Supplements is an area discussed a lot and everyone is always looking for the next best thing to give them the edge whether that’s on the big sportives’ you’re planning next year or smashing it up the hills with your friends.
But what supplements are actually worth taking?
Well we have performance enhancing ones and then health/recovery ones and we’re going to cover the main ones.
Performance
Creatine – A topic of hot debate within cycling but one of the most proven performance supplements available. The easiest way to decide if you need/want to use this is to think about your training! Are you currently doing off-season gym work, peak power training, track cycling or maybe you’re a crit sprinter? All these would benefit from creatine and improve your 10 second power output, recovery between efforts and sessions. But if you’re doing lots of climbing the potential of added water retention may outweigh the benefits. 5g a day to get the effects.
Beta-Alanine – Shown to improve your performance in the 1-4min effort range perfect for hill climb season and those punchier efforts you might be putting out. Takes a while to load the system (4-6) weeks but once in will be there for 10 weeks or so. Can make you feel a bit tingly after taking though. 3-6g a day best divided into 1.5-3g servings with a meal to avoid those tingles
Caffeine – Massively proven to improve endurance performance and reduce perceived effort and pain. But your average cup of joe probably isn’t enough. An amount of at least 3mg/kg/bw is needed to improve performance and takes ~60mins to peak in the blood. 1 espresso shot = ~75mg so you may be needing a bit more than usual. Be aware of any conditions you may have or steadily increase your intake. If you go from no caffeine to 3mg you may know about it.
Health
Omega-3 – An essential fatty acid we can only get from outside sources and is needed for everyday health! Proven to reduce inflammation and potentially aid in recovery. Getting a supplement to help with your daily needs at around 500mg of EPA and DHA a day or having some oily fish like Salmon with pesto crust is ideal for your daily intake.
Vitamin D3 – shown to help with bone density and formation. But also aids in immunity over the winter period or if you get minimal sunlight exposure. A recommendation of 1000iU a day or 25ug has been suggested if your blood test results come back lower than <75 nmol/L
Often overlooked and easily not taken seriously is water or the principal of hydration. Water as you may know plays an absolutely integral role in our ability to function and live but how much can we lose before it’s a problem.
How much is a problem?
A loss of water of 2% our bodyweight will already see us having a detriment in performance, so if you’re 75kg and out for a 4hour weekend ride and lose 1.5kgs of water weight you could see that performance plummet towards the end of that right. Something to look out for longer winter turbos, warm weather training camps and summer
What if I lose more than 2%?
Losing more you in line with high electrolyte loss you may feel weak, lethargic, nauseated, bloated, confused, or developing muscle cramps, a headache, slurred speech, or swollen hands and feet during or after prolonged exercise can be symptoms of dehydration and hyponatremia (severe loss of electrolytes).
How can I work out how much I lose?
To make sure you know how much you’re losing you can do a basic sweat rate test. A turbo works well for this as it’s a controlled environment but it’s best to do it on what you do more of.
Using the two weigh-ins we can work out your sweat rate at that rides given intensity, over that duration and at that climate.
I.e if you weighed in at 75kg before a 1-hour ride and 73kg after but also had 1x 500ml water during then you lose 2.5kgs of water in 1 hour.
This makes staying less then 2% dehydrate easier and know our performance or well-being shouldn’t be affected.
Here’s a 3% solution hydration drink is optimised to prioritise fluid absorption.
Homemade energy drink