I used to go to the gym with a behemoth whose entire life revolved around bodybuilding. The dude was a beast and attempting to argue any of his points was an exercise in futility because all you had to do was look at this guy to realize that he was definitely doing everything right if that is the sort of veiny look you are going for.
For him, fitness was his life and basically every decision that he made regarding food was very strict and I admire his dedication to the craft that is for sure. He was also in his 50's and looked better than Stallone or Schwarzenegger at that point in their lives so yeah, dude knows what he is doing.
He was really into supplements and spent a lot of money on them. His diet was in my opinion, quite boring, but that is the price you pay to look like that I guess. We would talk about supplements and he would help me with correct form on exercises that were new to me and was basically an all-around good guy. He gave me a ton of insight into supplements that actually work and those that are bullcrap. One of the ones that he would constantly badger was caffeine supplements though, and I think there is a relatively obvious reason why this would be the case.
I can appreciate the very aggressive logo design, that is for sure
The main reason why these supplements are stupid in my mind is because of the fact that this explosive energy that it gives you can have many bad side effects not to mention the fact that each tablet is basically like drinking a cup of strong coffee anyway. I can understand why someone would take whey protein as a supplement since there is no other way to get that sort of direct push to your system as far as protein is concerned. But for me, and for my gigantic veiny friend, paying a premium for something that you can get for basically free is just stupid.
From a scientific point of view caffeine actually can boost performance in weight-lifting and you don't have to take my word for it, look at the very boring National Institute of Health abstract if you are into that sort of intellectual stuff.
The effects were varied though and mostly only applied to large muscle groups such as thighs and chest muscles, while the effects on smaller muscle groups were barely noticeable.
From a normie perspective, the caffeine rush is a purely psychosomatic one, where you feel as though you have more power than you actually do because of the "rush" that you get from taking in a bunch of caffeine all at once.
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When I was younger there was a product called mini-thins that contained ephedrine and this product was seriously dangerous. Friends of mine would take 5 or 10 of these things and then go out drinking and they were just a mess the following day. Ephedrine is banned in most places these days and with good reason: It is easy to abuse them and cause heart failure. Would it keep you awake as it claimed? Yeah, but it was a very unnatural awake feeling. This product was used in workout supplements under many different names until it was banned there as well.
The caffeine rush that you get from taking tablets or powdered pure caffeine does in fact make you feel jacked and for some people this can really provide a boost. Myself and my massive friend are not fans of it though because I feel that it just feels unnatural and made me jittery. I suppose this could help me do another rep or two than I normally would but it also made me feel like i was gonna crap my pants and have a heart attack at the same time.
Even if this sort of thing doesn't happen to you when taking caffeine supplements you can look at this situation easily from an economic point of view: These pills cost $20-$50 a bottle and you can get the same amount of the "juice" from $8 worth of home brewed or instant coffee. Myself and my herculean friend would simply drink a cup of really strong coffee right before going to the gym and rather than spending a couple of bucks for the effect, it cost a couple of cents.
At least in America, most people already drink coffee on a regular basis. Therefore, this completely unnecessary product goes to the top of my list of seriously stupid products that are designed to relieve you of excess money that is in your wallet. I can't understand why anyone would pay a premium for something that is basically free and honestly, your gym probably has free coffee in the lobby anyway (mine did). So power down a cup of strong coffee and then hit the weights. Your wallet (and your respiratory and circulatory systems) will thank you for it later.