The Swoly Trinity: The 3 Best Supplements For Gym Rats

Are you familiar with the swoly trinity? Its the 3 best supplements for gym rats: Protein Powder, Pre-Workout, and Creatine. Supplement must-haves if you want to get the most out of each workout and gain muscle. When you’re sweating through your super sets, these supps help fuel new PRs, stave off failure, and support muscle growth. 

Below we break down the swoly trinity of protein, pre-workout, and creatine and fill you in on some of our favorite brands.

The age old question: Should I take protein supplements before or after my workout?

Yes.

Protein packs you with amino acids, which is essential for muscle growth and exercise performance, according to Medical News Today. And not only will you see muscle mass gains, but you’ll also experience less deterioration from maxing out on resistance exercise.

And that’s where the post-workout benefits of protein come in. Supplementing helps your body regrow muscle proteins faster, too, Healthline reports. Don’t forget to consume some carbs after a tough workout, as well. But that part’s easy.

In our opinion, Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein is the ticket. Each 24-gram serving of this caffeine-free protein powder will nurture your muscles before and after a workout. And it comes in many delicious low-sugar flavors.

Our flavor pick? You can’t go wrong with Double Rich Chocolate. Take that, Ovaltine.

Going from 0 to max isn’t easy, unless you’re being chased by a grizzly who thinks your body spray smells like bacon. When you don’t have a grizzly handy, you’ll need a pre-workout supplement to give you the burst of energy you need to make it through a tough workout.

But staving off fatigue with your pre-workout regimen isn’t about just taking it when you’re not feeling energetic enough to do your reps. According to studies, consistently taking your pre-workout supplement can help keep your energy up long-term, WebMD reports. 

We love Gorilla Mode’s Pre-Workout Formula. It supercharges your nitric oxide levels to help energize your workout and gives your muscles the blood and hydration they need with a roundhouse punch of caffeine, betaine, L-citrulline, agmatine, and glycerpump.

We’ve got to be honest. Gorilla Mode comes in a lot of great flavors, but we’re huge fans of Bombsicle. Not only does this cherry, lime, and blue raspberry concoction have an awesome name, it’s flavor is so enchanting that it could stop a charging gorilla in its tracks (Editor’s note: We didn’t find a gorilla to test this, so we can’t scientifically verify Gorilla Mode’s gorilla stopping power).

When you chow down on a steak, your body naturally converts some of the amino acids you’re consuming into creatine, feeding your muscles. But high reps and heavy lifts burns a lot of energy, making the burst of strength you need during a tough workout fizzle into a nothing burger. Supplementing with creatine gives your muscles more energy, improving muscle strength and growth. Research also shows that creatine may increase the levels of hormones involved in muscle growth.

Creatine monohydrate supplements are also important for aiding your recovery between sets, according to Men’s Health. They can even enhance your brain function.

When you’re looking for the best creatine supplements, sifting through all the options can be overwhelming — not just because there are so many brands but also because creatine mono comes in so many different forms. You can swirl creatine powder into a drink, swallow creatine pills, take creatine chews, or try creatine gummies.

But we’ve tried all kinds of creatine supplements, and after having to force ourselves to ingest some of them because they’re just dang unpleasant, we found ourselves coming back again and again to gummy supplements. They’re quick, convenient, and fun to take. 

We love the strawberry-flavored SWOLY Creatine Mono gummies. They’re gluten-free, gelatin-free, and low in sugar and pack tons of creatine into each serving.