Which Workout Supplements Are Actually Worth Taking?

Nikkiey: I wake up, I eat my breakfast, and I get to work. And halfway through the day, I'm like, shit, I forgot my vitamins.

What's going on, you guys? Welcome to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkiey Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. On this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I am your host, Nikkiey Stott, and welcome to today's episode, episode number 45, where I'm going to talk about supplements.

I'm going to share a couple of recommendations of supplements that I personally love, have used my entire journey, and that have helped benefit me in my results. And when I say benefit me in my results, supplements are not something that are going to get you your results, okay? I need to preface this at the beginning of this podcast, getting right into it. What is going to get you results is hard work plus effort and consistency. That is going to get you the results of building muscle, changing your body composition, all of the things that you want to do.

What I want to talk about today, and the things I'm going to recommend, are things that are going to benefit you and your results. So I'm going to share some protein powders that I love, some carbohydrate powders that I love, some natural pre-workout energy boosters that I love, some vitamins that I love, recovery supplements, all of the things.

But before we dive in, you guys, 150% transparency right now: I am not going to speak to or recommend a fat burner, lotions, or any chemically enhanced supplements, okay? What I preach here on this podcast, what I teach, what we guide our WarriorBabes on, is hard work and consistency. That is what will forever get you to where you want to be with your body, not any special supplement, okay? I know I just preached that, but I need to nail that into your brain.

So if you're here because the title got your attention and you're hoping I'm going to recommend a fat burner, that shit ain't going to happen here. Your best fat burner, my friends, is doing the work, okay? Going in, strength training, but most importantly, getting your steps in and doing the cardio that's recommended in your plan. That is your best fat burner. Getting on the treadmill, getting on the StairMaster, whatever is allotted to your cardio for your plan, that's your best fat burner. On top of strength training and doing the things that are going to build more muscle, which is another fat burner. Having more muscle on your body helps you burn a little bit more fat, helps your metabolism, all of those things, okay?

So nothing outside of hard work and consistency is going to be the number one thing that gets you the results, okay? All of the things I'm going to share today are benefits. And I want you to know that over the entire course of my journey, I have barely, barely taken any supplements. For the most part, it's been mostly protein in the eight years I've been in the industry and on my journey. But I'm going to share with you some of the things that have helped me gain the results, okay? Not give me the results, but benefit me in getting them.

One brand that I love a lot is 1st Phorm, so a lot of the things I'm going to talk about today are 1st Phorm products. Two of the protein powders that I would recommend and personally love to use: the first is the Vegan Power Pro. I'm going to put the links below this so you have access to get your hands on anything that resonates with you here and you want to give it a try.

Why I love Vegan Power Pro, and why you'd probably love it too, is that it's super easy on the stomach, okay? For me, anything that's whey or dairy-based sometimes upsets my stomach. So their Phormula-1 isn't something I would normally go for. I would normally go for the Vegan Power Pro. A lot of people experience bloat after drinking any type of whey protein powder. If that is you, then I would steer away from the Phormula-1 and try the Vegan Power Pro. But if you don't have any of those problems, and you love whey and enjoy whey protein powders, then Phormula-1 is their whey-based protein powder. It's an isolate.

One thing I want you guys to know when you're learning about protein powders is that there are isolates, there are concentrates, and there's a hybrid of the two. With isolates, you'll see "whey isolate" on the bottle. That means it is a very fast-digesting protein, okay? So it's best to have that type of protein around your workout, before or afterwards. I personally always have it afterwards, because it's immediately going to get digested fast and into the muscle recovery stores, all of the things, to start the recovery process for you.

The other one, the concentrate, is more of a meal replacement. You'll hear of people having these types of protein powders either as a meal replacement throughout the day or before they go to bed at night, because it's a slower-digesting protein. So it mimics a meal replacement. It's going to make you feel fuller for a little bit longer, where the isolate is going to be digested super fast. And there are reasons why you would have an isolate around your workout and a concentrate somewhere else. So those are two things.

I wanted to share flavors too, if you're wondering what flavors you should try. For the Vegan Power Pro, I love their chocolate mint cookie. It's so good. Or iced oatmeal cookie, one of those two flavors. Those things are bomb. And I have tried the Phormula-1, so I don't want to completely knock it and not give you some flavors I would recommend. I love the chocolate milkshake, or the Loopty Fruit for more of a sweeter taste. Okay, so those are the protein powders I would recommend.

