You found a great workout plan with which you truly connect. You work your butt off at the gym everyday. Today you compared your measurements with your baseline numbers and discovered a 15% improvement. How would you like to make that 20% or 25%? Whether you are trying to lose weight, gain muscle or just maintain what you already have, there is another aspect of fitness that is just as important as the routine that you choose…supplementation.

We put our bodies through the ringer every workout, but we rarely do the easiest part of the workout correctly, our diet. Lifting weights and cardio workouts really stress our muscles. Once we get into the gym and get moving we diminish our calorie storehouses at a faster rate than we do just going through the motions of our days. For some of us, the goal is to burn those calories, but the need to supplement still applies.

Our muscles need many nutrients to repair themselves and to make the best of the workout. The most important of these are proteins, which repair and rebuild. There are two main types of proteins: soy and whey. Whey protein is quickly absorbed into the body and muscles. Soy is much slower. Whey protein should be taken immediately after a workout to rebuild the muscles that you have just torn down. Soy is best to use in a smoothie or as a midday snack to replenish your body throughout the day.

There are numerous other supplements that others recommend, however, protein is a need not a want. The others are very useful in helping you get to your fitness goals. If you do a simple search for supplements online, you will be bombarded with results. This posting may even be a result of such a search. Most of the trendy or, rather, “cutting edge” supplements turn out to be bad for us like ephedra was. Do you know that pro athletes were actually encouraged to take anabolic steroids in the 70’s to speed up recovery times?

The key is to do your research. Find a company that you can trust and look for medical reviews. Ask your doctor what she thinks about a particular supplement.