7 Best Supplements for Hybrid Athletes
As a hybrid athlete, your nutritional needs are unique.
From a supplementation standpoint, the combination of products most beneficial to you are different from a sole strength athlete, sole endurance athlete, or general population individual.
As such, the goal of this article is to lay out what specific supplements hybrid athletes should consider adding to their routine.
We will also go over when to take them, how much to take, etc.
Understand, though, that this list is not comprehensive.
I made a point to list the ones I’d argue are the biggest bang for your buck, but under certain circumstances some might become more or less useful.
This list also isn’t in any particular order, as which one will be most helpful will vary person to person.
If you want to directly ask me any questions on the subject, feel free to shoot me an email at info@fitnesssimplified.org or drop a comment below.
Scientific references for all information provided can be found at the bottom of this article.
Related: Nutrition Considerations for Hybrid Athletes
Table of contents
Beta-Alanine
Beta-alanine is one of the most popular pre-workout ingredients. The problem is that it has no business inside of a pre-workout.
Why is this? Well, it has no acute effect. For instance, if you take caffeine, you’ll feel the effects 30-60 minutes later. This isn’t the case with beta-alanine.
So, what does it do?
As you perform high intensity activity, acid builds up in the muscle.
This build up of acid can inhibit further energy production and further muscle contraction.
If you’ve ever run an 800-m dash (~0.5 miles) as fast as you can, this build up of acid is primarily what caused you to stop (and caused the pain you felt).
Beta alanine supplementation buffers this build up of acid.
The result of this is an improvement in activities lasting 1-4 minutes. With running as an example, you’ll be able to run a little farther within a 1-4 minute time trial.
Or, say you’re at the end of a race or the end of a run, and you want to push as hard as you can for the last stretch. Beta-alanine will improve your performance in this final push.
Similarly, you can imagine the intermittent sprints a soccer or basketball player makes in between longer bouts of jogging. Beta-alanine will improve their ability on these runs.
How much should you take?
You’ll need to take 4-6 grams per day to see these benefits.
Beta-alanine is also most effective when it is split into two doses of 2-3 grams.
Paresthesia (tingling) is common with beta-alanine, and splitting the dose this way can remove this side effect.
Further, it may take up to 4 weeks to begin seeing benefits from beta-alanine supplementation.
Beta-alanine is a precursor to a compound called carnosine. It is carnosine that must become saturated in your muscles to provide the acid buffering effect, and this saturation can take up to 4 weeks to set in.
It does not matter too much what time of day you take it, as long as you take it every day.
I recommend taking it in the morning and at night; after a meal.
Related: How to Combine Running & Lifting
Creatine
Creatine is one of the most popular supplements around, and for good reason. If you had to only take one supplement, this would be my recommendation.
What it does
Creatine is what fuels very high intensity activity lasting ~1-10 seconds.
This includes activities such as heavy squats, sprints, etc.
The reason you can’t sprint forever is because your creatine stores run out.
The easy fix to this is to supplement with creatine.
This will increase the stores of creatine within your muscle; allowing you to squat a little heavier, sprint a little faster, etc.
What’s great about creatine is that it comes with a whole host of other benefits.
Some of these include increased cognitive performance (you think faster), improved recovery from exercise, improved recovery from injury, improved bone health, among others.
How much should you take?
The research currently shows that 3-5 grams per day is the point where you maximize all muscular and performance benefits.
However, somewhere between 5-10 grams per day is where other benefits, such as bone health and cognition, are maximized.
Similar to beta-alanine, it could take up to 4 weeks of supplementation for the benefits to set in.
The reason being is that your muscles need to reach saturation of creatine for the maximal benefits to be achieved.
If you are impatient (like me) and want the effects sooner, you could consider a loading phase.
This is where you take a dose of 10-20 grams per day for 5-7 days.
The aim of this is to reach creatine saturation as soon as possible.
After this week, you can drop down to 3-5 grams per day and use that to maintain saturation.
Similar to beta-alanine, it doesn't matter what time of day you take creatine, as long as you take it every day.
Sodium Bicarbonate (baking powder)
Not many people know about this one.
As the heading implies, sodium bicarbonate is baking soda.
For some people, it can be tough to put down. However, it can be quite beneficial. Especially for how little it costs.
What it does
The role of sodium bicarbonate is very similar to what beta-alanine does.
As you perform high-intensity activity, lactic acid builds up in the muscle.
This provides the “burn” feeling. It can limit further energy production and muscle contraction.
Sodium bicarbonate can help to neutralize and buffer this acid build up, helping you perform such activities for longer.
Its most notable effect is in activities that cause failure and fatigue between 30 seconds to 12 minutes.
This can mean a 200 meter run or a 2 mile run.
It also has significant benefits to interval style work.
