Fitness enthusiasts often take supplements like protein, creatine and caffeine. Although these ingredients can improve exercise and athletic performance, their effectiveness depends on each person.
Leucine helps facilitate muscle growth and recovery by activating specific protein pathways. Electrolytes found in sports drinks may provide relief when you sweat heavily during an intensive workout, helping prevent dehydration.
Pre-workout supplements
Many pre-workout supplements contain caffeine and other ingredients to increase energy levels before exercise. Many also include beta-alanine, which reduces muscle lactic acid build-up and fatigue, while some also include branched-chain amino acids which may help build strength and endurance; most of which can also be found naturally in food sources like red meat, poultry and fish.
Caffeine, an often-found ingredient in sports supplement formulations, has been shown to enhance performance during high intensity exercises by blocking the adenosine receptor and thus delaying fatigue and improving performance [3].
Creatine, another commonly-used supplement, increases muscle mass while providing short bursts of energy – though long-term use could lead to tolerance and dependency.
Post-workout supplements
People exert themselves physically in the gym and on the track, yet fail to make progress without proper recovery. A good post-workout supplement promotes muscle growth and repair while decreasing oxidative stress levels for maximum training outcomes.
An intake of high-quality proteins and fast-absorbing carbs immediately following exercise can speed physical recovery by replenishing energy stores that have been depleted during training, while at the same time helping reduce oxidative damage, fatigue, improve performance, and facilitate glycogen resynthesis.
Supplements designed to increase protein synthesis and muscle protein growth include protein isolates that contain high amounts of leucine. Other key ingredients may include fast-absorbing carbohydrates like glucose, maltodextrin or cluster dextrin as well as electrolytes like sodium potassium calcium magnesium.
Electrolytes
Electrolytes play an essential role in how the body operates, from hydration to regulation of nerve and muscle function. Electrolytes are frequently mentioned as an element of dehydration or in advertisements for sports drinks that claim to replenish electrolytes lost through sweating.
Electrolytes are composed of positively and negatively charged ions that conduct electricity, helping transmit electrical signals, maintain fluid balance and blood pressure regulation, regulate chemical reactions and manage the pH balance in blood. Your body needs electrolytes such as sodium chloride from table salt; potassium, calcium magnesium phosphate bicarbonate as core constituents.
However, people who follow a healthy diet and engage in short but regular physical activity don’t usually need extra electrolytes supplements as these nutrients can be found naturally in food sources such as vegetables and fruits.
Amino acids
Amino acids form the building blocks for proteins. By joining together into long chains, amino acids combine with each other to produce functional proteins which carry out vital bodily functions such as building muscles or repairing tissue.
Human bodies require twenty amino acids for proper functioning, nine of which are essential (leucine, isoleucine, valine, lysine, methionine, histidine, phenylalanine, tryptophan and valine), meaning they must be consumed through diet. Nonessential amino acids include alanine, arginine asparagine cysteine glutamine ornithine proline serine and tyrosine;
Add amino acid supplements to your workout regimen to increase energy and speed recovery after an intensive session. Supplementing with BCAAs found in whey protein may reduce fatigue and improve performance while the other amino acids help minimize soreness, promote muscle growth, and speed recovery.
Caffeine
Caffeine, an alkaloid of the methylxanthine class of compounds, is one of the world’s most-widely used psychoactive substances and can be found in coffee, tea, dietary supplements and energy drinks or pre-workout supplements.
Studies have demonstrated how CBD can increase physical performance for trained athletes by delaying fatigue onset and increasing muscular endurance, and improve strength training performance by decreasing delayed-onset muscle soreness – meaning you can train more frequently without compromising recovery time.
Caffeine may cause jitters and anxiety for some individuals, interfering with sleep quality. Therefore, only consume caffeine under the supervision of a certified healthcare practitioner and be sure you know exactly how much caffeine there is in each food and beverage item you consume.
