The honest science is brutal: food comes first, a short list of supplements has good evidence, more protein per meal adds less than the label suggests, and more water isn't always better. Raise the training intensity and watch how fast a fixed glycogen store runs down.
About 0.3 g of protein per kg of body weight per meal (roughly 20-40 g) is usually enough to get the full muscle-building response. Bigger servings are not wasted, but each extra gram adds less, and the daily total matters most. The "anabolic window" is real but wider than marketed: 24-hour total protein (1.6-2.2g/kg) matters more than slamming a shake within 30 minutes post-training. Spread intake across 4-5 meals for steady muscle protein synthesis throughout the day.
Food comes first. A short list has good evidence for specific uses: caffeine, creatine, beta-alanine, sodium bicarbonate and nitrate (beetroot juice), plus sports foods like sports drinks. Australian sports dietitians do not recommend performance supplements for athletes under 18, so treat any supplement as a claim to evaluate, not a shortcut to take.