We’ve reached an age where human beings have almost certainly engineered everything around themselves to near perfection for the service of mankind. There are self-driving cars, complex machines used in various industries or even advanced medicine for diseases. It follows that we’ve also developed supplements to optimize one’s results from their workout regimen.
In just the same manner vitamin supplements maintain your health, workout supplements enhance your body’s response to your workout. In this article, we’ll discuss the various supplements available for your specific workout goals.
Protein Based Supplements
Protein is the nutrient most important for muscle growth and regeneration. It’s why most professional athletes and bodybuilders focus on protein-based supplements. When one exercises, two processes occur in the muscles simultaneously. These are anabolism and catabolism. Anabolism is basically muscle growth whereas catabolism is breakdown of muscle. For one to observe any growth in their muscles there must be a net anabolic process. This means that there must be a net positive protein balance in their bodies.
The best protein supplementation comes from whey protein products. Whey is a by – product in cheese production. Typically, during industrial cheese production, milk undergoes a lengthy process to get to the final product. At some point rennet extract is added to the mixture to separate it into curds and whey. The mixture may then be filtered and dried to form Whey Protein Powder Supplement. This concentrate may have 29 – 90% protein content.
Your best bet at getting the best supplement would be Optimum Nutrition’s (ON) Gold Standard Whey. Besides being arguably the world’s most trusted nutrition brand, ON’s Gold Standard Whey boasts an impressive 24g of protein per serving. This means that using the recommended optimum daily serving, one may very well recover from workouts as well as observe muscle growth.
Supplements to Increase Energy
As discussed earlier, when one is working out, especially weight training, breakdown of muscles occurs. Now, the reason you may feel particularly tired at the end of a set is as a result of the build – up of lactic acid in your muscles.
Your body prefers to produce energy through the use of oxygen, and it’s why you breathe faster when you’re performing strenuous exercise. In the instance where your energy requirements surpass your oxygen intake, your body is forced to produce this energy in an anaerobic process i.e. without oxygen. During this process, the body produces a substance known as lactate. High levels of this compound result in high levels of acidity in your muscle cells. This forms an acidic environment that hampers the effective breakdown of glucose into energy.
Now, the body does have methods of dealing with this. One such way is producing an amino acid in the liver known as Beta – alanine. This amino acid combines with another amino acid known as histidine in one’s muscle cells to form carnosine. This compound increases the muscle’s buffering capacity of Hydrogen ions (Hydrogen ions are the resulting acidity from the excessive amounts of lactate as mentioned earlier). This basically means you can train harder for longer.
Furthermore, Beta – alanine increases nerve firings in your central nervous system. This means that it boosts your focus as well as your energy levels.
Your top pick here should be Cellucor C4. This supplement contains Carnosyn Beta – alanine as we as caffeine to raise your energy levels. Ideally, you should be taking this pre – workout to give you the energy to really push yourself.
Weight-Loss Supplements
For people who are looking to lose weight, whey protein products may not be suitable for them. However, there are supplements specifically engineered to aid in weight loss. Basically, such supplements encourage thermogenesis, a process whereby the body’s metabolic rate is raised through heat and burns calories faster. This obviously lowers your calorie count.
The ideal product for this would be Platinum Labs’ Optiburn. Furthermore, the supplement also suppresses one’s appetite. This naturally reduces one’s calorie intake and discourages weight – gain. The product also increases one’s energy as well as improving one’s moods as the product encourages production of endorphins, dopamine and serotonin.
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