Animal paks changed my life. I have so much energy than i ever have in the last 15 years.
I read that article, and it was supported by a grant from Comvita, who make…[[drum roll]]…Propolis!
There is significant promise for articles like this as an effective sales lead with particular promise for Comvita 
Sharp man! But this isn’t the only scientific literature on bee products. There is a ton out there. Propolis, pollen and raw honey itself has been used for thousands of years, that’s nothing new!
(and don’t forget the importance of bees for our environment)
I have my own approach to it. I buy supplements on Amazon, I do not know what is really useful for sure so I change it time after time, I mix supplements randomly, I have to admit I am quite healthy lol, I suppose it helps. But I do without fanaticism, just for one week can take vitamin C or for few weeks some multivitamin supplements
Last time I wanted to lose weight a little so I have been taking TriTrim supplement which helps to suppress sugars, unhealthy cravings and blocks carbs and fat, it made with natural components, at least I tend to believe it, cuz it really had a good effect to my body and weight loss
Advanced Endurance Supplementation
FYI… This is not a formal recommendation to anyone.
It was compiled for my wife.
It is the full list of anything worth spending money on as an endurance athlete, in my opinion. Bicarb left off because of complexity of supplementation.
Cost was not taken into account when compiling the list.
The question I was asking when I performed the comprehensive lit review of virtually all available supplements was “will this make Michelle faster at either triathlon or cycling, in any reliable or ‘probably reliable’ way?” If the answer was “Yes” or at least “quite possibly” it made the list.
I purchased it all through bulksupplements.com via amazon. I would say there is either a very strong placebo effect of the combined power of all that stuff or it works pretty well, in my personal experience. Michelle wholeheartedly agrees and takes them religiously because of her perception of its effectiveness for performance enhancement.
Handy links: (no affiliation)
Beta Alanine, 1kg, Bulk Supplements via Amazon
Beet Root Powder 1kg, Bulk Supplements via Amazon
Citrulline Malate, Bulk Supplements via Amazon
Caffeine from Bulk Supps on Amazon is great. There may be equivalent products for up to about 50% cheaper if you scour amazon. 200mg caffeine per pill and nothing else is what you’re looking for. Nothing fancy. The cheaper the better. This one is cheaper as of last checking.
Creatine from Bulk Supplements on Amazon
Sodium Citrate
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I wonder what Nate’s list looks like?
Mine is pretty extensive:
Iron
Vitamin D
Vitamin C
L-Arginine
Beta-alanine
Magnesium
GABA
Zinc
Boron
Creatin (new, planned for early season)
Caffeine
Carbs by the bucket (maltodextrin) with some MCT oil mixed in for longer rides (trying to stay ahead of the kCal burn)
Omega3 oil
Makes for pretty expensive pee I guess, but I’ve seen an uptick in performance and overall well being for the last half-a-year or so doing this. My main reasoning is: give the body the materials it needs to build stronger, it’ll dispose of the rest.
The remainder of my diet is mainly simple and non-processed stuff, as much as possible.
I suppose I left off the basic vitamin and mineral stuff that my wife takes. Much of which you covered:
Iron, Vit B’s, C, D.
And carbs by the bucket for sure.
Tried beta alanine supplementation but problems with sleeping through emerged (waking up at night/early morning and it became harder falling asleep again) in both phases I tried. So I stopped and got better again. Do you know if this could be a side effect?
BTW…what do you think of adding citric acid if drink becomes too sweet when adding sugar with malto (sodium citrate already added in maxed out)…?
This is a really good list. One question on your beetroot powder dose: as I was researching this topic yesterday I learned that beetroot power is only somewhere around 3% nitrates (most companies don’t provide nitrate content, but there’s one from Koyah that claims 31mg of nitrates per gram of powder). So to achieve the recommended dose of 6-12mg/kg of nitrates your beetroot powder dose would need to be closer to 200-400mg/kg.
That would make my dose (72kg) around 14,500mg of powder (about 4 servings of the Bulk Supplements powder). Seems like it might be hard on the gut to try to achieve the minimum effective dose of nitrates using beetroot powder. This is just what I’ve gathered in a day: please let me know if I’ve got something wrong here.
You are probably right. A colleague of mine pointed that out to me recently. It’s impossible to know without lab testing for each product, but a good guess is that ~5 times the dose I recommended in that sheet might be needed… but I’m totally not comfy recommending that and having someone’s blood pressure drop, they faint, I get sued, you know the drill. lol
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If your gut handles it and it makes your drink more desirable: 100% yes. Do it.
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Seems unlikely, and I have not heard this in literature. It is not a stimulant. Did caffeine intake also increase during phases with beta-alanine supplementation? That would explain it better.
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No, no increased caffeine intake (use it only for hard sessions). Maybe I’ll try a third phase and see what happens.
BTW:
I read that besides Na also K (Potassium), Mg and Ca would be important with Mg:Ca as 1:2 ratio.
It’s in German but you might see the table on page 6 here:
There is cheap base powder with K, Mg and Ca and I’ve used it, was ok…but just Malto and Na was ok either. So do you see any benefit supplementing Mg, Ca and K during sport?
Could/should you drink that afterwards? Could you skip that all together if otherwise eating healthy food? Any other thoughts on phase powder?
No, I don’t see any need to take Mg or Ca during training. K, maybe, but in very small quantities. I personally skip all three altogether even on the longest of rides (6+ hrs). As does my wife, even up to 25-hr ride duration in a single “session.”
Unfortunately, I hesitate to say “don’t take them” because I also don’t have VERY strong evidence against their utility. I just don’t have any evidence for it either.
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Multi-vitamin and Omega 3 fish oils. Just trying to ensure I have my bases covered and stay healthy, not necessarily looking to boost performance.
I was using creatine when I was lifting heavier last year, but not using it at this point.
I think I agree with you. Caffeine is the best energy drink. Only it should be consumed in reasonable quantities to not harm the work of your heart and vascular system. We all know how caffeine can be addictive and can break the heart in large amounts. As for taking supplements, I do not take anything supernatural except for supplements to improve blood circulation. The thing is that I have neuropathy and these supplements help me ideally. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully select supplements, and it is best to do this in consultation with your doctor.
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Review of creatine effect on endurance athletes by renowned scientific expert:
Creatine and its effects on performance (mysportscience.com)
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Athletic Greens.