EndurElite Brand Manager Sheila Barden Shares Her Favorite Supplements 

Most of us don’t think too much about what’s in our supplements. If they work well, they taste good, and they’re from a reputable brand, that’s about all we need to know. 

But for former CrossFit competitor and world record holder Sheila Barden, that wasn’t good enough. 

“I was so scared of taking any supplements because I was afraid I would consume something illegal, and be banned from competing and my reputation ruined forever,” Barden said when asked about choosing which supplements to take during her CrossFit career, which spanned from 2012 to 2018. 

During her time as a CrossFit athlete, Barden qualified for Regionals every year from 2012 to 2018, and competed at the CrossFit Games in 2014, 2016 and 2018. She was known for excelling in longer workouts where her endurance could shine as she consistently squatted, ran and climbed ropes to podium finishes – all while consuming hardly any supplements for fear of tainted products. 

Barden had good reason to be skeptical: the supplement industry, though it’s made improvements over the past decade, is still rife with brands packing questionable – and even banned – ingredients into their products. One recent study found that “of 31 supplements found to have illegal stimulants by the FDA, almost none were recalled by manufacturers,” and over 25 percent of those supplements are still on shelves, waiting to be purchased by unsuspecting consumers. 

Eventually though, Barden made the decision to introduce a select few supplements to help support her training. 

“Hours of research went into my decision to begin taking whey protein isolate and EAAs, and then slowly a pre-workout,” she wrote in an email interview. “I was training so much that I couldn’t hold onto muscle or fat, and I needed additional fuel.”

While Barden’s impressive CrossFit career ended in 2018 due to several injuries, her passion for health and fitness didn’t stop there. She has since joined the EdurElite team as Brand Manager, believing in the company so strongly that she turned it into a career. 

Barden, who’s fervently led the brand since day one, is currently traveling across the nation on the EndurElite Fueling Fast 2023 Tour, hitting over 30 events and 1 million consumers. She recently spoke with us to share some of her favorite supplements that continue to help her pursue her fitness goals and adventures both in and out of the gym. 

EndurElite Perform Elite Pre-Workout Stick Packs, $49.99

“EndurElite never uses proprietary blends and guarantees full label disclosure,” says Barden, who believed in the supplements so much she’s now EdurElite’s Brand Manager. “We ban all fillers, excipients, and additives from our products, which means we’re not adding harsh chemicals to any of our products, and we manufacture all of our supplements in-house so we can control every aspect of quality.”

“During the formulation of Perform Elite, we focused on things like increasing VO2 Max, delaying the onset of muscle fatigue, and amplifying mental sharpness by adding nootropics that allow athletes to have feelings of a runner’s high long before they run 20 miles. Many endurance athletes are hesitant to take a pre-workout because they don’t think they need it, but the pre-training window is the most overlooked opportunity to help athletes get more out of their training sessions. Perform Elite gives athletes the push they need to train through their toughest sessions. And now it’s available in stick packs to easily tuck in their training bag, glovebox and purses so we’re always ready for an adventure,” says Barden. 

EndurElite Hydrate Elite Electrolyte Stick Packs, $23.99

“Hydrate Elite is the quickest way to stay hydrated throughout the day, but also to quickly rehydrate whether it’s during training and competition, or a long day out in the sun,” says Barden. 

“Hydrate Elite is unique because it’s clinically dosed. We didn’t skimp on ingredients because they’re more expensive, and we didn’t add ingredients you don’t need because they sound fancy. The Hydrate Elite stick packs can easily be taken with athletes on all of their travels. Dehydration causes the loss of motor skills and cognition, which not only affects training but also everyday life. The best way to fight dehydration is to prevent it, which is made easy with the new Hydrate Elite stick packs.” 

EndurElite Recover Elite, $69.99

“By far, my favorite EndurElite product is Recover Elite in the Tropical Cooler flavor,” Barden says.

“It’s well known that I love training, biking, running, and playing. I am constantly on the move, and everyone in my life affectionately calls me the energizer bunny. I don’t slow down, and because of that, I have been known to under-recover throughout my life. Recover Elite has made a huge difference in my training and life, helping me to maintain muscle even when I’m on the move for 18 hours a day, as well as replenishing the glycogen I’ve lost throughout my adventures. I feel less fatigue and less sore, even after hard grueling competition days now that I’m taking Recover Elite consistently instead of just eating a bunch of carbs and chugging whey protein isolate after races.”

EndurElite Perform Elite Caffeine Free, $46.99

“I also love our Perform Elite Caffeine Free in the Sensational Strawberry flavor. Ask anyone who knows me well, from my parents to my coworkers, and they’ll tell you I have more energy than anyone they know, so while there are a plethora of great reasons why endurance athletes should take caffeine, I often find that I do just as well without the caffeine kick as I do with it.

“A lot of my long sessions are in the afternoons and evenings. I take our Perform Elite Caffeine Free far more often than I take our Perform Elite. Even on my rest days, I still take a scoop full of Perform Elite Caffeine Free because of the nootropics that help me stay focused and to keep my muscles saturated with beta-alanine.”

If you’ve ever felt hesitant to take supplements due to their ingredients, or maybe just want to clean up your current supplement regime, these supps are the perfect way to consume those workout-boosting ingredients you love while avoiding all the nasty stuff. 

“At EndurElite, we test all of our products in our in-house lab, but we also send them out to be third-party tested for purity and quality. We stand behind our products, choosing transparency and quality over profit and money,” Barden says. 

As a former CrossFit Games competitor whose career literally depended on not consuming any banned substances, Barden’s praise and trust in EdurElite should tell you something about the purity of the products. 

“EndurElite is created and tested by endurance athletes,” says Barden. “We live the lifestyle, mountain biking through the Rockies, running through the trails in New Jersey, and playing hour-long tennis and soccer matches. We bike and run and swim and play, and oftentimes while we're training or adventuring, we’re also testing new formulas on ourselves and our friends. We’re fueling the future, one endurance athlete at a time.” 

You can follow Sheila on Instagram @sheila_sue, and learn more about EdurElite here.