredients are meant to illicit a physiological response and if you have any existing conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, etc then you're heading for an early grave.

Well, not too bad in my books. Cons are manageable and pros are justifiable. I would encourage anyone to take supplements provided that they genuinely want to lead a better lifestyle. A couch potato is just that. Forever damned to a life (if you can call it one) of fitting into every crease of the sofa.