by Chris Shugart
Fill the Gaps, Reach Your Goals Faster
Gap supplements are essential. Here's why you need them and the top three to check into.
"Hey, Chris! You're a personal trainer or something, right? So, what supplements should I take?"
I hear that pretty often out in the real world. It's an interesting pair of questions. First, I tell them that I'm definitely not a personal trainer, but I have spent over 25 years in the fitness biz. The second part of their question is where it gets tricky.
If I told them my supplement regimen, they'd freak out. I take lots of pills and powders. Also, what I take may not apply to their goals. But it's a good question. What supplements are practically mandatory, regardless of goals?
The answer: gap supplements.
Before buying any muscle gain, fat loss, or performance-enhancing supplement, fill in any nutritional gaps or basic deficiencies. This is important because your body fights against your physique and performance goals if something foundational is missing.
Also, many of these deficiencies make you feel terrible in one way or another, and they manifest in symptoms you may not associate with nutritional gaps, like depression, fatigue, or even poor naked-time performance.
Here are a few gap-filling supplements most people need:
1. Vitamin D3 (Microencapsulated)
According to the latest NHANES report, about 42% of Americans have insufficient vitamin D levels. But wait, that percentage is based on the RDA: 600 IU, or just enough to keep your bones from getting as brittle as a Little Debbie Nutty Buddy. Up-to-date researchers recommend more – 2000 to 5000 IU per day – and even that amount often isn't enough to bring blood levels up and keep them there because of the bioavailability problems of most D3 supplements.
You know the basic benefits of vitamin D, so here's a few you may not know:
- Insufficient vitamin D wrecks your immune system – both innate and adaptive – making you more susceptible to viruses, autoimmune diseases, bacterial infections, respiratory infections, and more. In one study, people with lower levels of vitamin D had higher rates of COVID-19 infection, more severe symptoms, and worse outcomes, including higher death rates. (Yes, vitamin D supplements would've helped a lot more than those silly masks.)
- Vitamin D supplementation helps maintain athletes' body composition during times when they can't train. (Those who take vitamin D don't get as fat in the off-season.)
- Having high levels of vitamin D increases protein synthesis (the biological process of building muscle tissue) and boosts aerobic and anaerobic performance. Insufficient vitamin D leads to low lung capacity, which makes cardio suck even more.
- Women with high vitamin D have higher circulating levels of estradiol, testosterone, FSH, LH, and DHEA. In one study, women with higher D3 levels reported more and better orgasms compared to low vitamin D women.
- While it's tricky to say that vitamin D "boosts" male testosterone levels, we know that low and insufficient levels interfere with natural T production. This probably has something to do with SHBG (sex hormone-binding globulin), which "binds" to testosterone resulting in low levels of free T. Vitamin D reduces SHBG.
- People with a vitamin D deficiency are more likely to be depressed and anxious. Supplementing them with vitamin D relieves depressive symptoms, possibly by reducing inflammation, supporting neuroplasticity, and regulating serotonin synthesis, which is necessary for mood stabilization.
What to Take
Take 5000 IU of microencapsulated Vitamin D3 daily, especially if you don't get out in the sun much. You could take it every other day in the summer months and daily in the winter, for example. Microencapsulated D3 is more bioavailable due to its delivery matrix. In short, it's the kind you absorb. You get 5000 IU of microencapsulated D3 in each tiny softgel of D Fix High-Absorption Vitamin D (Buy at Amazon).
2. Magnesium (Chelated)
Depending on which study you read, anywhere from 60 to 80% of Americans walk around with low magnesium levels. They're often sad, tired, and chubby.
Magnesium plays a role in insulin sensitivity, libido, muscle function, and protein synthesis. Researchers also found that magnesium deficiency is linked to depression, anxiety, inflammation, crappy sleep, and even difficulty losing fat.
The trouble is that today's heavily farmed soils are stripped of magnesium. The food grown in those soils has less magnesium than in Grampa's time. Sweating at the gym also depletes your supply of magnesium (and zinc).
What to Take
Most adult humans should be supplementing with magnesium, ideally chelated for better absorption. Elitepro Vital Minerals (Buy at Amazon) contains 400 mg of chelated magnesium, along with zinc and a couple of other important minerals that are hard to get from foods.
3. Fish Oil (High DHA)
Just about any disease or condition you'd rather not have is rooted in inflammation. Omega-3 fatty acids put out the flames. Recently, a fairly new term has entered the lexicon: omega-3 deficiency. One study published in the journal Nutrients estimated that more than 90% of Americans fall below the optimal range for omega-3 levels.
Listing all the health benefits of fish would fill a book, so here's what just the DHA component (the real dynamo behind the DHA/EPA dynamic duo) can do. DHA...
- Decreases natural systemic inflammation
- Supports cardiovascular health
- Decreases muscle soreness
- Boosts metabolic rate
- Increases insulin sensitivity
- Boosts mood
- Supports lean mass gains
- Switches the body to prefer burning fat over glycogen
- Increases leptin, decreasing appetite and cravings
And here's a funny/unfortunate thing for men: We get a lot of our DHA from the conversion of alpha-linolenic acid, another omega-3 fatty acid. This conversion is largely determined by estrogen, so lady-bodies are naturally better at it.
Men, on the other hand, don't make as much estrogen and our own testosterone causes a decrease in DHA production. That may be one reason why men suffer from more heart disease, high blood pressure, and bad cholesterol.
What to Take
Keep your foundation healthy by taking DHA-rich fish oil. Flameout (Buy at Amazon) contains five times more DHA than EPA per dose. It's highly concentrated, so you only need three capsules per day.
