There are lots of vitamins and supplements for fitness that have many different purposes. Some build muscle, some increase stamina, some help your body recover after a workout. In this page, we lay out every vitamin or supplement that you may need when working out. Whether you run, lift, climb, or anything else, we have you covered.
Weightlifting and Resistance Training
- Protein
Why should weightlifters supplement protein?
Protein is the tried and true key to building muscle. If you are trying to gain muscle, you have to supplement protein. In a study published by the National Library of Medicine, researchers found that protein supplementation enhances muscle mass, performance, and boosts aerobic and anaerobic power. Keep in mind that you must take protein for an extended amount of time (weeks to months) combined with exercise to achieve the benefits of it. Taking protein once and then working out won’t assist in muscle growth.
How should you supplement protein?
Protein can be found in lots of different foods and it also comes in the form of powder and tablet. The best way to get a lot of protein in your diet is by taking protein powder and by eating high protein foods such as eggs, fish, chicken, Greek yogurt, and milk. If you are vegan or vegetarian, don’t worry. There are lots of high protein foods that don’t come from animals. Some good vegan/vegetarian protein sources are tofu, seitan, quinoa, rice, and beans.
What are the best protein powder brands?
There are tons of brands that sell protein powder, and some of them just aren’t good. Before you buy protein powder, you need to make sure you’re buying from a reliable seller. Heavy metals such as lead and arsenic have been found in low quality protein powders, and you definitely don’t want that in your body. Our favorite protein powders are Gainful and Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard. We only recommend two brands because these two are the best. Gainful is high quality, vegan, and has a lot of different flavors. Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard isn’t vegan, but it is slightly cheaper and has more flavors. Both of these options are great for people who need more protein in their diet.
2. Creatine
Why should weightlifters supplement creatine?
Creatine is one of the most widely researched supplements, and studies have proven that it increases performance, muscle mass, and strength when weightlifting. Creatine is produced by the body naturally and it is completely safe to supplement in recommended amounts. A study published by the National Library of Medicine found that creatine increases maximum strength when weightlifting by 8% and endurance strength by 14% when supplemented for several weeks. The same study found that creatine increases ATP regeneration, which leads to faster recovery and more endurance during workouts.
How should you supplement creatine?
Creatine is found in some foods, such as meat and fish, but the best way to get creatine is through creatine monohydrate in powder or pill form. Creatine is colorless, tasteless, and odorless, but it can leave a bitter taste in some drinks when it is not fully dissolved, so it is recommended that you drink it with hot water, tea, or coffee to dissolve it. If it dissolves in the drink it will not leave a bitter taste, so don’t worry, it won’t ruin your morning coffee or tea.
What are the best creatine powder brands?
The two best types of creatine are both from Optimum Nutrition. The first is their Micronized Creatine Powder that contains 5g of creatine per serving, which is the daily recommended amount. This is vegan and it is not very expensive. The second is their Micronized Creatine Capsules, for people who don’t like powders. Each capsule contains 2.5g of creatine, so you should take 2 per day, and they are not vegan because the coating of the capsule contains gelatin. These are also fairly inexpensive and both are high quality.
Running and Endurance Exercise
1. Beta-Alanine
Why should runners and endurance athletes supplement Beta-Alanine?
Beta-Alanine is great for endurance athletes such as runners, swimmers, and bikers. It can help slightly with weightlifting and other exercises that aren’t focused on stamina, but it should mainly be used by athletes focused on endurance. A study published by the National Library of Medicine found that Beta-Alanine increases time to exhaustion and end-point exercise performance (burst of energy near the end of the exercise), and neuromuscular fatigue (the amount of exercise before becoming fatigued), during intense exercise. Essentially, Beta-Alanine gives you more stamina.
How should you supplement Beta-Alanine?
Beta-Alanine is an amino acid that is produced naturally by the liver and is also found in foods such as red meat and poultry. We recommend taking Beta-Alanine in powder form, because it is difficult to get a lot of it just from food. It is recommended that you take 6g of Beta-Alanine powder through 3-4 daily doses for a four week loading phase to get maximum effects, and then 1-2 servings daily for up to 12 weeks. Beta-Alanine can sometimes be difficult to dissolve, so it may be helpful to put it in a hot drink such as coffee in the morning. It can also be mixed in with a protein shake or pre-workout.
What are the best brands for Beta-Alanine?
