Most of these should be taken with a meal (obv not the topical stuff):
Hydrolyzed collagen peptide powder (3 tbsp in liquid)
Magnesium (200-400mg), or topical magnesium. For oral supps, take it as glycinate/threonate if you can. Citrate or chelate may be okay. Oxide is trash and should be avoided... Topical magnesium comes in two forms: Magnesium oil (magnesium chloride), and Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate). The oil can be rubbed on the body and washed off after a while. Obviously you'd soak in the Epsom salts and a tub full of water.
Copper (just 2-3g day, no need to megadose it like Jason Hommel). Most copper is sold as chelate and that's fine.
1000mg Vitamin C. Bonus if it's Rosehips based.
Vitamin E (400 IU or 180 mg), or 1/3 dose (1 cap) of Hammer Nutrition's Race Caps Supreme. Most are in a basic tocopherol form and absorbed just fine.
Everything else you need, most people should be able to get from a well-rounded whole food based diet, and spending some quality time outside in the sun (Vitamin D). The above items are most likely deficient even with a good diet, or as a runner you need more than usual. The RDA for a lot of vitamins can be somewhat low, and none of these should be a toxicity/overdose risk.
Obviously, dietary restrictions will probably increase the number of supplements you should take.
I assume the copper recommendation of 2-3g/day is a typo. If you take copper as a supplement, the recommended daily dosage is 2mg/day and not more than 10mg/day. 1g/day and above can lead to organ failure and death.
Lots of recommendations for iron, as well; I would suggest getting the blood tests Sage recommended before doing this if you're male. It is possible to get iron overload if you don't need it.
For my answer; Vitamin D, Magnesium, Zinc. I think pretty much everyone is Vit D deficient, like others already mentioned.
I'm looking into using creatine and getting more into lifting and strength work. I know it works, I know its benefits and safety profile.. has anyone had issues with weight gain on it? Not worried about fat gains or body composition issues, just not interested in adding 10 lbs of weight that'll slow me down in my road races.
I assume the copper recommendation of 2-3g/day is a typo. If you take copper as a supplement, the recommended daily dosage is 2mg/day and not more than 10mg/day. 1g/day and above can lead to organ failure and death.
Lots of recommendations for iron, as well; I would suggest getting the blood tests Sage recommended before doing this if you're male. It is possible to get iron overload if you don't need it.
For my answer; Vitamin D, Magnesium, Zinc. I think pretty much everyone is Vit D deficient, like others already mentioned.
I'm looking into using creatine and getting more into lifting and strength work. I know it works, I know its benefits and safety profile.. has anyone had issues with weight gain on it? Not worried about fat gains or body composition issues, just not interested in adding 10 lbs of weight that'll slow me down in my road races.
I take creatine. I used to take it only for a couple of months before a national championship, but I've studied it more and now I take it all year around for its overall health benefits. The key with creatine is to decide what is your objective for taking it and then figure out a dose that works while avoiding excessive weight gain and severe muscle cramps.
For me, that dose is 3g/day or about 21mg/lb of body weight. I'd guess the weight gain from that dose is around 3 lbs, but I feel better and stronger. I've heard of lifters and runners taking 5g or even 10g per day without cramps, but for me, a daily 5g dose will eventually cause severe leg and hand cramps.
I suggest that you skip the loading phase of 20g/day if your objective is to avoid a lot of weight gain.
Interestingly, even at 3g/day, I'll sometimes get a minor cramp in the ring and little finger of my left hand. When that happens, I skip a few days of creatine.
Oh, one other point, creatine works best if combined with other supplements... HMB, beta alanine, etc. Here's a link where you can search for studies on creatine and creatine plus other supplements.
EDITED TO ADD: I forgot to point out that I'm a 400/800m runner, not a distance runner, so I'm not at as much risk of dehydration as a distance runner. You will need to drink more water than you are drinking today once you start creatine.
I had to look this up. In the US, it is courage and determination. For the Brits, it is a euphemism for non-dairy creamer. In either case, how is that a supplement?
I take creatine. I used to take it only for a couple of months before a national championship, but I've studied it more and now I take it all year around for its overall health benefits. The key with creatine is to decide what is your objective for taking it and then figure out a dose that works while avoiding excessive weight gain and severe muscle cramps.
For me, that dose is 3g/day or about 21mg/lb of body weight. I'd guess the weight gain from that dose is around 3 lbs, but I feel better and stronger. I've heard of lifters and runners taking 5g or even 10g per day without cramps, but for me, a daily 5g dose will eventually cause severe leg and hand cramps.
