If you think that buying a shake or taking a few pills will all of a sudden make you huge, then you are mistaken.

No supplement will help you if you are not training and dieting correctly -- they will just give you very expensive urine. All aspects of your program have to be in order for you to get maximum benefit from sports nutrition supplements. From my experience, supplements enhance your program by:

1. Adding an element of convenience: Using food supplements like Meal Replacement Powders and whey protein help to eliminate common problem of 'not enough time', by providing you with an quick efficient way to get your required nutrients each day.

2. Increasing strength and decreasing recovery time: Using vitamin and amino acid supplements help to minimize negative side effects of weight training and speed your recovery.

The Benefit of Convenience

There are many 'old school' trainers and bodybuilders who profess uselessness of supplements. They are constantly preaching that they don't work, and that you don't need them. Well, to tell you truth they are correct, somewhat. Remember that not too long ago there were no supplements. Bodybuilders built huge physiques without meal replacement powders, creatine or prohormones.

There was no such thing as exercise 'machines'. They used multi-jointed, compound free weight exercises that not only increased their muscular size, but also make them incredibly strong. So, if you look at that way it can be done and you don't need any supplements. However, decision whether or not to use supplements should involve consideration of other factors that may come into play when speaking of dieting today. The first of which is time.

Many people today just do not have time to live, eat and breathe food. Very few people like to cook, and even fewer cook on a regular basis. When was last time that you actually had six meals that you actually cooked yourself? Many of those who are against dietary supplements continue to preach that you should get all nutrients that you need from your diet. 'Eat a balanced diet and you will get all nutrition you need'. Well, 100 years ago that may have been true, but today this type of advice is questionable.

The fact is, most people's idea of a good meal is restaurant or (even worse) fast food. To ask someone to eat specific amounts of protein, fat and carbs seems like an impossible request considering that most people can't even get their minimum requirements of good fat or fiber. Experts will continue to spout 'eat a balanced diet,' while Americans feast on nutritionless fast food and sugar. Not only do our bodies have to deal with ever-increasing external stresses of everyday life, they also have to combat nutrient-depleting, tissue damaging exercise.

If I did not have option to supplement my diet with whey protein, I probably would not have gained as much weight as I have. Now, I'm not saying that whey protein is why I gained weight, but it did help me a great deal.

I am usually very busy and I just don't have time, nor desire to eat six, planned whole food meals per day. Supplements like meal replacement powders and whey protein fill in this gap for me.

I typically have three real food meals and three protein supplement meals -- that makes up my required six meals each day. When I'm away from home, or not able to get an adequate meal, my MRP is always right there when I need it. It gives me a quantifiable amount of protein so that I can keep track of my nutrient intake. In my opinion, this is much better than just grabbing something and then trying to guess at how much protein, fat or carbs you just ate. Getting in all of your required meals and nutrient amounts is crucial to your success.

My mass diet requires a very high daily protein intake -- Over 300g per day. Just to give you example of how much that is, here are some examples of what 300g of protein is equal to:

Tuna -- 50 oz of canned tuna (the average can is 6-8oz.), which is 1,750 calories and 25g of fat

Chicken -- 38 oz of chx breast (equals about seven 6oz breasts), which is 1,313 calories and 38g of saturated fat

Dieting for muscle gain is simply a matter of eating. You must eat more calories than your body burns off. Now, when I say eat, I do not mean just anything. All calories are not created equal. In other words, some types of calories are not equal to others for gaining muscle. For example, if I said that you need to eat 2,000 calories per day to gain weight, and you eat 4 bags of potato chips each day, do you think you would gain muscle? Not likely.

The majority of your weight would be fat. Why? Because potato chips, like most processed junk food, contains empty, totally nutritionless calories. These foods do not provide you with correct nutrient breakdown essential for gaining muscle.

High quality protein, which body breaks down into amino acids, should be center point of all your meals. Intense exercise increases demand for amino acids, which support muscle repair and growth. When you train with weights, you should eat a minimum of 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. So, for example, if you weight 100 lbs., you should be eating at least 100 grams of protein per day. You also must have protein at every meal.