Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how many hours you spend at the gym: you just don’t see any progress.
Because, while regular exercise and a balanced diet are crucial for muscle growth, it can be challenging to get all the nutrients your body needs to build and repair muscle tissue. That’s where supplements come in: a natural way to boost your body’s potential in the form of a quick scoop of powder or a tablet washed down with water.
With so many options available, it can be difficult to know which supplements are the most effective for promoting muscle growth and which ones are nothing more than a marketing scam.
Some of the most common supplements for muscle growth include:
Protein powders
Protein is essential for building and repairing muscle tissue. Protein powders, like whey, casein or vegan alternatives, are a great and easy way to add extra protein to your diet and support that all-important growth. Look for a protein powder that’s high in protein and low in fillers and artificial ingredients. Ideally, it should be free of artificial sweeteners and preservatives to ensure you’re getting all the good stuff and none of the bad stuff.
Creatine
Creatine is a naturally occurring substance in the body that helps to increase strength and endurance. It’s one of the safest supplements to take (as it’s one of the most well-studied options for muscle growth) and has been shown to be effective in improving athletic performance.
Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs)
You’ll find BCAAs in various protein powders and all-rounder products but it’s also possible to find them in standalone form. BCAAs are a group of three essential amino acids that play a crucial role in muscle growth and recovery. Supplementing your gym sessions with BCAAs can help reduce muscle breakdown and support muscle growth.
L-glutamine
L-glutamine is an amino acid that can help to improve recovery after intense exercise by reducing muscle soreness and inflammation. It can also support muscle growth by allowing the muscles to repair and rebuild more efficiently. L-glutamine plays a role in protein synthesis, which is the process of cells building new protein molecules. By supporting protein synthesis, L-glutamine helps to build your muscles from every direction.
From protein powders to creatine, BCAAs to fish oils and everything in between, we’ve rounded up all of the best supplements for muscle growth.
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Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Powder French Vanilla Crème 900g
If you’re regularly putting muscles under stress with the intention to grow them, you’ll need to ensure you’re eating high levels of protein to supplement that growth. After training, your body uses protein to help repair and rebuild muscle fibres and the easiest way to help it do that is through protein shakes.
Optimum Nutrition’s Gold Standard Whey is one of the most popular protein powders around and contains 24 g of premium whey protein to support muscle growth and 5.5 g of naturally occurring BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids), which stimulate the building of protein in muscles and can reduce muscle breakdown.
Buy now £30.00, Holland & Barrett
PE Nutrition Creatine 120 Capsules 700mg
Creatine increases performance in high intensity exercise and as a result can be hugely beneficial to your training regime. Renowned for being one of the best supplements for muscle growth, creatine works to essentially give your muscles more energy while working out.
PE Nutrition’s Creatine Capsules offers an easy and efficient way to elevate your performance without downing endless protein shakes. One thing to note: creatine draws more water into the muscles, which is something to keep in mind when bulking (and weighing yourself frequently).
Buy now £28.00, Holland & Barrett
Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Casein Powder Strawberry
While whey protein is thought to be better than casein when it comes to muscle growth, some people prefer casein for its slower digestion process. Optimum Nutrition’s Gold Standard 100% Casein Powder comes in a delicious strawberry flavour and is best for slow digesting protein support between meals and before bed.
Sometimes slower is better - especially when it comes to the rate of protein digestion. While rapid protein absorption is ideal right before or after exercise, delayed release is probably more beneficial throughout the remainder of the day and especially last thing at night.
Buy now £34.19, Amazon
PhD Smart Protein Plant Chocolate Cookie
Don’t listen to anyone who says vegans can’t build muscle. In fact, some of the best protein powders are made from vegan protein powder. They’re also a great option for those who may struggle to digest whey protein but still want to enjoy protein powder’s muscle building qualities.
PhD’s Smart Protein Plant in Chocolate Cookie is one of the best vegan protein powders around and packs 20g plant protein per scoop. It’s also exceptionally low in sugar: containing less than one gram per 25g serving. Perfect for adding muscle but not fat.
Buy now £11.69, Amazon
Xellerate NUTRITION BCAA Tablet 1000mg
BCAAs fuel your skeletal muscles during training, which means you can train for longer without your muscles feeling quite as fatigued. Several studies also highlight the fact that BCAAs supplements can increase muscle mass and strength during training.
Xellerate NUTRITION’s BCAA Tablet 1000mg is an easy way to boost your muscles’ capabilities without much fuss at all. Take three tablets per day and you’ll hopefully see increased strength and endurance as well as less sore muscles the following day.
Buy now £22.97, Amazon
Demon Labz Pre Workout Demon
While pre-workout won’t directly benefit your muscle growth, it will give you an extra push so you’ve got more energy at the gym. And, while some pre-workouts offer nothing more than a heavy dose of caffeine, this is one that brings together all of the good stuff.
Demon Labz’ Pre Workout Demon may sound a little intimidating but this supplement offers impressive results. Featuring a formula with multiple amino acids including creatine, beta-alanine, l-glutamine and l-taurine, it comes ready-to-mix with water and with a blue raspberry flavour that’ll definitely wake you up no matter what time you’re training.
Buy now £35.06, Amazon
Bodybuilding Warehouse Pure Leucine Powder 500g
Leucine is a BCAA that’s renowned for its impressive ability to encourage muscle growth. Without getting too technical, leucine powder can trigger muscle growth by aiding protein synthesis (the creation of new muscle) making it ideal for anyone who does resistance weight training.
Adding Leucine powder into your weekly routine is a great way to encourage your body’s full potential without causing any damage. Due to the fact that 100 per cent pure instantised leucine can’t be synthesised by the body itself, it means a supplement is your best bet for maximum benefits.
Buy now £12.99, Amazon
Bioglan Super Fish Oil
Fish oil might not seem like an essential muscle growth supplement but, when you look at its long term benefits, it would be silly not to incorporate it into your weekly routine.
Omega-3s are known to reduce muscle soreness and swelling and also to enhance your muscles’ sensitivity to protein and resistance training. What does that mean overall? Heightened results in the gym and less DOMS the following day. Bioglan’s Super Fish Oil is a high dosage option that’s easy to take.
Buy now £13.50, Boots
Bulk Pure L-Glutamine Powder
If you regularly find yourself wincing when walking up the stairs the day after a big leg day sesh, you may need an L-Glutamine supplement in your life. Known for reducing muscle soreness and aiding recovery, this muscle growth supplement is your best bet for healing your muscles in a shorter period of time before your next leg day comes around.
Bulk’s Pure L-Glutamine Powder is unflavoured, which means you can easily add a scoop to your favourite protein shake without noticing any difference in flavour.
Buy now £16.82, Amazon
Kinetica Lean Protein Powder
For best results, you’ll probably want to separate your muscle growth (bulking) and weight loss (shredding) into separate stages. But, if you’re hoping to build muscle while dropping fat at the same time, a low calorie protein powder will come in handy. Kinetica’s Lean Protein Powder offers 16g of protein per 25g scoop and contains green tea extract for added wellness. Each scoop is also only 97 calories, making it lower than most whey proteins around.
Buy now £40.49, Amazon
Verdict
A protein powder supplemented with extra benefits is arguably the easiest way to encourage muscle growth. So our top pick for a muscle building supplement has to be Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Powder French Vanilla Crème.
