I often get asked… “What supplements should I take?” and “How should I use supplements?” The first piece of advice I give these individuals is to follow the rule of 2 percent. This rule states that if you use supplements, (for this article I am referring to “legal” ones,) optimally they will most likely only account for up to 2 percent of your total results. This means that 98 percent of results come from proper training and nutrition. So the way to view this is as follows… Most of the time proper supplements will not hurt you, they can only benefit you. The only way they can really hurt you is in your wallet. Therefore, you should really only consider using supplements if you have the other 98 percent of your training and nutrition in order. If you are not on a proper training plan and eating properly for your goals, supplements aren’t going to benefit you and will just be a waste of money. However, if you have the other 98 percent of your things in order, it may not be a bad idea to invest in supplements to completely optimize your results. Long story short, you shouldn’t begin your training quest with supplements because they are not going to account for the majority of your results. Once you get a firm grasp on the more important things, then you can invest your time and money into some supplements that may help put that cherry on top and give you the results you are looking for.