That’s
where supplements come in. You’ve no doubt heard the long list of the
best supplements and what they can do for overall health: whey protein
for recovery, magnesium for bone health, branched-chain amino acid for
muscle-building. Each supplement targets a different need and together,
they can have holistic benefits in all aspects of training and recovery.
Most target either acute performance boosts or long-term health
benefits.
We’ve gathered some of the best supplements for
training, race day and recovery to incorporate into your everyday
training regimen.
A Word on “Feeling” the Benefits of Supplements
Scientific
research is a good launchpad when choosing supplements. But it can be
hard to find a definitive answer; sports studies are limited, and most
are conducted on well-trained young men (so if that’s not you, it’s hard
to conceptualize those results).
One
of the most important considerations is the personal subjective
experience when using a supplement: How do you feel? How are your
training times? How are energy levels outside of training?
Of
course, there are objective, numerical tests that aim to measure the
effect of supplements. But many athletes rely on the subjective
approach–those intangible feelings of motivation or energy–instead of
tracking performance metrics to see if a supplement is working.
Science supporting supplement use is aplenty (and of varying quality), but remember some effects will be subjective.
Training Supplements
Training
isn’t finished when those running shoes are untied. There are big gains
in performance to be had by looking at training comprehensively, which
should include considerations for diet and its impact on bone health and
muscle mass.
In training, supplements help whole body health, working together to build a body on race day that’s ready for peak performance.
For Muscles: BCAAs
Muscle
building isn’t usually a top priority for runners, but it’s essential
for keeping those legs strong. Many runners enter a calorie deficit,
which can trigger the loss of muscle mass–but BCAAs provide the body
with building blocks to maintain muscle mass.
1
Branched-chain
amino acids, commonly referred to as BCAAs, are a type of essential
amino acid, meaning the body cannot produce them–they must be obtained
through protein-rich food or supplementation. BCAAs include leucine,
isoleucine, and valine. Other essential amino acids include histidine,
lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine and tryptophan.
The
body produces non-essential amino acids; they’re “non-essential” because
it’s not essential to consume them through diet–the body makes them.
They include alanine, asparagine, aspartate, cysteine, glutamate,
glutamine, glycine, proline, serine and tyrosine.
The body breaks
down protein into amino acids, which are absorbed and transported
throughout the body like bricks on a conveyor belt, sent to create new
proteins and build houses of muscle.
Other benefits of BCAA include protein synthesis (from a study on rats)
2 and alleviated skeletal muscle damage (from a study on humans).
3
Many BCAA supplements combine the three types of BCAAs: leucine, isoleucine, and valine. Try the
Do Vitamins BCAA Supplements, which are free of animal byproducts and fillers, or the
Bulk Supplements BCAA powder.
For Bones & Joints: Glucosamine & Vitamin D
For
runners, joints can be one of the first things to go after countless
hours of pounding feet on pavement. Creaky knees are a familiar but
unpleasant sound.
Glucosamine is the supplement of choice here;
it’s a natural compound found in cartilage, the all-important tissue
cushioning joints. Made from chains of sugars and proteins bound
together, glucosamine can be made synthetically, but can also be
harvested from the shells of shellfish.
Possessing a natural
anti-inflammatory property, glucosamine is used to treat arthritis and
osteoarthritis. The body needs glucosamine to help synthesize proteins
and fats that form important tissues (chief among them cartilage) and
helps form fluids that provide joints with lubrication. Glucosamine is
like the body’s WD-40.
There are several kinds of glucosamine, but
most supplements feature glucosamine sulfate. Over a three-year period,
one study found that long-term treatment with glucosamine sulfate
slowed the progression of knee osteoarthritis (osteoarthritis is the
most common form of arthritis).
4 Glucosamine sulfate also had a greater influence in reducing joint pain during function and daily activities, one study found.
5
We suggest the
Schiff
glucosamine tablets, which contain MSM–a source of sulfur important in
the formation of collagen in joints, vital for its support of structural
cartilage; the
Bluebonnet vegetarian glucosamine also contains MSM.
In conjunction with glucosamine, Vitamin D is a powerful supplement to improve bone health.
6
Vitamin
D and calcium have a complementary relationship: Vitamin D helps our
bodies effectively absorb calcium and phosphorus, strengthening our
bones and muscles. The easiest way to get Vitamin D is through sunlight,
spurring our skin to synthesize the hormone (but remember to avoid too
much sun); it can also be garnered via some foods like salmon, milk,
cheese and egg yolks.
Vitamin D is important because runners’
bones take a beating, but interestingly for most, running actually
builds bone health (one study found that impact and resistance training
in female breast cancer survivors combatted bone loss).
