Help Your Body Perform, Replenish and Recover Between Tough Workouts. 5 Supplements That Help Your Body Perform, Replenish and Recover Between Tough Workouts.
by Corey Beasley
Good Nutrition is the Missing Link For Many Fighters and Competitors.
Nothing is more important than eating good fuel.
If you want to get stronger, have a better gas tank, lose body fat and recover from your workouts, then you must eat better quality foods.
Once you have good, quality eating habits grooved, then we can start to talk about supplementing to fine tune your system.
I am not a big advocate of taking handfuls of pills from the local supplement store. I mean, really, do you think to typical college student that's working part time at the local supplement dealer really knows what it takes to be healthy? And the majority of main stream supplement companies are simply marketing the crap out of some new wonder chemical that will help 'YOU GET JACKED AND TAN IN 6 WEEKS, GUARANTEED'
Hahaha...but seriously, most of the stuff you see in muscle mags is simply marketing nonsense.
What we really need to do, is provide our bodies all the good stuff it needs to perform and recover.
The body is capable of amazing things and is incredibly resilient, given the right conditions.
It always amazes me that people can smoke, eat crappy food, drink all weekend, gain weight, be hungover, get sick, survive multiple surgeries, take handfuls of medication and worse, BUT WE DON'T DIE!
It's pretty incredible if you think about it... and some of us have lived several years, maybe even a decade or more, with these bad habits.
Our bodies are tough but they can only handle so much.
Years of this type of abuse can throw our systems into shock. We may not realize it at first, but over time it may become tougher to wake up, you may not be able to recover between workouts, you may have more nagging aches and pains or your performance can slowly diminish.
I'm sure you've heard guys at the gym...
"Man, I feel old today"
"It takes me forever to warm up"
"If I take a week or two off from the gym, it takes me longer to get back into the swing of things..."
Anyone that spends any time in the gym probably hears this all the time!
A lot of times, this sluggish performance, lack of energy, weak immune system and other aches and pains are usually caused from our body's inability to recover from training, stress and other things that happen along the way.
While we can't avoid all of life's stressors completely, improving our nutrition can help improve a lot of these common ailments.
The following supplements simply provide some basic, foundational things that our bodies need to function. Basic minerals, anitoxidants, plant compounds, proteins, enzymes and probiotics to rebuild our natural defenses, help us recover and keep us strong.
These are a great addition to a quality meal plan and may help your body function better, recover from workouts faster, sleep better, build your immune system and increase your energy throughout the day.
Greens Powder - Let's admit it, NONE of us are perfect. Most people eat too much crap and don't get the basic nutritional stuff that we need. You can drink this by itself or add it to your post workout shake.
Omega 3 Fish Oils - Quality Fish Oil may be the most important supplement you can take for overall health and anti-aging. Studies have shown that fish oil may directly help: Fight heart attack and stroke, Fight Alzheimer's and helps improve memory and IQ, Provide blood-thinning benefits, Improve mood and fights depression, Benefit joints and cartilage health - LESS PAIN, Improve blood pressure and cholesterol, Balance hormones - MORE ENERGY
Grass Fed Whey Protein - First things first...you cannot live on protein shakes. Second, most protein is poor quality, full of chemicals and other stuff that we do not need. That being said, we have noticed that drinking a good shake with protein and carbohydrates right after a workout helps speed recover and increase gains from our athletes' workouts.
Fiber, Enzymes, Probiotics - Our poor eating habits leave most people's digestive system weak, dysfunctional and struggling to function optimally. Most people can benefit from supplementing with a natural fiber supplement, digestive enzymes and a probiotic to restore digestive efficiency.
Now, in an ideal world, we could all take a variety of tests, get specific plans for our body type, and more, but that's NOT typically feasible for those of us that are on a tight budget.
Like I said at the beginning of this article, you CANNOT pile a bunch of supplements on top of a crappy diet and expect to perform at your potential.
With the amount of stress that I see most fighters putting their bodies through on a weekly basis, developing a good nutrition plan is absolutely essential for survival.
Without it, you will simply wear out, break down and fall apart over time.
The first priority is to implement solid, quality eating habits.
It may take some time, trial and error and a lot of effort on your part, but it is time well spent.
This will help you feel better, look better and take your performance to the next level.
