A frank, evidence-based guide to the supplements that actually do something — and the ones that do not.
The supplement industry is worth billions, and very little of that money is spent on the actual product. It's spent on marketing. Search for advice on creatine, beta-alanine or electrolytes and you'll find a wall of blog posts written by brands trying to sell you the thing they're describing. The information isn't neutral, and it isn't designed to help you decide — it's designed to make you buy.
That leaves most athletes in the same position: spending money on compounds with weak or no supporting data, while under-dosing or ignoring the handful of ingredients with genuinely strong evidence behind them. Dose, timing and formulation matter enormously, and they're precisely the details that get skipped.
This guide aims to correct that. It covers the main supplement categories used in strength training, combat sports, Hyrox and so on — what each one does mechanistically, the strength of evidence behind it, effective dosing, and when they’re not worth your money. Everything is tiered by quality of evidence so you can see exactly how much confidence to place in each recommendation.
This guide covers ingredients and categories that we don't make, and is not a sales pitch for DRVN. It is just as willing to tell you something doesn't work as it is to tell you something does, written by a veterinary surgeon with a clinical background in fluid balance and electrolyte physiology, for the simple reason that this information should exist in a format that isn't trying to sell you anything. Take the guide and use it to work out which supplements are best for you.