The best muscle builder is high-weight, low-rep weightlifting. Stressing your muscles is the only way to promote muscle growth, no matter what supplements you take. Out of the thousands of mass gain supplements on the market, few have been proven effective and many have been proven dangerous. That said, there are a few that have shown promise in clinical trials. Supplements are not regulated by the FDA, so there is no guarantee of the safety of their ingredients, or even that the ingredients list on the label matches what's actually in the pill.
Protein
Protein is responsible for muscle repair and growth, so your muscle-building results will suffer if you don't get enough. Depending upon the frequency and intensity of your training sessions, you should eat 1 to 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. If you have a difficult time getting that much dietary protein, use a protein shake mix to supplement, but don't assume that more protein is better. Any protein your body cannot use either gets excreted in your urine or stored as fat. Anytime you hear supplement makers mention amino acids, remember that they are just the building blocks of proteins, and you are better off getting complete protein from food instead.
Creatine
According to the "Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition," creatine is the most effective bodybuilding supplement on the market. It has been shown to increase muscle mass by two to five pounds more than in control groups over a four- to 12-week training period. Creatine helps increase your ability to lift heavier weights for longer periods of time, but if you don't work for the gains, the creatine won't work for you. You can get creatine from meat and fish, or by taking a supplement. Follow the dosing instructions on the package, because too much can cause stomach cramps and nausea. The only long-term side effect reported has been weight gain, which can be prevented by training at an appropriate intensity and monitoring your caloric intake.
HMB
If you are new to bodybuilding, you may benefit from 1.5 to 3 grams per day of hydroxy-methylbutraye, or HMB, a metabolite of leucine. HMB helps keep protein from breaking down, and typically results in mass muscle gains of.5 to 1 kg more than in control groups over the course of a three- to six-week training program. There is even some evidence to show that taking HMB together with creatine may increase the effectiveness of both. Although HMB has been shown to help new bodybuilders, experienced athletes have not responded as well to HMB supplementation.
Supplements to Avoid
Avoid any bodybuilding supplement marketed as "legal steroids." The ingredients have names like 19-Norandrosta-4,9-diene-3,17 dione and 5α-androstano[3,2-c]pyrazole-3-one-17β-ol-THP-ether. These are synthetic versions of illegal anabolic steroids. Evidence of their effectiveness is anecdotal, but evidence of their danger is well-documented. The FDA issues periodic advisories warning against the use of these products, as they have been found to cause liver and kidney failure, pulmonary embolism and an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Men who use these products may experience breast enlargement and shrinkage of the testes, and women may experience masculinization that includes increased facial hair and deepening of the voice.
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