Supplements for Strength Training: What I Actually Use

Supplements can be useful, but the clue is in the name.

They supplement your nutrition. They shouldn't be the foundation of it.

Over the years I've tried plenty of different supplements. Some have good evidence behind them. Some might be useful in particular circumstances. Others have incredibly good marketing and not much else.

After around two decades of strength training and more than 15 years of coaching, my approach has become increasingly simple.

Get the fundamentals right first: train consistently, eat reasonably well, consume enough protein, recover properly and get as much good-quality sleep as you realistically can.

Then supplements can fill in some of the gaps.

These are the ones I currently find most useful, what the evidence actually says about them, and what I'd look for when buying them.

1. Protein

Protein isn't really a supplement in the same way that something like creatine is. Protein powder is essentially a convenient food.

If you're strength training, getting enough protein supports the repair and growth of muscle.

For most people who exercise regularly, somewhere around 1.4–2.0g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day is sufficient for building and maintaining muscle, although individual requirements vary.

You don't need protein shakes to achieve that.

Chicken works. Eggs work. Fish works. Dairy works. Beans, lentils, tofu and other plant foods work.

Protein powder is just extremely convenient.

What I use: Huel Black Edition

I generally start my morning with Huel Black Edition.

A slight correction to how I used to describe this: Huel Black isn't actually a protein powder. It's a nutritionally complete powdered meal.

Two scoops provide 400 calories and 40g of plant-based protein, primarily from pea and brown rice protein, alongside carbohydrates, fats, fibre and micronutrients. It's vegan, so there's no lactose to worry about, which suits me as I'm mildly lactose intolerant.

I have no affiliation with Huel. Nobody is paying me to recommend it.

I just find it incredibly convenient.

If I want a conventional milk-based protein powder, I've also used and liked Bulk products. For competitive athletes particularly concerned about contamination with prohibited substances, their Informed Sport range is batch tested under that programme.

But don't get too hung up on the brand.

Your total protein intake matters considerably more than having the world's fanciest protein powder.

2. Creatine Monohydrate

If somebody asked me which sports supplement has the strongest case for a strength trainee, this would be the obvious one.

Creatine monohydrate is one of the best-supported sports supplements we have.

Creatine increases muscle creatine stores, helping with rapid energy availability during repeated bouts of high-intensity work. There is substantial evidence that supplementation can improve high-intensity exercise capacity and support increases in strength and lean mass alongside resistance training.

And there's no compelling reason for most people to buy exotic forms of creatine.

Creatine monohydrate is the form with the evidence behind it. More expensive alternatives haven't been demonstrated to outperform it.

How much?

A simple approach is:

3–5g every day.

You can load creatine at roughly 20g per day, split into several doses, for around 5–7 days and then move to a maintenance dose. That saturates the muscles more quickly.

But you don't have to.

Taking a few grams every day will gradually get you there anyway.

I normally chuck mine into my morning shake.

Which brand?

Again, the important words are creatine monohydrate, not the logo on the packet.

I like a straightforward product without an enormous proprietary blend attached to it.

One particularly well-controlled raw ingredient is Creapure, a German-manufactured creatine monohydrate. For example, Bulk sells Creapure creatine monohydrate as well as standard creatine monohydrate.

But don't misunderstand that recommendation: you do not need Creapure for creatine to work.

Plain creatine monohydrate from a reputable manufacturer is absolutely fine.

3. Caffeine

This one definitely works.

Caffeine can improve alertness and attention, but it also has a substantial body of research behind its effects on exercise.

Benefits have been found across endurance exercise and, to varying degrees, muscular endurance, strength, sprinting and other high-intensity activities.

Research commonly finds performance benefits around 3–6mg/kg of bodyweight, although lower doses can work and individual responses vary considerably. Going substantially higher doesn't necessarily improve performance and increases the likelihood of side effects.

And this is where I'd apply some common sense.

If you weigh 100kg, you don't automatically need to throw 600mg of caffeine down your neck because a paper says 3–6mg/kg.

Use the lowest amount that gives you the effect you want.

What I use

Mostly coffee.

If I want a known amount without buying yet another coffee in Deptford, I'll occasionally use caffeine tablets.

I'm not particularly bothered about the brand. I'd rather have a simple product with a clearly stated dose than a mysterious "pre-workout matrix" containing caffeine plus seventeen other ingredients.

There's also a major downside to caffeine:

sleep.

Caffeine can interfere with sleep, and individual sensitivity varies.

Ruining tonight's sleep to squeeze a tiny bit more performance out of this afternoon's workout isn't necessarily a good trade.

4. Omega-3

I also take an omega-3 supplement.

The important components of marine omega-3 supplements are EPA and DHA.

There's good evidence that EPA and DHA can reduce triglyceride levels. Evidence around prevention of cardiovascular events is more nuanced than some supplement marketing would have you believe, so I wouldn't describe fish oil as a magic "heart health" supplement.

Nor would I sell it to a strength trainee as something that's suddenly going to transform their recovery or muscle growth.

