My choice of supplements

Dietary supplements are tools that help athletes recover a little faster than they would otherwise recover. They do not belong to doping agents, they have never been and will never be banned… Why? Because they are not harmful, because they do not spoil the reputation of the sport and because they minimally increase the performance of athletes! Then why do athletes consume them – because that minimum at the top level is quite high. For a beginner, 10% means nothing, but for a top athlete, 3% means a lot. Imagine a powerlifter who has a 200kg squat and never exceeds that weight. 3% in that case would be 6kg over his maximum. Of course the matter is not so simple. An additional problem is that some people equate supplements with “chemistry”, that is, they mean steroids, and then they put everything together in one basket, and all top athletes use supplements. I will not talk about doping, now we are talking about how to get the maximum help in the allowed way.

The number one supplement for anyone who moves and for anyone who has been playing sports for a long time is protein. You can take any source you want, from whey, beef, eggs, milk, rice, hemp… The difference is in the speed and degree of absorption. In order to have the fastest effect on muscle recovery, after training it is best to take whey protein – whey – dissolved in water (milk slows down absorption). I prefer protein, although it is possible to take amino acids, BCAAs, glutamine … after training, and absorption would be even faster. It is already a matter of personal choice.

Supplement number two is creatine monohydrate. I take it about 10g a day, without any phases of filling, emptying, etc. Mostly after training along with protein. Its goal is to try to compensate for the fuel used when working with heavier weights, ie phosphocreatine, which is the basic source of energy for shorter efforts. Of course, this fuel can be limited to a limited extent, it will not mean that if you drink 100 g of creatine a day, you will have abnormal amounts of phosphocreatine. There is no magic.

Supplement number three on my recommendation is beta alanine. It increases the amount of carnosine in the muscles and thus removes lactic acid from the body. This will increase endurance and reduce muscle inflammation caused by training. You have to take both beta alanine and creatine for a longer period of time in order to get the appropriate result, because they do not work immediately.

The fourth thing I would recommend, and to me the most important thing to recover is a supplement called GH MAX. The most important substances in it are ornithine and arginine, amino acids that interact as precursors and have a fantastic healing power. From my experience, it is best to drink this supplement before bed, on an empty stomach, so that lactic acid is excreted overnight, although there are probably some other processes that I am not expert to talk about, but what is certain is that I feel much better in the morning. This has been confirmed by others who have used this supplement in this way on my recommendation.

The fifth supplement is recommended in strength sports, and that is TRIBULUS MAXIMUS, or the plant tribulus terrestis. This plant affects the increase in the amount of testosterone in the body, naturally. It does this by sending false signals to the brain that additional testosterone production is needed, so the use of this supplement must be paused after 8 weeks (for about two weeks), because during that period the body realized that the signals were false and further increased production of this hormone will not come. It is recommended to use one tablet daily, every day for 8 weeks, after which there is a break.

The sixth and seventh supplements I use are caffeine and carnitine. Carnitine burns fat, giving energy from fat, and caffeine stimulates the central nervous system so that the concentration in training is maximum, and the athlete is maximally aroused. I drink these supplements before training for about half an hour, but you should be careful with caffeine. It does not belong to the list of doping agents, but over time the body adapts and a larger amount is constantly needed for the same effect. So don’t drink caffeine before every training, just before essential workouts or competitions.

A special supplement for pre-training – NO reactor, I do not recommend, because it does not suit me personally because it usually comes down to too much of everything in insufficient quantities. I almost always felt sick right after consuming and I could never do the training properly.

I am writing all this on the assumption that you are eating a solid and proper diet, that you are eating enough fruits and vegetables to meet all your needs for micronutrients – vitamins and minerals. If this is not the case, then add some complex of vitamins and minerals to the list of supplements.

And remember, you don’t have to drink any of this, or you can drink more than that, your progress will depend much more on your will, desire, motivation. All of these supplements only help in terms of recovery and say some 3-5% on performance. But at my level, it’s an amazing help… Train smart, use supplements, eat healthy and enjoy life!