Will supplements work with short exercise sessions?

A

andyste1

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I recently took up archery and I need to build up my arm muscles (I'm 6'6", 14 stone and stick thin!). It takes some strength to draw a bow - after an hour I start to feel it in my arms, and my muscles start to shake a little with the bow drawn - not good for the aim! I certainly couldn't last in an all day competition.

I'm intending to do 15-20 minutes a day at home in an attempt to improve my strength - basic stuff like push ups, theraband exercises and dumb bells (once I get around to buying some). I've read a lot about supplements like whey and creatine, and was wondering if I would benefit from these, given the type & amount of exercise that I'll be doing?

Thanks in advance
 
Archery uses more than just your arms, it involves your back, shoulders, core etc. Missing out on this will just move the weakness to another area.
Supplement wise. The western diet is on average high in fats, salt, protein and sugar (hence type 2 diabetes is the fastest growing cause of blindness) so there is virtually no chance that adding protein will help. The argument that muscle is made of protein is a farce, consider it contains predominantly water, drinking 5 times as much as you need won't make you more muscular either.
Creatine is at it's core an energy supplement for when you are at the very limit of high intensity. You have 3 energy systems, aerobic, which literally lasts a lifetime, anaerobic or lactic acid system which is when you get stitch and finally the phosphocreatine system which is what you use to run out of the door if a bear jumps through your window, roughly 10 seconds of full on max intensity. Supplementing this if you are training at max intensity regularly will have benefits, but if you are doing predominantly endurance or stamina it won't help much at all.
The part most forget when looking at supplements is the meaning of the word supplement. It means replacing something that has a shortfall. If your diet is right the chance of you needing any is virtually nil. Save your cash or buy better quality food with the money you planned for sups, it will serve you far better.
 
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