What Supplements Should I Take? (I’ll Tell You All)

Since the beginning of this blog, the readers who have followed me might remember that brainsandgainz.com (formerly milaonsupplements.com) was a website for supplement reviews.

My curiosity towards supplementation started at a very young age, around 15-16 years old, when my fat loss journey began.

I asked my mom if she would buy me a bottle of l-carnitine, a well-known and very safe amino acid that supports weight loss and energy production.

Surprisingly, she said yes. Of course, she consulted with the pharmacist before buying the supplement.

This is how I got hooked on supplements.

My Minimalism Among Bottles of Supplements

Today, things are pretty different for me. I select my dietary supplements very carefully.

I read their labels. I am interested in the origin of their source and what quality certificates they hold.

I usually buy established supplement brands, trying to choose the optimal between quality and price.

If I decide to include a different dietary supplement than my usual supplements stack, it must serve a specific goal.

I need to understand first how a given supplement could help me improve a particular aspect of my life - be it better sleep, better focus, better endurance, faster post-workout recovery, etc.

I no longer take supplements based on articles written by famous columnists on fitness websites.

Although I have significantly reduced the varieties of supplements I take, I am still a big supporter of sports enhancement through quality supplementation.

The difference is that I do it more intelligently at present, with a different attitude and philosophy towards supplementation.

This post will explain the main categories of supplements I take, depending on my goal for a particular period.

So What Supplements Should I Take For?

For everything?

Pal, you know that’s the impossible pill.

And you don’t have to make the same mistakes as I did – taking a handful of supplements just in case.

Following my minimalist fitness philosophy, I’ve reduced my supplementation to only what’s essential and proven to work.

When deciding on what supplements to take, you must consider some essential aspects of your lifestyle.

For example, consider the following:

• Your diet: Are you a vegan, do you eat fish, do you eat milk products, what about fats and essential omegas? Then, do you fall into a group of people at risk of deficiency of particular vitamins, minerals, or essential amino acids
• Activity level: How many times per week do you exercise? Do you sweat a lot? Then what’s your electrolytes consumption per day.
• Exercising: High-volume, heavy lifting? Then do you have problems with your joints.
• Protein consumption: Where does your source of protein come from? Then, what’s its absorption rate?

These are just example questions you have to ask yourself to determine what supplementation you should take.

It ranges from person to person, and there isn’t one fit for all solutions.

Even I, after so many years of experimentations with supplements, have to adjust supplement intake and combinations depending on my current goals.

Okay. I accept that we have agreed on this point.

Nutrition, exercising, and sleep comes first, supplementation second.

Let’s take a look at my supplementation.

1) Supplements I Take Daily

• Vitamin D: 2000 IU Vitamin D appears to be the lower end of what is recommended or otherwise seen to improve median lifespan secondary to reduced mortality. This is most likely related to reducing falls in the elderly but is still a form of "life extension" and one of the only ones in this list shown to be related to improved functionality in the elderly.

• Vitamin E: 200 IU
• Vitamin A: 2000 IU
• Omega-3: 1500 (EPA+DHA)
• Magnesium: 200 mg
• L-OptiZinc: 30 mg

2) Supplements I Take for Power Output

• Creatine: 5 g of creatine is the lowest dose typically recommended for enhancing power output. Higher doses can be used if desired. Creatine is the most well-researched supplement for power output and is highly recommended for this goal.

3) Supplements I Take to Improve Sleep

I will share two of the sleep supplement stacks I use.

These are natural supplements that can help with sleep.

"Help with sleep" refers to decreasing the time required to fall asleep (good for insomniacs) and enhancing sleep quality.

3.1) The first stack is very common, it is suitable for people who take a long time to fall asleep

• Magnesium: 200 mg
• Melatonin: 3 mg

Take this stack 30 minutes before bed.

3.2) Sleep support stack with calming and anti-stress effect

This is the stack I use when I have a lot of work periods when a great deal of stress is accumulated.

