Ashwagandha is an adaptogen that increases muscle strength and can improve recovery time after workouts. It also increases your testosterone levels over time. Take at least mg of ashwagandha twice a day for optimal benefits. It helps produce energy and deliver strength to your muscles by decreasing lactate levels.

Also, be sure to check with your doctor before taking a magnesium supplement. Too much magnesium can cause diarrhea. Take up to mg of magnesium a day. You can get it naturally from foods like sunflower seeds, chickpeas, oats, and cashews, or take a supplement. The top three brands for magnesium tablets include Life Extension, Athletic Greens, and BiOptimizers.

Some side effects of drinking coffee before exercising include heart palpitations and shaky hands. You can lower your intake to counterbalance these effects. Consuming to mg of caffeine will greatly improve your endurance, which is equal to drinking two cups of coffee.

Three of the best coffee brands are Black Ink Coffee Company , Lifeboost Coffee, and Bulletproof Coffee. You can find regular coffee at the grocery store at an affordable price, but it is always recommended to shop from a trusted roaster online.

Studies have found that creatine produces adenosine triphosphate ATP , which is a basic form of energy all cells use.

Taking creatine gives you more of an ATP reserve to draw on. The supplement also increases muscle building. The only potential side effect that is currently being researched is whether or not creatine can lead to hair loss.

To get the most out of creatine, take 20g per day for seven days, then take maintenance doses of up to 5g per day for several days. Some of the best brands for creatine include 1st Phorm, Legion Athletics, and Bare Performance Nutrition.

When athletes take vitamin D supplements, they also build stronger muscles. In rare cases, it leads to hypercalcemia, a toxic condition of your body having too much calcium in the blood. You can consume more vitamin D naturally by eating more fish, eggs, and vitamin D milk.

Spending time in the sun also increases your vitamin D levels. Three of the best vitamin D brands are Athletic Greens, mindbodygreen, and Peak Performance.

While there are cheaper alternatives, sticking with a trusted manufacturer is recommended. You can find vitamin D capsules at drugstores and health stores at an affordable price, but purchasing them online with a monthly subscription is best. Tablets specifically geared towards athletes will cost more because they have additional nutrients.

Many people experience iron deficiency, so taking a supplement boosts iron levels and supplies blood and oxygen to the muscles and organs. Athletes use up iron reserves because the body loses it through sweat, menstruation, and excrement. You can get more iron by eating red meat, fish, and citrus fruits.

Iron supplements should cap out at 15mg daily for women and 10mg daily for men. Three of the best iron supplement brands include Life Extension, Nature Made, and Three Arrows Nutra. Glutamine is an amino acid stored in muscles to decrease fatigue, making it a great sports performance supplement.

If you notice any of these symptoms, stop taking the supplement and see your doctor. You can take up to 45g of glutamine per day.

Studies have shown taking this much for up to six weeks caused no long-term harm. Three of the best glutamine brands are Revive MD Supplements, Transparent Labs, and Bare Performance Nutrition. Beta-alanine is an amino acid that increases endurance and decreases fatigue taken right before a workout.

It prevents lactic acid buildup and eliminates muscle burn as you exercise. There are virtually no side effects to beta-alanine. Some people have reported skin tingling, but you can lower your dose to eliminate it. You can naturally consume beta-alanine in foods like poultry, beef, and soybeans.

If you take a supplement, you can ingest 2 to 5g per day. Three top brands of beta-alanine are 1st Phorm, Legion Athletics, and Klean Athlete. The side effects of ginseng are mild, such as headaches, nausea, and insomnia.

It interacts with blood thinners, anti-inflammatories, and other herbal medications, so check with your doctor before taking it. Start with a low dose of ginseng to see how it impacts your workout. You can take up to mg per day. Play around with the dosing to see what feels right for you.

Gelatin is an unlikely supplement, but it helps build strong bones, tendons, and cartilage. So consuming gelatin helps boost your physical health.

Researchers are still studying the effectiveness of this claim, but there are no negative side effects to eating gelatin. You can eat 15g or mix 1. The top brands of gelatin for athletes include Maurten, Further Food, and Vital Proteins. Buying sports-related gelatin is more expensive than a Jello box because it contains additional nutrients.