What should you buy?

This is another category where I'd pay more attention to the label and quality control than the brand name.

Look at the amount of EPA + DHA per serving, not merely the amount of "fish oil."

A capsule labelled "1000mg fish oil" does not necessarily contain 1000mg of EPA and DHA.

I also prefer products from reputable manufacturers that provide independent quality testing.

And remember that oily fish is food. If you're regularly eating appropriate amounts of oily fish, your need for supplemental omega-3 may be very different from someone who never eats it.

5. Magnesium

Magnesium is essential for normal physiological function, including muscle and nerve function.

But this is also an area where supplement marketing gets ahead of the evidence.

I previously used ZMA — zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6 — and thought it improved the quality of my sleep.

These days I use magnesium glycinate instead.

But I'd be careful about turning my subjective experience into a scientific claim.

A recent systematic review of randomised trials found that the evidence for oral magnesium as a routine treatment for insomnia is inconsistent and generally low or very low certainty.

So:

Magnesium is an essential nutrient.

That does not mean taking extra magnesium is a proven sleep hack for everybody.

Likewise, I wouldn't now make the old bodybuilding claim that ZMA meaningfully boosts testosterone and therefore increases muscle growth. That's not a good reason to buy it.

Which magnesium?

I use magnesium glycinate, largely because I tolerate it well.

I'd choose a reputable manufacturer that clearly states the amount of elemental magnesium, rather than choosing based on extravagant sleep or testosterone claims.

It's also worth remembering that supplements aren't harmless simply because they're minerals. High supplemental magnesium intake can cause gastrointestinal problems, and very high intake can be dangerous, particularly in people with impaired kidney function.

What About Supplements for Sleep?

A fair amount of my thinking around supplementation these days is actually about recovery and sleep.

I don't always get as many hours as I'd ideally like.

That means I'm particularly conscious of trying to improve the conditions around my sleep.

But there's an important distinction here:

Improving sleep quality doesn't completely compensate for not getting enough sleep.

If you regularly only give yourself six hours in bed, no tablet, powder or sleep gadget magically turns that into eight hours.

So where possible, getting enough sleep remains the priority.

There are also a couple of things I use that aren't supplements at all.

Nasal strips

I use nasal strips at night.

These mechanically open the outside of the nasal passages, and I find breathing through my nose more comfortable when wearing them.

I wouldn't claim they're some incredible performance-enhancing sleep technology.

They're cheap, simple, and I personally like using them.

An anti-snoring mouthpiece

I also use an oral device at night to help with snoring.

Certain mandibular advancement splints have legitimate medical applications: NICE recognises customised or semi-customised devices as an option for some adults with obstructive sleep apnoea, particularly where CPAP isn't tolerated or is declined. NICE also notes that professionally customised devices are preferable to generic ready-made versions.

That doesn't mean every mouthguard sold online treats sleep apnoea.

And that's an important distinction.

If you snore heavily, wake choking or gasping, or somebody notices that your breathing repeatedly stops while you're asleep, don't simply keep buying sleep accessories. Speak to a doctor about being assessed for sleep apnoea.

So What Are the Best Supplement Brands?

This is where I'd resist giving clients a definitive shopping list.

Science generally tells us whether creatine monohydrate works, not whether Brand A's packet is scientifically superior to Brand B's.

What I look for is much simpler:

• Protein: a reputable manufacturer, enough protein per serving and something you digest well. I personally use Huel Black for convenience and have used Bulk for conventional protein.

• Creatine: plain creatine monohydrate. Creapure is a good quality-controlled option, but ordinary reputable creatine monohydrate works too.

• Caffeine: accurately dosed coffee/tablets. There's little need for an expensive pre-workout.

• Omega-3: clearly stated EPA and DHA quantities and good manufacturing/testing standards.

• Magnesium: clearly stated elemental magnesium from a reputable manufacturer; don't buy it because somebody promises enormous testosterone gains.

• Drug-tested athletes: look for products carrying genuine third-party batch-testing certification such as Informed Sport, rather than assuming an entire brand is safe because one of its products is certified. Bulk, for example, currently sells a specific Informed Sport range.

That's a much better way to shop than assuming expensive automatically means effective.

The Bottom Line

Supplements interest me. I use them myself, and there are some with very good evidence behind them.

But they're a surprisingly small part of getting strong.

If you want to improve your strength, fitness and body composition, I'd spend far more time thinking about:

Training consistently.

Getting enough protein and overall nutrition.

Sleeping enough.

Recovering properly.

Doing those things for months and years rather than days and weeks.

Once you've got those foundations in place, supplements can be useful around the edges.

For me, that means keeping things relatively simple: Huel for a convenient high-protein meal, creatine monohydrate, caffeine when I want it, omega-3 and magnesium, alongside some non-supplement approaches to improving my sleep.

Your requirements might be completely different.

And that's exactly the point.

Get the big things right first. Supplement where there's actually something worth supplementing.