Supplements - 2025
The Performance Stack
I am fascinated by the potential of pharmaceutical grade supplements. With a plethora of companies offering third-party testing to ensure efficacy, individuals can safely maximize their health and performance goals with targeted precision.
Here’s the problem: many wrongly assume that supplements are the antidote to their poor lifestyle practices. Unfortunately, no supplement can outperform a well-rounded and sustainably crafted practice of strength & conditioning, nutrition, and lifestyle.
Supplementation should only be the cherry on top of a rock-solid health-building program. With this caveat in mind, I offer my thoroughly researched supplement stack. Please be advised, this article is not advice. It is meant for information only.
I encourage anyone interested in a guided supplementation routine to first find a certified health coach for blood, hormone, and gut testing (test don’t guess). It is my absolute pleasure to highlight this crucial part of my own functional health regimen.
John Parker
March 14, 2025
Feeling healthy and strong going into my 40th year on Earth. Persian Meel: 7.5kg
This article is for informational purposes only. Below is a list of the supplements that I consume for general health and sports performance. Because your physiology is unique, please consult your healthcare professional before beginning the use of any nutritional supplements.
Health Fundamentals
To sustain abundant health, we must cultivate a lifestyle focused on nutrition, hydration, movement, sleep, and mindfulness. These practices must adapt to our unique challenges while continually honoring the basis of our wellness foundations.
By creating minimum effective dose (MED) strategies, we make automatic certain life variables ie; nutrition, training. When these (difficult) components are met, we create space for more daunting tasks and challenges. MED begets simplified sustainability.
The DRESS Protocol
My education as a Functional Diagnostic Practitioner (FDN-P) taught me a valuable acronym called DRESS (Diet, Rest, Exercise, Stress Reduction, Supplementation). Though the order of importance will vary, this framework offers a valuable template.
With my health coaching clients, I use blood chemistry, hormone testing (DUTCH), and stool testing (GI Map) to discover clues into their metabolic health. After receiving the test results, I suggest a lifestyle-based self-healing DRESS Protocol.*
I am making note of these measures because I want the reader to understand that we should not treat supplementation as medicine ie; x cures y. Instead, I am stressing that the lifestyle components in DRESS are a holistic method of building vibrant health.
I want to encourage my readers to take charge of their own health by intentionally maintaining their diet, rest, exercise, stress reduction, and finally, supplementation. This article addresses supplements from a performance improvement perspective only.
*If interested in health coaching, please message me directly.
I strongly urge my students to check out my article, Nutrition.
Next, please review my article Burnout to reflect on your current vital energy and health.
Burnout
In our own delusion, we believe that we can sustain driven effort without reprieve. This isn't to say that we shouldn't aim to improve our self-directed outcomes, it's to think that we won't pay the cost of burning the candle at both ends.
The Performance Stack
The purpose of The Performance Stack is to enhance strength + endurance, stimulate improved recovery, and to build higher energy output. I have provided links to all of the listed supplements and any discount codes that I am able to offer my readers.
The Supplements
(Listed in my personal order of importance)
Manna Vitality Shilajit
Discount coming soon
Purpose: Improve vital energy, intake minerals, improve testosterone
Thorne Research Creatine
20% Discount
Purpose: Improve intra-workout strength/endurance, brain health
Thorne Research Aminos
20% Discount
Purpose: Improve intra-workout strength/endurance, enhance recovery
Thorne Research Beta Alanine SR
20% Discount
Purpose: Improve intra-workout endurance
Thorne Research Magnesium Bisglycinate
20% Discount
Purpose: Support metabolic processes in body, enhance endocrine function, improve brain health, stimulate recovery
Thorne Research Vitamin D/K2
20% Discount
Purpose: Support endocrine function, heart health, brain health
Life Extension Testosterone Elite
Purpose: Lower effects of SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin)
Thorne Research Super EPA Pro
20% Discount
Purpose: Support heart and brain health, improve cellular structure
Thorne Research Basic Nutrients
20% Discount
Purpose: Stimulate nutritional gaps (I typically only take this when clients around me are sick or when I’m feeling run down)
Microbiome Labs MyoMax
20% Discount
Purpose: Improve lactic acid buffering ie; improve cardiovascular endurance
humanN SuperBeets
Purpose: Safe and effective pre-workout for enhancing nitric oxide production
Left Coast Grass Fed Bone Protein Protein Powder
Purpose: I use protein powder to add to my shakes or oatmeal when I’m in a rush
Supplement Sequencing, Titration, and Timing
Always consult with your healthcare practitioner for proper sequencing and titration. I recommend taking one supplement at a time (with the recommended dose), assessing side effects, and if none are present, introducing the next supplement.
For simplicity, I take half of the supplement’s recommended dose with breakfast and the other half with dinner. To avoid an stomach upset, I take supplements with food. Depending on your tolerance, you may be able to take all supplements in the morning.
Author’s Note: The first thing I do upon waking is fill a Blender Bottle full of Berkey-filtered water. I mix in Microbiome Labs Immunoglobulins (not listed here but taken to improve my gut health) along with 7.5g of creatine. I drink the full amount of liquid in the bottle. Before my day's training session, I'll fill the same bottle with water and SuperBeets. With any remaining liquid in the bottle, I'll set out my supplements, put 10 droppers of Vitamin D/K2 in the bottle, add the shilajit, then swallow the rest of the supplements. For supplements like magnesium or others that positively affect sleep, I'll take them around dinner time.
Questions? Comments? Concerns?
John Parker
March 14, 2025