You should never use supplements to try to fix a poor diet that is based around unhealthy foods like fast food and processed items. You should use supplements only when your diet is spot on and you are consuming the nutrient dense foods your body needs to run optimally. If you need more information on which muscle building foods to include in your diet, I highly recommend reading the Nutrition 101 article to learn the basics of solid nutrition.
When you have a healthy nutrition plan set in place, only then should you focus on implementing nutritional supplements into your regimen. There are only a select few supplements that you should focus on buying and these include:
Whey Protein Powder
Multi-Vitamin and Mineral
Your body needs the right ratios of micronutrients in order to perform optimally and many of the important micronutrients are either not supplied by your diet or you simply don’t eat enough of the right foods to supply enough of them. This is when a high potency multi-vitamin and mineral supplement can come in very handy.
Creatine
Creatine is a supplement that actually has proven studies showing the positive results on muscle building and recovery. The conclusion of the studies show that creatine supplementation leads to significant improvements in lower body maximal strength, maximal repetitive upper and lower body high power exercise bouts, and muscular endurance.
These are the top 3 nutritional supplements that I recommend spending your hard-earned money on since they are the products that actually work and will provide the benefits you are looking for in terms of muscle building and recovery. Remember to always try to focus eating nutrient dense whole foods for the staple of your nutritional plan and then feel free to supplement with other items to assist you with your overall physique goals.