what supps you take, bruh?

[PatrickDB]

I've found a good sleep mask makes a bigger difference than melatonin. It's very hard to truly black out a room.

Any particular brand you like? I've used one of the ones they give out on airplanes and it was super annoying. But it was probably not a good sleep mask.

I bought one from some random seller on Amazon. The mask itself is fabric so it's soft and contours to your eye sockets (and doesn't let any light in).

[BenM]

Thanks for the reminder Patrick, I've been meaning to experiment with a mask too. We have a couple (which we take travelling) but I've never actually used one.

We have a soft light on in our 3 year old's bedroom and a nightlight in the hallway so our bedroom is never completely dark....

[Mahendra]

Whey Protein - very helpful & convenient.

Fish Oil - I take it about 4-5 days a week (really, I should take it every day)

Discontinued supplements:

- Beta Alanine - not sure if it makes a difference
- BCAA's - what a fucking waste of money
- Creatine - I know it's heavily researched and widely recommended, but I have no idea if it does anything for me. I stopped taking it for about ~6 weeks now and haven't noticed anything.

[Murelli]

Whey Protein - very helpful & convenient.

Fish Oil - I take it about 4-5 days a week (really, I should take it every day)

Discontinued supplements:

- Beta Alanine - not sure if it makes a difference
- BCAA's - what a fucking waste of money
- Creatine - I know it's heavily researched and widely recommended, but I have no idea if it does anything for me. I stopped taking it for about ~6 weeks now and haven't noticed anything.

+1 on Fish Oil, have to buy since I ran out of it. Beta Alanine helped greatly reduce my rest between sets when I was running The Bridge, not sure if it will work well on HPS.

I also take whey (it's food) and creatine. I believe I'm a high responder to creatine, from the first time I used it. Haven't been off of it for 4 weeks for such a long time that I don't really remember any differences now.

Haven't noticed a drop in performance after I quit taking BCAA pre-workout, so I guess it's a waste of $.

[rjharris]

Whey -- self-explanatory
Creatine -- I think this actually works, but I'm not totally sure
Vitamin D -- started this because I felt pretty run down in the afternoon all the time. Since taking it (anywhere between 2-4k IU), I've felt much better.

That's it at the moment. I used to take BCAA for some reason. Not sure if I'll try it again or not.

[Murelli]

@Mahendra @Murelli How and when do/did you guys take beta alanine? Anything to watch out for, such as meal or other supp timing?

For me it was like creatine with a caveat. I took whenever is more convenient but I split the dose in two (I believe I was taking 1.5g in the morning and 1.5g at night). You get less absorption if you take more than 2g in each serving, or something like that.

[Mahendra]

@Mahendra @Murelli How and when do/did you guys take beta alanine? Anything to watch out for, such as meal or other supp timing?

I took ~2g pre and post workout. I don't think there's anything to watch out for other than a tingly feeling you get throughout your body.

My old pre-workout supps were:

5g creatine
2g beta alanine
16oz of coffee

Now it's just coffee

[quark]

Creatine: could help, no downside for me, cheap

Whey protein, with overnight oats and otherwise

Multivitamin

Preworkout: BCAAs (will likely stop when i run out), instant coffee and a banana

[simonrest]

first off, whey isn't a supplement, it's a food. fight me

I take creatine, beta alanine, HMB, BCAAs and Betaine pre and post training, and a caffeine pill pre training on top of my already heroin intake of coffees. I tried stopping all this and my lifts fell apart in short order so I started again.

Stopped ZMA/Melatonin, found them patchy at best for sleep aid. I sleep fine as long as I'm not disturbed by external sources and no pill seems to help with those anyway

[BenM]

Thanks for the reminder Patrick, I've been meaning to experiment with a mask too. We have a couple (which we take travelling) but I've never actually used one.

We have a soft light on in our 3 year old's bedroom and a nightlight in the hallway so our bedroom is never completely dark....

Used it last night. Was lights out before 10:30, still had to get up to pee at 12am, 2am and 5am (FFS) but felt more groggy when I got up, as if I was in a deeper sleep, the Fitbit doesn't really reflect that (but I didn't expect it to). Gonna continue to use it and see. Like creatine, can't really see a downside, as it was comfortable enough that it didn't annoy me.

[ch]

Melatonin seems to help me stay asleep more than it helps me fall asleep. The bad thing is it gives me a hangover that makes it tough to get out of bed.

[PatrickDB]

Melatonin seems to help me stay asleep more than it helps me fall asleep. The bad thing is it gives me a hangover that makes it tough to get out of bed.

How much are you taking? (Pending followup remark: it's probably too much.)

[ch]

How much are you taking? (Pending followup remark: it's probably too much.)

3mg. Whatever I got at Costco. (It doesn't affect my wife the same way.)

[PatrickDB]

How much are you taking? (Pending followup remark: it's probably too much.)

3mg. Whatever I got at Costco. (It doesn't affect my wife the same way.)

You might consider lowering the dose to as little as 1/10th of this. See the "tempus fugit" section here:
https://www.gwern.net/Melatonin

[ch]

You might consider lowering the dose to as little as 1/10th of this. See the "tempus fugit" section here:
https://www.gwern.net/Melatonin

Thanks. That's really informative. I'll try halving the pills I have for now.

[Shane]

Creatine - works a charm. Will never not use. Barring convincing cancer links or equivalent.
Citrulline Maleate - jury is out, apart from the turbo-chubby effect.
Whey
Caffeine

[cole]

micronized creatine monohydrate - 5g daily (ON brand)
whey protein isolate (MyProtein unflavored) - about 75g a day.
caffeine

[CeeKa]

- Creatine - I know it's heavily researched and widely recommended, but I have no idea if it does anything for me. I stopped taking it for about

Interesting. I've been taking creatine for many years now and I'm not that sure if I respond to it at all. But I don't want to pause it for testing purposes now, since I don't want to lose all of my gainz.

Also I can't eat whey protein on a regular basis. After thorough (4-6 weeks on/off, repeatedly) testing it seems that either cow milk proteins or IGF-1 causes strongly irritated skin mainly on my face/head, resulting in dandruff and pimples depending on the amount absorbed.
I try to avoid cow milk products in general when I cook myself. I don't mind small doses when I'm out.
For supplementation I resort to a vegan blend protein. Animal products/alternatives like egg white powder and beef protein are disgusting. The chocolate flavored vegan blend from MyProtein is okay.

[SeanHerbison]

It's very hard to truly black out a room.

Rolladen >> blinds. Though at my house back in Florida I managed it pretty well with a heavy black blanket over a black-out curtain over blinds. When my parents visited my Dad slept until 10, thinking it was still 6.

[Murelli]

- Creatine - I know it's heavily researched and widely recommended, but I have no idea if it does anything for me. I stopped taking it for about

Interesting. I've been taking creatine for many years now and I'm not that sure if I respond to it at all. But I don't want to pause it for testing purposes now, since I don't want to lose all of my gainz.

Also I can't eat whey protein on a regular basis. After thorough (4-6 weeks on/off, repeatedly) testing it seems that either cow milk proteins or IGF-1 causes strongly irritated skin mainly on my face/head, resulting in dandruff and pimples depending on the amount absorbed.
I try to avoid cow milk products in general when I cook myself. I don't mind small doses when I'm out.
For supplementation I resort to a vegan blend protein. Animal products/alternatives like egg white powder and beef protein are disgusting. The chocolate flavored vegan blend from MyProtein is okay.

I don't know how it is in your country, but are you consulting with an allergist/immunologist? Have you been through a desensitization therapy?

I'm assuming you already tried hydrolyzed whey.