Context Dietary supplements in sports are becoming increasingly popular. The strategic and cautious use of a few supplements and sports foods, preferably in cooperation with a sports nutrition specialist, may be beneficial to certain athletes in certain circumstances. Method This research aims to review the research literature analyzing the impact of various nutritional supplements on swimming athletes` performance and physical recovery after exercise, thus offering a foundation for future swimmers and coaches to pick sports supplements. The use of sports supplements covered in this review can improve the performance and post-exercise recovery process of elite swimming players to maintain a high level in competition, such as 8% carbohydrate solution in 10-km open water swimming, 6.4 g/day of slow-release beta-alanine for 23 days, 7 g/day of 4.3 L-arginine alpha-ketoglutarate for endurance swimmer, a total of two post-exercise whey protein isolate at 0.3 g/kg, a daily dose of 250 mg glutathione, 21 g of creatine per day to sprint swimmers for nine days, 0.3 mg/kg of caffeine before exercise, 0.3 g/kg of sodium bicarbonate 90 minutes before exercise. Conclusion Randomized, crossover, controlled clinical studies using a compilation of sports supplements would be needed to assess whether taking all these supplements would be better than taking just 1 or 2 in synergy. In addition, it is also worthwhile to conduct individualized studies on the use of different sports supplements based on individual differences.
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