There is an assortment of pills, powders and beverages marketed towards athletes that claim to make them faster, stronger and more energetic. But most should only be used where there is sufficient evidence backing their use and after undertaking a comprehensive nutritional assessment.
Many of these supplements are already widely available through diet (eg creatine and nitrate from leafy vegetables or coffee consumption). However, others require additional scientific evidence for them to be effective sports performance enhancers.
Beta-alanine
Carnosine acts to neutralise hydrogen ions produced during exercise, helping prevent an acid build-up within muscle cells that leads to fatigue. Muscle carnosine levels tend to be lower in females and those who limit animal protein consumption; supplementation with beta-alanine may help raise these levels.
Studies have demonstrated that supplementing with 5.6-6.4 g of beta-alanine daily for four weeks can enhance performance during repeated bouts of intense exercise. Its effects were particularly evident during activities lasting 4 minutes or more such as rowing tests (2,000m rowing test), open endpoint exercises completed to voluntary exhaustion or open end-point exercises completed to voluntary exhaustion.
Beta-alanine may be most effective when taken alongside creatine and sodium bicarbonate; however, single ingredient beta-alanine supplements have also proven useful in improving performance during high intensity exercise.
Beetroot/Beet Juice
Beetroots contain nitrates which the body converts into nitric oxide in the blood, improving both blood flow and oxygen delivery to muscles – helping you perform better! People can either eat beetroots directly or drink beet juice to experience these benefits; those with high blood pressure should limit how much beet juice they drink to gain maximum benefit.
Researchers have recently revealed that beetroot juice consumption can boost performance during high-intensity exercise, perhaps as a result of its ability to boost nitric oxide levels which help open blood vessels and provide essential oxygen and nutrition flow to muscles.
Beetroot juice’s nitrate content varies, making it essential to read labels. Nitrate and nitrite supplements with lab-verified contents may also be available for purchase.
Caffeine
Caffeine is a stimulant found in various food and beverages, used to boost concentration and focus, increase physical performance in various ways and is considered safe when taken in appropriate amounts.
Studies have demonstrated that caffeine can enhance exercise performance under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Studies on its effects have identified several central and peripheral mechanisms, with caffeine blocking adenosine receptors to block neuronal activity reduction, leading to improved muscle recruitment and increased plasma catecholamine levels, as well as increasing calcium release/reuptake, blocking phosphodiesterase function in skeletal muscles, thereby increasing ATP availability and enhancing excitation-contraction coupling.
Evidence supporting caffeine’s benefits to exercise performance is of high-quality. Particularly with regards to aerobic and anaerobic endurance. Unfortunately, due to limited meta-analyses and poor quality data for other outcomes, definitive recommendations regarding caffeine’s use as an ergogenic aid in sport remain difficult.
Creatine
Creatine is an essential skeletal muscle fuel, helping promote muscle growth when combined with exercise. Naturally found within your body and available through foods like red meat, fish, and chicken; creatine supplements may also provide extra skeletal muscle nourishment.
Creatine supplemented with resistance training has been demonstrated to increase strength and power among athletes. For instance, female collegiate soccer players who took creatine for 13 weeks showed greater gains in their back squat than a control group.
While NCAA and International Olympic Committee regulations prohibit performance-enhancing supplements such as creatine, they do not classify it as an anabolic steroid and it can be taken by both adults and children without harm to health over a long period of time. It increases muscle phosphocreatine stores enabling your body to produce more of the high energy molecule Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) during intense physical exercise sessions.
Nitric Oxide
Nitric oxide (NO) is an essential molecule that aids the flow of oxygen and nutrients to muscles during exercise by relaxing blood vessels (vasodilation), providing additional oxygen delivery for increased performance.
Many people take nitrate supplements, like those containing beet juice and L-citrulline, in order to boost nitric oxide and facilitate greater blood flow during workouts and make them feel easier overall. These dietary aids may help increase levels of this gaseous hormone and thus make workouts feel simpler overall.
Recent research indicates that supplementing with nitrates could enhance performance on the Cooper test in athletes with various baseline levels of habitual dietary nitrate intake, suggesting they could serve as an effective performance enhancer in endurance sports, high intensity sprinting events and altitude running events.
