It's actually a lot easier then most people think to gain muscle and lose fat without losing your money. As long as you understand the basics of building muscle and you ignore all the marketing hype about the latest and greatest supplement or workout equipment, then you can expect to add working out to your lifestyle without subtracting much from your bank account.

If you believed before that getting in shape through weight training has to be expensive, think again. Remember, some of the greatest bodybuilders, weight lifters, and just athletes overall built the majority of themselves with just a proper diet, enough rest, and a heck of a lot of discipline, hard work, and repetition on basic exercises. Notice that none of these has any big cost associated with it.

The only reason people get carried away and spend money like crazy just to build muscle or get into shape is because of either ignorance or they believe that there is some magic supplement or combination of supplements that will build their muscle for them. This is obviously ridiculous, building muscle and getting into shape should be a very low monthly expense for most people.

Here are the bare essentials that will assist you in building your body to whatever you want it to be, and the majority of them are affordable for most people: access to a full gym, proper nutrition, a proven and specific workout program designed for what you want, and some simple workout attire. With just these alone, you can build a mass of muscle and get into the best shape of your life.

Now, some of you may be thinking, "what about the supplements, and doesn't EVERY weight trainer need at least some kind of protein powder?" Through the years I have realized that the media has done a fantastic job into getting into peoples mind that you need to be taking a whole bunch of supplements or you won't build any muscle, or at least it will be a LOT harder. This is just a bunch of baloney. I have nothing against supplementing in general, but people have been taught to believe that supplements are some kind of magic pill.

I have seen many, many different athletes that have gotten into the best shape of their lives whom have taken a very limited amount of supplements, some of them none at all. This is because they understand a simple yet forgotten truth, namely, that supplements are meant to SUPPLEMENT your regular nutritional intake. This means that your nutrition, your workout, program, and the quality of your effort are the MAIN elements to building muscle and getting into shape. They are responsible for 95% of your results.

Supplements, again, are meant to supplement these other main ingredients. By no means do I mean to insult the readers intelligence for my simplicity, but believe me, I have seen far to many people misguided into putting the value of supplements over the workout and nutrition.

So, going back to saving money, you only need to purchase supplements if you aren't getting enough nutrition in your regular diet. For instance, if your goal is to gain weight and build muscle, then the suggested amount of protein you should consume daily is about 1 gram per pound of bodyweight. So if you are eating enough protein in your regular meals every day, there's no need to buy a protein supplement!

However, there are a few worthy supplements out there that can help you with your progress, but a little too many to name here. Creatine for example has proven itself to be a great supplement for those interested in gaining strength and bulking up. My parting suggestion before purchasing any supplement however, is to read up on it further, instead of falling for some 30 second add on TV or in a magazine. Again, the purpose of this article was to help you save your money, and purchasing any unnecessary supplement is defeating that purpose.