Episode 456: Why Half Your Supplements Are Probably Useless (And Which 4 Actually Matter)

Hi, guys, it's Tony Robbins.

You're listening to Habits and Hustle, Gresham.

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All right, you guys, we're here for another Fitness Friday program.

That program.

I know, I know.

Fitness Friday fun, I know.

And Lerun's joining me yet again.

And we pick a topic and we just like blab for a few minutes and then we cut it.

So remember, guys, very important.

We love feedback on habits and hustle.

The more feedback, the better.

Please let us know what you think.

If there's something you want us to talk about, all the things.

And don't forget to subscribe.

With that being said, what do you think about the topic that I just chose, which is supplements?

Supplements.

I mean, the basic thing, and I think people know this, most people know this, but if you don't, just good to remind yourself is like, you kind of want a pyramid.

Think of a like maybe a three-tiered pyramid.

And you want...

you know, the foundation, the fundamentals to be like training and nutrition.

And then as you go up, you know, sleep or maybe sleep is the foundation.

You could play around with the bottom, but either way, the top is supplements, meaning the smallest part of the pyramid, the last thing you focus on after you've got everything else together should be supplements they're kind of icing on the cake yes it should be done in moderation yeah well i don't even think done in moderation i think it's supplemental i think the word supplement literally

my definition of what supplements are is supplemental it doesn't take the the place of eating properly and eating well and like with like a lot of different nutrition like nutrients that our bodies crave and need doesn't take the place of exercise.

It doesn't take the place of sleep.

It helps with overall, you know, your overall.

And by the way, a lot of these supplements don't do anything.

I think we're living in a time when we are all chasing youth and longevity has become such a huge, huge brand in itself that people keep on creating these products that actually have zero reg, there's no FDA regulation on any of these things.

There's zero efficacy on these things.

And so like, I believe that people need to be super, super careful of where and who they're getting their information and like do their research.

Because a ton of supplements that come my way, I'm like, are you kidding me?

Like, it's snake oil.

Yeah.

You know, like, there's certain things I think are really good, but I know the source.

And I think that there are certain supplements that are essential because we can't get it in our foods necessarily, or that, like I said, like, I think they're doing a very specific thing.

But overall, I mean, you can't just be like taking everything willy-nilly yeah so these are this is the this is the stuff that I think is really important are you ready and then I want to hear your list okay

I think that omega-3 is really important I think vitamin D with K2 has to be taken together or it's not gonna do what you need it to do won't it won't digest absorb I think that creatine is very important.

It's not just for bodybuilders anymore.

And I believe, well, protein, I like, that's not really a supplement.

And I also do take NAD.

I take triniogen.

And a reason why I've been taking that is because it's a molecule that our bodies actually make that we actually stop making as I think after the age of 30 as we age.

But what this does, it's a precursor.

So it basically makes, it tells your body, basically you take the supplement, but it gets your body to make it on its own.

That's always a better show.

Way better thing.

Way better thing to do.

Than just like taking something that's a supplement on, like, that's it.

Yeah.

And so a lot of these other things are complete, I hate to say it, completely unnecessary.

Yeah.

And it's just like,

you're throwing your money down the drain.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What do you think?

What do you want to do?

You want to refund those specifically or talk about what I know?

First, I want to hear what you take.

So right now, I am actually taking creatine.

You don't always take it?

No.

Why?

So creatine is a great supplement.

I think it's the most, we've spoken about this.

The most researched.

The most researched supplement ever.

Ever.

Ever.

It's not just for bodybuilders at all.

I think bodybuilding in sports is like a small fraction of that.

I want to say one thing about creatine because I just read this study yesterday.

They did a huge thing for a big research just came out, I think, a couple of days ago,

how creatine actually improves.

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's, yeah.

I just saw that one.

You saw that?

I sent that to my brother-in-law, who's a neurologist.

I have to hear back from him but yeah my mom was diagnosed with alzheimer's so many three months ago so many elderly people it's really sad and so i i i'm really always on the lookout for anything that can like just like give her like a 0.01 super um advantage promising yeah it was really promising the creatine alzheimer studies people are into studies to check that one out that was really i looked that up that was really promising no so let me just say that again for people because i think it's this is really important if you know of somebody or if you have any type of, I think for, I shouldn't even say that.

What I should say is just forget about the muscle

for

lean muscle mass, forget about performance.

Let's put that aside.

If you're somebody who just wants to have overall better brain health, it helps with your memory and overall cognitive skills.

You should start taking creatine.

You should start taking it.

Because I think it's very, very helpful.

But I would say also, and that's not me, that's the study that we saw.

But I do think also knowing where you're getting it from, very important.

Yeah, some of them have like heavy metals and stuff in them.

Well, you have to make sure, this is another thing.

