Protein Supplements

I am often asked by players and parents about which nutritional supplements the players should be taking. My answer is always the same. I ask "Do you eat breakfast everyday?", "Do you eat 5-6 small nutrient dense meals a day?", "How many fruits and vegetables do you eat every day?", " Do you eat fast food, drink soda, eat chips, donuts, etc. often?" If a teenager isn't serious about their nutrition then they might as well take there money and throw it in the toilet because that is about as good as any of the SUPPLEMENTS they want to take will do them. Here are a couple things to remember.

1. The word supplement means 'in addition to'. These pills and powders are not magic, they have a very small effect, if any. The companies that sell them pay big money to the people they use as models, and in the case of the big time bodybuilders, you CANNOT get that big without the help of anabolic steroids. There is no supplement in the world that can produce results like that.
2. Nutritional Supplements are not required to be tested by the FDA. This means you don't really know what is in them and many of them have not undergone any long term empirical studies. They may do you more harm than good.

Check out this article on the amount of heavy metals in protein powder supplements http://news.discovery.com/human/protein-drinks-packing-a-poisonous-wallop.html

The nutritional supplement industry makes millions of dollars each year. Everyone is looking for the quick fix, the extra edge, the secret to accelerated weight and strength gain. Rich Carlisle, the strength and conditioning coach at USC told us that their "secret" weight gain supplement for their athletes was Peanut Butter sandwiches and whole milk. Now you are talking about a university that has access to the latest and greatest sports nutrition in the world, and they are eating peanut butter sandwiches. Does this tell you something. Like they say in the movie Kung Fun Panda "the secret is there is no secret!"




Work hard, eat plenty of good, get plenty of rest and be consistent. Healthy strength and weight gains come a little at a time. I tell our players if you can add 5 lbs. a week to their lifts, over 12 weeks that is 60 lbs. Many of our sophomores put more than 100 lbs. on their lifts over the course of the past year, but it doesn't happen in a couple weeks. Patience and consistency are the key. We want our players to understand that their fitness is about a lifestyle, not about short term results.