As many of you have been dialing in your diets and looking for increased performance, I have been getting more questions about supplements. Supplements are a tricky issue. Firstly, there is no substitute for a good diet comprised of whole, nutritious foods, and a good workout program. Supplements won’t really get you more than an extra 5%, or help address some deficiency issues. Secondly, they seem to affect everyone differently, so there is a good deal of self-experimentation involved.

I will break up the list into three sections: Essential, Could Be Useful, and Worth Looking In To. The essential supplements are ones that I think every athlete could benefit from to see increased performance and vitality. The second category is based more on personal issues: some of them might work great for you, others might not be necessary. The third section is from supplements that I have either not tried or did not work for me, but might for you depending on your individual goals. As with all of these supplements, DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. I’ve attached as much scientific papers to this blog post as possible, so you have plenty of reading to do. I’m not a doctor and I’m not going to tell you what to put in your body. That is up to you.

If there is something you are interested in specifically, and not addressed in this article, feel free to ask Coach Sam about it!

This guy probably takes some supplements.

Essential Supplements

Fish Oil

I did a whole blog post on Fish Oil here. Maintaining a good Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratio is essential, and if you want some scientific evidence click here. Unless your diet is completely comprised of organic produce, grass-fed meats, and an abundance of wild caught fish, this one is a no-brainer. Go get some.

Vitamin D

Science has been coming out on the side of Vitamin D for some time now. Unless you live in the tropics and work outside with your shirt off, you are probably not getting enough Vitamin D. Increased athletic performance? Sounds good. Important for health and immune function? Yeah, probably should go get some. 2000 IU/day is a conservative and safe dosage, but some people use considerably higher doses without any negative implications. I’ve been known to up it to 50,000 IU/day when I feel a cold coming on, and let me tell you, it WORKS.

Could Be Useful

Creatine

Creatine is one of the most widely used supplements for athletic performance in the world. Countless studies have been performed in regards to creatine usage (don’t worry, its safe). Bottom line, it works. Creatine’s main action in the body is to store high-energy phosphate groups in the form of phosphocreatine. During periods of stress, phosphocreatine releases this energy to aid the cell’s functions. This mechanism of action is what causes creatine to increase strength, but can benefit almost every body system, including the brain, bones, muscles, and liver. Most benefits of creatine occur through this energy mechanism. The only negative side-effects I’ve seen in creatine usage is increased water weight and bloating, although this doesn’t seem to be a common occurrence. More information and countless studies can be found here.

ZMA

ZMA is a combination of Zinc, Magnesium, and B Vitamins. Zinc has been shown to raise testosterone levels in men who have a deficiency in it, but it doesn’t increase it above normal levels. A lot of men experience more “morning wood” and things of that variety. But what I really use it for is the incredibly deep sleep that it puts me in. Taken 30 minutes before bed time on an empty stomach, and you are virtually guaranteed great sleep and some CRAZY dreams. This is due in part to the relaxing effect of Magnesium. More information can be found here.

Whey Protein

Whey protein is great if you are not good at eating meat. The best way to get protein is always going to be whole foods, but for someone who is on the go, or otherwise unable to cram pounds of steak into their gullet, whey protein is a viable alternative. Protein intake is ESSENTIAL for the kind of workouts we do in our gym, as they help repair the damage to your muscles and make you stronger! If you aren’t getting at least a gram of protein per pound of body-weight A DAY, consider supplementing with whey protein. More information can be found here.

Caffeine

Yes, Caffeine IS a supplement! The worlds most popular drug, caffeine can be found in your coffee, tea, Monster energy drink, soda, and now in chewing gum. I’m not recommending that everyone go out and get hooked on the good stuff, but caffeine can be a potent performance enhancer taken pre-workout. It works better for those un-adapted to it, and its probably a good idea to cycle off of it every once in a while. But for the 6am CrossFitter who can’t seem to hit that high level of intensity, or for someone looking for that extra push on a One Rep Max day, caffeine is an excellent supplement to look in to! More information can be found here.

Branched Chain Amino Acids

BCAA’s are the good stuff found in protein, but without all the calories. BCAA’s are great for blunting muscle breakdown after hard workouts, and are great to drink before a fasted workout to prevent catabolism. I would recommend them to people who aren’t able to get breakfast in before they workout. More information can be found here.

Multivitamin 

Popping a multi with your first meal is a cheap and easy way to safeguard against any potential vitamin and mineral deficiencies in your diet. Is it needed? Probably not, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Worth Looking Into

Glucosamine/MSM

Glucosamine (usually as glucosamine sulfate) is the most popular joint medication currently available. It is a glucose molecule with a nitrogen group on it, and is able to alleviate joint pain when supplemented.

Results are anecdotally hit and miss, with some people reporting benefits while others not; this is reflected in the literature with both positive and negative results with glucosamine supplementation on joint health and pain. This may be due to bad products or insufficient dosages.

Never really worked for me. I’ve been experimenting with Collagen as well for my separated AC joint, but I’m not expecting any miracles.

Curcumin

I’ve never stuck with it long enough to see any acute results, but the literature is good for it and its pretty inexpensive.

Curcumin is the active compound of the spice Tumeric and has been used in Ayruvedic medicine extensively. It has recently been shown to be a potent:

• Anti-inflammatory
• Anti-carcinogen
• Anti-diabetic

It also possesses the following properties:

• Anti-oxidant
• Anti-viral
• Anti-bacterial
• Anti-fungal properties

Aside from being generally anti-bad, curcumin is also known as a liver health compounds and a neural health compound able to increase cell proliferation in one of the memory centers of the brain and inhibit aggregation of a protein known as b-amyloid and it’s downstream inflammation, which is suspected to be a factor in neurodegeneration.

More information can be found here.

Biotin

My fiance Hannah swears by it for her nail and hair health. Might be worth looking in to if you have brittle nails.

Beta-Alanine

I’ve never personally tried it, but its something I’ve been interested in looking in, with lots of good anecdotal and scientific evidence behind it.

Via buffering lactic acid, beta-alanine has been shown to enhance performance in muscular endurance. Many people note being able to squeeze out an extra rep or two in the gym when training in sets of 8-15 repetitions. Moderate to high intensity cardiovascular events that stress the muscular system highly such as rowing, or sprinting also see performance increases with beta-alanine, although it is less significant.

Beta-alanine is a well-researched compound with good reliability and validity. Many studies note beneficial but minor benefits on exercise performance.

Here’s some science behind it.