Every athlete wants to find a way to improve their performance on the field, court or mat. Performance-enhancing supplements are those that help you push yourself to go the extra mile with ease and to do so with more efficiency, agility, strength, speed, and endurance than your fellow competitors.

While your specific enhancement goals are unique depending on your sport, the following supplement options can help you feel tougher and more energetic during matches.

Any athlete who has to push themselves to work at top speeds or who engages in repetitive motions regularly will want to take bone and joint supplements. These added nutrients are the building blocks from which the bones and joints are made.

They can help support the body during stress, age-related changes, and injury. These are essential for endurance competitors, especially runners, tennis players, basketball players, cyclers, and any participant in sports with a high risk for bone and joint injury. In addition to goal- and body-specific supplements, many athletes can benefit from taking general body function supplements that help support heart health, immune system, digestive system, and mind.

The following supplements can help athletes of all varieties feel their best during practice and competition. As you likely already know, your hormones play a big part in your athletic performance.

Because of this, many people take supplements that help balance or produce hormones, such as progesterone, thyroid, DHEA, cortisol, and others. Learn More About At-Home Hormone Testing.

Choosing the right combination of supplements and the right formulas from a high-quality supplier such as BodyLogicMD may help. Many of the above nutrients can be found in specialized formulas to help you get your recommended daily dose from a couple of pills or powders.

View all posts. What Are the Best Supplements for Athletes? Lifestyle Nutrition Supplements by Karla Socci Somers July 18, by Karla Socci Somers. One Supplement Does Not Fit All As tempting as it may be to add a protein shake to your diet and call it a day, the reality is that there is not a single supplement program for all athletes.

Muscle Recovery and Building Muscle building supplements are a must for athletes who compete in strength-focused contests or want to gain mass — competitive weightlifters, wrestlers, boxers, football players, hockey players, rowers, gymnasts, and beyond.

A high protein intake equips the body with the amino acids it requires to develop and repair muscle mass. Taking a lean protein supplement , such as a protein powder, can help you make gains and can also help your body repair faster after a hard-hitting lifting session.

Creatine — Creatine is a naturally occurring amino acid found in the muscles and brain. Although you will get some creatine through your diet, especially if you eat plenty of seafood and red meat, supplementation can help keep the body at optimal levels to help you gain mass.

Research shows that creatine supplementation positively impacts strength, power, and speed. It may also help increase lean muscle mass and shorten muscle recovery time. BCAA — Branched chain amino acids BCAAs are the three essential amino acids — leucine, valine, and isoleucine — required to build protein.

These amino acids stimulate muscle growth after exercise and allow your body to build muscle. Additionally, BCAAs can help reduce temporary muscle soreness , which will help ensure that you get back to the gym fast. MCT — Medium-chain triglycerides MCT are found in oil and powder supplements that can aid in exercise and diet.

For athletes, MCT is especially valuable because it may reduce lactate buildup and make exercise more efficient. That is because bananas are packed with potassium, which can help boost muscle recovery.

You can also get them through leafy greens, beans, lentils, avocados, squash, broccoli, and of course, supplements. Performance and Energy Enhancement Every athlete wants to find a way to improve their performance on the field, court or mat.

Energy supplements — Any athlete facing a grueling training regimen knows that taking energy supplements can help make staying on track a bit easier. The reality is that no athlete has a full energy reserve at all times, and rigorous practice can drain it quickly.

However, certain vitamins and nutrients can help boost energy levels, so you feel your best as you conquer those tough workouts each day. Adaptogens, vitamin B, iron, magnesium CoQ10 and others can help promote healthy energy levels.

Electrolytes — Electrolytes are the essential minerals that help our bodies operate at their best. Since we lose electrolytes through our sweat when we exercise, electrolyte imbalance is especially common among athletes. Adding electrolyte powder to your water before a workout is a great way to replenish your reserves.

B Vitamins — B vitamins, including vitamin B, vitamin B-6, folate, niacin, and others, play a critical role in the body and can help athletes achieve their best. Bone and Joint Health Any athlete who has to push themselves to work at top speeds or who engages in repetitive motions regularly will want to take bone and joint supplements.

Some athletes use creatine because it is a legal nutritional aid for sports performance. People can get creatine from red meat and seafood, but it is also available as a supplement. Research has shown that supplementing with creatine can increase muscle mass and improve strength when a person combines it with strength training.