Beetroot raises nitric oxide levels and improves blood flow and oxygen intake, making it one of the best performance-enhancing supplements. When athletes drink beetroot, they boost their physical performance and increase cardiovascular health.

It can increase your risk for kidney stones, so consult your doctor before ingesting it. You can eat one cup of beets daily or drink one cup of juice. Athletes often take twice as much before their workouts. Arginine is an amino acid that your body converts to nitric oxide.

It improves your blood flow and physical endurance. Athletes taking arginine can increase their power output without feeling exhausted too quickly. Some side effects include diarrhea and bloating. Athletes with asthma can experience breathing problems. Eating red meat, fish, and dairy can naturally increase arginine intake.

The best arginine brands are Life Extension, NOW, and One Protein. Citrulline is an amino acid that increases your blood flow. It improves your athletic performance by sending blood to your muscles, prolonging endurance, and reducing fatigue.

There are no specific side effects of citrulline. You can take up to mg of citrulline three times a day. The best brands of citrulline are Transparent Labs, BRL Sports, and Kaged. Tribulus Terrestris is an herb that improves circulation, benefiting your muscles and heart. It also increases testosterone levels and helps increase your muscle mass.

Side effects of this athletic supplement include insomnia and nausea. It can also interact with other medications, so check with your doctor before ingesting it. You can eat the Tribulus fruit to naturally get the benefits.

Three brands with Tribulus Terrestris supplements for speed are Sculpt Nation, Life Extension, and UMZU. Betaine is a substance extracted from beets that prevent heart failure and rehydrate cells.

It keeps you from getting dehydrated, so you have increased endurance. Side effects are minor, including diarrhea and nausea.

However, it can interact with heart medications, so talk to your doctor. You should take 1. Three top betaine brands are Nutricost, Musashi, and Vitacost. Sport probiotics improve your gut health. Cimetidine Tagamet HB, used to treat duodenal ulcers can slow the removal of caffeine from the body and thus increase the risk of side effects from caffeine consumption.

If you take dietary supplements and medications on a regular basis, tell your health care provider. FDA warns that some products marketed as dietary supplements to improve exercise and athletic performance might contain inappropriate, unlabeled, or unlawful stimulants , steroids, hormone -like ingredients, controlled substances, prescription medications, or unapproved drugs.

Using these tainted products can cause health problems and disqualify athletes from competitions. FDA prohibits certain ingredients that some performance dietary supplements used to contain. These prohibited ingredients include androstenedione, dimethylamylamine DMAA , and ephedra.

Not only are these ingredients unsafe, but there is no scientific evidence showing that they can improve performance. Sellers of some performance supplements ask certain companies to evaluate their products and certify that they are free from many banned ingredients and drugs.

The major companies providing this certification service are NSF through its Certified for Sport® program, Informed-Choice, and the Banned Substances Control Group.

In most cases, only adults should use performance supplements. The American Academy of Pediatrics , for example, states that performance supplements don't improve the abilities of teenage athletes beyond those that come from proper nutrition and training.

This fact sheet by the National Institutes of Health NIH Office of Dietary Supplements ODS provides information that should not take the place of medical advice. We encourage you to talk to your health care providers doctor, registered dietitian, pharmacist, etc.

about your interest in, questions about, or use of dietary supplements and what may be best for your overall health.

Any mention in this publication of a specific product or service, or recommendation from an organization or professional society, does not represent an endorsement by ODS of that product, service, or expert advice.

Updated: March 22, History of changes to this fact sheet. Dietary Supplements for Exercise and Athletic Performance Fact Sheet for Consumers. Consumer Datos en español Health Professional Other Resources. Table of Contents What are dietary supplements for exercise and athletic performance and what do they do?

What are ingredients in supplements for exercise and athletic performance? Ingredients in supplements for exercise and athletic performance How does the U. government regulate dietary supplements for exercise and athletic performance? Can dietary supplements for exercise and athletic performance be harmful?

Choosing a sensible approach to improving exercise and athletic performance Where can I find out more? Antioxidants vitamin C, vitamin E, and coenzyme Q Antioxidants vitamin C, vitamin E, and coenzyme Q10 You breathe in more oxygen when you exercise.

