Sunday, January 19, 2014

The Revolution Of Bodybuilding Supplements

By Kyle Heier


Bodybuilding supplements tend to portray mixed feelings among any crowd of individuals. To those who are familiar with them, the questions are "What are you using?", "Are you going all-natural?", and "how do you like them"? Among others of course. To the crowd who looks in from the outside, you may get anything from pure curiosity, to the looks typically reserved for those deemed out of their minds. And that is just the thing, there is far too little information out there on the growing industry of bodybuilding supplements. If one thing is for certain however, is that it is indeed a vastly growing industry.

While there are those out there unwilling to understand what bodybuilding supplements are representing, they are a slowly decreasing number. There are quite a few companies today that sell supplements, and one certainly stands out above the rest. The Vitamin Shoppe is a publicly traded company and have been growing steadily every year. Among this group, there is also GNC and Popeye's Supplements. These groups sell most every brand manufactured supplement to-date. While there are many, the fact the The Vitamin Shoppe is publicly owned gives everyone a great insight to part of the industry. While the industry is vast, this group in particular holds some of the largest market share.

In 2008, the sports nutrition supplements industry was marked in at $4.2 billion in sales. The Vitamin Shoppe annual report for 2012 marks sales at $950.9 million in which 53% of those supplements were specifically related to sports nutrition. The average year over year growth for this company from 2007 - 2012 has been just over %10 with a slight decrease in 2010 which can easily be related to the economic fall during the time. People were still however looking to train hard despite the financial hardships, as the industry as a whole was still growing at a positive rate.

Still, numbers don't lie. Inflation would barely have any counter effect to this year over year growth in sales numbers. The results are in and people are realizing that they can indeed benefit from use of the proper supplements. Supplement manufacturers are also producing products that are looking to sway the masses from the age-old stigmas that have been attached to the industry. If you have watched any recent mixed martial arts events, you would have seen some of the athletes sporting the trunks branded with Muscle Pharm. This company has created their products geared directly towards the sports-safe products. While this help to raise a few eyebrows, it may be even more important still to ensure that the hard wired, negative stigmas are done away with on an industry wide scale rather than sticking it to a brand.

Bottom line, while there still exists in the short-term, a stigma that may be unfavorable to supplements and those who may use them, it is a growing industry. With the push more recently in our culture to get fit, it is only going to become more popular. While supplements don't do all the work for you when you are training for whatever it is you are trying to achieve, they do lend a helping hand. It is more about knowing what supplements are going to most benefit you, and why.




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