Supplements to stay healthy and improve your game

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Hello Everyone!
I'm just wondering what kind of supplements you are taking to: first and foremost to stay healthy, avoid injuries and perform better. These are all important to keep playing at a high level for many years and since table tennis can and should be played even at a quite senior age it matters how many injuries you can avoid and what body condition you have when you reach older age.

Of course the most important is a healthy diet and that is not replaced by supplements, but not every stuff is practical or even possible to intake via food.
Also since not every kind of supplement is equal and they have several forms it's also interesting which one works or doesn't.

My most standard one is magnesium which I take in excess I think, since who wants muscle cramps, right? It's also also good for relaxing the muscles and they say against stress as well, and since matches can be stressful it's a must for me. I personally like the magnesium-taurate form since it has the added benefit of taurin too. I am avoiding magnesium-oxide which is the most commonly used but that can be counter productive since it is a laxative.
I mostly feel the muscular benefits of it but for sure it's important for many hormone production too.

I take collagen since I am a vegetarian and only eat fish but rarely. So to have some protein intake I drink collagen mix every day. I don't particularly want to take "normal" protein like whey since I don't wanna get buff. Collagen helps maintain the muscles, joints and skin. Fish collagen is mostly Type 1 and some Type 3 collagen, I have never tried plant based so I don't know how well those work. If someone is not vegetarian there are beef, chicken and pork based ones too. Some have a combination of several collagen inside. Besides skin and muscles it's useful for other tissues and maintaining bone strength too. Should help in avoiding injuries and recovery too in case the unfortunate event happens.

I take some fish oil for Q10 and Omega 3 fats. I buy it in bottle and it's salmon oil. I prefer it in bottle to capsules since I took capsules in the beginning but the oil in those leave a bad taste if you burp, so I am not convinced about the fish oil quality in capsules. The bottled salmon oil I buy has a very pleasant taste. Fish oil is good for the brain and the heart, and should help the cardiovascular system.

Last but not least there's creatine which I like since it keeps my muscles hydrated and non-hydrated muscles perform worse. I just have the standard creatine- monohydrate and I am not sure if the fancier more expensive ones actually have additional benefit. There's so many contradictory things about the forms but I suppose most do what is written on the tin. This I guess is the only performance "enchancer" I use, the rest is more for being healthy.


Maybe if you have something that you want tried but had negative effect or no effect you can list it too. There's a lot of snake oil on the market of course. I don't particularly have much care for fat burners since they seem like a scam. Magnesium oxide I would also list as a scam as most companies use it and advertise high content in their products while the absorbed amount is very low.

I'm interested in hearing your experience or thoughts.
 
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Hemp seed or the easier to consume hemp seed protein powder. It is the real #1 superfood on the planet... Omega 3's, protein (specifically Edestin), fiber and vitamins & minerals.
 
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Mostly from a balance diet, and plenty of veg and fruits.
Stay away from junk, sugar, heavy fats.

For special cases, you would want medical suggestions on additional supplements to take.

I think for injury prevention, warming up/cooling down is lacking in the amateur space, but treasured by the pro space.
There are also many new cooling down toys one can use, to help with muscle relaxation.

 
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Healthy balanced diet should be enough for most people.
From the studies I've read most supplements, multivitamins etc. are non-beneficial or even harmful.
Also there is advantage of eating normal food for foodies like me and that is enjoying the process of intake.
 
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As dajdosta and Tony's TT said, balance diet in my case too... well I'm "mostly" vegan (eating honey is not considered vegan) so I have to take 2x1000µUI per week of B12 vitamin ampules. It's mandatory or I could face serious issues
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamin-b12-or-folate-deficiency-anaemia/

But I'm also into guarana, spirulina and maca, as I thought it was helping me getting more "lively", aware and focused on my cardio HIIT muscles reinforcement days. More energy too, kind of natural booster. I buy those as organic powders only, 5gr on light training days, 10gr on heavier raining days:
- 2 vol guarana
- 1 vol maca
- 2 vol spirulina

I've also my home made anti-inflammatory mix that helps to deal with my Osgood Schlatter condition, 3gr/day in water:
- 9 vol turmeric
- 5 vol ginger
- 1 vol cayenne pepper

No bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and all those heavy carbs foods, no refined sugar of course, only a light shot of honey when I feel too much exhausted after a training session to avoid an episode of hypoglycemia (I've already felt that twice or so, it's brutal and you're out for the rest of the day).