As a result, free radicals form and damage muscle cells. Because antioxidants can reduce free-radical damage to muscle, some people think that taking them in a supplement might reduce muscle inflammation, soreness, and fatigue.

Does it work? The free radicals that form when you exercise seem to help muscle fibers grow and produce more energy.

Antioxidant supplements might actually reduce some of the benefits of exercise, including muscle growth and power output. Also, they have little effect on aerobic fitness and performance in endurance activities like distance running.

Is it safe? Everyone needs adequate amounts of vitamin C and vitamin E for good health. Getting too much of these nutrients can be harmful, but the amounts of vitamin C about 1, milligrams and vitamin E about International Units [IU] typically used in studies of performance supplements are below safe upper limits.

The side effects from coenzyme Q10 can include tiredness, insomnia, headaches, and some gastrointestinal GI discomfort, but these effects tend to be mild. Arginine Arginine is an amino acid in foods that contain protein, like meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, and legumes.

A nutritious diet supplies about 4 to 5 grams a day. Supplement sellers claim that taking larger amounts of arginine in supplements improves performance, partly because the body converts it into nitric oxide, which expands blood vessels and increases blood flow.

Increased blood flow helps deliver oxygen and nutrients to exercising muscle and speeds up the removal of waste products that cause muscle fatigue. Although the research is limited, arginine supplements seem to have little to no effect on strengthening and muscle-building exercises like bodybuilding or aerobic activities like running and cycling.

Studies have used 2 to 20 grams a day of arginine for up to 3 months. Arginine supplements seem safe when users take up to 9 grams a day for several days or weeks. Taking more can cause GI discomfort and can slightly lower blood pressure. Beetroot or beet juice. Beetroot or beet juice Beets and beet juice are among the best food sources of nitrate.

Beet juice might improve athletic performance because the body converts some of this nitrate to nitric oxide, which expands blood vessels. This blood vessel expansion increases blood flow and the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to exercising muscle. The expanded blood vessels also speed up the removal of waste products that cause muscle fatigue.

Beet juice is more likely to improve the performance of recreational exercisers than highly trained athletes. The usual approach in studies is for participants to drink 2 cups of beet juice about 2. Drinking moderate amounts of beet juice is safe, but it can turn your urine pink or red.

Beta-alanine Beta-alanine is an amino acid in foods such as meat, poultry, and fish. People get up to about 1 gram a day of beta-alanine, depending on their diet.

Your body uses beta-alanine to make carnosine in skeletal muscles. When you exercise intensely for several minutes, your muscles produce lactic acid, which reduces muscular force and causes tiredness. Carnosine reduces the buildup of lactic acid. Beta-alanine supplements increase muscle carnosine levels by different amounts, depending on the person.

Some, but not all, studies have shown that beta-alanine produces small performance improvements in swimming and team sports, like hockey and football, that require high-intensity, intermittent effort over short periods.

In most studies, participants took 1. Taking milligrams or more beta-alanine can cause moderate to severe paresthesia, a tingling, prickling, or burning sensation in your face, neck, back of the hands, and upper trunk.

This effect can last 60 to 90 minutes but is not considered serious or harmful. Taking divided doses or a sustained-release form of beta-alanine can reduce or eliminate this paresthesia. Bottom Line Sports-medicine experts disagree on the value of taking beta-alanine supplements to enhance performance in high-intensity, intermittent activities.

The International Society of Sports Nutrition recommends that if you are healthy and want to try beta-alanine supplements, take a daily loading dose of 4 to 6 grams per day in divided doses with meals for at least 2 weeks to see if it helps.

Bottom Line : Sports-medicine experts disagree on the value of taking beta-alanine supplements to enhance performance in high-intensity, intermittent activities. Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate HMB. Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate HMB Your body converts a small amount of leucine, one of the amino acids in foods and protein powders, to HMB.

Your liver then converts the HMB into another compound that experts think helps muscle cells restore their structure and function after exercise. HMB also helps build protein in muscle and reduces muscle-protein breakdown.

The International Society of Sports Nutrition recommends that if you are a healthy adult who wants to try HMB supplements, you should take 3 grams per day in three equal servings of 1 gram for at least 2 weeks to see if it helps. HMB comes in two forms: one with calcium and one without.

