meh...
With the exception of choline supplementation, most of the time I just make sure I'm well-fed and well-hydrated.
A good steak will have the aminos and carnitine and a little bit of each vitamin and mineral. Some vegetables will provide more minerals (Eat your vegetables).
That, and I'll try to have a banana and/or apple with me to replenish glycogen reserves during exercise. Some simple whey protein will partially alleviate the muscle-breakdown from an extended catabolic state (I lose tons of muscle while playing tennis).
Everything else I've mentioned because there is ample evidence to support usage - someone interested in supplementation would look into it.
What to look for:
I'm not endorsing any product, but 5-hour energy uses CDP-choline as its choline source. Most products, including "BodyQuick," use cheap choline bitartrate. It's garbage in comparison. I'd rather eat some eggs for my choline... (eggs are a great deal).
It'd behoove anyone to analyze the ingredients and reasons for their inclusion into these formulas.
I'll review BodyQuick's formula, because it was mentioned, and because a few of my friends tried it before they knew better - same people are now biology pHD's or candidates.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/bq/body.html?MCID=FGOOG
Note that the specific amounts of each ingredient are not disclosed for the most part. In general, good supplement manufacturers will disclose everything, and maybe even provide 3rd party Certificates of Analysis when asked (lab-testing to ensure that what we're ingesting isn't contaminated).
- Cordyceps: No standardization provided. You're probably just getting plain mushroom powder... Whether or not cordyceps works is another debate.
- Choline bitartrate: cheapest form they could have used
- Glutamine: Ridiculous to put in a pill like this when you get more from food or just whey protein. It seems like a filler.
- Tyrosine: OK - they went for the dopamine buzz. Easy way to exert some discernable effect.
- Salix Alba: aspirin... well... it doesn't do nothing
- Paullina Cupana: Guarana = caffeine source...
- Dimethylaminoethanal: DMAE = another cheap choline source.
The rest: I wouldn't use vinpocetine or huperzine-A. You'll feel the effects, but I have reason to believe that they're not worth the risk.
Vinpocetine is a cerebral blood flow enhancer, and a potent one. But if its mechanism of action is understood correctly, then it can affect monoamine transport and storage in the long-term, leading to serious cognitive complications (similar to the drug "resperine") - avoid.
Huperzine-A: is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor included to prolong the effect of the cheap choline they've included. It'll work, but it'll likely cause some downregulation in the long-run, whereas something like CDP-choline actually increases receptor density, and thus self-potentiates its cholinergic activity.
Lesson: most supplements are marketing junk. They'll exert some effect, but they are possibly unsafe - these manufacturers don't review the available medical literature, or simply don't care.
