Do You Actually Need Supplements to Get Results?

Walk into a supplement store or spend five minutes scrolling through fitness content online and you can pretty quickly start feeling like you're missing something. Protein powder, pre-workout, creatine, greens powder, BCAAs, electrolytes, fat burners, collagen, multivitamins, recovery drinks, sleep supplements, gut-health products—the list goes on and on.

If you're new to fitness, it's easy to start believing that getting results requires an entire cabinet full of supplements. You see someone who's in great shape using a product, a trainer recommends another one, or someone online tells you something is essential, and before long you're spending hundreds of dollars every month trying to optimize everything.

Here's what I want people to understand: you can make incredible progress without taking a bunch of supplements. Some supplements absolutely have a place, some have good research behind them, and some are convenient ways to fill nutritional gaps. Others have limited evidence, may be unnecessary for most people, or are simply being marketed extremely well.

The important thing is knowing the difference.

Start With the Word “Supplement”

I think the name itself tells us how these products should be viewed. They're meant to supplement what you're already doing, not become the foundation of your health and fitness plan.

A protein shake isn't going to make up for consistently poor nutrition. Pre-workout isn't going to make up for sleeping five hours every night. A greens powder isn't a replacement for building a balanced diet, and a fat-loss supplement isn't going to replace the habits necessary to manage your weight long term.

The National Institutes of Health makes a similar point when discussing performance supplements. A nutritionally adequate diet, proper hydration, and appropriate training are the foundation, and supplements cannot substitute for a healthy diet. The NIH also notes that only some supplements have sufficient evidence for improving particular types of exercise performance.

That's where I think we need to start: food, training, sleep, hydration, recovery, and consistency. Get those things moving in the right direction before worrying about filling your kitchen counter with powders and pills.

Protein Powder: Useful, but It Isn't Magic

Protein powder is probably one of the most common supplements in the fitness world, but there isn't anything magical about drinking protein. Your body needs adequate protein to help build, maintain, and repair muscle, and protein powder is simply a convenient way to get more of it.

You can absolutely get protein through regular foods such as meat, fish, eggs, dairy, beans, and other sources. If you're struggling to consume enough during the day, however, adding whey or another protein powder to a shake can make hitting your goal much easier. That can be especially useful for someone who's busy or needs an easy option around their workouts.

The NIH notes that athletes can often meet their protein needs through food, while protein supplements can be useful when needed. That's how I look at it: protein powder is a tool, not a requirement. If you're already getting enough protein through your diet, joining a gym doesn't suddenly mean you need to start drinking protein shakes.

Creatine: One Supplement With a Lot Behind It

Creatine is worth separating from a lot of the noise because it has been studied extensively. It can help support performance in repeated bouts of high-intensity exercise and, when paired with resistance training, can support improvements in strength and training adaptations.

That doesn't mean everybody who walks into Warrior needs to immediately start taking creatine. Your individual health, goals, medications, and circumstances matter, and those factors become especially important if you have a medical condition.

When someone asks me which fitness supplements actually have meaningful evidence behind them, creatine is one of the first ones worth discussing. Interestingly, the supplements with the strongest evidence aren't always the products with the most exciting marketing.

What About BCAAs?

BCAAs are a great example of why it's worth looking beyond marketing. Branched-chain amino acids—leucine, isoleucine, and valine—are amino acids found naturally in protein-containing foods and are commonly marketed for muscle growth, workout performance, and recovery.

If you're already consuming adequate high-quality protein, adding a separate BCAA supplement may not accomplish much. The NIH says there isn't much scientific evidence supporting BCAA supplements for improving performance, building muscle, or helping exercise recovery beyond consuming adequate high-quality protein.

That doesn't automatically make BCAA products bad. It simply means you should ask whether you're actually getting something meaningful for the money you're spending, and that's a question worth asking about every supplement.

Pre-Workout: Do You Need It?

Pre-workout is another huge category, and there are countless formulas containing different combinations of caffeine, amino acids, and other ingredients. Caffeine itself does have evidence supporting performance benefits in certain exercise situations, but more isn't necessarily better.

Higher amounts of caffeine can cause side effects and can interfere with sleep, while people's tolerance and response to caffeine vary considerably. This is where I think people need to look at the bigger picture instead of immediately reaching for another scoop.

If you're exhausted every afternoon and need a huge dose of caffeine just to get yourself through a workout, maybe the first question shouldn't be, “Which pre-workout should I buy?” It might be worth looking at how much you're sleeping, whether you're eating enough, your hydration, stress levels, and whether you're simply doing too much.

Sometimes another supplement isn't the solution.