Like most supplements, there are a lot of brands that sell Beta-Alanine. We recommend Beta-Alanine Powder from Optimum Nutrition and MyVegan Beta-Alanine Powder. We were not able to verify whether the Optimum Nutrition Beta-Alanine Powder is vegan, so, to be safe, we included a vegan recommendation. Beta-Alanine is sometimes sourced from animals because it is naturally found in meat, so if you are vegan you need to make sure the powder you’re buying is vegan. These powders are flavorless so they will not mess up the flavor of your drink.
2. Vitamin B12
Why should runners and endurance athletes supplement Vitamin B12?
Vitamin B12 is something that everyone needs to take, but especially runners and endurance athletes. B12 helps in the body to keep blood cells healthy, increase oxygen flow in blood, and prevent anemia. These are all very important for endurance athletes, because they need a lot of oxygen to keep exercising for a long period of time without getting too fatigued. A study by a group of Sports Medicine researchers in Poland found that people with low concentrations of vitamin B12 had significantly less hemoglobin in their body, the molecule in blood that carries oxygen from the lungs to other parts of the body. This will severely affect endurance athletes who rely on high lung capacity and good oxygen flow to their muscles, so endurance athletes have to make sure that they have high levels of vitamin B12 in their bodies.
How should you supplement Vitamin B12?
Vitamin B12, like most vitamins, is found in a lot of foods. Unfortunately for vegans and vegetarians, almost all of these foods are either meat or dairy. For meat eaters, you can drink milk, eat fish, meat, or eggs, or eat yogurt and you can get near your daily value. However, endurance athlete meat eaters should still take a supplement daily just in case they don’t eat B12-rich foods that day. For vegetarians and vegans, you can eat fortified breakfast cereals, soy milk, and meat substitutes, but it is especially recommended that you take a supplement, because you may not be able to get your daily value on most days. We recommend Vitamin B12 tablets, gummies, tinctures, or sprays taken once daily.
What are the best brands for Vitamin B12?
We recommend The Vitamin Shoppe B12 Gummies and the LiveWell Vegan B12 Tincture. The Vitamin Shoppe gummies are not only packed with high quality B12, the gummies are raspberry flavored and taste very good. You take 2 gummies per day and you are done. It is very easy and quick and provides a lot of B12 for such a small package. the LiveWell tincture contains more B12 than the gummies, and it is vegan. It has a citrus flavor and contains 2 months worth of Vitamin B12, though it can be more than 2 months if you take a smaller drop than is recommended, which would still easily supply your daily value.
Any Kind of Exercise
1. Caffeine
Why should you supplement caffeine?
Though you may think of caffeine as something to wake you up in the morning, and not as a workout supplement, caffeine can be very beneficial for performance in just about every category of exercise. A study published by the ACSM Health and Fitness Journal found that caffeine increases time to exhaustion in swimming, running, and cycling, increases running speed and maximum power output, and increased maximum strength and number of reps in weightlifting and resistance training. Caffeine increases performance in every type of exercise and anyone who wants to be at peak performance should use it. The only downside of caffeine is that it can be dehydrating, but if you drink a lot of water during exercise you will be completely fine.
How should you supplement caffeine?
Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant that works by hogging the receptors that adenosine, a chemical that makes you tired, would usually bind to. Caffeine essentially prevents you from getting tired. Caffeine is found in lots of different foods, coffee, tea, energy drinks, and it is also in powder and tablet form. There are a lot of good ways to supplement caffeine. You can drink coffee or tea in the morning, or take supplements or drink energy drinks before a workout. We recommend taking between 3 and 8 mg/kg of bodyweight roughly one hour before working out to get the biggest benefit from the caffeine. Whether you drink coffee, tea, energy drinks, or get it through supplements is up to you.
What are the best brands of caffeine supplements?
We recommend Optimum Nutrition ESSENTIAL AMIN.O. ENERGY ADVANCED and ProLab Caffeine. We were not able to verify whether either of these are vegan, though they likely are, but if you need to be certain your caffeine is coming from a vegan source then you can drink coffee or tea which are both vegan. Optimum Nutrition ESSENTIAL AMIN.O. ENERGY ADVANCED contains amino acids and it also has three flavors which are Cherry Berry, Beach Blast, and Strawberry Mango. We recommend taking 1-3 servings of this before working out. If you want unflavored, pure caffeine, take ProLab Caffeine and take 1-2 tablets per day before working out.
Organic Health Wave 