The Top Five Supplements To Optimize Training and Sports Performance
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This week I want to get into the supplements. If you have been training for some time as well as have or are currently playing sports, you likely have taken supplements and if not, chances are you’ve heard about them. The supplement industry is a billion-dollar industry largely because of the rise in awareness about health and fitness and the desire for many athletes, both competitive and weekend warrior alike, to optimize their performance and gain a competitive edge overheir competition.
For the purposes of this blog post when I refer to supplements, know that I am referring to those that can be purchased at your local GNC and not supplements that may or may have not been used by Russia in the 2016 Olympics (wink, wink). It is also important for you to know that by no means am I suggesting that you should take the supplements below. Supplements are not regulated by the FDA or any governing body, and both the NCAA and Professional
Sports organizations have lists of banned substances. You may be putting your eligibility at risk if you are blindly consuming supplements without getting them screened and approved by professionals on your team’s staff and/or respective organization.
Also, supplements should not be the primary focus of your sports nutrition. The best supplement protocol in the world will not help you improve performance in training or sport if your actual nutrition, i.e. total calories, protein, carbs, and fats is not in check. Supplements are just what their name implies. A way to “supplement” proper nutrition. The top five supplements I believe to be most valuable in optimizing performance in training and sport are listed below but in no particular order.
Protein Powder
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When we are talking about supplements, using a protein supplement has to be in the conversation. High protein diets in individuals that are free of pathology are essentially linked to every positive training adaptation that exists. From building more muscle, building strength, losing body fat, recovering from training, the list goes on and on. Adequate protein intake is absolutely vital to optimizing training and sports performance – mostly from a recovery standpoint. If you can’t recover from your training you are essentially wasting your time.
Despite its known importance in recovery from training and sport, during an initial consult with athletes, I almost always find diets to be deficient in protein. If you want to drive adaptation from your training then this cannot be the case. For men, I typically suggest setting protein requirements at one gram of protein per pound of body weight and for women I recommend consuming 1 gram of protein per pound of 80% of body weight. This is because women tend to not need as much protein because of their physiology and generally smaller stature. But remember these recommendations are based on a population that trains hard and frequently. Like all nutrition recommendations, requirements change based on individual goals, gender, age, activity level and lifestyle.
A good rule of thumb for protein consumption post-workout is to consume around 20% of your total protein intake for the day with a carbohydrate source. This number will rise as training sessions become more demanding but as I said it is a good starting point. But remember, total protein intake is more important than one serving post-workout.
Fish Oil (Omega – 3’s)
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Fish oil is another really important supplement to consider when deciding which supplements to take. The reason why fish oil, or Omega-3’s, are so important to take is because of its properties as an anti-inflammatory substance. Omeag-3’s are considered polyunsaturated fatty acids and come from food sources such as fish, walnuts, chia seeds, and canola and cod liver oils. People, especially American people, tend to have diets that are very high in inflammatory foods or Omega-6’s. Omega-6’s are also in the family of polyunsaturated fats and come from sources like animal products, oils like flaxseed or soybean oil, and processed food. Aside from processed foods, inflammatory foods are not all bad. Inflammation is an important part of the healing process and this includes recovering from training! The problem arises when the ratio Omega-3’s to Omega-6’s is too heavily weighted to Omega-6.
Ideally, you want to strive to maintain an Omega-3:Omega-6 ratio of 1:3, this will allow you to maintain both good inflammatory and anti-inflammatory profiles. When this ratio is kept in balance as an athlete, it helps to combat the negative effects of intense training like potential dysfunction in the immune system, joint aches and pains, fatigue, and issues with sleep – all things that can impact your ability to perform and recover from training and sport.
There is really no true recommendation I can give in terms of omega-3 consumption amounts outside of keeping a healthy ratio of omega-3 to omega-6. The amount of omega-3 you need per day will be dependent on how much omega-6 you consume from other foods. So, the best way to achieve this ratio is to limit foods high in Omega-6, increase foods in Omega-3 and take an Omega-3 supplement as directed on the bottle.
Multi-Vitamins
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Micronutrients such as vitamins A,D,E,K,C and B’s, as well as various minerals’ roles in sports performance are chronically overlooked because they are usually found in trace amounts in food and athletes tend to think of food in terms of protein, carbohydrates and fats. However, they are without a doubt just as important as the macronutrients we consume and in situations of deficiency they can be considered even more important. Micronutrients are often co-enzymes for the functions that take place in our bodies. For instance, energy production, muscle function, bone and tissue repair, and cognitive function. The last time I checked these processes were important in training and in sport!
