Creatine Isn’t Just for Bodybuilders Anymore. Women Taking 5g Daily See Fuller Muscles and Better Performance (10g Has a Secret Benefit)

Supplements dominate health conversations online, but which ones actually deserve a spot in women’s routines?

Stacy Sims, a renowned exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist who has worked with top-tier athletes and written for major health publications, recently broke down her supplement protocol with refreshing honesty.

She didn’t just list what she takes—she explained why, how much, and most importantly, the clever tricks she uses to actually remember taking them.

Because even experts struggle with supplement adherence.

The Foundation: Magnesium Glycinate

Sims calls magnesium her “tried and true bestie,” and for good reason.

I love magnesium glycinate. There’s lots of different kinds, but glycinate’s just the easiest to absorb for most people. It tends to help with relaxation, helps with sleep, helps with muscle recovery.

She takes 250 mg at lunch and another 250 mg in the evening. But here’s where it gets interesting—placement matters more than motivation.

Sims keeps her magnesium bottle right next to her salt and pepper shakers. When she seasons her lunch, she spots the supplement. Another bottle lives in her bathroom upstairs, where she takes the evening dose while doing her skincare routine.

Otherwise, if I put it in a really beautiful supplement closet, it’s just going to stay there.

This habit-stacking approach—putting supplements directly in the path of existing routines—dramatically increases compliance. No willpower required, just smart environmental design.

Omega-3s: The Inflammation Fighter

Fish oil ranks among the most well-researched supplements available. Sims recommends 2-4 grams daily for reducing inflammation and supporting cognitive function.

One detail she recently discovered: keep them refrigerated. This simple storage change prevents spoilage and maintains potency.

Following her own advice, she places the bottle in front of whatever food item she reaches for most frequently in the morning. Reaching for fruit? Put omega-3s right beside them.

Vitamin D3 with K2: The Misunderstood Hormone

Despite its name, vitamin D functions more like a prohormone than a traditional vitamin. Sims recommends a minimum of 4,000 IUs daily, paired with K2 for optimal absorption.

Deficiency runs rampant, even among people living in sunny climates.

I can’t tell you I’ve had patients who live in, you know, Florida, let’s say, where it’s you think that you’re getting a lot of sun exposure because the temperature is amicable to that and you run their vitamin D and…

The implications extend beyond bone health. Vitamin D plays crucial roles in sex hormone production, inflammation management, and cognitive performance.

Creatine: Not Just for Bodybuilders Anymore

Creatine has shed its “bro supplement” reputation, emerging as particularly valuable for women.

Dr. Darren Candow, a leading creatine researcher, provided Sims with a perfect analogy:

Lifting weights builds the cake and this is like the icing on top of it, right? So, you’re not going to enhance performance, you’re not going to build strength if you’re just doing the creatine. You have to be pairing it with the mechanical signal of resistance training.

Sims takes 5 grams daily as a baseline. But here’s her perimenopausal hack: on nights when sleep quality tanks, she doubles the dose to 10 grams the next morning.

Why Higher Doses for Cognition?

Creatine struggles to cross the blood-brain barrier efficiently. Larger doses overcome this limitation, delivering noticeable improvements in alertness and mental clarity after poor sleep.

The physical benefits become obvious when she stops taking it regularly—muscles appear less full, workout performance degrades, and energy reserves deplete faster during intense training sessions.

Collagen: The Controversial Connective Tissue Support

Collagen attracts fierce criticism online, primarily because it contains minimal leucine—the amino acid that triggers muscle protein synthesis.

But Sims argues critics miss the point entirely.

The whole goal for women is not just muscle, right? We have other tissues that go to the gym alongside our muscle that train like our tendons, our ligaments, our joints.

She takes 10-15 grams daily, often mixing it into her morning coffee despite knowing heat might reduce effectiveness. Her reasoning? Compliance trumps optimization.

Collagen serves as the primary structural protein in joints, tendons, ligaments, fascia, skin, hair, and nails. She recommends hydrolyzed type 1, 2, and 3 for maximum benefit across these tissues.

Strategic Supplements: Electrolytes and Vitamin C

Not every supplement demands daily consumption. Sims takes electrolytes situationally—primarily during heavy cardio sessions like her recent tennis obsession.

