Sports supplements

Yes, I'm a former college athlete
Yes, I am currently doing an LCHF diet (cyclical keto)
Yes, I do take supplements, but only the basics (multivitamin, creatine, glutamine, bcaa powder, and fish oil). I spend less than $10usd/month on those and see no reason to spend a dollar more.

Generally speaking: if it works well....it's illegal.

There are legal supplements that do work, but only if you have specific deficiencies in your normal diet.

EDIT- forgot to include that I take a basic fish oil capsule too.

I take Protein shakes, Creatine, Multi Vit and Cod Liver Oil everyday. Just trialling BCAA's at the moment to see if they make a difference.

I feel the Creatine helps me to perform better in the Gym. Just my own experience.

vxrich said:

Thanks for that. Interesting that you take creatine? What sort and do you feel that it improves performance? Also bcaa, that's a new one to me?

Click to expand...

I can't speak to if I'd still take it if I ran triathlons. I run for enjoyment and usually limit myself to no more than 6-7 miles. However, there is plenty of evidence that supports creatives effectiveness during endurance training.

With that said, Creatine will make you retain more water. In the past, when I first start it, I find I gain 1-2 lbs. My understanding is that the weight is the product of increased hydration in my muscles (water retention) which I consider a good thing. I've also found that stopping Creatine will cause me to lose that same 1-2 lbs within the week.

As an endurance athlete, my concerns would be around avoiding cramps. You will need to consume more water when taking Creatine, but I've found it to be a long issue.

As far as the bcaa powder, it's somewhat of a waste of money. My optimum nutrition gold standard whey protein contains 5.5g of bcaa per serving. I use the isolated bcaa powder only to avoid eating too much protein which will pull me out of ketosis.

Long story short, I may run a half marathon next year for the heck of it and I don't plan to discontinue taking anything I mentioned above, but I can't speak to my experience with anything longer in duration.

I take pretty much what @TorqPenderloin takes, and as I mentioned on another post Creatine is the only supp I have ever taken that gave me noticeable results ( but could be from water weight gain ?) but giving it another go as just read of its use with diabetes ( have posted somewhere)

Try this if you are thinking of using it http://www.doescreatineworkblog.com/creatine-dosage/

It does not say in the article but have based my use on Lean Body Mass, ie knock of the fat etc....

My creatine is unflavoured so I mix it with my shake and it tastes lovely. My BCAA is Raspberry and lemonade flavour which I mix with water and have it intra-workout and tastes delicious.

Try mixing all of your supplements with your protein shake, it works well.

vxrich said:

I've bought some creatine, bcaa and glutamine all in power form (much cheaper that way from Zipfit which is just down the road from me) tastes awful! What do you guys mix it with if anything? And is it OK to mix all powders in one go?

Click to expand...

I put all of mine into a small glass, mix it with a bit of water and drink it like a shot.....puts extra hair on my chest, lol.

vxrich said:

Think mine will put more than hairs on my chest! I've not used protein shakes since being on lchf but think it'll be a good addition to my diet now that I've upped my training. Bit concerned about overdoing protein as I'm obviously bolusing for it now but on the other hand don't want to under do it either so as not to recover properly?

Click to expand...

Yep stick mine in a protein shake , on the protein side I tend to use less than they say and add other stuff to my shake(Greek yogurt, peanut butter, third of a banana and even honey on occasion)...

You can also just make a green smoothie etc and add the supps to that.......