Bodybuilding.com has given out awards for "Supplements of the Year" for 2005. The awards were given based on votes placed by users. I didn't vote and wasn't aware of it, although I guess I don't pay much attention to the main bodybuilding.com site, just the forums. These awards can be used by supplement companies on their products as a little seal to use in advertising and other promotional items.What Are The Supplement Awards?Here are the supplements and my personal review of them.
The Bodybuilding.com Supplement Awards are the industry standard for recognition of the best products and brands in the fitness and supplement industry. They not only help customers find the best products in their class, but also give the winning companies a way to set themselves apart from their rivals by displaying the award seal in their ads or on their site.
Bodybuilding.com also uses these awards to promote products on our own site and in our own magazine ads to further help customers make a smart choice when buying supplements.
Supplement of the Year - Optimum 100% Whey Protein PowderThis one is no big surprise. Optimum whey is really the standard whey protein of all the industry. It's cheap, it tastes good, you can buy it in bulk, and it's high quality. The only downside for some of us is the fact that it contains whey protein concentrate, which can cause some gastrointestinal difficulty. Otherwise, it's a product that's hard to beat. It comes in the three standard flavors of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry as well as chocolate mint, cookies n' cream, rocky road and tropical punch. With the new flavor additions, and additional protein products by Optimum, like 100% Natural Whey, Classic Whey and their Pro Complex MRP, you can tell Optimum is a company that aims to please. Which leads us into our next award...
Brand of the Year - Optimum NutritionOptimum Nutrition has a great line of quality products at very affordable prices, and at extremely high quality. When you buy something from Optimum you can count on it being what's in the label, tasting good, and being the best quality the industry has to offer. We should be seeing some more good stuff from Optimum in the near future and hope they stick to their ideals of keeping their supplements simple, cheap and effective.
Muscle Builder of the Year - BSN NO-XplodeNO-Xplode is contains really what you could call a muscle building cocktail. Stuffed with so many ingredients, and most in proper proportion it's hard to find fault with this leading edge product - with the exception of the price. Coming in at close to $1 a serving and with a recommendation of 2-3 servings on training days it can be very expensive. None the less, NO-Xplode is jam packed with the latest and greatest ingredients, including esterfied amino acids, creatine precursors, insulin influencing substances and stimulants - it takes the kitchen sink idea to an excess. If you can afford to use this, it would most definitely be worthwhile. However, most of us will have to stick with the basics or make our own blends using bulk powders.
Fat Loss Product of the Year - Nutrex Lipo 6The last time I looked at Lipo 6, it had ephedra. Looking at it now, it seems like a pretty basic formula probably comparable to most other fat burners out there. However, I still have a high opinion of SAN Tight! and some of the other fat burners and even the basic E/C stack.
Creatine Product of the Year - BSN CellMassWith all the BSN winners in the categories, it makes me wonder if the contest was rigged towards BSN. Basically, BSN is an overpriced CEE product with an "uptake system" which consists of some electrolytes and cinnamon extract. Yawn. As usual, just take your creatine in whatever form you wish and mix it with some Gatorade.
Protein Bar of the Year - EAS Myoplex Lite BarsMost people known my opinion of protein bars is pretty low. They're generally stuffed with junk "filler" protein like collagen, trans fatty acids, tons of sugar, and then covered with vitamins to make it sound like it's good for you - sort of the same trick breakfast cereals pull on you. The Myoplex Lite bars don't seem to do that, which I commend them for, but still contains some stuff I wouldn't want to use often - such as high fructose corn syrup. For the most part though, it looks pretty decent overall. The flavors sound good and so I would have to say that in a pinch, this would definitely be a bar I would consider eating - which is what protein bars should be used for, emergency situations and not as an addon to a regular diet.
New Product of the Year - CytoSport Muscle Milk RTDI like Muscle Milk, I admit it. They have the best flavors out of all the proteins there are. Despite the fact that they have high GI carbs and not the greatest fat content, I still think it's a decent protein powder. I also recently tried their Muscle Milk oatmeal and thought it was great. However, I'm a little torn on RTD drinks. I really doubt that the ingredients stay stable after such a long shelf time in liquid. It would just be cheaper to get a shaker bottle and mix up your own shake for yourself on the go than drink this. The ingredients of the RTD are very similar to their protein powder, so if you are in favor of that, then I would say this would probably be on par.
New Brand of the Year - Anabolic XtremeI don't really have a lot to say about this company since I'm not very familiar with their products. They seem to have come out with some very new and interesting compounds in the last year, yet most all of them have since been discontinued for legal reasons. Still, we might see more interesting products from this company if their R&D keeps to their high standard.
Glutamine Powder of the Year - Prolab GlutamineWe all pretty much know glutamine is worthless, so there's really no point in getting into this again. Unless you have gastrointestinal issues, which supplementing with glutamine can sometimes help, it's overall worthless for muscle gain or fat loss. For more info, see this thread here.
Multivitamin of the Year - Universal Animal PakUniversal's Animal products haven't changed much since I did my writeup about them in 2003. I do admit that the Animal Pak multivitamin is a pretty decent vitamin, with a wealth of ingredients. A lot of them in good ratios, some in far too low. Still, for the price for close to a month supply being $20 it's a fair deal. You could still find better multivitamins for a much better deal though.
Joint Supplement of the Year - NOW Glucosamine & Chondroitin Plus MSMAn excellent joint supplement by an excellent GMP certified company, NOW. With all the ingredients in all the right ratios, and at a good price, I would highly recommend this product for anyone with problems experiencing joint pain from exercise or arthritis.
Energy Supplement of the Year - VPX RedlineRedline seems more at an attempt at a fat burner than an energy supplement. I guess it fits in this category because it's a liquid, instead of oral tablets. Redline seems to be an attempt to recapture one of VPX's most favorite products, Clenbuterx, which was one of the communities ECA darlings. The ingredients are typical of what you would find in your average fat burner, but in a proprietary blend so we don't know how much of each you're getting. With only 637mg total of the stimulating substances, it's hard to really say this is a great energy supplement. Probably not a supplement I would waste my money on.
See the result of the Bodybuilding.com 2005 Supplement of the Year Awards along with a video webcast of the presentations.
