Since we’re all a bunch of active tankies over here, I wanted to discuss the usage of supplements.
In Belgium/The Netherlands the majority of the fitfluencers have convinced their young audience that you won’t be able to get ripped if you don’t take their 40 euro pre workout filled with near lethal amounts of caffeine.
Of course, you don’t need to take all these things in order to improve your physical health. I myself, for example, quit using supplements apart from some vitamin B and calcium supplements (mainly because I eat plant based food and you tend to get shortages of these two things faster). I used to take (vegan) protein shakes for a while but they always upset my stomach and I figured I might as well get my nutrients from food alone.
What kind of, if any, supplements do you take? And how does it benefit you?
I like to steal protein powder from Whole Foods. I just aim for 40-50g protein daily because I’m doing my funny lil manual labors every day.
Based
40-50g protein daily
As in, total daily intake? Or just from shakes?
Just from shakes. Actual dinner is usually very carb heavy with some vegetables because we gotta make food for a lot of people. So most of my protein usually comes from some eggs for breakfast and a shake.
Back when I started I tried a few different supplements. Mostly I was driven away by the price. I could afford them, but then if you take your dose every day of the year, and calculate the price per dose, and then look at the yearly cost of taking your supplements… it adds up.
I still have some omega 3 pills and multivitamins with some mild stimulants. I have a supply of them and sometimes take them for a few days when I notice I’m feeling sluggish. Don’t know if they’re still good though lol, especially after going through early summer heatwaves.
Mostly I don’t remember to take them lol. And again you’d have to take them every day without fail, who has time for that. It’s the same reason I don’t try creatine, it might be cheap but paying to have just that small additional boost I’m not sure is worth it.
I still get magnesium when needed to help with migraines.
I tried BCAAs because they were cheap and some time later realised they were pretty much useless compared to complete protein like whey lol
I have whey but I barely drink shakes. I track my macros and I prefer to get my protein from food, especially on a diet, because whey still packs calories. To that end I reduce my intake from 1.6g to 1g during a cut. When I’m aiming for 160g of protein a day shakes are helpful. but in general I’m looking at so much protein that I simply don’t have much space in my diet to eat food that’s not heavy in protein, like cereal or avocados.
Supplements are a rabbit hole. You want to get, say, fiber because you’re not getting enough, then you’ll want vitamins to make sure you have enough, then you’ll want zinc, then you’ll want magnesium… at that point just eat food, it’s easier.
So many of the supplements are really situational. Like BCAAs I have found only really do anything for me when I’m working out while fasted which I prefer to do anyway. I feel like my general drive is way higher in fasted state. If I eat I get all sluggish but in fasted state my muscles take a little longer to “refuel” between sets. The BCAAs seem to help quicken that refueling. So I can have the benefits of the increased drive from the fasted state without sacrificing recovery between sets.
As far as recovery… Eh I haven’t noticed them helping with that. Recovery takes whole proteins. Shakes plus whole foods and stuff.
Electrolytes are another big issue. Probably the most important. I mix up tables salt, potassium citrate, and a little magnesium citrate as well. Usually mix those in with the BCAAs. The citrate is important. The CITRIC ACID CYCLE is important for unlocking and utilizing your stored fat and carbs. Seriously, if you want electrolytes try to get some am that are in the citrate form. Potassium chloride vs potassium citrate etc. We get enough chloride ions from table salt. The mix I have doesn’t have any caffeine or anything like that but when I drink that mix i feel like a god damn communist super soldier. Just be careful with the magnesium citrate… It’s a very fine line between supplement and laxative. Lmao
Zinc, but that’s mainly for sleep. Creatine for the well known benefits. Just leaves you with some extra reps in the tank, I also feel like I get much better pumps with it and generally makes me a bit ‘fuller’.
Other than that Vitamine D in the darker seasons and I usually do have some whey at home when I feel like I could need some extra protein on a day. Don’t really take it regularly tho, quark is my main daily protein ‘supplement’.
Back in the old days I tried all kinds of shit. Old Jack3d even. All kinds of boosters, arginine, bcaas and whatever. Mostly a big as waste of money imo. Coffee/caffeine are good enough if you really need a booster.
Overall imo just eat well, maybe use creatine, because it’s dirt cheap and proven to work. If you struggle meeting protein targets, get a powder. That’s all you should need. Possibly some minerals/vitamines if you can’t get them through diet.
Jack3d
Oh man. I remember when I just started training at the gym and this got banned (?) not long before that. I had all kinds of people wanting to sell me this stuff saying it was banned because it was ‘too good’. Scum.