I mostly eat raw veggies and fruits in salads, nuts, almonds, walnuts to get anough proteins and good fats (walnuts bring the omega 3), with olive and canola (omega 3 here too) oil. The only food I cook are legumes like lentils, quinoa, chickpeas, peas in general, and of course tofu as I buy it ready made.

To avoid cramps I only put 5gr of baking soda in a 1 liter lemon juice and water bottle for the morning, either at home or at work. It works really well and cost nothing.
 
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I recently started Hello Fresh meal plans, and I plan on keeping it. Loads of recipes that are easy to make and tastes good, also less wasted food products because everything is portioned just right for the meals.

I also take Glucosamine HCI to help with my knees, and Ashwagandha for Endurance tablets, which I just started taking to help with my endurance training.
 
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Just came across this in another topic but clearly this is the magic supplement.

Waldner%20eating%20ball%20gif%20gif.gif
 
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I'm quite sure that JOW gave up balanced diet and physical training after winning his second WTTC in 1997, he was clearly overweight and near obese at the end of his career in the Bundesliga.

Alexis Lebrun is following the same path but ... winning big, he recently said on a french TT youtube Vlog that his "6 pack secret" was a serious business and hard work
- Kebabs at lunch
- Mac Do's for dinner
- and chocolate at 4 PM tea time !

This youngster already has the Waldner's sense of humor 🤣
https://youtu.be/L_o5FVGcFmY?t=132

His young brother Felix is more keen on serious training and stretching though
 
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Bad toothache since yesterday's night, I've added lemon juice to my anti-inflammatory spiced mixture and it does the job well with coffee, it's just that I've raised the level to 9gr mix/1L water bottle, it will be 2 bottle today. I've also added clove powder in tea bags at the menu as a band-aid on the gum, it works fine of course. Since paracetamol or ibuprofen cost almost nothing here in Europe I could go buy some at the pharmacy/drugstore near me but I want to avoid as much as possible these kind of chemical substances. Wait and see tomorrow.

This bloody pandemic has postponed the tooth removal that was scheduled since last year for January 2022, hope I'll get a new appointment soon. It's a "sideway" tooth that is causing problem since years now 🙄
 
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I'm quite sure that JOW gave up balanced diet and physical training after winning his second WTTC in 1997, he was clearly overweight and near obese at the end of his career in the Bundesliga.

Alexis Lebrun is following the same path but ... winning big, he recently said on a french TT youtube Vlog that his "6 pack secret" was a serious business and hard work
- Kebabs at lunch
- Mac Do's for dinner
- and chocolate at 4 PM tea time !

This youngster already has the Waldner's sense of humor 🤣
https://youtu.be/L_o5FVGcFmY?t=132

His young brother Felix is more keen on serious training and stretching though

I offered a top 5 WR U18 junior some chocolate.
He said he is not allowed to eat chocolate, as he had a match coming up

During dinner, he had chocolate milkshake

I find it boys take performance more serious than girls (or atleast the ones I'm surrounded with).
The boys eat proper stuff, while the girls eat a lot of junk - and this is including before a match at the world junior championship.... she just cutely said, i'm hungry.....

 
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I am still curious if anyone else tried supplements/nootropics and that kind of stuff.
I had struggles getting focused on the game and I was just really off with my thoughts and my body.
I tried these 2 supplements after reading/hearing about them.
Alpha-GPC and L-Tyrosin.
To my understanding in short: They help you focus and direct your thoughts.

I bought them a couple months ago, tried each on their own at first and then together.
300mg Alpha-GPC and 500mg L-Tyrosin per capsule.
Didnt see any change at first after a couple times so I decided do leave them and thought to myself that I made a mistake buying them.
That was until recently.
I came back to trying them again, both together, about 30-60 min prior to a match and also exam.
And I really felt it this time.
I finally was able to do what I want to do without having to figure out what is wrong with me.
I was able to stay calm under pressure, concentrate on the match, think clearly and feel better.

I will keep using them now.

If anyone else has that issue where they feel like supplements could help, I can recommend to try at least.

