It's no secret that many if not all bodybuilders, weightlifters, and even athletes have used some form of supplements to enhance their performance. A large majority of these supplements have central nervous stimulants such as caffeine. And while there are clear short term effects from the use of caffeine, studies have shown again and again which point to the unfortunate side effects that stem from using a supplement that has large doses of caffeine.

The short term benefits of using caffeine include some of the following. Caffeine raises your mental awareness as well as promotes higher energy levels. For example if you're doing a quick hour workout, then many fall into the trap of thinking that a quick boost of energy from caffeine will help their muscle gains. While it is true that the focus is increased, the ability to see large gains in muscle are significantly diminished with the use of caffeinated supplements. In fact it is a misnomer calling any supplement a muscle builder when it contains caffeine as this actually restricts the muscle building process.

Another supposed benefit of using caffeine in your weightlifting routine is that is aids in the process of shedding unwanted fat. While this may be true to some extent, there are also many other drawbacks that one must consider when taking the popular ECA stack. The ECA is comprised of ephedrine, caffeine, and aspirin, and for the most part is effective in burning unwanted pounds of fat.

This being said, caffeine also has some pretty noteworthy side effects that make it not quite as effective as previously thought. For example, prolonged use of caffeine can make your body both jittery as well as nervous. It will do this as a result of speeding up your heart rate as a central nervous system stimulant.

Another very noteworthy side effect, and possibly the most negative in effect, is that from a basic standpoint caffeine is naturally a stimulant. This is important to know because stimulant effects are exactly what your body doesn't want when trying build muscle. We know this to be true because of the constriction effect. What happens during the constriction effect is that the blood vessels in the body constrict slightly. This means that the blood flow, exactly what helps muscles grow, is stunted instead of enhanced. With the use of large amounts of caffeine, the heart pumps much less blood to the muscle groups that are being worked out and targeted. These targeted muscle groups need the important blood flow to replenish and provide the important amino acids and protein during your post workout period.

Another important consideration is that if you're bodybuilding, or just trying to put on good lean muscle, caffeine will act a mild appetite suppressant. Because of this it will be harder to eat enough to reach you personal weight gain goals. With caffeine it is almost as if it provides certain benefits, but are far outweighed by the negative effects. For this reason we just suggest using a muscle builder that has no stimulants, especially any or high amounts of caffeine.

For more in formation regarding a muscle builder that doesn't have stimulants or caffeine, visit Top Form Supplements.