With so many supplements on the market, how do you know what's best for you?  Too many products make ridiculous claims like "Lose 30 pounds in 6 weeks!" or "Burn fat and add 10 pounds of muscle in a month."  Companies that make these claims about their product have absolutely no respect for the consumer's intelligence.  Get real.  You're trying to tell me that this product is actually better than steroids, even though all steroid precursors are currently illegal?  Or that your ephedra-free fat burner is actually more effective than when it contained ephedra?  Supplement companies are just not serious if they really expect the average consumer to believe these things.  I hope that anyone who is considering putting a supplement in their body is smart enough to realize that these claims absolutely cannot be true.  Although most of us realize these outlandish claims are, pardon my language, absolute b.s., how do we determine when a supplement can actually live up to some smaller expectations?

Most of today's supplements aren't going to provide the crazy muscle gains or extreme fat loss that we would all like to achieve simply by popping a pill or drinking a protein shake, but the truth is that there are many good products on the market that can provide the extra help needed to get you over that hump. If you're looking to lose that extra 3-5 pounds, or bust through that plateau in your workouts, numerous products can do the trick, but who can you trust?

The key to nutritional supplements is the manufacturer.  Because of recent government restrictions on nutritional supplements, manufacturer's are severely limited when creating new products.  The best companies on the market have huge R&D staffs that are constantly searching for the next safe and effective supplement.  The established companies like Cytosport , Optimum Nutrition , and Universal have been around long enough to know what works and what doesn't, and they have the resources to invest in research and development.  Often times, new manufacturers come along to challenge the industry's status quo.  BSN, and even more recently Xyience, have taken the industry by storm.  Products such as the BSN Mass Stack and Xyience NOX-CG3 have set the standard for the newest products.  The creativity of the new companies has forced older companies to change the way they operate.

Because the products offered by different companies have so many similiar ingredients, your decision has to come down to who you can trust to offer the highest quality products.  It is very easy for a lower-quality manufacturer to offer a low price on a sumplement and claim that their product is the exact same formulation of that of another well-respected supplement line, but you'll most likely get what you pay for.  Product quality can vary greatly on anything from fat-burned to protein powders.  Do you really trust a no-name manufacturer with something that you're going to put in your body?  Do you really want all the artificial chemicals that some manufacturers add to your protein powder?  Another great example of this is Jay Robb protein powders.  They taste great and use natural ingredients so you can get the protein you need without all the junk that you don't.

The best advice anyone can give you regarding supplements is to simply use common sense.  Don't believe the outrageous claims; they're simply not true.  If a product could really add 50 pounds to your bench press, decrease your body fat by 5%, increase your sexual performance, and add 10 years to your life, don't you think everyone would be using it?  Just do your homework.  You should know that a company truly has your health in mind when formulating their products, not just their own wallets.  Your body is a temple, treat it with respect.