7
In
healthy people, bones respond to stress by reforming to better handle
that stress, in what’s called Wolfe’s Law. For runners, that means bones
in the spine and legs, which are exposed to constant stress, should
generally be stronger than in non-runners.
Kado-3,
a super-charged omega-3 by HVMN, maximizes the effects of Vitamin D
with Vitamin K, as they work together to protect bone health.
Race Day Supplements
Supplements
consumed on race day should work acutely, giving runners quick
performance boosts to hopefully shave seconds off their times.
For Energy: Caffeine & Carbohydrates
Caffeine
is the classic runner’s supplement, providing quick energy in an easily
consumable fashion. We have been using it since the Stone Age, chewing
the seeds or bark or leaves of certain plants to affect fatigue and
awareness.
Caffeine works like this: as countless neurons fire
throughout the day, a neurochemical called adenosine builds up. The
nervous system uses receptors to monitor the body’s adenosine levels,
and as the day progresses, more adenosine passes through those receptors
(making us tired). Caffeine is the same size and shape of adenosine; it
attaches to the A1 receptor and when docked, adenosine molecules can’t
enter.
Studies have shown that caffeine intake improves exercise performance while also decreasing the perception of pain.
8 However, there’s a genetic split in response to caffeine: for some, it could actually make performance worse.
9 Best try it before race day to ensure it’s right for you.
Along
with caffeine, carbohydrates and carb-loading have been other race day
staples for runners. Things like pasta, bagels, rice and other high-carb
foods are often used as fuel before starting a race. During races, the
most common are gels and energy drinks.
Carbs eaten pre-race are stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver, while carbs eaten during the race will be directly burned.
Glycogen
is the body’s most readily-available fuel, powering racers through
early miles. But when those carbs run out? Body–meet wall.
Ketone esters like
HVMN Ketone
can also provide an alternate fuel source for the body; your muscles
will first burn ketones, saving glycogen stores for later in the race
(more on this below).
But you can also produce ketones while on a
ketogenic diet.
Recently there has been more interest in training with a ketogenic
low-carb diet to achieve a body adapted to use fat and ketones as a
fuel. Runners following this diet showed a huge boost in fat burning
capacity,
10
and there were positive effects of a ketogenic diet on endurance in
animal experiments. But there isn’t any conclusive evidence of increased
performance in humans (maybe because other changes to metabolism cancel
out the increase in fat burning capacity that occurs on the keto diet).
11
For Buffering: Sodium Bicarbonate & Nitrate
Turns
out baking soda isn’t just for baking–the supplement, called sodium
bicarbonate, is used to provide athletes with a boost during sessions of
intense exercise. Essentially, it protects the body against acidity.
We’ve discussed
lactate
previously; during periods of intense anaerobic exercise, lactate
accumulates as a result of rapidly burning carbohydrate when the demand
for energy is high, and oxygen availability is low. It’s often
associated with muscle fatigue but it’s actually the acidic hydrogen
proton attached to lactate that’s to blame. When our blood becomes
acidic during intense exercise, the brain triggers nausea in the hope of
decreasing activity level and thus allowing the body to recycle lactate
and regulate blood pH.
Sodium bicarbonate is able to bind the
protons that cause acidity, thus reducing overall change in blood pH
during exercise. It can potentially provide resistance against fatigue
caused by acid accumulation from intense exercise,
12 especially for intense exercise lasting up to seven minutes.
13
Sodium
bicarbonate should be taken about 60 - 90 minutes before exercise, at
about 200mg - 300mg. While it mostly comes in powder form, there’s also a
gel (
Topical Edge) you can use that helps to reduce the risk of stomach upsets caused by the salty sodium bicarb drink.
Also on race day, in the early morning darkness of
warm-up hours, you might see fellow runners downing shots of beetroot
juice. They’re trying to get nitrates–which were once villainized by
association with processed meat in the 1960s.
Nitrates trigger
vasodilation (the dilation of blood vessels), which allows more oxygen
to be delivered to the muscles. It’s a molecule produced by the body in
small quantities, but is mostly obtained by eating vegetables; chief
among them is beetroot juice, but spinach, arugula, turnips and even
dark chocolate (as this study in cyclists found)
14 can also be good sources of nitrate.
The benefits of nitrate peak at about two or three hours post-ingestion,
15
so a morning smoothie (with spinach, mint, arugula, celery and beetroot
juice) on race day might be the best way to get the necessary nitrates
before the race kicks off.
Research suggests that beetroot juice can also help reduce blood pressure,
16 and taking about 5-8 mM of inorganic nitrate may positively influence physiological response to exercise.
15
Want to get even faster?
Sometimes
supplements aren't enough. We publish training guides for
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Alguns exercícios
que você pode incluir na sua aula de natação para o desenvolvimento da
Consciência Espacial:
