Answering the question of the decade || Can you build a physique without supplements?

Can you build a physique without supplements? The debate on this topic will never end. But here are my opinions on the same, that will help you form some clear views.

If we try to understand what are the building blocks of muscles and why do muscles grow in the first place, we will pretty much get a rough idea on our topic. So, muscles are basically protein and water. So, for a muscular hypertrophy to occur at the first place, the body needs protein and water in abundance and a reason to grow, that’s the stimulus. The stimulus can be any physical strain like lifting weights that creates micro tears in the muscle fibres. These micro tears in the muscle fibres are repaired by the body and the body also ensures to prepare the muscle for the same stress in future to prevent similar damage further, hence increasing its size and strength.

So, building a physique without any supplements is quite achievable. You can achieve your protein goals from whole food sources. So, supplement are not a necessity when it comes to muscular hypertrophy. Now, we know the answer to our question but the next thing that arises is, should you build a physique without supplements?

In my personal opinion, it depends. Supplements(we’re taking natty supplements into consideration only), as the name suggests are substances that are an add-ons or extras that help you improving the overall performance and bodily functioning. The whole purpose of supplementation was to provide the body with items whose needs were not fulfilled by whole foods completely. So, if you have budget for supplement, why wouldn’t you like to use them to optimise yourself to the maximum potential. In fact, supplements like creatine are actually beneficial in increasing strength after prolonged use. Many supplements like multivitamins, Omega 3 fatty acids in correct doses can actually help you optimise your diet better.

Now, can achieve your dream physique with natty supplements, supplements that we use generally like protein, creatine, omega 3s, pre-workout etc. The answer is no. Even with all suitable hypertrophy conditions, you’ll grow till your genetic potential and no further. To go beyond your genetic limits, you will need to use performance enhancing drugs like steriods and sarms. Now, the effectiveness of these PEDs will again depend on your genetics, how good will your results be from the use of a drug or the side effects it will have on your body will all be determined by your genetics to a great extent. So, even with PEDs, that are effective but with tons of side effects, an average person like us, will most likely never reach their dream physique.

If you want to read about the human body’s natural muscle building potential and about realistic muscle building expectations, check out my article on the same: https://chiru.fitness.blog/2020/11/29/realistic-expectations-for-natural-lifters-and-knowing-all-about-your-body-type-the-most-basic-yet-the-most-important-concept-for-a-successful-fitness-journey/