Supplement Regimen

I usually drink a cup of tea in the morning. Never drink coffee. Nothing against it…just not a coffee drinker.

Although I think it would probably be better if my CNS were more caffeine ‘resistant’ on race day. I read a lot of stuff suggesting that the ergogenic benefits of caffeine sort of decouple from the CNS effects of caffeine at those higher doses. In other words, you don’t feel like lighting is coming out of your fingers but the performance boost is still there during the time trial/race.

For me, the CNS effects are a bit much. I’m really just plain high during the first 90 minutes of a race. Anyhow, caffeine is the #1 most effective ergogenic/endurance supplement in cycling that’s still available.

I’m having a multi mineral and a multi vitamin in my water while training. But it’s more because it has nearly no calories and sugar but tastes better than plain water.

Well that’s a word that is new to me. I assume it means good.

Interesting which ones do you use? It seems an easy way to remember ro take the medicine if you put it in your drink when training

I buy the cheap ones from my local grocery story. The cost less than 0,40€ for 20 each. Im not a big proponent of supplements but I think these won’t hurt me. And if they can support my healt a bit. Why not?

I buy the cheap ones from my local grocery story. The cost less than 0,40€ for 20 each. Im not a big proponent of supplements but I think these won’t hurt me. And if they can support my healt a bit. Why not?

Because they can really be drugs and testosterone! So I guess in that case, those supplements are highly effective. :wink:

We just happened to talk about it over here…

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I take a look at the Kölner Liste. Im not worried.

Hey Minty_One,

Regarding, Beta-Alanine. What I have read is that taking it during the base phase is too early as the intensity levels aren’t there. Rather, it should be taken post base in the build, Specialty and race season. Additionally, it takes 4 weeks before your body becomes saturated and the BA is affective and that it should be taken daily once started…??? your thoughts

Hi Junio,

I guess it depends on the type of riding you do. Beta-alanine will help in those 60-90 second all out efforts and I like to mix it up in the club rides doing some sprints/breakaways. Mostly to try and blow away my friends. :joy: That’s one scenario where supplementing in the base phase can work for you. If you’re not just doing sweet spot or sub threshold efforts and mix it up with outside rides.

Another is that there’s about one handful of studies that indicate there’s some body composition benefits. Decreased fat mass and lean muscle gain was observed even when accounting for increased activity while on beta alanine. The studies are far from conclusive but there might be something to be gained there. Weight loss and lean muscle gain are some of my objectives in the base phase so if it can help, I’m all for it.

One more thing is that the base phase is a good time to experiment with dosages. Getting up to 6 grams per day might be beneficial, but tolerance to the tingle side effects may be a limiter. I’m looking to do a combination of slow release and non slow release to see how it goes.

You’re right about the buildup. It takes some time, I don’t remember how long exactly, to maximize the muscle carnosine stores. The stategy is to do a loading dose to get you up to your maximum, then bring it back down to a lower maintenance dose. As there appears to be no harm in BA supplementing, you could really take it all year. Personally, I never made it a habit to supplement with BA so it takes effort. In fact, even though I’m in the middle of sweet spot I, I’m not on BA yet simply because I’m lazy. :sweat_smile:

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Thanks! Very informative.

Did you get a blood test yet to see if you’re low on anything and actually need to take supplements?

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Anyone take Collagen? Curious if anyone has experience with it and if it helped.
I suffer from old injuries on my ankles and knees so anything that can reduce the aches is welcome.

Maybe a stupid question but does all that stuff works, is there solid evidence for it? I mean if you have a healthy diet should you need all those suplements like extra vitamins etc…

Can’t speak for the evidence side of things, but I think if you are just an everyday type person then yes, a well balanced and varied diet should provide all you need. Athletes, esp those with heavy-ish training loads can’t necessarily get all those extra requirements from a regular diet. Thus, supplements come into play.

VeloNews ~ Fast Talk Podcast episode 65 - released a few days ago talks on about the supplements that may make you faster. Check it out

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It’s come down to eating dark chocolate (cocoa), drinking caffeine and rubbing AMP Human PR Lotion/Topical Edge (sodium bicarbonate) on my legs for me. Just bought some beta alanine to try for training while attempting higher intensity intervals.

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That was a podcast with some very good insights. In the end 99% of is expensive urine. It all boils down to cacao, rootbeet juice :slight_smile:

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The issue with the iron in multi-vitamins is that you’re likely not actually absorbing a lot of that iron due to the other vitamins in multi-vitamins that block or inhibit iron absorption.

You also want to keep this in mind when you look nutrition labels, especially with fortified foods (eg: cereal). So, great! Your bowl of cereal/multi has a ton of iron, but you likely aren’t absorbing most of it because cereal/multi is also fortified to have high levels of calcium.

Iron absorption is blocked by: zinc, calcium, magnesium, copper, caffeine. Iron can be made more bio-available by consuming it with ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

Blood work from November shows that I’m anemic - and I consider my diet to be pretty great and high in iron. So I take 2 150mg iron supplements a day (on an empty stomach or with a piece of citrus fruit). I also take 2X1,000iu of D as well (along with food that’s higher in fat, as vit D is soluble).

Also, I always check labdoor.com before I buy any supplement, since that whole industry is pretty unregulated.

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Yeah, supplement timing/pairing can be a real PITA.

Has anyone ever done xendurance? Heard loads of people reckon its the dogs bollocks.

My stomach hates caffeine, anyone trained their body to accept it during a race?