Muscle-Building Case Study

Introduction

If you’ve ever looked for a product to help you put on size, chances are you’ve been bombarded by images of bulging males and over-hyped marketing claims. In an industry that preys on people’s insecurities, it’s difficult to establish which supplements can actually work for you.

That’s why we conducted a supplement case study to determine the overall effectiveness of some of the most popular muscle-building supplements on the market. This was an actual in-house study that took place over an eight-week period. It was double-blind (meaning both the participants and administrator of the study did not know which product the participants were taking), and consisted of five different groups. Four of those groups took various supplements, and the other was a control group. They were given a placebo product (an exact replica of the other supplements but didn’t actually contain any active ingredients).

Purpose of Study

The purpose of the in-house study was to determine how effective a muscle-building supplement could be in one’s workout plan. We wanted to determine if a creatine-based supplement could help to increase strength without changing too many variables in someone’s lifestyle.
 

Methods

At the beginning of the study, we weighed each participant and took their measurements. We used a measuring tape on their chest, hips, waist, butt, biceps, thighs and above the knee. Each participant was also professionally measured by a PhD student from a local university, using bioelectrical impedance (BIA) to determine their body fat percentage. BIA uses a small electrical signal that passes through the body. The measure of BIA is low when the current passes through lean tissue, where intracellular and extracellular fluid and electrolytes are primarily contained, but it registers as high in fat tissue.

Each of the participants went through a max strength test. They did six different exercises and were told to use the highest weight they could handle before failure. Failure had to occur between 5 to12 reps. For the max strength test, the participants went through the following exercises: bench press, lat pull-down, biceps curl, triceps pull-down, leg extension, and leg curl. The results for each exercise were recorded and a one-rep max for each exercise was determined. 

Participants

The study consisted of eight participants, all with varying levels of experience in the gym. There were seven males and one female.

Weight Loss Products Used

The supplement study consisted of four different muscle-building supplements and a placebo product. Each of the supplements used had varying price points, but all were extremely popular muscle-builders. The supplements chosen were: Cell-Tech by MuscleTech, Xpand by Dymatize, NO-Xplode by BSN, and Creatine Monohydrate by Prolab.

Description of Supplements

8 Week Study

At the beginning of the study each participant was measured and weighed, had their body fat measurements taken and went through their initial max strength test.

Two weeks later, each participant went through their max strength test again. Participants were randomly assigned to a study group. They were then given their supplements with directions on how to take them. The supplement was transferred from its original container to a Tupperware container, so the participants couldn’t identify what they were taking.

Each participant went through a max strength test at the same stations for the next six weeks, to determine the difference in strength before and after taking the supplement. Halfway through, all participants were measured and weighed again. All results were recorded and differences noted.

After eight weeks, all the participants were once again weighed and measured, had their body fat measurements taken and tested for changes in strength. They were also asked to provide feedback on the supplement they were taking. Results were tabulated.

Discussion

The biggest downfall of the study was that there were many variables that couldn’t be controlled. We couldn’t control how often participants worked out, how hard they trained, their eating habits or even if they remembered to take their supplements.

Some participants got injured during the duration of the study or were uncomfortable taking the supplement they were assigned. This couldn’t be controlled, but really affected the outcome of the study.

We also couldn’t control if people followed proper protocol prior to the body fat testing. Many wore different clothes than requested, or they ate or drank prior to the testing, even though they were asked not to. After the testing, some of the participants didn’t have as much energy for their strength test, as they had been fasting all morning.

Also, some participants may not have pushed themselves as hard as they could have during the max strength test which may have skewed the results.

Results and Conclusions

This study compared several popular muscle-building supplements (creatine-based) to one another and then against a placebo product over the period of eight weeks.

All participants experienced varying increases in strength for the majority of the stations. The results show that taking a muscle-building supplement can lead to an average increase in strength over time.

The average increase in strength for each exercise can be viewed for each supplement in the chart below. The participant taking Xpand experienced an impressive 101 percent increase in their bench press. Those taking Cell-Tech saw results in their leg exercises. One increased their strength by 87 percent on the leg curl.

Cell-Tech seemed work best for gains in size. Participants using Cell-Tech lost an average of 2.8 percent body fat, but put on an average of almost four pounds. This means that Cell-Tech helped those who took it to pack on lean muscle mass.

It’s interesting to note the subject taking a placebo product experienced the greatest gains in mass. The subject gained seven pounds overall and still managed to lose body fat during the study.

This study was not able to determine which supplement worked best to help increase strength, as each supplement helped to enhance performance overall. We were not able to accurately determine what percentage was due to the participant’s increased effort or the effect of the supplement.

From this case study, it’s safe to say that a creatine-based supplement may help enhance performance and lead to faster increases in lean muscle mass.