Older adults may also be able to use creatine to increase their lean muscle mass and muscle strength. Commercial supplements often combine creatine with other substances. Researchers have found that a creatine supplement that also contained caffeine, taurine, and amino acids helped athletes feel focused and increased the time that it took for them to feel exhausted.

It is important to note that some of the funding for this study came from companies that make supplements and other products. Ashwagandha is an Ayurvedic herb. A study explored the effects of ashwagandha on endurance in healthy athletic men and women.

People who received the root extract of ashwagandha had a significant increase in physical endurance after 8 and 12 weeks of treatment compared with the participants receiving a placebo. Another study tested the effects of ashwagandha on the endurance of elite cyclists. After 8 weeks of treatment, the cyclists taking ashwagandha took longer to feel exhausted doing a treadmill test than the cyclists who received a placebo.

Vitamins and supplements can be a safe way for athletes to try to improve their performance, but more research is necessary to determine the effectiveness of some supplements.

It is crucial to speak to a doctor before starting to take any new vitamins or other supplements. These substances can interact with other medications that a person might be taking.

Taking too much of some supplements, such as iron, can cause adverse side effects. Also, some vitamins may be ineffective unless a person has an existing deficiency. A doctor can test for vitamin deficiencies and advise on how to correct them if necessary. People who feel as though they have low energy despite exercising regularly may wish to consider other aspects of their routine before taking supplements.

Eating a balanced, nutritious diet and getting enough sleep may also boost athletic performance. Athletes following vegetarian and vegan diets may need to take particular care to ensure that they are obtaining enough of the above nutrients through their diet. Although a healthful diet and regular exercise can reduce fatigue, some vitamins and supplements can also boost energy.

Learn which ones may have…. In this edition of Medical Myths, we tackle some persistent myths about supplements, including multivitamins, probiotics, and antioxidants. Vitamin A supplements come in many different forms, but a person should check with their doctor which form and dosage will best suit them.

Read more…. Vitamin B complex supplements may help to prevent vitamin B deficiency. Learn more here. HUM nutrition offers a range of products to support a person's health. Here is our review for My podcast changed me Can 'biological race' explain disparities in health?

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Medical News Today. Health Conditions Health Products Discover Tools Connect. Vitamins and supplements for athletes. Medically reviewed by Miho Hatanaka, RDN, L. B vitamins Iron Calcium and vitamin D Coenzyme Q10 Creatine Ashwagandha Summary.

How we vet brands and products Medical News Today only shows you brands and products that we stand behind. Our team thoroughly researches and evaluates the recommendations we make on our site. To establish that the product manufacturers addressed safety and efficacy standards, we: Evaluate ingredients and composition: Do they have the potential to cause harm?

Fact-check all health claims: Do they align with the current body of scientific evidence? Assess the brand: Does it operate with integrity and adhere to industry best practices? We do the research so you can find trusted products for your health and wellness.

Read more about our vetting process. Was this helpful? B vitamins. Share on Pinterest A number of of vitamins and supplements may provide athletes with an added energy boost.

Calcium and vitamin D. Coenzyme Q

This can lead to major changes or long-term health effects. Unnecessary supplements can be potentially toxic and may reduce your body's ability to absorb other nutrients.

One example comes from a report released by the U. Food and Drug Administration FDA. The report included information that some bodybuilding products posed serious health risks. The FDA found that some products that claimed to help build muscle mass and strength illegally contained steroids or steroid-like substances that can cause series liver injury.

Many of these bodybuilding products were labeled as "dietary supplements" in stores and online. This all came to light after the FDA received hundreds of reports of adverse reactions to some supplements. In cases like this, it can be hard for the FDA to regulate and find the sellers, especially if the products are sold only online.

Retailers and websites will often change their name or relabel their products to evade authorities and scam customers, according to the FDA. The purpose of these beverages is to provide fluid, carbohydrates carbs and electrolytes during long endurance events.

These are times where energy stores are low, and water and electrolytes are lost in sweat. In these cases, sports drinks can support athletic performance and help with recovery.

Sports drinks should not be the main source of fluid in your diet. They add extra calories, which can hinder weight goals. They also have added sodium, which may be unnecessary and can contribute to high blood pressure. If you exercise for less than an hour in a mild environment, water is the only thing you should need.

