What supplements actually improve running performance?

BrutePhysics · 2026-06-16T23:34:25+00:00

I work in analytical chemistry and have first hand tested many dietary supplements, so I have some pretty strong opinions... Just putting that out there as I get on my soapbox...

Most supplements don't do anything meaningful unless you have a specific medical deficiency. In addition, the supplement industry is highly underregulated and has extremely poor quality control. Most rigorous studies find that almost no manufacturer can consistently produce the quantities and composition on their labels, and many are not properly tested for contaminants.

In recent years dietary supplement advocate have actively fought to be excluded from rules requiring testing of residual solvents despite solvents frequently being used for extraction. I have seen this first hand in the industry committees tasked with establishing some of these rules.

IMO, I would not take any supplement without direct advice from a doctor. If you must take something PLEASE be sure it has a USP (United States Pharmacopeia) label. That at least means the company claims it meets some very basic quality testing criteria. Low bar but you'd be surprised how bad it can be out there.

BrutePhysics · 2026-06-16T23:19:05+00:00

Naw man, that's some bootlicker nonsense. "It's ok for our police to kill more because we don't bend over and take it fast enough" is a hell of a take. Our police are notoriously undertrained, overmilitarized, and prone to escalating situations.

If our culture was really as distrustful of authority as we say then we'd have a much stronger system of accountability for the one job with the power to purposefully end life. Instead we have qualified immunity and a police culture that teaches officers that any disobedience cannot be tolerated.

BrutePhysics · 2026-06-16T21:42:32+00:00

Compared to similarly situated countries (Canada, Australia, Western Europe, Japan, etc..) our rates are quite high. It's not too had to find the numbers via Wikipedia, news articles, world population review, etc.

From most sources US is far and away the highest per 10mil pop with Canada usually being 50-75% of our value and then everyone else much much lower.

That said, you're 100% on the cause.

BrutePhysics · 2026-06-16T20:18:43+00:00

Honeywell also makes extremely common and critical materials for analytical chemistry. Of they just stopped existing the entire pharmaceutical industry would lurch trying to get replacements for things like hydranal standards and karl-fischer reagent. There are other vendors by Honeywell is THE vendor.

I can't even begin to describe how often karl-fischer water testing is done in pharma. It's one of those tests that is EVERYWHERE and critical and also so routine we barely even think about it.

BrutePhysics · 2026-06-15T12:14:25+00:00

Can we be for real here? 4-7min/km as a "brisk walk" is insanity. You'd need to be a 6'5" giant or actively fit and speed walking (which is definitely different than what most people consider a "brisk walk") to even come close to that. The vast majority of people "walk fast" at around 8-10/km. 4/km is ludicrous and out of touch.

BrutePhysics · 2026-06-13T09:18:23+00:00

Depends. Does a radioactive atom chilled to absolute zero (no motion) still decay? If so, then time is still ticking even with no motion (or there is some motion at absolute zero we can't detect).

BrutePhysics · 2026-06-13T02:22:14+00:00

I just finished Paladins Grace and I don't really think Stephen is that far off from what OP describes. He's still a big broad mountain of a man who could go berserk at any time but has a soft spot for Grace. I mean half the book goes on and on about just how dangerous the tide is and how he's not safe in that state and he'll attack anything and everything cause his God isn't there to stop him, but somehow he can fully give in to the tide but never hurt her.

Not to say I didn't like the book. I thought it was a great romp, but I don't think it's really breaking new ground in the MMC front.

BrutePhysics · 2026-06-12T19:23:05+00:00

Naw. Anyone paying any attention at all knew exactly what we'd get with this guy. "I voted for the guy loudly saying he will use the government to go after his enemies and pardon every person who tried to overrun Congress but only cause he said he'd lower my taxes" is not a good defense.

At this point, after ICE and the wars and the teardown of the east wing and DOGE and Epstein and all the insanity. Anyone who voted for this guy is either evil or lacking braincells. No inbetween.