• Melatonin: (time-released), 3-5 mg (start with 1-3 mg), 30 minutes before bedtime.
• GABA: 500 mg, 30 minutes before bedtime.
• 5-HTP: 100 - 200 mg, 30 minutes before bedtime.
• L-OptiZinc: 30 mg, 30 minutes before bedtime.
• Glycine: 1-2 g, 30 minutes before bedtime.
• Magnesium: 200 - 400 mg (element total), 30 minutes before bedtime.
• Vitamin C: 500 mg, 30 minutes before bedtime.
• Magnesium: 200 - 400 mg (element total), after a workout.
• Glycine: 1 - 2 g, after a workout.

4) Supplements I Take to Ease Fatigue and Stress Levels

The fatigue and stress supplement stack consists of supplements promising to prevent what is known as brain and physical "burnout."

This term means an excessive workload and low-grade stressors over a long period accumulating in our bodies.

This "burnout" causes an exhausted state comparable to fatigue and stress.

It is widespread for other complications, such as anxiety or depression.

4.1) This supplements stack helps with acute fatigue and stress symptoms

• L-Tyrosine: L-Tyrosine is the precursor to catecholamines (adrenaline, noradrenaline, dopamine), and having a pool of tyrosine in your body can prevent depletion during stress. L-Tyrosine isn't capable of spiking them to higher but rather regulating the normal levels, which is the goal when taking tyrosine. Thus, 2 g of L-Tyrosine tends to be the lowest recommended dose for L-Tyrosine. Many studies used this amino acid in the 10-12 g range, taken in multiple doses throughout the 'stressful' period.
• Pelargonium sidoides: 900 mg daily (in three doses of 300mg) is the dose of the primary root extract that can reduce acute fatigue. Only for the fatigue associated with acute bronchitis (and possibly other viral infections, which are less studied) can this herb significantly reduce the fatigue associated with sickness.

4.1) This supplements stack helps with chronic fatigue and stress symptoms

This is the stack I prefer and like to use for chronic fatigue. Years ago, I suffered from chronic fatigue, and it was an unpleasant experience. This stack helped a lot along the way to recovery.

• Ornithine: The dosage of 2-6 g l-ornithine has shown anti-fatigue effects in cases where there is an excessive ammonia level in the blood. Ammonia is inherently pro-fatigue, and it is known to be spiked in prolonged exercise. It is suspected that long work hours may predispose persons to higher than average circulating ammonia concentrations. L-Ornithine is unlikely to benefit persons who do not have elevated ammonia concentrations.
• Rhodiola Rosea: Rhodiola Rosea is one of the most well-researched adaptogen compounds and appears to be particularly effective against prolonged stress and fatigue. It has been implicated in preventative and rehabilitative uses and has a relatively large body of human evidence to support its effects. The 288-680 mg range is used in human studies and assumes an extract standardized for 3% rosavins and 1% salidroside. The higher dose is recommended for one-time usage, and the lower dose is recommended for daily usage.

5) Supplements I Take to Improve Muscle Recovery

These muscle recovery supplements accelerate the recovery rate after a workout and include supplements that reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and help with self-perceived readiness for a workout.

The supplements mentioned in this stack are not necessarily muscle builders. However, they allow more work to be conducted and thus gain more lean muscle mass over time.

• Citrulline Malate: Citrulline (malate) has been noted to reduce soreness when measured two days after a workout by 40%, despite increasing the amount of work that could be conducted during the testing session. The dose of 8 g citrulline malate appears to enhance recovery rates (both during a workout and the next few days after a workout).
• L-Carnitine: L-Carnitine-L-Tartrate has repeatedly been demonstrated to reduce soreness and biomarkers of muscle damage when taken before a power workout (sprinting or weightlifting). Forms such as GPLC or ALCAR should still be effective, too. Take 2-4 grams per day.
• HMB: 3 g of the HMB (B-Hydroxy-B Methybutyrate) as a free acid, taken 15-30 minutes before a workout, can reduce the amount of muscle damage measured over the next few days and improve perceived readiness to work out again.

