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Do you guys use supplements?

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Do you guys use supplements?

Old 05-29-12, 10:13 PM
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Do you guys use supplements?

I usually just load up on a meal with lots of carbs, and an energy drink, and during the ride i'll eat a banana, some power beans, and have water that has electrolyte tablets in them.

My friend showed me a bunch of supplements he uses for his gym workouts. He has a big tub of whey protein, and some special stuff he takes after workout to help recovery, and other things for energy.

I'm wondering if I took all those things if it would give me an edge and really boost my rides, and maybe reduce soreness after a challenging ride.

What do you guys use? How much does it help?
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Old 05-29-12, 10:32 PM
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Unless you just rode 100 miles, or did 50 miles in under 2 hours into the wind, I think you're eating way too much in preparation for the ride. But I'm not a doctor, I just play one on the 41.
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Old 05-30-12, 03:50 AM
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1. How far do you typically ride?

2. For rides over 2 hours, I use a supplement called "RealFood". Seems to give me the energy I need to ride long distances.
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Old 05-30-12, 05:21 AM
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yes. But not just because I ride. I use supplements because so much nutrition is missing from our basic food sources today. My basic daily supplememts are 2 teaspoons of cod liver oil, digestive enzimes, a multi vitamin and pro biotics. Sometimes I'll add extra Vit. B, B12, CoQ10, C, glucosamine/condroitant(sp?)
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Old 05-30-12, 05:26 AM
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I use EPNo and some VO2 booster. I'm a vegetarian and a bit concerned about getting enough B12. During rides, I opt for PBJ sandwiches and drink Hammer Nutrition FIZZ electrolyte replacement. After rides: chocolate milk.
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Old 05-30-12, 06:15 AM
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I drink equate (wal-mart brand) weight loss shakes.. cheaper than pints of milk from the gas station, don't need refrigeration, and loaded with vitamins and minerals. They are also quite high in potassium. 12 pack for $8.88
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Old 05-30-12, 06:27 AM
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I use gels on long rides.
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Old 05-30-12, 06:53 AM
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The experts will probably say to just eat a well balanced diet and to not worry about supplements aside from some protein on longer rides. I'm 52 y/o so I dabble with this and that; figure it can't hurt. I'm currently taking:fish oil, lecithin, COQ-10, quercitin, alpha lipoic acid, L-carnitine, acetyl L-carnitine, and magnesium. I have been trying Glutamine as it is supposed to help with recovery but I have not seen a benefit thus far.
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Old 05-30-12, 07:03 AM
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Epo........
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Old 05-30-12, 07:09 AM
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CoQ-10 and Florastor are it for me. A well thought out and planned diet with no junk food, processed foods or fast foods pretty well keeps me on track.
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Old 05-30-12, 07:13 AM
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I eat the souls of those whom I crush with my massive guads as the hamer is droped on them.
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Old 05-30-12, 07:32 AM
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Multivitamin/mineral supplement and Omega 3/6/9. I do use whey protein as an ingredient in some recipes and in shakes and smoothies but don't advocate its use in the excessive quantities touted by some sports nutrition "authorities". The sports supplement industry is 95% hype so be sure to get your information from reliable sources like properly conducted studies from recognized medical institutions and universities, not bodybuilding magazines and supplement store fliers. There is a lot of junk science out there in the name of retail marketing.

Studies have shown that 79.4% of all statistics are fabricated
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Old 05-30-12, 07:34 AM
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Vitamin D3, K2, lecithin. I only use whey protein following gym workouts (weight training). I also take a DMAA supplement (OxyElite Pro) prior to riding or going to the gym
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Old 05-30-12, 07:50 AM
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there is a nutrition forum. however, I see plenty of talk about nutrition elsewhere, especially the racing subforums. I'm not trying to be a punk but merely suggesting that some ideas might be found in outside of the 41.

anyway,
my wife and I started taking a multivitamin daily about 2 years ago. about six months ago we added fish oil. (the burps suck, but I keep taking it.) about 1 month ago, after reading a whole lot of stuff including some good posts by rkwaki and others here on BF, I bought some whey protein and started having shakes in the morning for breakfast and after a ride. unflavored whey is ok in orange juice-- I drink simply orange with calcium-- but chocolate whey in fat free plus milk is preferred. I started out with stuff at the grocery store but now buy from a local supplement giant store. it should be $1-1.50 per serving; more is not worth it.