If you're going to take any supplements, make sure they're third-party tested.

Make sure that they have a really high regulation.

So I take Momentous because they have an NSF regulation and they're third-party tested, which means I think NSF is like the highest you can have.

And so it's a trusted source.

So if you don't want to, I don't care what, what brand you take, but make sure you're not just taking some like, you know, brand that you saw on Instagram that your favorite influencer is taking, because who knows, they can be getting paid for it.

You never know.

And I also think that if you're in for creatine, have you heard of whitewash versus acid wash?

No.

I think that's what it's called.

I'm not sure, but the one I, the momentous one, it has, it's creature, I think it is.

It's whitewash.

I don't even know what that means exactly, but

I listened to Dr.

Stacey Sims and she said that's very important.

Okay.

Well, I'll take Dr.

Stacey Sims' word for it.

Yeah.

So I also interrupted you.

I'm sorry.

Tell me what you take.

I'm not sure exactly where I was.

But creatine I take, and I think with things like creatine, what's awesome about creatine is because it's such a foundational building block of like everything in our body, because it's part of the energy system, the ATP system.

Anyway, don't want to go too far into the science and I also don't know it that well.

Right.

But

I know it's a foundational kind of building block for a lot of your processes in the body.

So it has multiple benefits.

Like all boats rise with the tide.

It's not just for muscles.

It's not just for your brain.

It's not just for your

energy.

It's not just for, you know, they give it to women to increase their baby's birth weight.

Are you talking about creatine still?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So when you have a supplement, my point is that when you have a supplement that does just these really wide-ranging, has these really wide-ranging benefits, chances are it's because your body is supposed to have it naturally.

And creating, if you were, if you were eating as nature intended, you probably wouldn't need to supplement so much because well, you can find creatine, I believe.

Like, you get it in meat, right?

Red meat.

That's that's what I'm saying.

Right?

Like, you can get a lot of these things.

I mean, people don't eat enough red meat.

People don't eat enough protein.

But the other thing, oh, I find this also, I should, I kind of like,

I was remiss.

I also forgot I also take at night, not in the morning, I take magnesium.

Yeah.

Because again, again,

same thing.

It does like everything.

You know, it does.

I don't think there's anything that you could mention that magnesium doesn't enhance if you're low in it and you supplement with it, that it doesn't improve, you know, digestive health, energy, skin, hair, and nails, sleep, obviously, is the big one that most people take magnesium for.

So, but I want to say something also.

So, wait, you take creatine.

I take magnesium too.

Okay.

So, you take magnesium, you take creatine.

Anything else?

I think that's about actually gpc it's a form of choline

which is naturally present in eggs so it helps with brain performance if you were to eat a diet rich in choline which i think eggs is the main eggs and liver are like common some of the main source you probably wouldn't need it need it as as much but i'm just not eating as much as i usually do so i'm supplementing with alpha gpc it's for brain health essentially see this is the thing like you can talk about performance there's so many different things out there that say that they are for brain health, but do they really help brain health?

Like, I have a reason for taking everything.

I take like the true niogen for recovery and for energy and cellular health.

I take my vitamin D for, I mean, I think everyone takes vitamin D at this point.

Yeah.

I take omega-3.

I mean, I for, I take omega-3.

I think I take vitamin D, by the way.

You don't?

No.

Why?

Because I get a lot of sunlight.

So that's interesting.

So they say even with sunlight, because we live in California.

Like my wife is low and she's much lighter than me.

So it should be easy for her to get it.

You know what?

I will say

I'm not.

I want to say something else that I think it's important for people to make sure before they even supplement to get it blood panel.

Yeah, she just see where you're deficient.

Yeah.

Don't just like just like randomly, oh, okay, you know, willy-nilly, just start taking something because you may think that you need vitamin D, like, but not need it, or you may think you don't need something and then need it.

Yeah.

And then also get retested again in six months.

To see if it's working or your supplements actually being absorbed.

Yeah.

To see to see if your supplements are even being absorbed or if now you're over, if you're, you might be over the limit that you should be.

That's what happened with me and vitamin D.

I was taking like, you know, the 5,000 ICUs like they everyone, everyone says to take.

And then I was taking it for so long that when I got my blood back, I was like, they're like, actually, you're taking too much of it.

You got to back off.

Yeah, it can be toxic in high enough doses.

Most people are just low because, again, it goes back to nature.

Like, we are not meant to be indoors all the time.

Like in nature, you're very rarely indoors.

and we've evolved for a natural living.

So in our society, in modern Western world, we're indoors.

Yeah.

And that's why we need to supplement with D and darker skinned people are going to need a lot more.

If you're darker skinned and you're living in a colder place, you know, if you're dark and you're living in Europe, you know, Western Europe or you're living in New York, you're going to need a lot more vitamin D than other people.