I'm now realizing, as I'm speaking on this podcast and sharing these things, that I called that protein powder a concentrate. I meant to say casein. There are isolate proteins and there are casein proteins. Those are the two main different protein powders. So excuse my "concentrate," I don't know where the hell that came from. Know that I'm speaking to casein. Casein is the slower-digesting protein that people often take as a meal replacement supplement. And again, the isolate is the fast-digesting protein that you would have around your workout.

Okay, the next supplement I'd love to speak to is a carbohydrate powder. I love Ignition by 1st Phorm. It's so easy to put into your post-workout shake. I have since shifted to more fruit in my routine, so you'll see me share my post-workout protein shake on my Instagram stories, and it's usually a protein shake with fruit in it. But I love using Ignition here and there. I've used it for years on end.

The benefit of having a carbohydrate powder like Ignition, instead of food like rice cakes or other faster-digesting carbohydrate sources, is that it acts the same way. What I mean by that is Ignition acts just like the food you're eating, because Ignition is a fast-digesting carbohydrate source and has the same effects as a banana or fruit, all of those things that give our bodies hormonal responses in terms of recovery. So it's a fast-acting carbohydrate. You can have it before you work out too.

But I want to preface something here with protein powders and carbohydrate powders: you don't want to rely on artificial sources that aren't packed with tons of nutritional value. You always hear me preach that you should have maybe one to two artificial sources of protein, like protein powder, in your day max. I would totally aim for just one. But I know protein is really hard for a lot of women to hit. So if you have to have a protein shake, maybe two, or a protein shake and a protein bar, fine, that's going to help you hit your protein numbers. But make sure the majority of your food is coming from whole food sources, not artificial sources like what I'm speaking to today.

So with Ignition, I would recommend consuming it immediately following your workout as opposed to prior. Before, I would have a banana or some type of fruit or rice cakes or anything like that. But a carbohydrate powder like Ignition starts to facilitate the recovery process faster. What I used to do is mix the Ignition carb powder into my post-workout protein shake, with the protein powder I just shared with you.

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All right, so that's a little bit about the carbohydrate powder I would recommend. Again, Ignition is a really good one from 1st Phorm.

Now I want to talk about natural pre-workout. Guys, pre-workout, man. If you want to take a pre-workout, I am not going to tell you no, okay? But I want to help you out with things to look out for. I want you to really make sure you're reading the labels, because these pre-workouts can be made up of a shit ton of different stuff. I don't know if I just said that right. But they can be made up of a plethora of different things.

This is why I personally steer away from pre-workouts: they make me feel weird. There's beta alanine, which you may have read on labels. Maybe you like this, and some people do love this feeling. I don't. It makes me feel so weird. It's that itchy sensation you get all over. So if you don't like that and you don't want that, make sure you're reading labels and taking something without beta alanine.

Then you want to make sure you understand how much caffeine is in this freaking pre-workout, because these suckers can load a shit ton of caffeine into one scoop. I know in the 1st Phorm pre-workouts I'm going to share with you, there's 300 to 400 milligrams of caffeine. That is a lot of caffeine. I drink a nitro cold brew every single day, and I want to say that's almost like two of those in one sitting, okay?

So just make sure you're reading the labels. I'm not going to tell you not to take a pre-workout. If you want to take it, go for it. Just make sure you understand what you are taking, okay? I'm a big espresso person. If I need an extra boost in my day, I'll take a shot of espresso. That's super natural. But I'm wary of pre-workouts. I just need to preface that.

One I would recommend is Project 1 from 1st Phorm. That is the smoothest pre-workout I have tried. It has a balanced, smooth energy blend, so you won't feel like you're getting all those jitters. It will give you the energy, the focus, the strength, the performance, all of those things within your workouts.

There's also another one called Alpha Surge, and if I remember off the top of my head, it's a non-stim pre-workout. I really do love that one, and anything that's a non-stim pre-workout, because it is what it sounds like. They don't have all of those things that are going to flush you with stimulants. It's just a little bit of those focus ingredients that will help you with strength and performance inside your workouts. It's a little bit more like a nootropic, almost, for your brain. I would steer more towards those than any of the hardcore pre-workouts. That's just my personal opinion.

