Most everywhere you look you’ll find men and women who have taken on the body building, muscle training/strengthening lifestyle. They spend many hours in the gym tearing and repairing their muscles in order to increase mass, create tone, and to increase overall strength.

The muscle is made up of water and protein. When you lift weights, the muscles strain and tear, losing precious proteins. When the body needs to repair those torn muscles, it cannibalizes fats and proteins for other places in the body to replace, repair, and rebuild. Body building without an excess of protein intake may build up one part of your body, but you’ll be sacrificing proteins in muscles and tissues elsewhere on the body.

If you want to build body mass without losing mass and important proteins elsewhere (like the internal organs), you need to increase your daily intake of protein, preferably using the best protein bodybuilding supplements you can consume. Protein can be found in common foods like meat, fish, soy, and whey. You can consume protein in shakes, protein bars, protein supplements, and even just increase your red meat consumption.

A word of warning: if you increase your protein intake, you need to make sure that you’re getting enough exercise. Otherwise the body will be creating bulk without the exercise and weight lifting to shape it into productive muscle. An increase in protein can just add unhealthy pounds.

Another supplement that is widely used is creatine which increases your short term strength and endurance.  If you are a weight lifter or bodybuilder, bench pressing for example, you will find that you’re recovery time improves and you will be able to lift more after only taking for a short term. The use of creatine has been deeply researched across many different applications and sports, and has been found to have zero or little side effects in most people.

Protein and Creatine are a very important part of any weight training, weight lifting, muscle strengthening regimen, but be sure to see a nutritionist before starting any program.