So there's a, there's a, you know, you're working with nature is my point.

You should be working with nature and you should learn a little bit about how nature works and use that as a springboard for yourself.

I think that's too, honestly, no offense, but I think that's a little complicated to work with nature and know how nature works.

That's not really how most people would.

No, they don't, but I think it would fix a lot.

Or like, why don't you just like be like, kind of be kind of like.

in tune with where where you have symptoms if you feel tired all the time or lethargic maybe you know maybe then you should well then you should get a test to see like what you're really low in.

Maybe it's because you, you're, you know, maybe, I'm not, I'm not a doctor.

But you intuitively already do this.

Like, I know you walk everywhere.

I walk everywhere.

That's being in tune with your nature.

I, no, that's because I don't like to sit still.

And I think better when I move.

And so I walk and

you're listening to your body.

True.

Yeah.

And

so I think better when I walk.

And that's the other thing.

And what's the other reason why I like to walk?

I like, oh, my mood.

Yeah.

My mood.

Most important thing.

Because if I don't move for an extended period of time, my mood dips.

My energy dips.

Energy begets energy.

Like the more I move, the more energy I have.

The less I move, the less energy I have.

That's why when people say they don't like, they're too tired to exercise.

I never understand that because if you actually exercise, you will feel way more energetic afterwards.

That's a big problem people have is they think they need to give energy to work out.

And it's fundamentally

a fundamental difference in how fit people see working out and how non-fit, meaning people who don't have the habit of working out, see fitness, is that they think they need to go to the gym to

give energy.

And we know that you go to the gym to get energy.

There's energy in you.

It's there.

Nobody doesn't have any energy in there.

Most of the time I work out.

Most of the time I work out, I'm not in the mood.

I'm very rarely interested in like working out.

I'm exhausted, I'm tired, I've got a ton of shit to do.

But every single time I've done it, I feel way better and I get more done and I have way more energy.

And that workout actually wasn't as bad as I thought.

It's the first five, 10, 15 minutes that suck, but then you get into like, you know, you get into the groove.

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Okay, so let me just finish what I was saying about supplements.

And I want to like stay on target here.

So number one, know the source that you're getting them from.

Very important.

Get your blood tested before you take it so you know what you're actually deficient in and get it to retested six months later.

You should be getting your blood tested every six months just to know that you're on point.

And don't over supplement.

And the other thing I wanted to say was cycle your supplements because I think your bodies can also become very,

this is how I, this is how I see it.

Like if I take my allergies, I've got really bad allergies.

And if I take my allergy medication every single day, my body becomes immune to the effects of it.

So it doesn't even work.

I become desensitized.

So I have to cycle everything.

I cycle my supplements too.

So I'll do like with my allergy medication, I'll do two weeks on, four days off, two weeks on, because I, because if I don't take my allergy medication, it's like I'm a mess.

People have been talking about allergies a lot recently.

Yeah, well, the allergies, it's really bad right now, but you need to cycle everything.

So if you're taking, whatever you're taking, whatever you're supplementing with, you need to like give it a break, like three weeks on, one week off, one month on, one month off, just so your body doesn't get acclimated to anything.

And I find that to be super helpful.

Yeah, there's no supplement I take 24-7, 365.

I'll always take breaks from supplements if I take them.

There's also like, I should say, also, there's other things that I kind of like weave in my routine, but I don't take it as often as I do the omega-3, the creatine, and like the, what was the other one?

NAD, what was the other one I said?

Magnesium at night.

I take sometimes I take liposomal vitamin C once in a while and I take NAC.

Do you know what NAC is?

It's going to be your liver, isn't it?

It's like, it's like the precursor to glutathione, which is like a massively strong best antioxidant.

So I take that sometimes too.

Do you feel a difference?

No, I don't feel a difference at all with anything, but I will say that's to be true, if I was being honest.

But that to me is because I think it's like, I was told if you take it all the time, again, like it doesn't have the same effect.

Yeah.

My supplement protocol and philosophy on supplements is always constantly evolving.

It's always changing.

And so is the science on a lot of supplements.

Yeah, there's a lot of supplements I might have been under, like, I'm just like, why?

Why?

But okay, well, hopefully that was a little bit informative for you guys.

This is supposed to be very short to the point episodes.

So hopefully you gleaned at least a couple of things, right?

Get your blood checked, cycle your supplement so your body doesn't get acclimated to it.

Don't over supplement.

Don't replace it with your diet and/or exercise and/or sleep.

It's a supplement for a reason called supplementing yourself.

And yeah, check out Leron.

What's your Instagram?

At BeyondFitness L-A.

B-E-Y-O-N-D-F-I-T-N-E-S-S-L-A.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Bye.