And I know you're probably asking, what are some BCAAs you could recommend, Nikkiey? 1st Phorm has a great blend of BCAAs. If you don't know what BCAAs are, they're essential amino acids that your body requires to operate. They increase muscle protein synthesis, increase muscle growth, decrease muscle fatigue, and help with recovery processes after your workout. They also have, like, 21 of the branched-chain amino acids, and lysine, the last chain of the amino acids, isn't really found in all of the other things. So it helps you have that last chain of amino acids, which helps fill in all of those other amino acids too.

The reason I love BCAAs and would recommend them to you: sometimes I go through periods of not wanting to drink water, or hating the taste of water and how bland it is. Throwing BCAAs into your daily water consumption can really help you drink a little bit more water. But BCAAs are great. Again, they'll help with protein synthesis, increased muscle growth and decreased muscle fatigue. And you'll feel a little bit of fuel from them too. They don't have any caffeine in them, but you'll have that sustained energy throughout the day.

So those are some things I would recommend in terms of pre-workouts. I'm not going to tell you not to take them. If you'd like to take them, go ahead and try them out. Just make sure you're reading the labels. There's nothing wrong with a little bit of espresso throughout your day to give you that extra boost. So I recommended a few pre-workouts I would try, and also the BCAAs.

Next I want to talk about digestion, total recovery, vitamin recommendations, those types of things. There's glutamine, which is a great powder to throw into your post-workout shake with the protein powder and the carbohydrate powder I recommended. Glutamine is that immediate, faster-recovery type of supplement. You throw in one scoop post-workout, and that's going to help aid your recovery process, along with all the other things I shared.

Their Micro-Factor vitamin stack is great. I can't remember off the top of my head all of the things that are in Micro-Factor, but that's their daily vitamin dose. It comes in a packet of like 10 different vitamins. It's got the multivitamins and a bunch of other things too. So that's a really good stack.

Next I'm going to talk a little bit about digestive enzymes. A lot of people have a hard time breaking down some food sources, and this is where I will lean a little bit towards digestive enzymes to help you digest things a little better. I'm not going to say, hey, you should totally go do this or totally try any of these. It's just that it could help facilitate some movement. If you feel bloated after you eat a big, heavy carb meal, or after your meals throughout the day, digestive enzymes help your body digest that food a little bit better and push that food where it should go in your body.

But my brain goes, okay, there could be another root problem there, and this is just solving for the symptom. There may be a root cause beneath that, and you may need to get checked out by a doctor to find out why you can't digest those things a little better. So that's what I recommend you do. Don't solve just for the symptoms. Solve for the root problem.

And then their daily greens and daily reds are really good. I stopped taking them, but I remember when I did take them, man, you could feel a boost of energy within like 30 minutes of taking the greens and reds. And they're so tasty. Some people absolutely hate the way they taste, but I personally loved it.

I'm such a person who needs to stick to a routine and stay solid with the vitamins I take, so it's been hard for me to find a consistent routine for fitting those in. I wake up, I eat my breakfast, and I get to work, and halfway through the day, I'm like, shit, I forgot my vitamins. But you'll hear a lot of people with 1st Phorm talk about the Opti-Greens and Opti-Reds. They help with digestion, energy, inflammation, all of those things. So those are a few of the things in terms of recovery, digestion and vitamins that I would personally recommend.

So that encompasses everything. Again, you guys, all of the things I shared with you are not going to get you results. They will help benefit your results. If there's anything from this podcast I'd recommend you go try, it's at least the protein powders, because if there's anything anybody struggles with, it's getting protein into their everyday routine and eating habits. So I would definitely click the link below this podcast and check out their protein powders, Vegan Power Pro or Phormula-1. They even have natural protein powders that just have stevia in them. So I would definitely go check those out, hands down.

That wraps up this podcast. Again, none of these are going to get you results. They're going to benefit your results. Keep in mind, hard work and consistency are your payoff for the results you want to see. I hope this podcast helped you know a little bit more about which supplements I would personally recommend, and who I would recommend them from. Definitely go check them out, and I'll see you in the next podcast.

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