If you’re serious about making lasting improvements to your health, fitness, or performance, this pyramid says it all.
At ‘Vitalise’, we believe in honesty and transparency – and that means helping you understand where supplements (and even medications) actually fit in to the bigger picture of attaining sustainable results.
Let’s break it down…
Everything starts here…
If your daily routines, mindset, and basic health habits are out of sync, no supplement or drug on earth will give you sustainable results.
This includes:
- Consistent sleep and wake times
- Daily movement (not just workouts)
- Sunlight exposure
- Limiting alcohol,
- smoking, or late-night scrolling
- Creating space for downtime and connection
These may not seem ‘sexy’ – but they compound.
Get your lifestyle in check, and suddenly the rest of the pyramid becomes a lot easier to climb.
Think of food and water as your raw materials.
What you put in your body every day directly affects your energy, immune system, focus, recovery, and performance.
You don’t need to eat like a saint – but you do need to:
• Get enough protein for your goals
• Include fruit, veg, whole grains, and healthy fats
• Drink plenty of water
• Avoid ultra-processed junk as your main food source
Can supplements support this?
Absolutely!
A multivitamin might fill the gaps, and electrolytes might help with hydration. But they’re not a fix for poor food choices.
Whether it’s lifting weights, walking, running, cycling or sport – your body needs resistance and cardio-based activity to stay fit, strong, and functional.
Training boosts metabolism, improves body composition, sharpens your mind, and is one of the most powerful tools you can have for long-term health.
If you’re skipping this and reaching for a fat burner or pre-workout, you’re missing the point.
Supplements might enhance your workouts (e.g., protein for recovery or creatine for strength), but they can’t replace putting the work in.
You can’t out-train poor sleep or chronic stress.
Sleep is where your body repairs and resets.
Stress, when unmanaged, can sabotage hormones, appetite, energy, and mood.
Some people skip this part, thinking caffeine will keep them going – or worse, turning to medications before working on the basics.
This is where certain supplements can really help, like:
• Magnesium for deeper sleep
• Ashwagandha for calming stress
• L-theanine or GABA to take the edge offBut they’re tools — not magic.
This is where people often start – when it’s actually where they should finish.
Supplements can be incredibly helpful when used strategically:
• Omega 3’s if you don’t eat oily fish
• Vitamin D in winter months
• Protein powders for convenience
• Adaptogens for stress
• Electrolytes during long workouts
• Nootropics for focusAnd yes, there are times when medications are appropriate – under guidance.
But if you’re trying to parachute on to the top of the pyramid while ignoring everything below it, you’re chasing a quick fix – and setting yourself up for a huge disappointment in the long run.
You might have noticed in the image:
• One guy is hiking up the pyramid, step by step - lifestyle first, then food, training, rest… then supplements.
• The other is parachuting straight to the top - bypassing everything important and hoping for instant results, a quick fix.
Only one of them is on the right path to lasting change.
Can you guess which one? ????
At ‘Vitalise’, we’ll always be honest with you:
Supplements can be incredibly useful – but only when the foundations are in place.
Want to make real, sustainable progress?
Start at the base of the pyramid – and build upwards.
If you’ve already done the hard work on lifestyle, training, and nutrition – we’ve got your back with the right supplements to support your journey.
I’m working with a multitude of athletes in all different domains, and we are utilising supplements to help them perform at their very best…
But it goes without saying, we’ve dialled in all of other segments in this pyramid to enable those supplements to give them the edge over their competitors.
‘You don’t put the cherry on the cake – without actually baking the cake first!’
Check out the Vitalise ‘Health’ section to explore high-quality options that will work with your body, not against it.
Steve