Supplements I Regret Taking (and What I’d Do Now)

Name: Supplements I Regret Taking (and What I’d Do Now)
Uploaded: 2026-03-19T16:00:10.000Z
Duration: 11 min 6 s
Channel: Renaissance Periodization

Renaissance PeriodizationMarch 19, 202611m

Topics7

Introduction to Supplement Regrets0:00 Supplement 1: Creatine Ethyl Ester1:00 Supplement 2: Non-Stimulant Fat Burners2:31 Supplement 3: Leucine Powder4:02 Supplement 4: Casein Protein5:30 Supplement 5: Cheap Whey Concentrate Powder7:30 Key Takeaways and Recommendations10:00

In a Nutshell

Dr. Mike regrets wasting money on creatine ethyl ester (ineffective due to stomach breakdown; use creatine monohydrate instead), non-stimulant fat burners (negligible effects; prioritize calorie deficit and 10k steps), leucine powder (disgusting and unnecessary with high-quality proteins), and cheap whey concentrate (gut issues from lactose; switch to whey isolate, hydrolysate, or BLG). Casein protein is useful for slow-digesting needs like pre-bed but not magical—Greek yogurt or lean meats work similarly. Stick to basics: food (95% of gains), creatine monohydrate, quality protein powder, and select vitamins/minerals; avoid exotic supplements.

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I'm a walking pharmacy and you don't want to end up like me, bald, desperate, pathetic, and addicted to masturbation. If you can't tell at all when you're very keenly paying attention, probably not doing shit. You will consume it and then it will 30 minutes later come out of your asshole. Roughly the same. Many of the supplements at the supplement store are either repackaged versions of these things or in many cases just don't have a main effect. Like they kind of do nothing to be completely honest.

Hey folks, Dr. Mike here for RP Strength. I've taken plenty of supplements over the years. While a few categories of supplements are effective, most of the rest are kind of a waste of money. Here are some of the supplements I've taken that I sort of regret and why you should consider maybe avoiding them.

My experience with creatine ethyl ester is that it didn't do anything. I couldn't feel anything. Nothing happened to my reps. Typically with creatine things definitely happen.

Creatine ethyl ester has a huge mechanistic flaw. It gets broken down in the acidic environment of the gut. It was supposed to be better than creatine monohydrate because it's more lipophilic. It's more attracted to fat globules and so it can move through your cell membrane and doesn't need the creatine transporter. So potentially you get more creatine into the cell. But in practice, this compound was found to break down quickly in the acidic environment of the stomach and convert into creatinine, which in the stomach is harmless, but it's primarily excreted.

Advice: Almost certainly pass on creatine ethyl ester. By far the most well-vetted in the research and effective type of creatine is regular old creatine monohydrate. It's the most readily available and usually the cheapest. It's a win across all things. What I use now is creatine monohydrate. It's cheap, it's effective, there's unbelievable amounts of data. It's safe. It's easy to get.

Big regret: non-stimulant fat burners. I'm really sensitive to stimulants. I almost never take them. But fat burning is a cool thing that I like. So I tried some non-stimulant fat burners back in undergrad and college. My experience: Nothing happened. I did a fat loss phase like I normally do and just couldn't tell.

These often have ingredients like berberine, capsaicin, and green tea extract. These mechanistically do help with fat burning, but they're such teeny-tiny effects that even the three of them stacked together fall way below noticeable energy or fat burning effects. Some might have some effects over the long term, but usually not much.

Feel free to try them, but in real life, it's mostly stimulants and real medications like tirzepatide that work the best for fat loss. And when tirzepatide finally gets here, holy shit, that'll be the holy grail. If you're looking for non-stimulant fat burners to give you a hypothetical theoretical edge that's immeasurable, sweet. You cost money, though. If you're looking for it to make an impact on a fat loss phase, you're looking in the wrong place.

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Supplements I Regret Taking (and What I’d Do Now)

Introduction to Supplement Regrets00:00

Supplement 1: Creatine Ethyl Ester01:00

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