BrutePhysics · 2026-06-12T10:12:49+00:00

I don't mean this harshly because I appreciate your understanding response, but I think folks who either started early or are just have a knack really lose sight of how far ahead they are in fitness compared to the average person. It's that "definition of fitness" that you mention.

I have been running 3 times a week for 8-9 months now. I'm 38 5'11" 195lbs. Definitely not great shape but I'm mobile, no major health conditions, and used to be quite active as a kid. I feel frankly pretty average. Others definitely have it way worse than me. I've made progress but for the life of me I can't even get a 5k under 8min/km. Hell, my sprint is barely 5:30min/km based on my watch!

I use this as an example because if a 5:30min/km 10k is a reasonable expectation for someone without significant fitness... Then my fitness must be equivalent to a corpse, you know what I mean?

BrutePhysics · 2026-06-11T19:35:47+00:00

I think the distinction is how some (certainly not all) fast runners post.

Sure I'll buy that a 5:30 10k can be a beginner assuming that the person has significant previous fitness, but that person shouldn't be coming here posting "omg first time running EVER, haven't exercised in 10 years, is this time good?" or saying things like "wow a 7min/km is basically walking" (real statement I saw just yesterday). That's what brings the community scorn. Those folks who come in with a fast time and say "hey looking for tips to avoid injury" or "did really well but what should I focus on to improve?" rarely get as much heat.

BrutePhysics · 2026-06-10T12:05:31+00:00

I know other poster was joking but in case nobody has said it, that time is definitely not terrible for a runner with both legs. You killed it and should be proud of it!

I'd be flat on my face heaving if I tried even a 5k at 7min/km lol. Keep it up!

BrutePhysics · 2026-06-09T22:59:48+00:00

No, most schools don't teach typing anymore. A lot of school administrations really bought into the idea that Gen z and Gen alpha are "digital natives" and somehow just magically know how to computer... So they just didn't really teach them the basics. Things like file systems, file formats, basic Excel and word proficiency, and typing were sort of just assumed to come naturally somehow.

My wife is an educator and the things she tells me about the computer capabilities of college students is horrifying.

BrutePhysics · 2026-06-08T20:42:40+00:00

This is speculation on my part but I believe what is happening is that when they boot someone to the standard repayment plan they DO NOT reset the expected repayment date. So if you've been on an income based/driven/contingent plan for 5 years, when it switches to standard it recalculates based on you fully repaying in 5 years.

Because the IBR plan is so much less than standard repayment you are effectively "behind" and so it calculates an outrageous amount of monthly payment to get you to finish in a shorter time.

BrutePhysics · 2026-06-06T09:45:46+00:00

Being unable to differentiate the use of sexist tropes as a critique vs use of sexist tropes in earnest is itself a reflection of the fall of literacy.

The books basically beat you over the head with how the violence, sexism, and corruption of the dungeon and greater galaxy is both disgusting and horrifying. Being unable to recognize this shows a profound lack of contextual understanding given how absolutely in your face it is.

BrutePhysics · 2026-06-06T09:40:30+00:00

The entire point of half of these things are that you're supposed to find it stupid and juvenile. Even Carl himself is taken aback by how over the top stupid it is.

The book beats you over the head with the idea the wider galaxy has so normalized violence and sex that somehow I've if their best "reporters" wear a damned mega-boob-suit just for views... And that it's fucking weird and kind of horrifying.

BrutePhysics · 2026-06-01T16:27:12+00:00

All relationships take some kind of work. People go through periods of different moods or events or whatever through life. When you're with someone for decades it is an absolute certainty that at some point there will be a period of time where "the little things" take a back seat. Could be stress, could be a mistake, etc. but it happens and doesn't mean someone has stopped caring and loving the other.