we also take CoQ10 and a 24-hr allergy daily, rotating every few months between generic zyrtec and allegra.

out of all that stuff, the protein has made the only difference I can really feel. I feel better the day after a hard ride, and I am losing weight. I am not fat, but I'm not ripped either. I'll add more calories into my diet when I've lost enough weight. It would be easy to do through a variety of ways, including higher calorie whey mixes. (I've seen weight gainer protein mixes in the 600-800 cal range. )
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Old 05-30-12, 07:54 AM
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btw you definitely need a shaker cup. supplement giant has a really good one with measuring guides on the side so you know if you're using 6, 8, whatever ounces of milk and it has a very effective coiled wire ball to stir.

I stirred with spoons for 2 weeks before getting a shaker cup. sucked!!
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Old 05-30-12, 01:11 PM
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One daily multi vitamin. I look for the smallest one possible.
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Old 05-30-12, 01:14 PM
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Use whey protein for convenience after hard rides. Beta Alanine is good stuff if you're training hard too. The supplements that work only help support work you're already doing.
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Old 05-30-12, 01:27 PM
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I use supplements - but not necessarily for cycling...

Daily multi-vitamin
Krill Oil & Coconut Oil
Norwegian Kelp (high in Iodine - for hypothyroid)
Glucosamine / Chondroitin / MSM - for Joint Health - I have loose / painful joints.
Niacin (Cholesterol). It may seem weird, but I actually like the niacin flush.
Taurine (Brain / ADD)

I know there's more...I just can't remember. Maybe I need more Taurine.
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Old 05-30-12, 01:37 PM
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Originally Posted by RTDub
I eat the souls of those whom I crush with my massive guads as the hamer is droped on them.
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Old 05-30-12, 01:46 PM
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+1 on eating good, whole foods.

There's growing data that vitamins and other supplements don't help, and can hurt. https://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20...udy-finds?lite

Add in the fact that dietary supplements are essentially not regulated, are subject to impurities (see e.g. L tryptophan deaths), and that the companies selling them have no effective limitation on the crap that they can claim, and there just isn't a good case for taking dietary supplements.
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Old 05-30-12, 01:52 PM
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Old 05-30-12, 01:58 PM
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Originally Posted by RTDub
I eat the souls of those whom I crush with my massive guads as the hamer is droped on them.
That just cracked me up

I eat food. Healthy food.
That means having multiple extremely fresh vegetables a meal ... sometimes up to 10 or even more ... and only eating meat occasionally.

Last edited by AdelaaR; 05-30-12 at 02:02 PM.
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Old 05-30-12, 02:11 PM
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Originally Posted by ArchEtech
Unless you just rode 100 miles, or did 50 miles in under 2 hours into the wind, I think you're eating way too much in preparation for the ride. But I'm not a doctor, I just play one on the 41.

how do you know its too much? all he stated was he eats a bunch of carbs and a energy drink. You have no clue how many grams of carbs he's taken in nor how many calories. If you follow basic macronutriens then you would understand how many calories you should consume a day and also how you should divide your calories between fats, carbs and protein. If he's only putting in 100grams of carbs then he's fine. My daily carb intake ranges between 285 to 400 grams a day depending on if Im riding or just at the gym. You also need to remember that everyones body reacts differently to carbs.
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Old 05-30-12, 02:15 PM
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Originally Posted by whitemax
The experts will probably say to just eat a well balanced diet and to not worry about supplements aside from some protein on longer rides. I'm 52 y/o so I dabble with this and that; figure it can't hurt. I'm currently taking:fish oil, lecithin, COQ-10, quercitin, alpha lipoic acid, L-carnitine, acetyl L-carnitine, and magnesium. I have been trying Glutamine as it is supposed to help with recovery but I have not seen a benefit thus far.

glutamine by itself will not help with recovery. You are taking a ton of stuff that could be taken with one drink. If you truly want to something for recovery take an amino acid supplement like Extend from Scivation or Recon from Muscle Pharm. Otherwise just having a balanced diet will get you most of your BCAA's or take a good protein like Combat powder which has a ton of BCAA's
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Old 05-30-12, 02:18 PM
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Just food and multi-vitamins.
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