The vast majority of nutritional supplements are garbage. They can kinda get away with it... There is no regulation of supplements by any governing body, so as long as the manufacturer pops a little asterisk * and says 'these claims have not been evaluated by the FDA' - they can claim whatever they want. They'll sometimes cite research to attempt to trick people into paying for the supplement, but most of the time the research is highly flawed AND/OR the dosage in the proprietary blend is laughably small compared to what was found useful in the research. I'm not saying that every supplement is ineffective, but I am saying most supplements are PROBABLY ineffective. Here are a few of the supplements that I KNOW work very well. Protein/Carb/Creatine/Vitamin/EFA supplements - I lumped all of these together because they're just food. These things are nutrients you are meant to consume in-complex when eating a full, balanced diet, and honestly, if you sorted your diet out, you wouldn't need to take these anyway. Caffeine - A drug, admittedly, but a well-tested one, with risks most adults are comfortable taking. Caffeine brings a measurable performance-enhancing effect, speeds up metabolism, and can manage hunger. I don't use it, but a lot of people do, and they love it. Every pre-workout that works has caffeine. And.. That's about it. Most every other supplement that was found effective was eventually made difficult to purchase without a prescription or simple made illegal. If you got all your calories every day from red meat, eggs and veggies, you'd never need any supplement.

Hey everyone! I've asked us all to do an intro post, so here's mine! I'm Jarrod Schaefer, husband, father, coach, etc. My fitness goals now are a 600lb deadlift, 500lb squat, 405lb bench and 315lb press with visible abs! (one day lol) The one food I would punch a stranger for is pan-fried beef short ribs....