If you’ve spent any time researching supplements, you might have already hit this crossroads…
Do you take an all-in-one formula that covers everything? Or do you build a customised stack yourself?
In theory, stacking can look like the more powerful choice for conscious athletes. You can fine-tune every ingredient, dose to preferred amounts, and optimise as your goals change.
But in reality, most people don’t fail because of bad ingredients. They fail because of inconsistency.
The reality of building your own stack
A custom stack will usually start with good intentions.
NMN for cellular energy. Creatine for performance. Magnesium for recovery. Electrolytes for hydration. Adaptogens for stress. A probiotic for gut health.
Before long, you need 6–12 different products to hit all your different focus points.
That creates a few predictable problems:
- You forget doses or take things inconsistently
- A bigger margin-of-error for dosing consistency
- A cluttered routine that’s hard to sustain
- Costs stacking up quickly across multiple brands
- Timing becomes complicated (some on empty stomach, some with food, some pre-training)
The result? A “perfect” stack in theory, but one that results in inconsistency, inconvenience and an unsustainable amount of admin in practice.
The case for an all-in-one
At NORTH, we decided to build Foundation, our all-in-one daily performance stack, under a different philosophy.
Instead of optimising individual parts, we believe in optimising the whole system. All our ingredients are designed to work together in a single daily routine – with consistent dosing, simplified timing, and fewer moving parts.
Foundation includes over 35+ clinically-dosed ingredients, targeting all seven of your performance domains. It hits:
Cellular Power & Mitochondrial Health
Uthever NMN, PQQ, Spermidine, B-complex
Performance & Recovery
Betaine, B-complex, NMN, magnesium, electrolytes
Gut, Microbiome & Immunity
Totipro PE0401 postbiotic (B. longum, L. acidophilus, L. plantarum, L. salivarius)
Brain, Mood & Stress Resilience
SalidroPure (Rhodiola), Niacinamide, L-Ergothioneine, active B vitamins
Antioxidant, Vascular & Metabolic Function
S7, SalidroPure, L-Ergothioneine, electrolyte system
Joint & Connective Tissue
Promentum (Calcium Fructoborate), Vitamin D3, Vitamin K2 MK-7, Magnesium, Calcium
Hydration & Electrolytes
Sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium
On paper, that looks like a long list. In reality, it’s just two dissolvable tablets taken everyday.
Optimisation vs. execution
Ultimately, the custom stack vs all-in-one debate is less about science, and more about behaviour.
While a custom stack gives you control, it also demands discipline, organisation, and consistency across multiple products (not to mention deeper pockets to afford multiple products).
An all-in-one removes decision fatigue. It turns supplementation into a simple, repeatable habit.
And in most real-world scenarios, consistency wins.
What about dosing and flexibility?
A custom stack allows you to individually adjust ingredients based on training load, recovery, or specific goals.
An all-in-one system trades endless customization for balance and precision. In NORTH Foundation, every active ingredient is included at a dose informed by published human research. If an ingredient did not have relevant human data behind it, it did not make the formula.
What’s more, NORTH has been designed at two intensity levels. Foundation is your base, hitting all seven performance domains. But for those who want more, Ultra delivers precision support: creatine for power (also a neutropic), citrulline for blood flow and oxygen, beta alanine for capacity, and amino acids for muscle protein synthesis. Right now, you can’t find this intensity layer in a single system anywhere else on the market.
For most active people who value time and consistency (eg. NOT elite biohackers), a balanced all-in-one like NORTH will be more than enough to support you in reaching your performance peak – and staying there.
What matters most
For most of us, the question isn’t really all-in-one vs custom. It’s a question about what’s going to be the most easily implemented into our busy lives and schedules.
A daily all-in-one formula brings together multiple performance systems – cellular energy, recovery, gut health, stress resilience, hydration, and structural support – into a single routine that’s easy to implement and enjoyable to follow.
And at the end of the day, the best stack is simply the one that becomes automatic.
