Most people do not fully understand the value, or perhaps non-value, of the roles played by vitamins and minerals, not just for athletic performance, however also general health and wellbeing. Is it more vital to consume them when participating in training and exercise, does your body crave increased quantities in these circumstances, and are you supplied with enough through every day diet and nutrition?
When it comes to consuming supplementation alongside a healthy and balanced diet to compliment training and exercise,
quite a few people seem to only consider the popular nonetheless proven products that advertise lean muscle gains or increased power and strength such as protein, creatine and various pre and post workout formulas. There is little argument these supplements can perform a big role in advanced training activity, especially if you are not managing adequate nutrition from your daily diet. There is however, one ingredient in the supplement market that by most is generally overlooked, and that supplement is vitamins and minerals. Maybe it is because they do not claim to improve muscle definition, power and strength, or support recovery, and as such do not sound very appealing compared to a gain this many pounds over a month sales pitch. This does not mean they cannot have a crucial and noticeable role when taken throughout any training and exercise routine, and if you are not getting enough vitamins and minerals with regular food intake, you should definitely consider. Vitamins and minerals are not just important for improved training performance, but for day to day health and wellbeing, as well as maintaining a well-kept immune system. However, the recommendation is the greater the stress you put your body through with intense physical activity, the more important vitamins and minerals become in your day to day consumption.
So what exactly are vitamins? They are bio-chemicals that are required by your body in small quantities to enable it to stay fit and healthy. Your body cannot make vitamins by itself, similar to essential amino acids; you therefore need to ingest them via foods and supplementation. The quantities you actually require are very small; recommendation is often in milligrams, a lot less than the grams of carbohydrates and protein that you need on a day to day basis to make sure you function at your optimum. Carbohydrates, protein and fats are referred to as macro-nutrients to sports nutritionists, whereas vitamins are known as micro-nutrients. During every hour of every day, bio-chemical reactions occur in your body that involve micro-nutrients. These micro-nutrients aid a number of activities including growth, contraction of muscles, hydration balance, nerve and immune function, energy metabolism, tissue repair, bone metabolism, and the transportation of oxygen throughout your body. Next up are minerals. Like vitamins, their consumed only through nutrition and supplementation, and are very important to maintaining your health and wellbeing.
Unlike carbohydrates and creatine, vitamins and minerals will not supply your body with extra energy to perform directly. They do however help fuel your muscles when involved in physical activity by being involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats, which supply your primary source of energy throughoutplay a part in the repair and regrowth of muscle protein immediately following training. Bio-chemical controllers called metabolic enzymes exist within the body, these drive metabolic processes such as energy metabolism and protein synthesis. To function properly, these metabolic enzymes needlive in many B vitamins. Your metabolic enzymes will perform their job properly if you are consuming adequate B vitamins in your diet, thus helping you to operate at your best. If not, your enzymes cannot operate to their best ability, meaning neither can you.
It is vital you get the right amount of vitamins and minerals in your day to day diet. As explained, too little and your wellbeing and performance may suffer, however this does not mean greater levels are necessary better. If your body intakes too many micro-nutrients via vitamins and minerals, there is a risk of it developing toxicity symptoms that can have a negative outcome on training performance. More to the point, it may even be a danger to your general health. To stay fit and healthy, train longer and more intense, you need consumption of the right amount of vitamins and minerals on a consistent basis. For those people who do train and exercise on a regular basis, an increased intake of vitamins and minerals may be needed. Studies have researched this idea, and evidence proves a slightly higher amount required. Your body burns calories via physical activity and exercise, therefore moving back to vitamin B, a higher amounts required by those with a higher level of metabolic activity, remembering that vitamin B performs as a cofactor in energy metabolism. As you normally eat larger quantities of food however the more you exercise (depending on your end objective of course), you should be getting the additional vitamins you need, if you end goal is to lose weight or burn body fat, then supplementation should be taken into account.
There are several micro-nutrients that are more important than others are, because either they can be difficult to get via everyday diet and nutrition or because they can improve training performance more.
Calcium and vitamin D
These two aid bone development by operating together within your body. They regularly fall short in several people's diet whether exercising or not. They are more crucial to those who do exercise, as although you may not notice it, exercise puts a lot of strain on your bones. Throughout physical activity, bone minerals dissolve away, and then get replaced. Having plenty of calcium in your diet helps aid this process, whereas ensuring efficient consumption of vitamin D help the digestion of calcium from your stomach. If you do not consume enough of either one, then the risk of training caused stress fractures is increased. You will find Vitamin D in salmon, fortified ready to eat cereals or vitamin D-fortified milk, whereas you can find calcium in milk, cottage and cheddar cheese, and leafy greens.
Iron
Iron is a protein module located in red blood cells called haemoglobin; this means if your diet is inadequate it may negatively reduce your training performance. Haemoglobin helps transport the oxygen to your muscles and other tissues during exercise as well as the delivery back to the lungs of carbon dioxides to enable it to be exhaled out of the body. The iron-deficiency anaemia can be caused from a lack of iron in your diet, and poor oxygen and carbon dioxide delivery will decrease training performance. You can make sure you get plenty of iron in your diet via the consumption of red meat or dark-meat poultry, vitamin C enhanced fruits and juices, vegetables and iron-fortified, ready-to-eat breakfast cereals.
Sodium
Sodium is the main electrolyte located in sweat. Sweating is an crucial factor when exercising as it cools your body down.As soon as your body begins to sweat, it loses sodium, alongside several other electrolytes and minerals. The greater the amount of electrolytes you lose, the greater the chances of you becoming dehydrated, which leads to a negative effect on your ability to train at your peak. The best way to replace the lost sodium and other electrolytes is with a sports or energy drink during exercise.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C supports the prevention of upper respiratory tract infections, which can affect people involved in stamina and endurance events. In certain studies, participants consumed a 500 mg supplementation of vitamin C on a day to day basis, a couple of weeks before and post physical activity. The outcome gave evidence that the amount of participants who caught cold and flu symptoms after physical activity that took the supplement was less than those who did not.
In summary, through not getting quantities of vitamins and minerals in your daily diet and nutrition, you can negatively affect not only your training performance but your general heath as well. This is especially critical if reducing calories. Under these circumstances, a vitamin and mineral supplement is recommended. Try to aim for a general, well-balanced multi supplement that contains an abundance of vitamins and minerals. If you feel your overall diet and nutrient is already adequate, topping up with additional vitamins and minerals may not make you bigger, more defined, faster, or perform better.