Athletes of various sports also tend to tremendously benefit from it including combat sports (wrestling, mma), field & court sports (soccer, basketball), etc.
These tend to demand long periods of moderate intensity movement interspersed by high intensity movement; so it makes sense they would benefit.
Lastly, it seems to have a synergistic effect with beta-alanine.
In other words, the benefit of these supplements is combined is greater than the sum of their individual benefits.
So, if these are supplements you think you would benefit from, it might make sense to use both.
How much to take
Pay attention here, there can be consequences if you take too much.
The research has reported that sodium bicarbonate improves performance when taken at a dose of 0.2-0.5 grams per kilogram bodyweight.
I currently weight 160 pounds (~72 kg), so I would need at least 14 grams of sodium bicarbonate to experience performance improvements. This is 0.2 g / kg for a person weighing 160 pounds.
If you’ve never taken sodium bicarbonate before, I recommend starting at this dose.
Common side effects of taking too much or taking it to close to exercise include nausea, vomiting, and gas.
Only once you know you’re comfortable at this lower dose would I recommend beginning to increase.
When to take it
Most research shows that 60-180 minutes before training is the best time to take it.
This gives the sodium bicarbonate enough time to get where it needs to go in the body, and isn’t too close to exercise where side effects may arise.
Unlike beta-alanine, sodium bicarbonate is acute in nature.
It has also been shown to be safe to take regularly up to 8 weeks, and people who take it regularly experience greater progress than those who don’t.
*NOTE: if you aren’t taking capsule forms, I recommend using a food scale to measure. It can for a very unhappy training session if you eyeball it and take too much.
How to take it
There’s two ways that are most common: mixing sodium bicarbonate with water or taking it in capsule form.
Taking it mixed in water can be far cheaper, but can be accompanied by a taste some would rather skip.
Protein Powder
You may know that protein is needed to build muscle.
What you might not know is that endurance athletes may actually need more protein than strength athletes to facilitate proper recovery.
I’d speculate that hybrid athletes, those training for strength and endurance, also have a particularly high need for protein.
How much protein do you need per day?
Somewhere between 0.8-1.0 grams of protein per pound bodyweight.
Using myself as an example, I currently weigh 160 pounds.
Therefore, I would need between 128-160 grams of protein each day in order to maximize recovery and progress.
If I were to eat 4 meals with each being 30 grams of protein in a day, I’d still be a bit under my protein goals for the day. 1-2 scoops of a good protein powder each day is one of the easiest fixes to this issue.
What kind should you buy?
There are many good kinds of protein powder you can buy.
My first recommendation is always whey protein powder.
It is one of the highest quality forms of protein, and usually tastes the best.
Some individuals don’t do well with whey, though.
If this is you, then a plant protein is what you’ll want.
When this is the case, there’s one key thing you need to look out for.
You’ll want the protein in the powder to come from multiple sources.
For example, pea and rice protein together instead of one or the other.
Why is this important? Plant proteins are often ‘incomplete’ proteins.
That is, they are often missing one or more of the essential amino acids, which makes them less effective than animal sources.
Usually, having 2 or more sources of protein in the powder eliminates this issue.
The amino acid that one source is missing is often found in another source, and vice versa.
So, plant and rice proteins alone are incomplete, but become complete when combined.
How much should you take?
I usually recommend people commit to taking either one or two scoops per day of their protein powder of choice.
If you weigh more and have higher protein needs as a result, two scoops per day will probably be more reasonable; and vice versa.
The only real goal with protein powder is to get you into your daily target for protein intake.
So, if you struggle to hit your intakes from food, I’d recommend taking as much as you need to get in your target daily intake.
Caffeine
Odds are caffeine is already a part of your daily routine at some point.
What many people don’t realize is that this is one of the most ergogenic (performance boosting) substances you can take; particularly for endurance exercise
What it does
The molecule that provides the energy that fuels our daily bodily functions is adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
Throughout the day, this molecule breaks down to its base alone: adenosine.
The build up of this adenosine in the system provides a signal to induce drowsiness.
Caffeine is almost identical in structure to adenosine. As a result, it competes with adenosine for its receptors.
This delays the feeling of drowsiness and can produce a sense of alertness.
There might be an effect of promoting fat utilization during endurance exercise as opposed to carbohydrate; although this mechanism is more in question.
When your body runs out of stored carbohydrate, that’s when you start to feel true physical fatigue.
This is commonly called “hitting the wall” or “bonking.”
So, by promoting fat utilization, stored carbs will last longer and therefore fatigue will be pushed off.
How much to take
Caffeine has been shown to have its best effects when taken at a dose of 3-6 mg of caffeine per kilogram body mass.
However, many people also see benefit when taken at a dose of 2 mg / kg.
So, divide your body weight in pounds by 2.2 to convert it to kilograms.
