If you’re gearing up for some serious sport, first learn about the do’s and don’ts of sports supplements! During times of moderate to intense physical exertion, nutrients are lost. Read on to learn how to recover, replenish and reap the rewards.

Injury Prevention

Ensuring healthy vitamin D status is essential to sound bone and muscle health. So it is recommended that an individual ensure they are not deficient. Glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM are well known for the role they play in supporting the health of joint tissue, reducing local inflammation and swelling, and maintaining healthy movement. Prevention is always better than a cure, and high-impact sports can certainly increase your risk of joint injury. Sports supplements containing these ingredients can, therefore, be useful to prevent declines in joint health.

Relieve inflammation

Inflammation can interfere with training and lead to great amounts of discomfort, ask our fitness experts about natural anti-inflammatory supplements such as curcumin and high dose fish oil.

Post-workout recovery

The most common post-exercise concern is muscle soreness. Branched-chain amino acid (BCAA)-rich whey protein and glutamine help to improve muscle recovery, reducing soreness. Ideally, around 25g of protein every few hours following intense exercise is useful. Natural anti-inflammatories such as fish oil and curcumin can also be beneficial to reduce the inflammatory pain felt in the body post-exercise, while sour/tart cherry at high doses is also shown to assist in reducing inflammation which can interfere with performance in subsequent training sessions. Magnesium depletion can lead to symptoms such as muscle cramps and spasms, fatigue, mood changes and difficulty sleeping. Sports supplements providing 250-300mg of easily absorbed magnesium (e.g. an amino acid chelate form) are very useful. This can be taken daily to maintain optimal magnesium levels.

Enhancing sports performance

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a useful supplement for improving the production of energy in the body. Ubiquinol - the active form of CoQ10 - is well absorbed and acts not only to support energy production but also is beneficial for heart health and for providing potent antioxidant protection. Caffeine is also a great supplement for improving performance both in short duration and high-intensity exercise and in endurance events.

Protein: when, how much and what kind

Protein is essential for athletes and is shown to be beneficial in supporting muscle recovery. Regular intakes of around 25g of protein every three hours appear to be beneficial for achieving good results. The process of muscle recovery continues for around 12 hours following training/sport, and that is why providing a regular supply of amino acids from protein to the muscles for this period seems to be useful. If you are looking for a supplement, good quality whey is supported by research, whilst organic brown rice proteins can be useful for the vegan/dairy intolerant individuals. When looking at high protein foods, consider the quality and the additional nutritional value that it provides. Avoid too much over-cooked, over-processed meat products, and look more toward quality, micronutrient dense options like quality grass-fed meats, oily fish, free-range eggs, poultry, legumes, raw nuts and whole grains.

Achieving good health with sports supplements

The best ingredients for our body tend to be those that are less processed or refined. Ask our Fitness Experts to recommend supplements which are free from any ingredients that may not be the best for promoting your health (e.g. artificial sweeteners, flavours, colours and added fructose). Getting your nutrition from a good diet is always our first choice, but for athletes who place a significantly greater amount of pressure in their bodies, and as such have greater nutritional demands, supplements can represent a simple way of making up the difference to ensure these additional needs are met.

 

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Ask one of our Fitness Experts at Mr Vitamins about IsoWhey