Supplements That Are Worth It (and Most That Aren't)

The supplement aisle is mostly marketing

Walk into any supplement store in Seattle and you will see hundreds of bottles, all promising to make you stronger, leaner, faster, more focused, more recovered. The reality is that 4 to 6 supplements have strong evidence for general athletes. Everything else is either situational or marketing.

This post is the honest tier list we use with members at Persistence Athletics in Belltown. What is worth your money, what is situational, and what to walk past. No affiliate links, no brand pushes, just what the science actually supports for CrossFit and HYROX athletes.

I am Jacque Dewangan, CFL3 and Precision Nutrition Level 2, head coach at Persistence Athletics. Updated April 2026.

Table of Contents

• Tier 1: worth it for almost every athlete
• Tier 2: situational, depends on your training
• Tier 3: skip these
• Cost framing: where to spend your supplement budget
• How we coach supplements at Persistence Athletics
• Frequently Asked Questions

Tier 1: worth it for almost every athlete

These four have decades of evidence, are cheap, and apply to almost every member training 3 or more days a week.

Supplement	Daily dose	Cost per month	Why it works
Protein powder	1 to 2 scoops	$25 to $40	Convenient way to hit daily protein target
Creatine monohydrate	5 g	$5 to $10	Strength, recovery, lean mass
Vitamin D3	1000 to 2000 IU	$5	Hormones, bone health, mood (PNW critical)
Fish oil (EPA/DHA)	1 to 2 g	$15 to $25	Joint health, recovery, inflammation

Total monthly cost: roughly $50 to $80. That is the entire core supplement stack for a CrossFit or HYROX athlete.

Protein powder

Whey isolate is the standard. It is fast-digesting, high in BCAAs (which is why you do not need to buy them separately), and inexpensive per gram of protein. For members who do not tolerate dairy, a pea-and-rice vegan blend hits a similar amino acid profile.

Why it matters: most members at Persistence are 30 to 60 g short of their daily protein target. A single scoop after training closes that gap on most days. The protein from food is still better, but a shake at the right moment is the difference between hitting target and missing.

What to look for: at least 24 g of protein per scoop, under 5 g of carbs, no proprietary blends. Brand does not matter much. Third-party tested for purity is a nice bonus (Informed Sport, NSF Certified).

Creatine monohydrate

The most studied supplement in sports science. 5 g per day, taken with any meal, no loading phase needed. It increases the muscle's ability to regenerate ATP, which is the energy currency for short, hard efforts. CrossFit metcons are exactly that.

Effects show up in 3 to 4 weeks: 5 to 10 percent more reps on a working set, slightly heavier top sets, faster recovery between rounds. Members who add creatine to a training-and-protein baseline typically see noticeable gains within a month.

Plain creatine monohydrate. Not "Kre-Alkalyn", not "creatine HCL", not anything with extra letters. The cheap stuff is the well-studied stuff.

Vitamin D3

This is the Seattle special. Seattle averages fewer than 70 sunny days a year, and from October through April the sun is too low in the sky for your skin to make vitamin D regardless of cloud cover. Most Belltown members test below optimal when they check.

Low vitamin D shows up as mood drops, slow recovery, more frequent illness, and worse sleep. The fix is cheap and the dose is small. 1000 to 2000 IU per day with a meal that has fat (the vitamin is fat-soluble). Get a blood test once a year if your insurance covers it. Adjust dose based on results.

Fish oil (EPA/DHA)

Omega-3 fatty acids that the standard American diet is short on. They support joint health, reduce training-induced inflammation, and may improve recovery between hard sessions. The evidence is solid but less dramatic than creatine.

Look for at least 1 g combined EPA + DHA per dose. Read the supplement facts panel, not the front of the bottle. Many "1000 mg fish oil" capsules have only 300 mg of actual omega-3s.

Tier 2: situational, depends on your training

These have evidence behind them but are not for everyone. Use if the situation matches.

Caffeine (pre-workout)

100 to 200 mg about 30 minutes before high-effort training. Strong evidence for endurance and high-intensity performance. A cup of coffee delivers this, no special supplement required.