Then, multiply this by 3 for the low end and 6 for the high end.
For reference, one cup of coffee has ~90 mg of caffeine.
I weigh 160 pounds as I type this, so I would get the most benefit from drinking a little over 2 cups if I chose coffee as my caffeine source.
When to take it
Most people get the most benefit when taking caffeine ~60 minutes before exercise.
Important notes to know on caffeine
Caffeine has an average half-life in the body of ~6 hours; although this varies.
This means its effects are noticeable for 6 hours after ingestion.
Caffeine taken too close to bed can impact sleep quality, and in my opinion that is not a worthwhile trade.
So, cease your intake 6 hours before bed, and maybe experiment with different stopping times to see how you feeling.
If you have an afternoon training session too close to bed to take caffeine right before, then take the caffeine as late as you can in the day (~6 hours before bed). There will still be a noticeable benefit and sleep won’t be disturbed.
There is great variation between people in terms of how caffeine effects you.
There are specific genetic differences influencing these variations.
Some people experience anxiety from caffeine, while others don’t.
People also vary in how helpful caffeine is, with a small population not seeing any effects.
So, before you religiously take caffeine before every training, try to get an objective understanding that you are someone who actually benefits from it.
The easiest way to do this is trial and error.
Electrolytes
The term ‘electrolytes’ classifies 5 different minerals:
Sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, and calcium.
The minerals play all sorts of roles within the body. Some of note include:
Facilitating muscular contractions, facilitating energy production, regulating fluid balance, etc.
Sodium, potassium, and chloride are largely lost through sweat during exercise.
When you enter a negative sodium balance or negative potassium balance from this loss, various problems may arise.
Some of which include: dehydration, muscle cramping, lower energy, weakness, etc.
Magnesium and calcium are still crucial to get sufficient intakes of each day, but the timing of which is less important.
The reason for this is they aren’t lost through sweat the way the other three electrolytes are.
Therefore, supplementing with these electrolytes (sodium, chloride, and potassium) can fight off these problems and prolong your performance.
When do you need them?
You don’t always need to supplement with electrolytes. In fact I’d only supplement with them under the following conditions:
You are performing a workout or physical activity outside in the heat
You are performing endurance training lasting longer than 1 hour
You naturally sweat a lot during your workouts
Where should you get them?
Since the aim of this article is supplementation, I will skip food sources of these electrolytes and save that for another article.
As far as electrolyte supplements go, there are a few brands that make good products. LMNT and Bare Performance Nutrition are two good ones.
However, I’d like to show you a far cheaper way to get the same benefit.
Instead, you can combine the following:
10 oz water
2 finger pinch of table salt
1 finger pinch of potassium chloride salt
This will put you at around ~500 mg sodium and ~250 mg potassium.
The 10 oz of water is an appropriate amount to ensure the electrolytes aren’t drowned out.
I would recommend twice this listed amount every hour if you fall under the circumstance of needing electrolyte supplementation.
Related: Zone 2 Cardio Explained
Intra-training carbohydrates
Carbohydrate supplements are often accompanied by electrolytes, although there is only one instance where you would need to take in carbohydrates during your training.
During exercise, carbohydrates are our bodies’ preferred source of fuel.
They can go through multiple energy systems, and are more readily available than fats or protein.
The problem is that our stores of carbohydrate are much more limited compared to our stores of fat.
The depletion of these stores of carbohydrates is one of the signs of true physical fatigue.
If you’ve ever heard someone say they “hit the wall” during a race, the situation they are referring to is their carbohydrate stores running out.
Usually, this happens when you perform 60 minutes or more of endurance training.
So, in order to sustain your performance and have a more beneficial training session, supplementing with carbohydrates during the session is a smart move; IF the session is 60 minutes or longer.
A good amount to aim for is 30-60 grams of carbohydrate per hour.
If you are training more intensely, then aim for the higher end of that range & vice versa.
Furthermore, supplementing carbohydrates during an endurance session can greatly improve recovery after the training session.
If you have a strength session in the hours after an endurance session or the following day, then getting some carbs in during the endurance session can be a game changer for how you feel during the strength session.
It is also CRUCIAL that you experiment with the carbohydrate supplement before using it during an actual training session.
There’s nothing worse than realizing your stomach doesn’t do well with a particular product while 45 minutes away from your car (speaking from experience).
Summary
In summary, the supplements I’d recommend most to hybrid athletes include the following:
Beta-alanine
Creatine
Protein powder
Electrolytes
Intra-training carbohydrates
When it comes to supplementation for the hybrid athlete, these are what I would consider the basics.
Overall, the over-arching benefit you can expect from this combination of supplements is being much better fueled and recovering far better.
Both of which will lead to enhanced results over time.
Again, if you have any questions you’d like to ask me directly, feel free to email info@fitnesssimplified.org or comment below.