It's enough to refuel your body during exercise. Learn why it's important for you to drink water and stay hydrated. As long as athletes eat a well-balanced diet and drink plenty of water, that should be all that they need.

A lot of people use products that are not scientifically sound. Some of them aren't even regulated by the FDA. And to top it off, supplements can quickly gobble up your money. Athletes who need more carbs than the normal person are those who participate in long events, such as triathlons or marathons.

But even those athletes simply need more food and liquid in their diets in the form of carbs and electrolytes to replace losses. If you're interested in using any supplement, talk to your health care provider. You should also consider buying from companies that receive third-party testing.

Checking for an NSF certification ensures the product is made with good manufacturing practices. Learn more about the sports nutrition program at UC Davis Health. menu icon Menu. For example, you would have to eat pounds of mushrooms to get the large dose of vitamin D you need, and eating enough fish or another food source high in omega-3s is just not something most athletes can stick to.

Some products provide shots or liquid options, like oils and probiotics, so do what you can to minimize the pills. My most-loved supplement is vitamin D, as I have seen it literally save athletes in the NFL who constantly struggled with muscle pulls and similar. While any training program can protect against injuries to hamstrings and ACLs, not taking vitamin D is like skipping leg day.

The research on contact and non-contact injuries and vitamin D is too strong to ignore, and major studies done by the Giants, Steelers, and NFL Combine are enough for anyone in sport to say vitamin D is a game changer.

I prefer to think about vitamin D as a muscle hormone instead of a bone support supplement. While coaches in most collision sports like rugby and football are worried about fractures, for some reason muscle performance excites athletes far more than bone health.

Athletes with darker pigment levels need to take more vitamin D on average, especially if they live in northern climates and spend most of their time indoors. Trying to get enough sun as an athlete is futile, since the world is now an indoor world and modern competition schedules force athletes to become athletic vampires.

Sleeping during the day because of night games and travel robs the modern professional athlete of leisure time in the sun, and taking a vitamin D supplement is now mandatory for anyone I work with.

Fish oils and other sources of omega-3s seemed to have lost momentum 10 years ago, then the company Brain Armor and the research on concussions really revitalized interest.

Omega-3s were something I felt were important, but the research was very light on evidence. Use of the Omega Index, a blood test to evaluate consumption or compliance of omega-3s, is also growing with nutritionists wanting to ensure athletes are, in fact, taking their supplement.

There are other emerging benefits with omega-3 research, like reaction time and vision, and down the road we will see how much impact there is in sport. The biggest mystery to me in sport is why caffeine seems to be forgotten all the time.

Also, caffeine is not just a great stimulant—like creatine below, it should be considered a brain nutrient. Coffee also creates a dilemma for those wanting a boost when stacking supplements, as the use of a beetroot product is negated when consumed with caffeine.

Therefore, those using beetroot products with caffeine are wasting their money. I prefer vasodilators for relaxation benefits after heavy training as they match parasympathetic activities rather than acting as boosting agents. While most athletes can get enough protein from whole food sources, powders are convenient.

Additionally, a good protein powder, even a pricey option, is still inexpensive compared to fresh meat sources. The portability of protein powders also makes them indispensable for athletes with rough schedules or recreational athletes who are pressed for time.

The only reason I own blenders is to mix proteins, as powder extracts are great for those who need more calories from trying to grow in size and practice long hours.

A modern football player in college may train twice a day, and fueling those workouts can be a challenge. Other protein powders exist, but if you have a shake two to three times a week during peak periods, that should not create food allergies as reported in the early s.

In the late s, creatine was all the rage, and then over time, like most tried-and-true supplements, it was replaced—in this case, by newer options such as tart cherry juice. Creatine is safe, effective, and very inexpensive, on average. Some speed and power athletes feel that water weight is an issue, and I agree.

We use creatine during early training periods and get off it during the late spring and early summer. We have never had a cramping issue with creatine and, in fact, the research is supportive that it may actually reduce cramps.

While HOTSHOT may be a better supplement for cramping it still needs research , I find that fatigue is more of a variable than nutrition with cramping. It will never be a maximal strength product, but it adds a few extra gallons to the gas tank.

