I recently attended a presentation on nutrition by an Olympic swimmer, in this he mentioned that supplements were a critical piece in his performance. I don't take anything and I'd not really thought much about this so naturally I thought 'is this something I'm missing out on performance wise?'

Having a quick search on ST reveals surprisingly little on supplements (other than for vegans) so I'm wondering are we all missing a trick here or is it a myth / marketing?

So I wondering what supplements do you take? why do you take them? How do you know which supplements to take? Is there a benefit for someone who is not a vegan and who doesn't have a medical issue or diagnosed deficiency?

I take night time ZMA (melatonin, etc). Hands down its the best thing to help my training. I'm not sure if the ZMA does anything, but I sleep like a baby and am typically fresh even on less sleep. Prior to using it I had issues sleeping, not quite insomnia, but enough that it affected training.

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Soliciting internet opinions is a pretty poor way to evaluate the effectiveness of supplements. Most of what you'll get will either be anecdotes or bro science interpretations.

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First thing is first, diet. If you're not eating a diet loaded with micro-nutrient containing vegetables you've got an issue.

I thought that's why we're all here on a forum...to solicit the opinions of fellow tri-bro-scientists.

Please try to perform on burgers and fries versus steak and broccoli.

And supplements are about pushing you over the top. RDA is just RDA.

Thanks for all the posts, really interesting stuff. My diet is also relatively poor and so I need to focus on this probably before worrying about supplements.

On protein I recently heard an recommendation that a triathlete in training take 1.5g per kg per day when training. For me that is a real challenge.... I’m a fully paid up carnivore but still it takes a lot of focus to do this. On this basis I need 120g per day. Yesterday I was at 45g at 5pm.

Anyone have any thought on this 1.5g per kg per day? I’m reckoning I’ll need 2 protein shakes per day plus my usual diet to achieve this....

Current protein recommendations from the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and ACSM for ultra-endurance athletes range from 1.2 to 1.4 g/kg BM/day (Rodríguez et al., 2009Rodríguez, N. R., Di Marco, N. M., & Langley, S. (2009). American College of Sports Medicine position stand: Nutrition and athletic performance. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 41(3), 709–731. doi:10.1249/MSS.0b013e31890eb86[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], , [Google Scholar]). However, some studies have suggested dietary protein intakes of up to 1.7 g/kg BM/day for elite endurance athletes (Tarnopolsky, 2004Tarnopolsky, M. (2004). Protein requirements for endurance athletes. Nutrition, 20, 662–668. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2004.04.008[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], , [Google Scholar]) due to its ability to provide substrates for the repair and remodelling of muscle and body proteins (Moore, Camera, Areta, & Hawley, 2014Moore, D. R., Camera, D. M., Areta, J. L., & Hawley, J. A. (2014). Beyond muscle hypertrophy: Why dietary protein is important for endurance athletes. Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, 39(9), 987–997. doi:10.1139/apnm-2013-0591[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], , [Google Scholar]). Brouns et al. (1989Brouns, F., Saris, W. H., Stroecken, J., Beckers, E., Thijssen, R., Rehrer, N. J., & ten Hoor, F. (1989). Eating, drinking, and cycling. A controlled Tour de France simulation study, part II. Effect of diet manipulation. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 10(l), 41–48. doi: 10.1055/s-2007-1024953[Crossref], , [Google Scholar]) reported a protein requirement of 1.5–1.8 g/kg BM/day to maintain nitrogen balance in a Tour of France cycling simulation with well-trained cyclists. Cyclists’ daily protein intake during the Tour of Spain was well above current recommendations. Previous reports have indicated that endurance athletes generally consume more protein than thought to be required (Tarnopolsky, 2004Tarnopolsky, M. (2004). Protein requirements for endurance athletes. Nutrition, 20, 662–668. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2004.04.008[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], , [Google Scholar]). This high protein intake has been reported previously in other studies, with cyclists showing similar results to the present study with a protein intake of 3.0 ± 0.3 g/kg BM/day in the Tour of Andalusia (Sánchez-Muñoz et al., 2016Sánchez-Muñoz, C., Zabala, M., & Muros, J. J. (2016). Nutritional intake and anthropometric changes of professional road cyclists during a 4-day competition. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 26, 802–808. doi:10.1111/sms.12513[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], , [Google Scholar]); 2.9 ± 0.3 g/kg BM/day in the Tour of Southland (Rehrer et al., 2010Rehrer, N. J., Hellemans, I. J., Rolleston, A. K., Rush, E., & Miller, B. F. (2010). Energy intake and expenditure during a 6-day cycling stage race. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 20, 609–618. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0838.2009.00974.x[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], , [Google Scholar]); 3.0 ± 0.3 g/kg BM/day in the Tour of Spain (García-Roves et al., 1998García-Roves, P. M., Terrados, N., Fernández, S. F., & Patterson, A. M.(1998). Macronutrients intake of top level cyclists during continuous competition--change in the feeding pattern. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 19(1), 61–67. doi: 10.1055/s-2007-971882[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], , [Google Scholar]); or 2.5 g/kg BM/day in the Tour of France (Saris et al., 1989Saris, W. H., Van Erp-Baart, M. A., Brouns, F., Westerterp, K. R., & ten Hoor, F. (1989). Study on food intake and energy expenditure during extreme sustained exercise: the Tour de France. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 10(1), 26–31. doi: 10.1055/s-2007-1024951[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], , [Google Scholar]).

Cody Beals is smarter than everybody who chimes in here. He’s thought about it more than everybody who chimes in here probably. Maybe he’s changed his mind but I remember looking on his website or year or two ago and his his conclusion is don’t waste your time or money.
Get your eating psycho correct

I consider supplements as tools contributing to both recovery & resiliency and overall health. I'd take these even if I wasn't training:
- Fish oil capsules (for overall health)
- Glocosomine/MSM capsules (for joint health)
- Glutamine (for muscle recovery)
- Chromium (helps regulate blood suger levels)

Generally stay on a very healthy diet (meat free, wheat free) which should provide needed vitamins, minerals and nutrients. Each day typically includes 1/2C blueberries, 1 orange, 1 apple, 1-2 bananas, 1-2C spinach, 1-2C other greens (peas, beans etc), 1/2C carrots, 1/4C hemp seeds, 1/2C seeds & nuts, 4-6 eggs, rye bread, quinoa, brown rice, chicken.

Huh? Meat free with chicken?

No red meat.

Cabernet Sauvignon

Have you considered that maybe there was something wrong with the supplement itself and not with the fish oil? And if not, if now you have salmon and sardines, do you lose your sex drive?

Or maybe the low libido was a sign of overtraining...