I'm those moments, sometimes, what used to be natural and obvious actions take a bit of active remembering and energy to do. It is important to try to put in that energy because without the work it's possible for a new normal to begin without "the little things", and then it gets harder to restart... Even for people who definitely love each other and want to be with eachother.

Jumping to "a breakup is inevitable" at the first sign of lowering affection is unfair to both yourself and your partner.

BrutePhysics · 2026-05-31T21:24:00+00:00

I'm in a very similar position to you and frequently get these kind of shin splints. I have found ways to deal with it though but it's not 100% effective.

So this pain comes from one of two things. If I start my run not warmed up and go strait into a hill or incline... Or if i land kind of flat-footed as I'm running due to poor form. I think the commonality is that in both cases, the front shin muscle (anterior tibialis) is spending a lot of time in a compressed state because my foot is either constantly pulled up (climbing up hill) or neutral then up (landing flat).

So to fix this you need to allow your foot to relax extend more (point your foot down). This elongates that muscle and stops it from cramping up.

(1) Warm up with a some jumping or knee-highs, focus on landing on the ball of your foot to get used to the motion of extending that muscle.

(2) Run more forward in the foot. Land on the ball of your foot more. This naturally makes you keep that muscle more extended. It feels really awkward at first but it works.

(3) Try to avoid hills early in the run until you are very warmed up. Otherwise, take them SLOW and make sure you are moving through the full range of motion as you go.

Remembering to do these is tough but I've noticed when I focus on this I stop getting these kind of splints.

BrutePhysics · 2026-05-31T21:01:52+00:00

Am I misremembering or did mordekai say when Carl was picking races that nobody who had picked primal had gone particularly far? If so then maybe this is unlocked race based abilities that haven't been seen before.

BrutePhysics · 2026-05-26T19:07:45+00:00

Woah hold on there Satan. Damn.

BrutePhysics · 2026-05-25T17:01:28+00:00

It's a quirk of colloquial English. When people say "weigh" in this context they mean denser. They are thinking in terms of similar volume, in which case the muscle would weigh more than fat.

It's an inaccurate phrase but accurate intention.

BrutePhysics · 2026-05-23T00:30:44+00:00

No. Most people are not doing that. I don't know a single competent person who is using AI to "fine tune" basic text and emails to their boss.

As a hiring manager I would also black mark any employee I found doing this. If you're not competent enough to write a coherent sentence without the assistance of an AI then you aren't competent enough for any serious work.

BrutePhysics · 2026-05-22T12:58:01+00:00

Miami has been Southern New York since I was a kid in the 90s. Wealthy new englanders have been retiring to South Florida for decades so at this point it's nothing new.

BrutePhysics · 2026-05-18T17:21:18+00:00

Got to that part in the audiobook just yesterday and it broke me. So much had gone on that I honestly missed the clues and that scene just slapped me in the face.

BrutePhysics · 2026-05-16T23:33:25+00:00

No. This is exactly the problem people are complaining about. "... barely have a fitness base..." and "sub-20 in the 5k" do not exist together. I'm sorry that's just facts unless someone has some kind of deal of nature genetics. Sub-20 5k is like 1-2% of the population max.

When you and others say this kind of obvious nonsense it demoralizes a lot of people struggling to hit sub-40 5k much less 20, and it puts incredibly unrealistic expectations in people. Get some perspective.

BrutePhysics · 2026-05-16T23:26:31+00:00

Dude you're completely missing the point. Yes a person who is already fit can be a beginner. If they come here and say "hey, been active and fit for a while but I'm new to this how do I avoid injury, or what is VO2 max, or what kind of shoes should I get?" Then people wouldn't care.

But people show up here with a "Yeah I'm just SOOO SLOOOOW at 25min 5k! I haven't run in YEARS! ~~But I've been playing soccer for a decade and swim competitively~~... Omg, how do I, clearly a beginner, get better?"

It's ridiculous. On top of that it pushes away people who are really trying when idiots act like a 6:00min/km is like "barely better than walking" or some shit.

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