Still, doing more work and a higher quality of work will add up at the end of a season, so creatine is one of these staples that any speed and power athletes should consider, especially if they want to add muscle mass. A mucosal test for magnesium exists, but the burden of testing that, as well as the research on magnesium being part of so many functions of the body, means supplementing makes the most sense.

Most athletes think zinc is more important, but to me, magnesium seems to be more important due to the influence it has on hormones and muscle performance. Some forms of magnesium may create a little problem with loose stools, so taking it twice a day in smaller doses is a good step.

Most athletes will see ZMA available and simply take that instead of a pure magnesium option, and if that is more accessible because of NSF accreditation, that is fine. Every female endurance athlete should take an iron supplement at least as an insurance policy, and even if you supplement, variables like gut health and inflammation may be a wild card.

Iron supplements are not exciting, but if you are low on iron, your ability to transport oxygen is impaired. One suggestion I have is to take iron with a banana and vitamin-C-rich drink. I tend to have athletes drink watermelon juice with their iron pills because one serving is enough to help with absorption, and refreshing enough that they want to drink it.

One of the most fascinating lessons I learned using probiotics with athletes is that they are catalysts for other supplements like iron. Many athletes have poor gut health , and when absorption is impaired, it compromises the entire system. One athlete of mine struggled for years to get enough iron in his body, but only after probiotic supplementation did he restore his ferritin.

Athletes who travel should consider a probiotic as the first line of defense—more than vitamin C. The amount of vitamin C you get from a really fresh diet is enough to be healthy, as we now know the body naturally creates antioxidants internally to manage stress, and eating a really well-rounded diet and drinking the right fruit beverages will fill in the gaps.

The only herb on the list is an ancient remedy, called an adaptogen due to its ability to help users cope with stress. I am not a big fan of herbs, since they can get athletes off of a food mindset and into the world of potions and magic elixirs.

Ashwagandha is one of the supplements I caved on because I had a few athletes in pro sport that finished a season strong statistically, but needed a break mentally and physically. We supplemented with a sport product that had small amounts of ashwagandha and literally had to triple the dose to match what the scientific literature used.

The result was that a few weeks later they all were all notably fresher, happier, and sleeping like teenagers. A few months afterwards, every one of them hit records in their offseason training, even though some of their ages were approaching the other side of In the next few years, I expect an NSF adaptogen product that is affordable and has an efficacy supported by research.

Last, but not least, is the most talked-about supplement in the last year, for good reason. Gelatin has promise with joint repair, and most of the sports medicine and sports performance market is rushing to it as a savior for tendon injuries.

Keith Barr, an expert on molecular science, has been promoting gelatin recently and some skepticism exists as to how much it can really do for athletes. I am a little cautious, as tendons are more about total nutrients than gelatin and vitamin C. What is great about gelatin is that you can add juices to it and, while most of the nutrients are lost in the mix, some athletes have found that tart cherry and other health juices make great-tasting desserts.

Again, the supplement is a little early in my opinion, and we need more studies to be really sure it does the trick. This list will likely be the same for next year unless something shows up on one or two of the supplements above that proves that they are not worth including.

Anything you suggest your athletes take, or if you are an athlete and take supplements, make sure they are certified safe. The problem is not that bad with this supplement list, as they are mostly nutrients, and the likelihood that there will be a banned substance found in vitamin D or magnesium is super low.

Most of the issues we see with contamination are athletes not knowing what is on a label, rather than what is not listed on the label causing a problem. The supplement industry is improving, but it still has a long way to go.

In the meantime, several companies are committed to helping athletes and have been doing a great job with their products for years.

More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics.

Carl Valle has coached for twenty years and has expertise in the speed and power events, along with experience in endurance monitoring. He is a freelance consultant for human performance companies interested in innovation and design.

In addition to sport, he is a supporter of environmental protection as well as the arts. I enjoyed reading this excellent and informative article. might I add that in addition to the benefits of omega 3 is that of being anti inflammatory and really soothes those aching muscles.

I really enjoyed reading this article, as I was sitting in Vons Suplement department looking for something to give me strength, special in the morning.

I am so tired all the time like a lazy person. I do have diabetes,and faty liver problem Is there anything out there that you recommend for me. I am 65 and need boost my energy. Thank you for replying. I am sorry about m u grammar, I am Polish.

English is my 3rd language.