When it helps: morning sessions when you are not naturally awake, late-afternoon sessions after a draining workday, race-day or competition warm-ups.

When to skip: evening sessions if you sleep poorly, or if you are sensitive (some members get the jitters and shaky lifts from caffeine timing).

Skip the proprietary-blend pre-workouts. A 200 mg caffeine pill or a cup of coffee plus a banana does the same job for $5 a month versus $50.

Beta-alanine

Buffers the burn during sustained efforts in the 60 second to 4 minute range. The exact zone where CrossFit metcons and HYROX stations live. 3 to 5 g per day, split into smaller doses to avoid the harmless skin tingle.

When it helps: members training for HYROX races, members doing a lot of moderate-duration metcons (10 to 25 minute conditioning), athletes who consistently fail in the second half of a hard piece.

When to skip: pure strength athletes (sets under 30 seconds do not benefit), members who already feel strong in the metcon middle and lose pace from running fitness, not the burn.

Effects show up in 4 to 6 weeks. It accumulates in muscle slowly. There is no acute pre-workout effect.

Electrolytes

For sessions over 90 minutes, training in heat, or heavy sweat losses on consecutive days. The hydration cluster post covers this in more depth.

When it helps: HYROX prep weeks with 2-hour sessions, summer outdoor training when Seattle finally hits 80 degrees, members who are heavy sweaters and cramp despite drinking water.

When to skip: standard 60-minute classes for normal-sweat-rate members. Plain water handles it. Do not buy the office-job recovery drinks marketed as electrolytes; you are not depleted from sitting at a desk.

Look for at least 500 mg sodium per serving. Most grocery-store sport drinks have far less than the actual physiology demands.

Tier 3: skip these

The bottles you walk past. The marketing budget on these dwarfs the science.

BCAAs

Branched-chain amino acids: leucine, isoleucine, valine. The supplement that defined the 2010s bodybuilding aisle. Useless if you eat enough protein.

Why: every complete protein source already contains all three BCAAs in good ratios. Whey, chicken, eggs, beef, fish, dairy. If you hit your daily protein target, you are getting plenty of BCAAs. Adding more in powder form is paying for amino acids you already have on your plate.

Why they got popular: they were marketed during a time when bodybuilders were eating very low-calorie cutting diets and protein totals were sometimes too low. The fix was more protein, but BCAAs sold as a workaround. The fix is still more protein. Skip the BCAAs.

Pre-workout proprietary blends

The 15-ingredient pre-workouts hiding doses behind "Energy Blend 4500 mg." If a label does not show you the dose of each individual ingredient, the brand is hiding something. Either the dose is below what works, or the cheap ingredients dominate the blend and the studied ones are sprinkled in.

Skip the hidden blends. If you want pre-workout caffeine, buy caffeine pills or drink coffee.

Fat burners

Almost universally either ineffective or stimulant-heavy. The handful of compounds that produce small fat-loss effects (caffeine, green tea catechins) are cheap to buy individually. The "advanced fat burner" formulas are 90 percent marketing.

Most members who try fat burners report jittery feelings, sleep disruption, and at most a 1 to 2 lb difference over 12 weeks of use. The same period running a structured 15 percent calorie deficit produces 12 to 16 lb of real fat loss.

Test boosters and muscle blends

Bottles of herbs and minerals claiming to boost testosterone, muscle growth, or "natural anabolics." If any of these worked dramatically they would be banned by sports organizations. They are not banned because they do not work.

A few minerals matter for hormone health (zinc, magnesium, vitamin D), but you can get those individually for $20 a year, not $80 a month for a "test booster."

Greens powders

Some are fine; most are overpriced. A serving of vegetables at lunch and dinner does the same job for less money. If you cannot eat 4 to 6 servings of vegetables a day, a greens powder is a backup, not a primary strategy. Spend the money on actual produce from Pike Place Market or your nearest grocery store.

Cost framing: where to spend your supplement budget

A reasonable monthly supplement budget for an athlete at Persistence is $50 to $100. Here is how to allocate it.