I suggest that you skip the loading phase of 20g/day if your objective is to avoid a lot of weight gain.
Interestingly, even at 3g/day, I'll sometimes get a minor cramp in the ring and little finger of my left hand. When that happens, I skip a few days of creatine.
Oh, one other point, creatine works best if combined with other supplements... HMB, beta alanine, etc. Here's a link where you can search for studies on creatine and creatine plus other supplements.
EDITED TO ADD: I forgot to point out that I'm a 400/800m runner, not a distance runner, so I'm not at as much risk of dehydration as a distance runner. You will need to drink more water than you are drinking today once you start creatine.
Good call on the synergy with other supplements Fisky. I mix creatine, HMB, beta alanine, and a scoop of protein powder in with my oatmeal every morning.
I take creatine. I used to take it only for a couple of months before a national championship, but I've studied it more and now I take it all year around for its overall health benefits. The key with creatine is to decide what is your objective for taking it and then figure out a dose that works while avoiding excessive weight gain and severe muscle cramps.
For me, that dose is 3g/day or about 21mg/lb of body weight. I'd guess the weight gain from that dose is around 3 lbs, but I feel better and stronger. I've heard of lifters and runners taking 5g or even 10g per day without cramps, but for me, a daily 5g dose will eventually cause severe leg and hand cramps.
I suggest that you skip the loading phase of 20g/day if your objective is to avoid a lot of weight gain.
Interestingly, even at 3g/day, I'll sometimes get a minor cramp in the ring and little finger of my left hand. When that happens, I skip a few days of creatine.
Oh, one other point, creatine works best if combined with other supplements... HMB, beta alanine, etc. Here's a link where you can search for studies on creatine and creatine plus other supplements.
EDITED TO ADD: I forgot to point out that I'm a 400/800m runner, not a distance runner, so I'm not at as much risk of dehydration as a distance runner. You will need to drink more water than you are drinking today once you start creatine.
Thanks for the details… I was familiar with B-Alanine, makes sense, but need to look up HMB. My limited understanding is that creatine causes more water content in the muscle (which I think is part of the weight gain). How much more would you drink? Or is just to thirst? (My distance running is barely a 3-hr marathon… I’m not competitive or running ridiculous times)
If you were only allowed to take 5 supplements as a runner, which ones would you recommend to take? (Obviously the supplements have to be legal). I'm trying to understand what a other runners take to help them train successfully.
My answer, based on IOC: caffeine, creatine (in the form of creatine monohydrate), nitrate, sodium bicarbonate and Beta-alanine.
Nutrition usually makes a small but potentially valuable contribution to successful performance in elite athletes, and dietary supplements can make a minor contribution to this nutrition programme. Nonetheless, supplement use...
if you live in the northern hemisphere where fruit is bad imported unripe qaulity and you don't each eat enough greens to compensate for lack of fruit.
Vitamin D
during winter if you live in the northern hemisphere. If your shadow is shorter than you then you aren't getting UVB rays, no Vitamin D so take a supplement.
B12 injections
We don't get B12, it's destroyed by heat and we don't eat unwashed fruit off trees where the bacteria is on the skin. Everything is washed and water is cleaned with chemicals.
Sublingual pills are fine for general population but if you want the BEST most EFFECTIVE B12 levels that are GAURANTEED than shots for athletes who want go perform their best.
These nutrients are essential for running performance which is all about PEAK blood flow.
The rest of nutrients you can easily get through diet, espeically if you're eating enough calories to allow nutrients to accumulate.
If you were only allowed to take 5 supplements as a runner, which ones would you recommend to take? (Obviously the supplements have to be legal). I'm trying to understand what a other runners take to help them train successfully.
Liquid iron (floradix) :mainly cause if my mileage hits 50 a week and I’m not taking it I start to feel weaker off short recovery.
Xendurance extreme endurance: have no idea if it works but I’d rather put faith in a product that is supposed to help me recover to do efforts faster. If my peers take it why shouldn’t I?
Cherribundi: great to help flush everything out.
Ketone-IQ shots (peach cause the other ones taste bad trying green apple next week): this has mad a massive difference in my long sessions. I usually do before and I don’t crash as hard as I used to on a 12 mile workout.
Magnesium (Thorne or Pillar): helps with sleep/soreness. Probably the number one thing on this list for me when I made a US final.
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