I’m terrible at it, but being outside, tennis, you’re in the heat, you’re running left and right, and you’re doing it for hours on end. When you’re sweating a lot, electrolytes are really great.

Vitamin C rounds out her core protocol, serving double duty as an antioxidant and collagen absorption enhancer. Being water-soluble, excess amounts simply flush out through urine, making it virtually impossible to overdose.

Sprinting: The Anti-Aging Intervention Nobody Does

When asked which exercises people abandon with age but absolutely shouldn’t, Sims answered without hesitation: sprinting.

VO2 max—the body’s capacity to take in and utilize oxygen—declines 10% per decade without intervention. Just like muscle mass.

But research reveals stunning reversal potential. One study examined women averaging 58 years old, many postmenopausal, who followed a sprinting protocol for eight weeks.

Results? A 10% VO2 max increase in just two months.

Even more remarkable: when researchers compared these older women to participants aged 18-30, the older cohort showed 69% mitochondrial efficiency improvements compared to 49% in younger subjects.

These women had maybe the gap was bigger for them, but they had so much more upside to gain, right? The best time to start was 10 years ago, fine, but the second best time is today.

The Norwegian 4×4 Protocol

During winter months on the East Coast, Sims takes her sprint training indoors using what she calls “a special kind of torture.”

The Norwegian 4×4 consists of:

• 4 minutes at 85% maximum heart rate
• 3-minute recovery period
• Repeat 4 times total

She performs this on a stationary bike, though treadmills and other cardio machines work equally well. Despite hating the anticipation, she always feels accomplished afterward.

Jumping and Plyometrics: Use It or Lose It

Many people abandon jumping exercises due to joint concerns, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of declining capacity.

Sims advocates the opposite approach. Adding a weighted vest during plyometric training increases strain magnitude and strain rate on bones, driving positive bone reformation.

If you don’t jump, you’re going to lose your ability to jump.

Even individuals who can’t perform full jumps yet can begin with isometric calf raises—standing on toes, contracting the gastrocnemius muscle and Achilles tendon. Mechanoreceptors detect this tension and signal the body to remodel tissues accordingly.

Progress naturally follows: small hops, then full jumps. No gym required.

Deceleration Training: The Underrated Mobility Essential

While acceleration gets attention, deceleration might matter more for longevity and injury prevention.

Coming to a complete stop without dumping force into joints requires tendons and ligaments capable of absorbing kinetic energy. From an athletic perspective, change-of-direction ability predicts professional potential better than vertical jump height or acceleration speed.

For everyday life, deceleration capacity determines whether tripping on a rug results in a stumble or a fall. Getting your foot in front of your body and stopping momentum before hitting the ground requires trained deceleration mechanics.

The PCOS Cortisol Confusion

When addressing a comment about women with PCOS avoiding high-intensity training due to cortisol spikes, Sims dismantled a pervasive myth.

Without cortisol, you won’t wake up in the morning. We need cortisol. There’s something called the cortisol awakening response where it tends to peak right around the time that you wake up and then it sort of looks like a ski slope.

Cortisol spikes during any resistance training session—they’re necessary for generating sympathetic drive and training intensity. Context determines whether cortisol elevation helps or harms.

For women with PCOS (now called polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome), both zone-two cardio and high-intensity interval training offer benefits. Muscle contractions improve glucose disposal independent of insulin presence—exactly what PCOS management requires.

Sprint interval training, despite temporarily spiking cortisol, ultimately strengthens metabolic health and glucose regulation over time.

The Real Secret: Environmental Design Over Willpower

Perhaps the most valuable insight from Sims isn’t which supplements to take, but how to actually take them consistently.

Supplement bottles on desks, not in cabinets. Fish oil in the fridge, right next to breakfast items. Magnesium beside salt shakers.

Beautiful organization systems fail. Visible placement in high-traffic areas succeeds.

The same principle extends to exercise. Age doesn’t eliminate capacity for sprinting, jumping, or high-intensity training—only disuse does. Studies prove older adults can achieve remarkable improvements, often surpassing younger counterparts in relative gains.

Starting today beats waiting for the perfect moment. The gap might be larger, but so is the upside.