Multivitamins will provide a wide variety of micronutrients in amounts that approach 100% of the recommended daily intake. In general, I believe this to be a good thing as multivitamins can provide a “blanket” of nutrition that can fill in the micronutrient gaps that form from inadequate nutrition. This starts to be an issue when the fat soluble vitamins (A,D,E and K) accumulate since they are not excreted like vitamins B and C. To combat this, I would recommend taking a half serving each day or every other day. This combined with your typical nutrition can help in providing missing micronutrients while preventing reaching toxic amounts and also holds true for minerals found in foods such as calcium and magnesium.
Leucine
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Leucine is classified as one of nine essential amino acids. Essential amino acids are those that are not synthesized by the body. Thus, you have to consume them either in foods or supplements to have adequate amounts so that the processes they take part in can take place. Amino acids are the building blocks of larger proteins. Proteins are responsible for synthesizing new tissue like muscle tissue, hormone production such as insulin, immune function, and energy production. All of which are vitally important to success in training or sports performance for a number of reasons that are outside the scope of this blog post.
The primary roles of leucine include regulation of blood sugar levels, growth, and recovery of muscle and bone tissue, as well as growth hormone production. In addition, it is also helpful for the preservation of lean tissue during periods of injury or stress. Leucine has also been shown to have a lipolysis (fat-burning) effect while allowing for the preservation of muscle mass.
Since Leucine is an amino acid, which as stated, is the building block of protein, it can be found in animal products such as fish, chicken, beef, dairy and eggs. However, for vegetarians or people who don’t eat many animal products, a supplement would be necessary. The daily recommended intake for Leucine is set to about 16mg per kilogram of body weight per day. But, if you are training you will likely need more of it since the rate of protein breakdown is higher and may need to climb to 50 mg per kilogram per day based on the intensity of training and consumption from food sources. Excess amounts of amino acids can lead to toxic levels in which case the liver will absorb them and convert them into ammonia. Ammonia is then excreted from the body during urination or parts of the amino acid can be converted into glucose to be used for energy production.
Creatine Monohydrate
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Next to protein supplements, I believe that Creatine Monohydrate supplements are the most popular supplements taken by athletes looking to increase strength, power, and muscle mass, and for good reason, too. Creatine Monohydrate is actually produced by the body and is one of the most extensively researched supplements in the supplement industry today. It is also considered to be one of the most effective and safest ways to improve performance.
Creatine Monohydrate supplements work by assisting in saturating the muscle with Creatine – stored as Creatine Phosphate – to be used in the phosphogen energy system, which is used during high-intensity, short-duration activities. These include lifting a heavy barbell, sprinting or jumping. When you have more Creatine Phosphate available, you have the ability to repeat these high-intensity activities more frequently before running out of the substrate and transitioning to more aerobic energy pathways that don’t allow for the same high-power output.
There is some debate on how to effectively take Creatine Monohydrate. The two options are to either load the body with Creatine at .3g of Creatine Monohydrate per kilogram of bodyweight over the course of 3-5 days and then drop to a maintenance dose, or not load and essentially take the maintenance dosage indefinitely. There has been research done on which is more effective and from what I have read, the loading strategy prevails. As I mentioned earlier, Creatine Monohydrates’ effectiveness as a performance enhancer is predicated on muscle saturation. The full effects of Creatine Monohydrate won’t be seen unless the muscle is fully saturated. With loading, full saturation occurs at the end of the loading phase typically on the 5th day while full saturation occurs in about 20-30 days when you don’t load. So, full saturation occurs in both strategies but you begin to reap the benefits sooner when you load.
The caveat to loading and reaching full saturation sooner is that the loading strategy may be accompanied by more severe side effects. These include bloating, cramping and gastric distress. So, if you’re someone who does not tolerate Creatine Monohydrate well or are new to taking it, you may not want to load. But, it is important to note that the effectiveness of the supplement when not loading is still being researched and remains in question.
There are sources of Creatine Monohydrate in red meats. But, unfortunately, they are found in such trace amounts that you would never be able to consume enough to improve performance. Since this is the case, supplementation is the only option when trying to improve Creatine Phosphate stores. Also, it is important to note that those who don’t typically eat red meat may need a longer loading duration because they will be chronically low in Creatine Phosphate stores. Fortunately, though it will be hard to overconsume Creatine Monohydrate because any excess that is consumed will be excreted in the urine.
Hopefully, you guys now have a better understanding of what my top supplements are, how they work and how to take them. Supplements can be a great addition to your nutrition plan to both enhance recovery and improve performance in training and in sport. However, I cannot overstate that supplements need to be considered icing on the cake or the tip of the pyramid. Sound nutrition will always prevail in sports performance and no amount of any supplement will ever replace that. If you’re having trouble with your nutrition please reach out and schedule a consult! Also, it is worth repeating that the supplement industry is not regulated by any governing body and there are substances that are banned by sports organizations such as the NCAA and Professional Sports. When you take a supplement as an athlete it is vitally important that you do your due diligence in having it cleared by professionals in your organization and understand the risks associated with them.
