Creator of the Flex Diet Cert & Phys Flex Cert, CSCS, CISSN, Assoc Professor, kiteboarder, lifter of odd objects, metal music lover. >>>>Sign up to my daily FREE Fitness Insider newsletter below
Supplements
Most guys are majoring in the minors — convinced some fairy-dust supplement shot out of a unicorn's a$$ is going to fire their test to the moon. It won't. Not even close Brosefus. Even if you double-scoop it and whisper "anabolic" three times in the mirror, no dice. I said almost exactly that to Funk Roberts the other week while we were recording my session for the Men Over 40 Summit — the one that goes live today! Funk asked the question every guy over 40 actually wants answered: "Which supplements do I even need?" And you could hear the record scratch in my brain, because the honest answer is so boring it should be illegal to charge someone $200/month to ignore it. The supplement aisle is a casino. Neon labels, proprietary blends, a testosterone molecule on every bottle like a gang tattoo. The whole place is engineered to make a 47-year-old man with a Costco card feel like he's one capsule away from being reborn as a Greek statue. Cool story Bro. The main result from what most people wandering the aisles of Costco get is expensive pee. So here's the lens I handed Funk. Two things on the table when you size up any supplement, and most guys only look at one of them. 1) Physiologic response — does this thing actually move the needle inside your body? Wildly variable. On one end you've got creatine, which has been dragged through more clinical trials than most pharmaceuticals and keeps showing up effective. On the other end, deer antler velvet — which is essentially a $60/month subscription to placebo wrapped in the skin of a Tolkien character. 2) Compliance — are you actually going to take the thing? Every day. Without a spreadsheet, an alarm, and a disappointed look from your wife. Multiply those together and you get what I call Coaching Leverage™: Coaching Leverage™ = physiologic response × your ability to actually do it. That multiplication sign is where the bodies are buried. Because here's the part that melts people's brains: the response can be small and still win. Creatine moves the needle around single-digit percentage in most studies. Sounds like a rounding error and something you'd skip on the way to the bottle with a Viking on it. …But you dump a scoop in your coffee, forget it exists, and compliance runs on autopilot for the next decade. Meanwhile, the guy with the elaborate stack that requires four alarms and a pill organizer the size of a tackle box? He's all gas no brakes for six weeks, then the tackle box migrates to the junk drawer, and a big physiologic response multiplied by zero is — say it with me — zero. Small effect × near-perfect consistency destroys the "bigger" thing you keep abandoning. That's not me being lazy with the science. That's multiplication refusing to lie for you. A small effect you take every day beats a big effect you quit. My talk — "The Supplement Decision Tree for Men Over 40: What Actually Works for Hormones, Performance & Longevity" — airs today, Day 4 of the Ultimate Men Over 40 Summit. Free. Online. Sessions stay live for a limited window, then they evaporate like your last New Year's resolution. Register and catch it here: (Full transparency: that's my affiliate link. Grab the VIP upgrade through it and I earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Free registration still gets you in — no hard feelings either way.) Much love, PS- My talk drops today and doesn't wait around. If your current supplement strategy was designed by a label, a podcast ad, and some guy at GNC who peaked in 2011 — give me 30 minutes. Your wallet and your next blood panel will both send thank-you cards. Register and catch it here: Mike T Nelson CISSN, CSCS, MSME, PhD Mike T Nelson is a Ph.D. and not a physician or registered dietitian. The contents of this email should not be taken as medical advice. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any health problem - nor is it intended to replace the advice of a physician. Always consult your physician or qualified health professional on any matters regarding your health. . |
Dr Mike T Nelson
Creator of the Flex Diet Cert & Phys Flex Cert, CSCS, CISSN, Assoc Professor, kiteboarder, lifter of odd objects, metal music lover. >>>>Sign up to my daily FREE Fitness Insider newsletter below
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