How to build a supplement routine around a rugby week
Answer
Anchor the serving to something that happens every day regardless of rugby. Training happens two or three days a week, so anchoring to it guarantees four or five missed days every week.
Key takeaways
- What is the core rule?
- Anchor to a daily event, not a rugby event. Breakfast happens every day and training does not.
- Does anything need timing?
- Only collagen, and that comes from research rather than a claim. Everything else works through cumulative intake.
- How many servings is realistic?
- One or two. Adherence falls away sharply beyond that in amateur sport.
- When do routines break?
- Two weeks in, at the Christmas break, and when a tub runs out at the end of a season.
The week this has to survive
Work, then training on Tuesday and Thursday finishing at half past nine, then a fixture on Saturday, then a Sunday that is mostly recovering from it. Plus the weeks with no fixture, the weeks with a midweek cup game, the fortnight with a cold, and the three weeks at Christmas when nothing happens at all.
A routine designed for the good weeks fails in the ordinary ones. The design question is not what is optimal, it is what still happens in February.
The anchoring rule
Attach the serving to something that occurs every day regardless of rugby. For most people that is breakfast, or the last drink of the evening, or brushing teeth.
Attaching it to training is the single most common design error, and it is intuitive because that is when a player thinks about rugby. Training happens two or three days a week, so a serving anchored to it is missed four or five days out of seven, which for a product working through cumulative intake is most of the point lost.
| Anchor | Frequency | Survives Christmas? |
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | Daily | Yes |
| Last drink of the evening | Daily | Yes |
| Brushing teeth | Daily | Yes |
| After training | Two or three days a week | No |
| Match day | Once a week at most | No |
| Gym session | Variable | No |
What actually needs timing
Almost nothing. Magnesium works through a daily reference intake and no claim attaches to timing. Omega 3 works through what has been consumed over weeks and months. Lion's mane has no authorised claim at all, so there is nothing to optimise.
Collagen is the single exception, and only because the research protocols place the dose with vitamin C before loading exercise. That is research rather than an authorised claim, and a player following it takes it before training on training days and at the usual time on the other four or five.
How many things is realistic
One or two. Adherence in amateur sport falls away sharply beyond that, and a third and fourth product mostly adds moments to forget.
Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate at 22p a day and Futuro Labs Omega 3 Fish Oil at 17p are two capsules and one softgel taken together, which is about ten seconds and 39p. That is the routine most club players should build and stop at.
Where routines break, and how to survive it
Around two weeks in, when the novelty goes and nothing noticeable has happened. That is exactly what an intake product should be expected to produce, and knowing it in advance is most of the defence.
At the Christmas break, when training stops and the cue disappears. A breakfast anchor survives this and a training anchor does not. And at the end of the season when a tub runs out, which is a reordering problem rather than a decision, and a 90 day tub bought in March covers the end of the season and the start of pre season.
What not to build in
- Anything requiring a shaker, a scoop or water you do not already have.
- Anything with three timed doses around sessions.
- Anything anchored to a rugby event rather than a daily one.
- A fourth product added because a third seemed to be going well.
- Two magnesium containing products without adding up the totals.
- Anything you would not still be taking in February.
The travel and tour version
The routine that survives a tour is the one needing no equipment. Capsules with whatever is being drunk at breakfast, in the labelled tub rather than decanted, packed rather than bought at the destination.
A 180 capsule tub of Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate covers 90 days and fits in a wash bag. That is most of the practical argument for capsules over every other format, and it applies to a five day tour and to a week away with work equally.
Reordering, which is where seasons end
The most common way a routine ends is not a decision. It is a tub running out on a Thursday in March and not being replaced.
The fix is buying the size that matches the season rather than the smallest one available. A 180 capsule tub of Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate covers 90 days, so one bought at the start of pre season lasts into the season and one bought in the new year covers the run in. Futuro Labs Omega 3 Fish Oil is 90 softgels and 90 days on the same rhythm.
Setting a reminder for the week before a tub runs out costs nothing and removes the only failure mode that is purely logistical. Everything else on this page is about habit, and this one is about a calendar.
Where to go next
- A rugby player's daily supplement routineThe short version of this page.
- A supplement stack for rugby, built honestlyWhat to add and in what order, before deciding when to take it.
- Best time to take magnesium around rugby trainingWhy the only timing decision that matters is one you will keep to.
The product
Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate
Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate is the 300mg elemental one at 22p a day, a two capsule serving that needs nothing but water and attaches to breakfast without thinking about it.
- 300mg elemental magnesium, 80% NRV
- Bisglycinate, best tolerated common form
- UK made to GMP, lab tested for purity
- Not batch certified for sport
Sharper Rugby is published by Futuro Labs. If you buy through this link Futuro Labs earns from the sale. Prices are set by Amazon.
Questions players ask
What should a supplement routine be anchored to?
Something daily. Breakfast survives a Christmas break and Tuesday training does not.
Does anything need timing around training?
Only collagen, and that comes from research rather than an authorised claim.
How many products is realistic?
One or two. Adherence falls away sharply beyond that in amateur sport.
When do routines usually fail?
Two weeks in, at Christmas, and when a tub runs out at the end of a season.
What works on tour?
Capsules in the labelled tub, taken with whatever is being drunk at breakfast.
What if I miss a day?
Nothing. These work through cumulative intake, so a missed day matters far less than a missed month.