Performance lab — est. 2026
Supplement stacks, dosed and fact-checked.
Most stack advice is a sales page wearing a lab coat. StaminaStack is an independent, educational publication that starts from the research: what each ingredient does, the dose the studies actually used, what it interacts with — and which combinations are worth your money in the US and UK. Nothing here is medical advice; it is the homework, done in public, with sources.
The stack map
Ten clusters, each built around one job. Every cluster has a lead guide with the full stack, doses and product table, plus deep-dives on each ingredient and pair checks for the combinations people actually mix. Pick your goal and start at the top.
Start with the sleep stack
Magnesium glycinate, L-theanine and glycine — a melatonin-free evening stack with study doses and timing, in US and UK editions.
02 · Over-40 StacksStart with the over-40 stack
Muscle, joints, heart and hormones after 40 and 50: creatine, protein, vitamin D, CoQ10, collagen and tongkat ali — each judged on its own evidence.
03 · Creatine Stacks & PairsStart with what pairs with creatine
The most-studied supplement in sports science: what to stack with it, the forms and loading questions, gummies, and the women-specific answers.
04 · Beginner StackStart with the beginner stack
Start here. The minimal stack that covers the basics, how to read a label without being fooled, and the mistakes that waste beginners’ money.
05 · Endurance & RunnersStart with electrolytes for runners
Sodium, sweat and strategy for runners — US and UK guides, long-run fuelling, homemade mixes, and honest rules for when you need electrolytes at all.
06 · Vitamin D3 + K2Start with D3 + K2
D3 with K2 done properly: doses, blood levels, timing with food, the warfarin cautions, and the stricter UK claims rules.
07 · Pre-WorkoutStart by building your own
Build your own pre-workout from citrulline, beta-alanine and caffeine + L-theanine at doses that match the studies — or go stim-free for evening training.
08 · Pair ChecksStart with creatine + magnesium
Can you take X with Y? Pair-by-pair checks of the combinations people actually mix — creatine with magnesium, caffeine with theanine, ashwagandha with magnesium, and more.
09 · Focus StackStart with the focus stack
Lion’s mane, alpha-GPC and bacopa for work and study: calm focus without jitters, and honest readings of small human trials.
10 · Core ComponentsStart with ashwagandha
Ashwagandha and omega-3 in depth — doses, side effects, EPA/DHA targets — and where each one belongs inside a stack instead of on its own.
Prefer to browse everything? The stacks hub lists every goal-based guide and the ingredients hub lists every single-ingredient deep-dive and pair check.
Latest guides
The newest stack and ingredient breakdowns, most recent first.
Build Your Own Pre-Workout: Doses That Actually Work Well
Build your own pre-workout with four proven ingredients at full studied doses. No proprietary blends, no filler — just citrulline, caffeine and more.
Stack · Creatine Stacks & PairsCreatine for Women: Will It Make You Bulky or Bloated?
Creatine for women at 3-5 g a day: what it does for strength and lean mass, why it will not make you bulky, and how to avoid the bloating people fear.
Stack · Creatine Stacks & PairsSupplements to Stack With Creatine: What Pairs Well
Which supplements to stack with creatine actually pair well, at what doses, and which combos add cost without adding results for most lifters.
Stack · Pre-WorkoutDIY Pre-Workout Recipe: Exact Scoops, Timing and Method
A DIY pre-workout recipe with exact gram doses, mixing order, timing, and a stim-free swap — so you control every ingredient and every milligram.
Stack · Endurance & RunnersElectrolytes for Runners: A UK Guide to Salts & Sweat
Electrolytes for runners in the UK: what you lose in sweat, when water stops being enough, and the authorised claims to look for. Sodium first, always.
Stack · Endurance & RunnersElectrolytes for Runners: Sodium, Sweat, and Strategy
Electrolytes for runners come down to one mineral: sodium. How much you lose in sweat, when water stops being enough, and how to replace it on race day.
How products get picked
A product earns a place in a stack table by passing the same four tests, in this order. Commission rates are not one of them.
Third-party tested
Top picks carry recognised independent testing — NSF Certified for Sport, Informed Sport, or USP Verified — wherever a certified option exists in that category. What is on the label has to be what is in the tub, verified by someone who is not the brand.
Doses on the label
Every ingredient's dose must be printed in full. Proprietary blends — the ones that hide behind a total weight — never lead a table here, because a hidden dose cannot be checked against the studies.
The dose matches the research
A correct ingredient at a sprinkle dose is decoration. Products are picked at the doses used in the human trials our guides cite — or the guide says plainly that no product on the market reaches them.
No price games
We never print prices: they change daily, and retailer rules prohibit hard-coded pricing. The button takes you to the retailer's live price. Rankings follow the first three tests — never the commission, which is disclosed on our disclosure page.
Checked like it matters — because it does
Supplements are health claims, and health claims get verified here. Before a guide is published, every dose, interaction, and contraindication is researched against primary sources — NIH Office of Dietary Supplements fact sheets, FDA labels, PubMed, NHS/BNF and the EFSA register — and cross-checked against a second source. Guides that recommend products then go to our named pharmacist reviewer, who confirms or corrects every line before the page carries the "Medically reviewed" stamp, with the review date shown. Informational pages launch with their primary-source citations and are stamped in batches.
The full rules live on the editorial policy page, and the reviewer model is explained on the medical reviewer page.