Supplements increase in popularity despite criticisms
Many students turn to weight-gaining products to add bulk, boost
energy levels
By Susan Lee
Daily Bruin Contributor
Bulking up is no easy task. Much like working out to lose
weight, gaining weight and muscle takes time and energy.
While everyday exercise is recommended by health experts
everywhere, some students looking to gain weight often take
significant measures to achieve their aim.
Partaking of health food supplements such as as Met-RX,
Cyberflex and Chromium Picolinate, students across the campus are
striving to slim down and then bulk up.
"I think people use (the products) for different reasons. I
mean, you do what you got to do," said Joey Ftrycula, a first-year
undeclared student who plays for the football team. "For me, it’s
mostly because of the sport, but for some people it might be to get
more energy to get them through the day or look good for the
girls," he said.
Tosh Horie, an employee at the General Nutritional Center in
Santa Monica, cited Met-RX and RX-Fuel as popular products among
younger students.
Such foreign names to non-users may conjure up visions of
magical and mystical ingredients capable of working miracles.
However, many products simply contain protein, vitamins,
carbohydrates or other micronutrients, Horie said.
While some students utilize the supplements as a part of their
sports diets, there are those who use weight gainers as a general
health supplement, much like taking vitamins.
"I think most people work out to feel better about themselves,"
said second-year biology student Ed Lin. "But I think it’s mainly
just to look good."
Weight gainers are also used as supplements for individuals with
high metabolism who have trouble putting on weight, Horie said.
At UCLA, a group called Consultants Helping Athletes Maximize
Performance has various athletic experts who approve the
supplements that athletes may use.
Matt Phelan, a first-year political science/international
relations student and lineman for the football team, said that
weight gainers often increase a person’s endurance. A person can
lift harder and get bigger without the typical next-day soreness,
he said.
Phelan said many guys spend their first year trying to bulk up
in order to improve their sports performance. However, he frowns on
the negative stereotypes surrounding muscular men, especially the
assumption that big athletes use steroids.
"People find big people intimidating to look at, like me and my
friend who is 6-feet-9-inches and 300 pounds," Phelan said. "Lots
of times, people are scared that we’ll beat them up, so it’s
definitely awkward. I mean, we’re just working out to stay our size
so we can play our positions better."
In the past, third-year psychobiology student Chris Cappelen
used supplements, but he claimed that some products didn’t work as
well as they purport.
"I think the promise of gaining weight or getting bigger is an
instant motivation," Cappelen said. "I mean, guys do things to be
more attractive to the opposite sex."
Other students agreed that the cost of weight gaining products
might not be worth the results.
"My friend took a protein supplement and he said it wasn’t worth
the expensive cost," said second-year biochemistry student Sam
Tahk.
Tahk, who lifts weights at least twice a week, cited a personal
interest in feeling healthier as his main reason for lifting, but
also added that he wouldn’t take any kind of supplemental
product.
"Even if they did work, I wouldn’t use them just because I’m
more interested in being stronger naturally," Tahk said.
Horie, who has been a personal trainer for 12 years, felt that
many men’s desire to work out is partly due to societal pressure to
look good. However, some students said that society does not place
as much pressures on men to strive for a muscular physique as it
does on women to be thin.
Cappelen argued women are blasted with more media images about
exercising to become beautiful and thin in order to get what they
want while guys are not.
"Guys don’t necessarily have to be totally big to get what they
want. There’s not really a similar type of pressure to get thin,"
Cappelen said.Comments to webmaster@db.asucla.ucla.edu