Greens Powders Aren't Vegetables

Greens powders have become incredibly popular because they offer an appealing message: put a scoop in water and cover a huge amount of your nutritional bases. I understand why that's attractive because convenience sells, and most of us could probably improve something about our diets.

What I don't want is someone believing that drinking a greens powder means fruits and vegetables no longer matter. Whole foods provide fiber and a complex mixture of nutrients and other food components, so a powder shouldn't be viewed as permission to stop paying attention to the quality and variety of the foods you're eating.

If you enjoy a greens product and it fits your budget, that's your choice. Just don't let the presence of a supplement create the illusion that the foundation of your nutrition no longer matters.

Be Especially Skeptical of “Fat Burners”

Weight-loss supplements are frequently marketed around increasing metabolism, reducing appetite, or helping the body burn more fat. Those are obviously attractive promises to someone who has been struggling with their weight and wants faster results.

The NIH says there's little scientific evidence that weight-loss supplements work, and some can interact with medications or be harmful. Sustainable nutrition and physical activity remain central to weight management.

That's not nearly as exciting as being told a capsule can accelerate your results. But if a product sounds like it's offering a shortcut around nutrition, activity, and sustainable behavior change, that's when I'd start asking more questions, not fewer.

“Natural” Doesn't Automatically Mean Safe

There's another misconception I hear with supplements: if something is natural, it can't hurt you. That's not how it works, and the fact that something is sold on a store shelf doesn't mean it went through the same premarket approval process as a prescription medication.

The FDA does not approve dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness before they're sold to consumers. Companies have responsibilities for the safety and labeling of their products, while the FDA can take action when products are unsafe, adulterated, or improperly marketed.

Supplements can also interact with medications or other supplements, and individual health conditions can change what is appropriate for someone. That's why it's important to talk with a physician, pharmacist, or other qualified healthcare professional when there are medical conditions, medications, or concerns involved.

Ask Who Benefits When Someone Tells You That You “Need” Something

I think this is one of the most important questions consumers can ask. If somebody recommends a supplement, ask why they are recommending it specifically for you, what it's supposed to accomplish, what evidence supports it, whether you could accomplish the same thing through your diet, and whether there's a less expensive alternative.

There's another completely fair question to ask: Does the person recommending this product financially benefit if I buy it? Someone making money from a product doesn't automatically mean they're giving you bad advice. Trainers, dietitians, businesses, and companies sell products and services every day that can genuinely help people.

But I think consumers deserve transparency when there's a financial relationship involved. A recommendation should still make sense after you remove the commission from the conversation.

Don't Confuse Expensive With Effective

Fitness marketing is incredibly good at convincing us there's always one more thing we're missing. Maybe if you buy this powder you'll finally lose the weight, maybe this drink will improve your recovery, or maybe this stack is the missing piece that's going to finally get you the results you've been chasing.

Meanwhile, the boring things continue doing most of the heavy lifting. Strength train consistently, eat enough protein, eat fruits and vegetables, drink water, get adequate sleep, move your body, manage your overall nutrition according to your goals, and give your body time to recover.

Those things aren't flashy, and nobody needs to sell you a monthly subscription to most of them. But they're the foundation that everything else has to sit on.

What We Believe at Warrior

I'm not anti-supplement. I use supplements myself, but my own routine is actually pretty simple. I take creatine and a multivitamin. I don't have a cabinet full of powders, pills, and different products that I believe I need in order to train or stay healthy.

There are absolutely circumstances where other supplements can be useful depending on someone's diet, goals, health, or specific nutritional needs. What I don't want is someone walking into Warrior believing they need to buy a pile of products before they can become healthy or get results.

I'd rather help you build the foundation first. Let's figure out how often you can realistically train, get you stronger, improve your nutrition, make sure you're eating enough protein, and talk about recovery, sleep, and hydration. Let's create habits that actually fit your life instead of immediately looking for another product to add.

Then, if there's a supplement that makes sense for your goals or fills a legitimate need, that's when it becomes worth discussing. Supplements should be an addition to a good plan, not the plan itself.

Spend Your Energy on What Actually Moves the Needle

If you're new to fitness, don't overwhelm yourself by believing you need the perfect supplement stack before you can make progress. You don't need six different powders in your gym bag, and you shouldn't feel like you're falling behind because somebody else is taking something you aren't.

Start by showing up a couple of times a week. Learn how to strength train, improve your nutrition, get adequate protein, drink more water, get some sleep, allow yourself to recover, and keep doing those things consistently.

Once you've built those habits, then you can worry about the smaller details. The best supplement in the world isn't going to outperform years of consistent training, good nutrition, and taking care of yourself.

Build the foundation first. Supplement it when there's actually a reason to.