Markb_s1

Been going to the gym on and off for a while now, but due to an excess of beer drinking during a messy divorce and lack of exercise my weight went up to about 16.5/17 stone mid last year.
Since then I've lost about 2 stone and 3 waist sizes, which is all good but also seem to be left with smaller arms, shoulders and chest than i feel suits my frame so I'm determined to get back into it properly. (although I'd still like to lose the last remaining bit of pot belly from the beer).

Should I be bothering with supplements or not? I took creatine for a while a couple of years ago and it seemed to help, but I was thinking of protein shakes too. Not sure about the weight gainer stuff as like I said, i don't want to get fatter again. A mate at work who is quite into his fitness and training says because of the lack of carbs from the beer i'd be fine taking weight gainer, although I can expect to put on a little fat which wil lbe easier to lose later because of the increased amount of muscle but another colleague (equally into his training) says i'm crazy taking any supplements at all.

Also... I can get to the gym 4-5 times a week for up to an hour at a time and wondered if anyone had any recommendations as to what exercises would be most effective for what I'm after?
The only real issues I've had is that my knees are crap and weak so no running, and I had chronic tendonitis in my right elbow a while back (when I'd been on the creatine for a while, funnily enough - maybe I was going for it too hard!)

Cheers