While Sytropin is my “favorite” supplement, it’s not the only one I use. Over the years, I’ve tried a lot of different supplements, with varying degrees of success. Years ago, I took prohormones (basically steroid-like “precursors” to testosterone) with good results, but eventually they got banned (at least in the U.S), so I moved on to other things. ZMA supplements, nitric oxide enhancers, tribulus products, just about anything you would find in your local GNC store that had a decent reputation I tried at some point. Many just plain didn’t work, at least they didn’t work for me. That doesn’t mean I think they were a scam, but some supplement affect some people very differently than others. Supplements that friends swore by did absolutely nothing for me, and products that I liked I had other friends say were just over-priced ripoffs because they didn’t see results from them too. The supplement industry is a billion-dollar industry, and while I wish results were what drove the best products to the top of the list, we all know that marketing plays a huge part in which supplements become the most popular, regardless of their proven effectiveness.

One supplement that has been around for a long time, and doesn’t have a lot of negative reviews or complaints about, is creatine. Nowadays it is pretty commonplace, and a lot of athletes dismiss creatine as “boring”, while they rush off to try to find the next new hot supplement. Personally, I’ve always like creatine, and nearly everybody I know that has used it has gotten results from it. It might not be as sexy as the latest and greatest supplement you see full-page ads for or hundreds of excited testimonials for on forums, but it does the job. Other than Sytropin and a standard multi-vitamin, it is the only supplement I have taken consistently for years, for one reason, creatine works. I was one of the people that had cramping issues on creatine, especially during the loading phase. This is a pretty common, and minor, side effect, it goes away as long as you drink plenty of water, which is a good habit to get into anyways. I encourage all athletes to look into adding creatine to their regimen. There are literally hundreds of different brands, but the actual chemical (creatine monohydrate) should be pretty much the same across different product lines, so select a brand you trust and get started, you’ll be glad you did.