The Benefits of Sports Supplements

We all know that in the perfect world you wouldn't need to supplement your diet; you would get all the nutrients from the food you consume. In reality however that is rarely possible; the amount of certain foods you would have to consume to obtain the right balance of certain nutrients is just not feasible (think intolerances and allergies). This is where supplements come in... in this post I think about three main supplements: vitamins, branch chain amino acids and protein, and why using these supplements may boost your training.

Vitamin Supplements
Multivitamins are perhaps best viewed as an insurance policy; because with a hectic lifestyle it is sometimes hard to ensure you get all of the nutrients you need to keep functioning at your peak. Vitamin tablets such as the Maxifuel Sports Vitamins are specifically designed for athletes; providing high levels of vitamin C and zinc to support a healthy immune system, as well as calcium and vitamin D to ensure strong bone strength.

There will always be debate about how necessary multivitamins are, but if you are doing a hard block of training it is reassuring to know that you have every vitamin replenished to keep your body functioning at its best. From a personal perspective, I have found that using these multivitamins when doing a big training stint does *touch wood* seem to decrease the amount of times I get ill at the end of a hard training block (although clearly this could be the result of other factors as well).

Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs)
Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, yet the body cannot produce them by itself. Therefore in order to repair muscles you must ensure that you are getting amino acids in your diet.

The Maxifuel BCAA capsules contain the recognised best mix of Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine, three essential amino acids. These are designed to be taken before and after intense efforts, in order to ensure your body has the correct parts to repair itself after you have exerted it during a hard training session.

From personal experience, BCAA supplements seem to be most helpful to recovery when you are using a single good source of protein such as whey isolate, but you are not getting all the amino acids that you would get from consuming a more diverse range of proteins that included steak and eggs for example. By taking a BCAA supplement you ensure you have all the building blocks for recovery.

Protein
The thing that will undoubtedly make the biggest difference to your recovery though, is protein. Without protein your body cannot repair, and your muscles can't recover, strengthen and grow. Protein is one of the kings of sports nutrition.

In order to get the most out of your protein intake it is best to consume protein within around 20 minutes of finishing exercise, in order to kick-start the absorption process. By doing this you maximise the time and quality of recovery.

Recent research, as documented in this Cycling Weekly (Link) article, also suggests that protein is likely to be key in keeping your immune system operating at its highest. Therefore in order to recover and stay training well, you must ensure that you are getting the correct amount of protein in your diet.

Often a protein shake is the easiest way to get protein on board after a hard session. The RecoverMax shake from Maxifuel is a great mixture that also contains carbohydrate to boost energy levels and electrolytes to aid re-hydration.Training without proper recovery is wasted training, so ensure you make the most of your training efforts by taking a few minutes to kick-start recovery when you are finished.

Let's go do some training...