I was and still am on a long journey on find out about this focus topic and everything around that.
In my own way but I feel how I am improving in many regards.
Athlete mindset, mindfulness, flow state, improvement, training, practice, visualization.( just some of the topics)
Not only table tennis but my life in general.
In sports its just easier to measure and manifest.
 
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I am still curious if anyone else tried supplements/nootropics and that kind of stuff.
I had struggles getting focused on the game and I was just really off with my thoughts and my body.
I tried these 2 supplements after reading/hearing about them.
Alpha-GPC and L-Tyrosin.
To my understanding in short: They help you focus and direct your thoughts.

I bought them a couple months ago, tried each on their own at first and then together.
300mg Alpha-GPC and 500mg L-Tyrosin per capsule.
Didnt see any change at first after a couple times so I decided do leave them and thought to myself that I made a mistake buying them.
That was until recently.
I came back to trying them again, both together, about 30-60 min prior to a match and also exam.
And I really felt it this time.
I finally was able to do what I want to do without having to figure out what is wrong with me.
I was able to stay calm under pressure, concentrate on the match, think clearly and feel better.

I will keep using them now.

If anyone else has that issue where they feel like supplements could help, I can recommend to try at least.

I was and still am on a long journey on find out about this focus topic and everything around that.
In my own way but I feel how I am improving in many regards.
Athlete mindset, mindfulness, flow state, improvement, training, practice, visualization.( just some of the topics)
Not only table tennis but my life in general.
In sports its just easier to measure and manifest.
These two at least have some evidence, that they somewhat work.

BUT it doesnt matter how you wanna put it and why you are taking supps, those make out approx 5% of your performance overall. If you feel they are doing more, you are either lying to yourself (or cant reflect that propperly) or you have a defficency anyway, so you are treating symptoms.

In your special case for example, your lack of focus could be low quality or insufficient amount of sleep, some lack of nutrients or even a desease.

As someone involved in bodybuilding and training athletes i dont want to go much deeper into detail, because the post would explode at this point.

If your diet, sleep and personal life is in balance you shouldnt worry about supplements at all. They are a waste of money, especially for amateurs.
If you are training everyday for several hours we have a different situation, in which some supplements might help or even needed for time save, especially for recovery purposes. So that would be my general guideline. But everyone is an individual and some have the actual need for some reason, and that would be a total different topic.
 
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Hello Everyone!
I'm just wondering what kind of supplements you are taking to: first and foremost to stay healthy, avoid injuries and perform better. These are all important to keep playing at a high level for many years and since table tennis can and should be played even at a quite senior age it matters how many injuries you can avoid and what body condition you have when you reach older age.

Of course the most important is a healthy diet and that is not replaced by supplements, but not every stuff is practical or even possible to intake via food.
Also since not every kind of supplement is equal and they have several forms it's also interesting which one works or doesn't.

My most standard one is magnesium which I take in excess I think, since who wants muscle cramps, right? It's also also good for relaxing the muscles and they say against stress as well, and since matches can be stressful it's a must for me. I personally like the magnesium-taurate form since it has the added benefit of taurin too. I am avoiding magnesium-oxide which is the most commonly used but that can be counter productive since it is a laxative.
I mostly feel the muscular benefits of it but for sure it's important for many hormone production too.

I take collagen since I am a vegetarian and only eat fish but rarely. So to have some protein intake I drink collagen mix every day. I don't particularly want to take "normal" protein like whey since I don't wanna get buff. Collagen helps maintain the muscles, joints and skin. Fish collagen is mostly Type 1 and some Type 3 collagen, I have never tried plant based so I don't know how well those work. If someone is not vegetarian there are beef, chicken and pork based ones too. Some have a combination of several collagen inside. Besides skin and muscles it's useful for other tissues and maintaining bone strength too. Should help in avoiding injuries and recovery too in case the unfortunate event happens.

I take some fish oil for Q10 and Omega 3 fats. I buy it in bottle and it's salmon oil. I prefer it in bottle to capsules since I took capsules in the beginning but the oil in those leave a bad taste if you burp, so I am not convinced about the fish oil quality in capsules. The bottled salmon oil I buy has a very pleasant taste. Fish oil is good for the brain and the heart, and should help the cardiovascular system.