Supplement	Monthly cost	Priority
Protein powder	$30	Essential
Creatine monohydrate	$7	Essential
Vitamin D3	$5	Essential (PNW)
Fish oil	$20	High value
Caffeine (coffee)	included in your routine	Free
Beta-alanine	$15	Optional
Electrolytes	$0 to $25	Situational

Total essentials: $62 a month. Total with optional adds: $90.

If you are already spending more than $100 a month on supplements, reorganize. Most members on a $200 monthly stack are spending the bulk on Tier 3 products. Cut those, redirect to better food, and the body composition and performance results improve.

How we coach supplements at Persistence Athletics

In our nutrition coaching program, supplements are the last conversation, not the first. The first conversations are about daily protein intake, hydration, sleep, and consistency. If those are not in place, no supplement matters.

Once those basics are running, we audit the supplement stack. The most common pattern: a member is spending $150 a month on 8 supplements, and 5 of them are Tier 3. We trim to the four essentials, and they save $50 a month while feeling no worse. Often better, because the proprietary stimulant blends were affecting sleep.

For members training HYROX, we add beta-alanine and a structured electrolyte plan during race prep. For members on a hard cut, we hold protein powder and creatine and skip everything else until the cut is done.

Coach Jacque Dewangan, CFL3 and PNL2, runs the nutrition coaching program. The full coach bio with credentials is at coaches/jacque-dewangan. Most members start with the supplement audit in the first 4 weeks of coaching and save more than the program costs through smarter spending alone.

The honest take: supplements help at the margin. Training, sleep, daily protein, and consistency drive 90 percent of the result. Supplements are the polish, not the foundation. Buy the four essentials, skip everything else, and put the saved money into better groceries.

Frequently Asked Questions

What supplements are actually worth taking for CrossFit?

Four supplements have strong evidence for most CrossFit athletes: protein powder (whey isolate or a vegan blend), creatine monohydrate at 5 g per day, vitamin D (especially through Seattle winters), and fish oil. That short list covers 90 percent of the real benefit available from supplements. Everything else is either situational or marketing.

Is creatine safe to take every day?

Yes. Creatine monohydrate is the most studied supplement in sports science, with decades of safety data at 3 to 5 g per day. It supports strength output, recovery between sets, and lean mass. There is no need to cycle off, no need for a loading phase, and no need for fancy formulations. Plain creatine monohydrate at 5 g per day is the gold standard.

Do I need pre-workout for CrossFit?

Caffeine helps for high-effort sessions if you tolerate it well. 100 to 200 mg about 30 minutes before training is the dose with real evidence. The proprietary blend pre-workouts with 15 ingredients are mostly marketing. A cup of coffee plus a banana does the same job for a fraction of the cost. Avoid pre-workouts that hide caffeine totals behind proprietary blend labels.

Are BCAAs worth taking?

No, not if you eat enough protein. BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids) are already in every complete protein source you eat: chicken, eggs, whey protein, fish, beans. If you hit your daily protein target of 0.8 to 1.0 g per pound, BCAAs add nothing. They became popular in the bodybuilding era of low-protein cutting diets. Modern athletes who eat enough protein can skip them.

Should I take vitamin D in Seattle?

Almost certainly yes, especially from October through April. Seattle gets less than 70 sunny days a year, and the angle of the sun in winter is too low for skin to produce vitamin D regardless of cloud cover. Most Belltown members test below the optimal range when they check. 1000 to 2000 IU per day with a meal that includes fat is the standard recommendation. Get tested if you can.

What supplements should I avoid?

Fat burners, test boosters, muscle growth blends, BCAAs (if you eat enough protein), most pre-workout proprietary blends, and any supplement with vague claims like 'optimize your hormones' or 'unlock your potential.' These are mostly marketing. The supplement industry is loosely regulated, and many products contain less of the active ingredient than the label claims. Spend the money on whole food protein and creatine.

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Try a free first class at Persistence Athletics

If you want a real supplement audit alongside training, your first class at Persistence Athletics in Belltown is free. You can chat with a Precision Nutrition Level 2 coach about the four supplements that actually matter and skip the rest. Book your free class at Persistence Athletics, 3025 1st Ave, Belltown, Seattle. 8 minutes from Amazon, walkable from anywhere in downtown.

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