A dose of 3 grams of the type with calcium supplies about milligrams of calcium. Betaine Your body makes betaine, and it is also found in foods such as beets, spinach, and whole-grain bread.

You get about to milligrams a day of betaine when you eat a nutritious diet. Only a few, mostly small, studies have evaluated betaine as a performance supplement.

Most of these studies examined the use of betaine supplements to improve strength and power performance in bodybuilders.

The studies found either no performance improvements or only modest ones. Participants in these studies took 2 to 5 grams a day of betaine for up to 15 days. Branched-chain amino acids BCAAs. Branched-chain amino acids BCAAs The amino acids leucine, isoleucine, and valine are known as BCAAs.

Animal foods, like meat, fish, and milk, contain BCAAs. Your muscles can use these three amino acids to provide energy during exercise. Leucine might also help build muscle. A nutritious diet with enough protein can easily provide 10 to 20 grams a day of the BCAAs.

Taking up to another 20 grams a day of BCAAs in supplements seems to be safe. Eating foods containing protein automatically increases your intake of BCAAs. Caffeine Caffeine is a stimulant in beverages like coffee, tea, and energy drinks and in herbs such as guarana and kola nut.

Caffeine is also added to some dietary supplements. Moderate amounts of caffeine might increase your energy levels and reduce fatigue for several hours.

Caffeine might improve endurance, strength, and power in team sports. People have different responses to caffeine. The usual dose of caffeine to aid performance is 2 to 6 milligrams per kilogram of body weight, or about to mg caffeine for a pound person.

By comparison, a cup of coffee has about 85 to milligrams of caffeine. Caffeine intakes of up to to milligrams a day seem safe in adults. Teenagers should limit their caffeine intake to no more than milligrams a day. Taking milligrams or more a day can reduce rather than improve physical performance, disturb sleep, and cause irritability and anxiety.

Taking 10, milligrams or more in a single dose one tablespoon of pure caffeine powder can be fatal. Bottom Line Sports-medicine experts agree that caffeine can help you exercise at the same intensity level for longer and reduce feelings of fatigue.

They suggest taking 2 to 6 milligrams per kilogram of body weight 15 to 60 minutes before you exercise. The National Collegiate Athletic Association and International Olympic Committee limit the amount of caffeine that athletes can take before a competition.

Bottom Line : Sports-medicine experts agree that caffeine can help you exercise at the same intensity level for longer and reduce feelings of fatigue. Citrulline Citrulline is an amino acid that your body produces; it is also present in some foods.

Your kidneys convert most citrulline into another amino acid, arginine. Your body then transforms the arginine into nitric oxide, which expands blood vessels. This expansion increases blood flow and the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to exercising muscles and speeds up the removal of waste products that cause muscle fatigue.

The research on citrulline as a performance supplement is limited. A few studies find that citrulline might help improve, hinder, or have no effect on performance. In these studies, participants took up to 9 grams of citrulline for 1 day or 6 grams per day for up to 16 days. Some users have reported that it can cause stomach discomfort.

Creatine Creatine is a compound that is stored in your muscles and supplies them with energy. Your body produces some creatine about 1 gram a day , and you get some creatine from eating animal-based foods, such as beef and salmon about milligrams in a 4-ounce serving.

However, it is only when you take much larger amounts of creatine from dietary supplements that it might improve certain types of performance. Creatine supplements can increase strength, power, and the ability to contract muscles for maximum effort, but the extent of performance improvements from creatine supplements differs among individuals.

Use of creatine supplements for several weeks or months can help with training. Overall, creatine enhances performance during repeated short bursts of intense, intermittent activity lasting up to about 2.

Creatine seems to have little value for endurance activities, such as distance running, cycling, or swimming. Creatine is safe for healthy adults to take for several weeks or months.

It also seems safe for long-term use over several years. Creatine usually causes some weight gain because it increases water retention. Rare individual reactions to creatine include some muscle stiffness and cramps as well as GI distress. Bottom Line Sports-medicine experts agree that creatine supplements can improve performance in activities that involve intense effort followed by short recovery periods.

It can also be valuable in training for certain athletic competitions. In studies, people often took a loading dose of about 20 grams per day of creatine in four equal portions for 5 to 7 days and then 3 to 5 grams a day.