Haha yeah this stuff was wild at the time. It was funny too, because in my home town the “gym hype” hadn’t really kicked off and I was in a mega casual gym at the time. Like half the people were seniors, didn’t even have a squatrack. And there I was blasting the early Jack3d version laced with literal amphetamines (which is why it got banned) to boost up my DLs lol. Wild they’d sell this to you at the gym. Pretty much selling a speed-derivative to an underages (I assume) gym goer
Good on ya for refusing it though. And honestly I don’t think you missed anything - first time I took a heavy caffeine booster was much more intense to me.
Perks of growing up in an extremely sketchy town. Drugs, steroids, whatever, it’s everywhere there.
I know how amphetamines feel, I can see why you’d be able to boost your performance with it, but never in my life would I dare to take amphetamines before going to the gym lol. My heart is getting scared just thinking about it.
Yeah thinking about it now it does sound insane lol. I was just an ignorant/naive teenager with no experience of stimulants at the time so I just thought “oh well how strong can it be if they sell it over the counter” and rolled with it. Well, legal amphetamine is still amphetamine
You ever tried the sauce then tho? Or did you defend the natty card?
Nope, I’ve always been natty (no, mom, creatin and protein shakes are not steroids). Not judging people who do gear, just not for me.
None recently besides an occasional protein shake. I’ve had bad reactions to preworkout and creatine a few different times before, I’ve learned my lesson and would rather not spend like 30 bucks on something that may make my heart feel worse
While I also eat mainly plant based, I still take creatine, and some b vitamins.
I’ve found that the small boost to ability and recovery let me go harder and increase also increase how many calories I can intake. Which helps me gain and maintain weight.
I don’t worry too much about protein or anything. I do eat a lot of healthy fats and carbs, though it’s not entirely on purpose.
I use creatine as it had the best scientific evidence for actually doing something. Except that it doesn’t do something for everyone, and it doesn’t seem to affect my performance much. I suppose that means I’m actually kind of lucky, it meant I didn’t have a deficit of nutrients when working out at least.
I’m term of steroids, Renaissance periodization is a neolib asshole, but he has done the best science based steroid use ive seen, and his videos don’t have neolib shit in them. Actually he seems like a decent guy for the most part, it’s just that fuxkin ->all<- the jocks seem to be fascist (btw: thanks swoleteriat for exiting! I’m so happy I found a community with 2 big cultural things I have in common.)
I always work out before I break my fast for the day. If i am going for a heavy workout I will drink some BCAA drink with some extra electrolytes. I have noticed a difference in my energy levels. Not initially and not much for a shorter workout but on longer workouts it definitely helps my get in more reps at then end. I also noticed I have a hard time with energy levels of I eat beforehand or if I’m not fasted. Like my body is just way more sluggish. Being fasted plus the BCAAs and electrolytes seems to serve me best.
Post workout I will drink a protein shake or two over the course of several hours while eating my dinner. When I’m doing the intermittent fasting I will usually consume all my protein over the course of 2-4 hours in the evening.
Caffeine is useful. There seems to be some good arguments for creatine, but I don’t remember to use it regularly.
I take a glucosamine/chondroitin supplement for joint health, idk that that’s really necessary for anyone else.
I like whey for extra protein, but that’s hardly necessary.
I helped a buddy get steroids for a bit, and I think it’s probably a bad idea for most people. Steroids don’t make you magically grow muscle, you still have to put in a shitload of work. The risk of ruining your natural production of testosterone/whatever seems pretty bad.
*Agreed that the preworkouts are mostly scams. I try to avoid caffeine for training now mostly, but there’s nothing wrong with black coffee.
glucosamine/chondroitin
Do you feel like this works for you? My gf has some joint issues so I might suggest taking this.
For me, it was much less effective than physical therapy and an IR heating pad.
Recommend collagen peptides, you can get them from myprotein on the cheap. My sibling who does crossfit tells me they definitively notice an improvement in their joint health.
I can’t really tell the difference between when I’m taking it and when I’m not, to be honest!
I think it’s supposed to be helpful, though, and it wouldn’t surprise me if I just can’t feel it.
I take methylcobalamin, fish oil, d3 2000iu, saccharomyces boulardii + MOS, and occasionally ashwagandha for a couple days to help manage stress. Sometimes I’ll put some collagen peptides in my tea if I worked out a lot the day before to help me recover in addition to eating more lentil soup, tofu, canned sardines, and so on.
