Is Supplement Stacking Effective?

What is Supplement Stacking?

If you’ve spent any time at all on the weight room floor then you’ve probably heard of supplement stacking. This process involves combining multiple supplements to fill in spaces that other combination supplements may be lacking. Supplement stacking, or combining multiple dietary supplements, promotes the idea that you’ll be enhancing the results you see from supplementation because you can tailor a supplement stack to meet your specific muscle building needs.

The Idea Behind “The Stack”

Certain supplements, when combined with others, can interact in a unique way and yield unique results opposed to when they’re used on their own. The idea behind “The Stack” is that you’re combing supplements that may pack a powerful a punch on their own but also react in a supplement combination to deliver the bulking, cutting, or performance enhancing results you’re looking for.

Although supplement stacking has been popular for several years now, the question still remains, does supplement stacking really work?

Does Supplement Stacking Work?

Although the majority of dietary supplements on the current market aren’t worth your time or money, the supplements that have proven to work are generally stacks in themselves. One of the most famous combination (although currently banned) was ephedrine stacked with caffeine and marketed for weight loss. Through studies done on both ingredients, caffeine was found to enhance the effects of ephedrine, thus making the combination stronger than taking either supplement on its own. This combination created an extremely effective combination but the health risks associated with it were too great and the combination formula was banned on the American market.

Most supplements on the health-food isles these days are examples of stacks as well. Supplement development companies use stacks as their main selling points claiming to include multiple ingredients all geared towards helping you lose weight, or gain more muscle, or give you more pre-workout energy and sustained muscle pumps. Combinations of Green Tea and African Mango are available for weight loss, and combinations of Beta Alanine and Arginine are available for bodybuilders.

Whether marketed as a combination product or a supplement stack all of these “blended” supplements take advantage of the “stacking” principle: Combining ingredients that are going to work synergistically with one another in order to create the most effective supplement blend possible.

Stacking for Bodybuilding

Bodybuilders are the gym-goers and fitness fanatics most obsessed with supplement stacking, and for them, this concept can be a good idea. Not every supplement is going to work for every bodybuilder, and by stacking your supplements yourself, you can combine ingredients in such a way that will support your body type, goals, and stage of training.

Popular Muscle Building Stack Ingredients:

Ingredients that are often seen stacked for mass gains include:

Creatine:This ingredient has proven to work time and time again and is therefore one of the first “go-to” supplements to begin a stack. Creatine is a mass-building supplement on its own and promises to give you quick energy while lifting weights.

Arginine: This amino acid converts to NO (Nitris Oxide) and is involved in vasodilation. This process increases blood flow to the muscles during workouts and allows better oxygen and nutrient delivery thus enabling longer and more effective workouts.

Beta Alanine: This ingredient is often combined with Creatine because they have been proven to enhance the effects of one another. Beta Alanine combines with histidine and the combination is associated with the promotion of muscle strength and size.

Glutamine: This is one of the most abundant amino acids in the human body and is not only crucial for recovery but promotes muscle growth as well. Glutamine has the power to delay fatigue and can therefore allow you to complete more reps and even sets. Glutamine helps maintain muscle mass and is often included in supplement stacks.

Whey Protein: This should be a staple in every bodybuilders supplement cupboard. Whether it’s taken on its own or combined in a stack, whey protein powder is the fundamental muscle building and muscle maintenance supplement. Whey protein should be taken before and after workouts because it is rich in amino acids and is known to boost blood flow to your muscles.

Casein: This type of protein is often supplemented with whey protein because casein is slow-digesting while whey protein is quickly-digested. Studies have shown however, that when casein protein is taken in conjunction with whey protein post-workout, protein synthesis is increased and muscle size increases more than if either protein were taken on their own.

How to Stack Effectively:

Effective stacking usually only uses 2-4 ingredients because you don’t want to combine ingredients that are going to counteract each other and you need to combine enough of each ingredient to actually give you results.

The different ingredients mentioned above can be played with until you find a combination that fits you and your workout, but no matter the stack, you should begin by making a shake 30 minutes before you hit the gym.

A pre-workout stack we like consists of:

1. 20 grams of whey protein
2. 3-5 grams creatine
3. 1-2 grams beta-alanine

A post-workout stack we like consists of:

1. 20-30 grams whey protein
2. 10-20 grams casein protein
3. 3-5 grams creatine
4. 1-2 grams beta alanine

*All of these supplements can be found individually in powder form and are easily combined with milk or water in a blender with ice or in a shaker cup.

Is There a Down-Side To Stacking?

Although stacking can be extremely effective when researched and done on your own to benefit your workout style and goals, be weary of “super stacks” that can be bought pre-mixed. Often these stacks will combine a little bit of everything and with such an impressive ingredient list, people who are new to supplementing are often caught in the “little bit of everything” trap.

What the companies who produce these kinds of stacks do is use a technique called “fairy dusting” where they “sprinkle” little bits of lots of ingredients within their supplements but there’s no way there can be effective amounts of the ingredients present.

It is more beneficial to create your own stack than purchase one that has been stacked for you. You never know exactly what you’re getting unless you mix the stack yourself.

The Verdict

Overall, supplement stacking can be an extremely effective method of supplementing if you’re educated on which ingredients do what and how they affect each other when they’re combined.