Recently, experts in the field of exercise and nutrition did several studies, and while they found that about three out of four Americans do report that they go to the gym or perform some other moderate physical exercise at least once a week, they also performed a separate study and found that out of 3 million people, less than 1% had acceptable levels of important vitamins and other minerals.

In an effort to improve health as well as athletic performance, many Americans are searching for effective pre and post workout supplements. Some supplements are made from natural ingredients and may be offered as a powder, a pill, or in an energy bar. Anabolic powder is legal and is reported to offer benefits to athletes who want to gain lean mass and build vitamin and mineral density in their systems.

A workout recovery supplement may also be used by athletes who want to recover from workouts more rapidly. Some athletes find that with the proper supplementation, they can consistently improve their performance by up to 5%, a relatively small difference that can, however, give professional athletes a firm competitive edge in competitions.

Experts do recommend that athletes who train seriously be mindful of their carbohydrate intake: some post workout supplements offer higher levels of carbohydrates. For every pound that they weight, up to four grams of carbohydrates should be consumed in order to maintain a healthy body weight and in order to ensure that they can perform to acceptable levels.

Anabolic powder remains popular among many athletes, as do sports drinks and supplements that are based upon common ingredients like milk. Whey protein, which is derived from milk, is widely used by athletes in order to increase protein intake and is often preferred to protein which is produced chemically.

Overall, supplements have been popular among athletes for the last few decades for health and nutritional gain, for athletic success in competitions and while training, and for weight loss. Supplements used to be reserved for professional athletes, but recently more Americans have begun to use nutritional supplements to meet their health goals and to improve their performance, even for less frequent workout regimens.