6) Supplements I Take When Having Huge Blocks of Mental Work

The supplements in the memory and focus supplement stacks are known to reduce the rate of cognitive aging.

These supplements are well-proven to have memory-enhancing and cognitive-enhancing properties specific to a state of cognitive decline. The stacks under this category are beneficial for improving long-term memory formation.

Take the supplements as described below.

• Blueberries powder: 5 g, 500 – 1,000 mg of anthocyanins (the active compound in blueberries), or eat 60 – 120 g of fresh blueberries a day.
• Add Bacopa Monnieri: (150 mg of bacosides), taken with food, once a day.
• Add a cholinergic supplement: CDP-choline 250 - 500 mg, twice a day, for a total daily dose of 500 – 1,000 mg.

7) Supplements I Take When I Am in a Fat Loss Phase

This fat loss supplements stack is suitable for people who can tolerate stimulants and thermogenic supplements well.

• Take caffeine: 100 - 200 mg until tolerance builds up.
• Add synephrine: two doses of 10 mg each.
• Add white willow extract: two doses of 90 mg of salicin (the active compound) each.

Maintain this supplement protocol for a week, then include the following supplements.

• Add yohimbine: 2.5 mg, twice a day, increasing to 3 mg, twice a day, over the course of a week.
• Add Coleus Forskohlii: one dose of 25 mg.

8) Supplements I Take Pre-Workout

These are the supplements I usually take pre-workout.

This supplement stack is designed to enhance physical performance associated with prolonged muscular performance (e.g., sports, circuit training, martial arts) and supplements that give some strength and power-enhancing properties (e.g., sprints, weight lifting).

These supplements verge on prolonging the time to fatigue.

• Beta-Alanine: 3000 mg daily is one of the lower doses shown to confer beneficial effects to physical exercise. The time range of 60-240 seconds appears to be where beta-alanine routinely outperformed placebo. One meta-analysis concluded that, in the 60-240s range, beta-alanine could contribute to a 1.3+/-1.0% improvement in performance.
• Nitrate: Beet Root dosage: 500 mg. Nitrate appears to be associated with improvements in prolonged anaerobic exercise tests and prolonged exercises such as 5km jogs or bicycle runs. The benefit appears to be due to an increase in nitric oxide.
• Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs): 15 g BCAA before physical exercise in athletes seems to be able to promote physical endurance secondary to reducing fatigue. This occurs in prolonged physical exercise of 30-60 minutes or more. This may be one of the few instances where BCAA supplementation has a place over protein supplements, as the inclusion of tryptophan is thought to be adverse to performance in the same people who benefit from BCAAs.

Should I Take All of the Above Supplements to Thrive?

Nope. No one needs so many supplements to take a day (though I'm not sure about professional athletes).

I also don't take all of the above supplements daily.

Depending on my workout periodization protocol, workload, and stress levels, I choose which supplements to take and when.

My daily stack base includes the supplements I described at the beginning under "supplements I take daily."

Then, I will build up my stack according to my goal at a given time.

General Tips to Follow When Selecting Supplements

Here is my six general tips to follow when choosing supplements. 

• Don't play low. Pay extra for quality and trusted brands.
• Use the most bioavailable form (avoid supplements in the form of oxides and carbonates).
• Start with the lowest recommended dosage (be careful with stimulants and pre-workout supplements).
• Be minimalistic - combine supplements or substitute their usage (for example, if you drink a lot of coffee/energy drinks, don't take additional caffeine).
• Avoid taking supplements together, where absorption conflict may occur (for me, this is caffeine and creatine - I don't take them together).
• Please pay attention to some supplements which dissolve only under particular conditions (for example, Vitamin D needs fats to be absorbed by our bodies).

Final Thoughts on What Supplements You Should Take

You may have noticed that I omitted protein powder from my list of supplements.

I did so because I'm not too fond of drinking protein. 

Most of the protein products taste awful, they are way too sweet for my taste, and most of the time, protein powders make me sick.

I prefer to eat my food. I am not claiming that drinking powdered food is terrible.

It's just how I like to keep my nutrition - clean, simple, with less processed products.