What supplements are going to help you reach your fitness goals? Whether it's to add pounds of muscle, strip away ugly body fat or help you become a better athlete or just a more energetic and healthy person, there are supplements that can make it much easier to reach your goals. But you have to know what works and which supplements are just a waste of money.

You want that extra edge that proper body building, sports and fitness supplementation can add to your training and nutrition program.

There's just one problem. You are completely overwhelmed by the insane number of products on the market with more and more being released every day.

The magazines are filled with ads for supplements that are better than drugs (so they say) with unbelievable before and after pictures and outrageous claims.

You could spend all your waking hours trying to figure out which supplements actually work and which one's will never come close to their claims.

Who has the time and money to figure out which bodybuilding supplements will actually help them achieve their goals?

I've wasted thousands and thousands of dollars on bogus supplements. I keep detailed records of how they affect my body and my results.

In fact, the August 2003 issue of Ironman Magazine contains an article of mine on my experience with Muscle Link's GH Stak.

I don't want to see you make the same mistakes I have made and waste years and thousands of dollars on supplements that don't work.

There are a few quality supplements in every category from muscle building to fat burning to energy boosters and overall health. I'll help you tailor your supplement regime to your specific goals.

There is no doubt in my mind that the right bodybuilding supplements will give you that extra edge and help you reach your goals faster.

However, it's important to know that probably 99% of the supplements on the market don't do what they promise. A lot of them don't even carry the ingredients stated on the label.

This is also why you should stick to quality companies like Optimum Nutrition, Labrada, Gaspari Nutrition, EAS, Muscle Link, Twinlab, Ergopharm, AST and a few others.

Keep in mind that you need to get your training and nutrition programs in line first, berfore you can truly see the benefit of this supplement guide.

Eating french fries all day won't help you build muscle, even if you are taking supplements that actually work.

Before getting any benefits from supplements you need to get your training and nutrition program in place. After that, you can focus on what I call "core" supplements.

What are "core" supplements?

Core supplements are fitness supplements that I consider to be more an intergrated part of a proper and healthy overall nutrition plan.

They make it easy for you to meet your nutritional requirements and become part of your overall sports supplement and nutrition strategy.

They are so much a part of your nutrition plan that you could call them nutritional supplements instead. I even refer to these supplements more as part of my nutritional plan as opposed to my supplement plan.

What are some of these indispensable core supplements?

1 - Multivitamins

2 - Multiminerals

3 - Essential Fatty Acids

4 - Antioxidants

You should never go without core supplements in order to purchase other supplements. If you have the finances to do so, you can add to the core but never sacrifice them for any other supplements.

But ignoring them to purchase the latest, greatest testosterone boosting, growth hormone shooting, fat melting, Z-100 gizmo subdural "injection" like supplement would be like buying all the latest workout fashions and never actually going to the gym.

Don't make that mistake. Please. You'll just be wasting your money and missing out on what effective supplements have to offer.

The next step up in your supplementation program would include such things as the following:

1 - Meal Replacement and Protein Powders

2 - Creatine

3 - Glutamine

4 - A quality ZMA (specifically forumlates Zinc/Magnesium) product

Meal Replacement Powders and Protein Powders are really important enough to be considered core sports supplements.

They allow you to get proper the necesssary nutrients you body needs, as well as meet your protein requirements in an easy and convenient (and nowadays, tasty) fashion.

In today's fast paced world, I feel these supplements are essential to helping you stick to a proper nutrition plan.

It's difficult enough trying to prepare and eat 6 meals a day, let alone plan out the proper food combinations to make sure you are feeding your body everything it needs to function at its best. Not to mention making sure that your meals contain high protein foods.

Get your nutrition and training program in place. Then, stock up on core supplements. You'll that this combination will go a long way toward taking you to your fitness goals, whether it's building twenty pounds of muscle or losing fifty pounds of fat.

About the author:

Gregg Gillies is the founder of http://www.buildleanmuscle.com His articles have appeared in Ironman Magazine. He has written two books and writes for Body Talk Magazine. He publishes a free newsletter available at http://www.buildleanmuscle.com/ezine.html and see how you can get a customized muscle building nutrition plan at http://www.mynutritionjournal.com