Sports Supplements

If you are a serious athlete, a weekend “warrior” or just want to look like an athlete, you've probably considered using sports supplements to help you along the way.  If so, you have an amazing variety of options available to you, each of them promising to make you stronger, faster or leaner. Some of the claims are dubious at best, while others have solid science that backs up their promises of better performance.  We're here to help you sort out the good from the not-so good, allowing you to make wiser choices.

Supplements that claim to increase athletic performance are called ergogenic aids. These substances include certain vitamins, minerals, hormones, drugs and even protein supplements.  With the exception of certain drugs and hormones, most of these products are available over the counter, without a prescription.

Popular Sports Supplements

Creatine

Creatine is now one of the most widely used sports and bodybuilding supplements in the world. It is a naturally occurring substance in the body manufactured in small amounts from amino acids. Since the mid 1990's, when creatine became widely available, many scientific studies have proven the benefits of creatine supplementation, including:

Increased muscle size and volume
Increased muscle strength
Enhanced stamina

When beginning creatine supplementation, you will typically start with a loading phase that lasts for 5 days. During this period you will consume 5 grams of creatine two to three times per day. After this loading phase, a common maintenance dose of creatine is 5 grams per day. 

 

Protein

Consuming sufficient quantities of protein is extremely important to all athletes. There is a fair amount of disagreement over the recommended daily intake of protein, but for those involved in sports and athletics, consuming at least one gram of high quality protein per pound of lean bodyweight each day, is a good guideline.

Immediately following a tough workout is one of the most important times to feed your body with a good protein supplement. This should also include a source of carbohydrates to increase the uptake of protein and restoration of lost glycogen stores in your body.

Protein supplements are derived from many sources including soy, milk, eggs, meat, casein and whey protein. Each has their particular advantages and disadvantages, but as with many things in life, diversity is key. For best results, many individuals combine two or more different protein sources to take advantage of the best of each.

Amino Acids and BCAAs

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. The protein value of a food or supplement is derived from its amino acid composition and many physical processes related to bodybuilding and recovery involve amino acids. There are 23 amino acids which are divided into essential and non-essential. The essential amino acids must be obtained from the foods or supplements we consume. The non-essential amino acids can be synthesized from from other amino acids.

BCAAs (branched chain amino acids) are the group of three essential amino acids - leucine, isoleucine, and valine. These three essential amino acids are important to athletic performance because they are metabolized in the muscle rather than the liver.  Even though they represent only about 20% of the total of the amino acids in a typical protein meal, they represent well over 50% of the total amino acids released into circulation to be taken up by the muscles.

Several studies have shown that amino acid and BCAA supplementation have a measurable, positive effect on muscle growth, stamina and recovery.