Supplement Profile: D-Ribose

Most fitness supplements are ineffective, overhyped, expensive ways to help us think we’re doing the best we can to get fit.

I’m going to save you a lot of time doing web research on fitness supplements. If you never take one, you’ll be fine. The best thing you can do for your fitness is to eat the way you should, and get your recommended amount of resistance training per week. Good to go.

All that said—there are a small handful of supplements that are beneficial to helping you perform your best workout, and having that workout produce the best results. This type of product is called an ergogenic aid. The one I’m sharing today is called D-Ribose.

D-Ribose is a sugar that has 5 carbon atoms per molecule. Don’t let the term “sugar” scare you; your body doesn’t see it as a calorie, it’s used in building ATP (The cellular energy you expend when you move, and when your cells do their other things that keep you alive).

The majority of research on D-Ribose shows that it doesn’t help highly trained people perform better, or assist in short-duration high-intensity interval training (That will be creatine in another entry). The bulk of the benefit is in the medium to low intensity exercise and for those who are relatively untrained. (D-Ribose also supports cardiac muscle against congestive heart failure.)

Why I take it, and recommend it: I feel dramatically less fatigued after workouts, because I have important things that require my attention. Some people have asked me for advice on fighting daily fatigue, and D-Ribose has helped tremendously. Just ask my barber.

Here is a link to the best value for the price, without sacrificing high quality.

Bulk Supplements D-Ribose on Amazon

J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017 Dec 20;14:47. doi: 10.1186/s12970-017-0205-8. eCollection 2017.