Supplements
Supplements for Runners
All endurance athletes face similar training challenges along the way. With walls to break-through such as stamina peaks, joint pain and muscle integrity, there are supplements available to help you battle through and reach the next level of your performance.
Supplements vs Whole Foods
The everlasting debate between the benefits of whole-foods or supplements does not seem to be drawing to a conclusion.
We're going to give our 2 pence on the subject, to try to weigh up the pros and cons of each.
The goal here is to provide you with sufficient information to help you choose which nutrients to obtain from whole-foods, and when to supplement.
Are Protein Bars good for you?
It seems like everyone is taking protein these days, and protein has been put on a pedestal as the king of all the macro-nutrients when it comes to health and fitness. A lot of people go through the same thought processes: “Should I be taking Protein?” “Which protein should I be using?” “How much protein is best?” This difficulty isn't helped by the great variety of products out there, especially when most protein bars look like unhealthy chocolate bars! In this article, I'm going to break down protein bars, and show you the real benefits they can have to your health and diet.
Calcium for bodybuilders.
Calcium is micronutrient that is an essential mineral for health. I’m sure many of you will be aware that calcium is important for healthy bones and teeth, but it also plays many other roles in the body that make it an important consideration, especially for bodybuilders.
Creatine supplements ingredients.
Creatine is a popular supplement taken by a vast range of fitness enthusiasts, athletes and bodybuilders, usually used to increase performance in anaerobic type activities. There are a number of forms of creatine, which will be reviewed in this article, however the most popular ones are creatine monohydrate (creatine bound to a single water molecule) and creatine ethyl ester (CEE).
Nitric oxide supplement, does it work?
Nitric oxide (NO) is an important cellular signaller in the regulation of blood flow, mitochondrial respiration in skeletal muscle during exercise and in the immune system. It has also been demonstrated that nitric oxide regulates blood pressure and tissue oxygen consumption and it is for these reasons that NO has become of interest for bodybuilders and even athletes, as an increase in blood flow has the potential to increase oxygen and nutrient transport, helping to support performance, recovery and muscle growth.
Antioxidants Daily
It seems as though there is an ever-increasing amount of foods and some supplements that are being touted for their antioxidant properties. So, they must be good for you, right? It is certainly true that we need to include sources of food in the diet that contain plenty of antioxidants to keep us healthy, but what exactly are antioxidants and what do they do?
Sport drinks. Advantages and disadvantages.
Sports drinks were first created to help top level athletes improve performance. As with most things in the world of fitness, the things that top level athletes do to get a competitive edge often filters down to the recreational gym user. Does this mean though, that just because top level competitive athletes use ‘something’ that the average gym goer should automatically use them, or indeed are they likely to have the same benefits or actually have potential drawbacks?
Testosterone and Sex
Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone and is responsible for the development of masculine features at the onset of puberty, including increases in body hair and muscle mass. As we reach a sexually reproductive age, driven by testosterone levels, this also ‘peaks’ our activity and drives man's innate desire to have sex. Although seen as a male hormone, women also produce small amounts of testosterone and it has similar, but less pronounced effects, but it is still an important regulator of libido.
Fish Oils and Bodybuilding.
The health benefits of fish oils were first noted in Eskimos, despite a diet high in saturated fats and low in unsaturated ‘healthy’ fats, their rates of heart disease were much lower than expected. On further investigation it was found that it was the omega 3 fatty acids found in fish oils that offered this heart protective effect.