But in fact, most people encounter bottlenecks because of the training plan, or they don't have a relatively basic concept of progress, or they have an unrealistic progressive mentality.
For beginners, the progress every month is very fast, and I believe everyone who has been trained has this feeling. However, with the improvement of training experience, when we train systematically for several years, the muscle growth will gradually approach the upper limit of our talent, and the progress will be much slower at this time. However, this does not mean that we will not continue to make progress, but the speed of progress will be very slow.
For beginners, the progress every month is very fast, and I believe everyone who has been trained has this feeling. However, with the improvement of training experience, when we train systematically for several years, the muscle growth will gradually approach the upper limit of our talent, and the progress will be much slower at this time. However, this does not mean that we will not continue to make progress, but the speed of progress will be very slow.
At this time, many people still look at their present state with a progressive attitude like novices, which is obviously not desirable. For an advanced nature trainer, the speed of strength and muscle growth is relatively slow. Maybe the total score of the three events will only increase by 20-30kg a year, and the muscle will only increase by 2-4kg a year.
Put this speed into every training, and you will know that you can't improve every training. However, as long as your overall training can be gradually overloaded, even if you only do one action at a time, it means that you are making progress slowly and have not reached the bottleneck.
In addition, even if you really reach the so-called bottleneck period, you should first think about how you are sleeping now. Have you had enough sleep for 7-9 hours? No, then what are we talking about? If you have a good sleep, plenty of calories and low aerobic frequency, then you may need to change your training plan at this time.
Is it possible for tonic to help break the bottleneck period? Creatine and caffeine may help a little, but others are basically useless.
Finally, let's look at the core of the problem. When all kinds of nutrients are sufficient (protein is not short of them), will drinking supplements really affect the growth of strength and muscles? Let me start with the most common supplements.
Protein powder
Protein powder is a tonic for strengthening the body. It is generally made of protein such as purified soybean protein, casein, whey protein and pea protein, or powder rich in protein. Its purpose is to supplement protein, and it can also be used as a functional additive in food industry.
Let's take a look at the nutritional components of muscle technology protein powder that I often drink:
As can be seen from the above figure, in fact, the main component is protein, and carbohydrates and fats can be ignored. If you don't lack protein in your diet (the hypothesis of the question), then it is obvious that protein powder is redundant, and drinking it is just a waste of money. Drinking it or not has no effect on strength and muscle growth.
As can be seen from the above figure, in fact, the main component is protein, and carbohydrates and fats can be ignored. If you don't lack protein in your diet (the hypothesis of the question), then it is obvious that protein powder is redundant, and drinking it is just a waste of money. Drinking it or not has no effect on strength and muscle growth.
Why do I drink protein powder? Because I find it convenient. When I don't want to eat chicken breast or eggs, I will drink an extra spoonful of protein powder. There is nothing magical about it, but it can help me meet my daily intake of protein. Another reason is the high cost performance, because the price of meat has risen recently, so it is cheaper to make protein powder into protein.
creatine
Creatine is a natural compound produced by three non-protein amino acids, arginine, glycine and methionine. Creatine is mainly synthesized in liver, and a small amount is synthesized in kidney and pancreas.
At this time, your question hypothesis may not be valid, because there is relatively little creatine in food, and it is difficult for us to get enough creatine from food alone. This is also the reason why creatine is a fitness supplement. Necessary? Yes
Creatine is still a useful tonic, and a lot of scientific research has confirmed its effectiveness. Creatine has a positive effect on improving strength, explosive force, muscle hypertrophy and endurance.
Generally speaking, it is enough to take 3-5g creatine monohydrate every day. I basically eat a spoonful a day, just 5g.
However, not everyone reacts to creatine, so don't be surprised if you feel little change after eating creatine.
caffeine
Like creatine, caffeine is one of the relatively useful supplements and one of the effective components in many nitrogen pumps. Caffeine cannot be obtained from food. It's a tonic.
Caffeine can enhance endurance, explosiveness and maximum strength, and improve sports performance. As for the method of taking caffeine, it is enough to take 3-6mg per kilogram of body weight from half an hour before training to 1 hour.
Caffeine can enhance endurance, explosiveness and maximum strength, and improve sports performance. As for the method of taking caffeine, it is enough to take 3-6mg per kilogram of body weight from half an hour before training to 1 hour.
Other supplements
The three supplements mentioned above are all useful and have been tested by a lot of scientific research. As for other supplements, they are either of little use, or the current research evidence is mixed, which belongs to the category of whether you can buy them or not, which makes you feel at ease.
But back to the question, if all kinds of nutrients are sufficient, drinking supplements will basically not affect the growth of strength and muscle (except creatine and caffeine above).
Of course, not all people who exercise drink tonics. Tonic tonic is itself a substitute. In most cases, it is definitely not as good as food. Only when you are not full will you ask for supplements.
In any case, even if you take all the potentially useful supplements, their impact on muscle and strength growth is only about 5% at most, and the remaining 95% depends on your basic training, diet and sleep.
Finally, by the way, what blogger only advocates drinking protein powder and shows disdain for creatine and amino acids, saying that this is the price of fighting for life. This sentence is even more nonsense For healthy adults, the supplements mentioned above are no problem in the effective dosage range. Even some useless supplements, after drinking, only play the role of a placebo and are harmless to health. Of course, if you use illegal drugs, such as clenbuterol hydrochloride, that is another matter.
Generally speaking, some common supplements are very safe, and nothing can be overdrawn at the cost of life.