Last but not least there's creatine which I like since it keeps my muscles hydrated and non-hydrated muscles perform worse. I just have the standard creatine- monohydrate and I am not sure if the fancier more expensive ones actually have additional benefit. There's so many contradictory things about the forms but I suppose most do what is written on the tin. This I guess is the only performance "enchancer" I use, the rest is more for being healthy.


Maybe if you have something that you want tried but had negative effect or no effect you can list it too. There's a lot of snake oil on the market of course. I don't particularly have much care for fat burners since they seem like a scam. Magnesium oxide I would also list as a scam as most companies use it and advertise high content in their products while the absorbed amount is very low.

I'm interested in hearing your experience or thoughts.
If you eat any amount of fish (which is not at all a good thing for your health, not to mention the environment) then you are not vegetarian. You are what is called a pescatarian.
 
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As dajdosta and Tony's TT said, balance diet in my case too... well I'm "mostly" vegan (eating honey is not considered vegan) so I have to take 2x1000µUI per week of B12 vitamin ampules. It's mandatory or I could face serious issues
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamin-b12-or-folate-deficiency-anaemia/

But I'm also into guarana, spirulina and maca, as I thought it was helping me getting more "lively", aware and focused on my cardio HIIT muscles reinforcement days. More energy too, kind of natural booster. I buy those as organic powders only, 5gr on light training days, 10gr on heavier raining days:
- 2 vol guarana
- 1 vol maca
- 2 vol spirulina

I've also my home made anti-inflammatory mix that helps to deal with my Osgood Schlatter condition, 3gr/day in water:
- 9 vol turmeric
- 5 vol ginger
- 1 vol cayenne pepper

No bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and all those heavy carbs foods, no refined sugar of course, only a light shot of honey when I feel too much exhausted after a training session to avoid an episode of hypoglycemia (I've already felt that twice or so, it's brutal and you're out for the rest of the day).

I mostly eat raw veggies and fruits in salads, nuts, almonds, walnuts to get anough proteins and good fats (walnuts bring the omega 3), with olive and canola (omega 3 here too) oil. The only food I cook are legumes like lentils, quinoa, chickpeas, peas in general, and of course tofu as I buy it ready made.

To avoid cramps I only put 5gr of baking soda in a 1 liter lemon juice and water bottle for the morning, either at home or at work. It works really well and cost nothing.
I imagine we’re of the same generation.
Full vegan here along with a (primarily whole food) plant based diet.
Honey is for bees, not us. And personally, I’ve never seen a bee play table tennis, even when I set out a miniature table and rackets- but in fairness that might have been because the miniature rackets were Jpen and the whole hive could have been shakehanders.

I see no problem with eating complex carbohydrates. Whole grains only- whole wheat or multi grain bread, whole wheat pasta, brown rice. White potatoes Ok, blue/purple better, sweet potatoes best.
Great are the legumes, but quinoa isn’t a legume but a seed more closely related to a whole grain.
Lots of fresh fruits and veggies!
Organic of all of the above if possible.
And treat yourself to a couple of my vegan~organic~whole grain Cashew-Maple Gem cookies, a slice of my organic whole wheat crust blueberry pie or vegan-organic tofu cheesecake once in a while.
Known to satisfy and put you in a good frame of mind for your next match 🙂
 

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These two at least have some evidence, that they somewhat work.

BUT it doesnt matter how you wanna put it and why you are taking supps, those make out approx 5% of your performance overall. If you feel they are doing more, you are either lying to yourself (or cant reflect that propperly) or you have a defficency anyway, so you are treating symptoms.

In your special case for example, your lack of focus could be low quality or insufficient amount of sleep, some lack of nutrients or even a desease.

As someone involved in bodybuilding and training athletes i dont want to go much deeper into detail, because the post would explode at this point.

If your diet, sleep and personal life is in balance you shouldnt worry about supplements at all. They are a waste of money, especially for amateurs.
If you are training everyday for several hours we have a different situation, in which some supplements might help or even needed for time save, especially for recovery purposes. So that would be my general guideline. But everyone is an individual and some have the actual need for some reason, and that would be a total different topic.

As I read several veggies, I need to hold up the keto flag :devilish:
I'm not a strict follower, but I'm doing "low-carb, high-fat". Since then, I have less power drains, lost several pounds (no, I wasn't fat before) and move better. Related to supplements, I take care to get enough minerals, as I'm a heavy sweater.
Look at my age and my bio - I'm ok with this.
 
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