As any athlete with a little experience knows, what you put into your body is what you get out of it. Don’t believe me? Just try eating a burger and fries the night before a big event, maybe indulge in a beer or three. Your performance will suffer. Along with an effective training schedule, what you ingest is the most important factor in determining performance during an event and recovery speed afterward.

Your body needs good quality fuel to run at its best. For athletes this means not only pure, healthy foods but also high quality supplements – you want the stuff that burns clean and that is sustainable in the long run, not the stuff that’s going to mess with your metabolism and leave you feeling burnt out six months down the road.

There’s a pretty strong consensus on the diet front – eat lean, hormone-free proteins, complex carbohydrates, omega-3 type fats and stay away from anything processed, packaged or that comes out of a deep fryer. Navigating the supplement industry is a little murkier though, and the purpose of this article is to break down what every athlete who’s looking to enhance their performance naturally should take, and why.

But first, as a caveat, let me acknowledge that different athletes have different goals and needs and so, while I’ve tried to tailor this to adults following a serious training program, you should always consult your doctor to make sure these things are right for you, and the information in this article shouldn’t be construed as taking the place of a doctor’s advice.

1. A High Quality Protein Supplement

Physically active people need more protein. Protein helps build muscle, so getting enough is critical for the serious athlete. In theory you can get it all through your diet; in practice it’s much easier to down a shake. But take too much and you can stress your liver and kidneys, especially if the protein source has a low Net Nitrogen Utilization (NNU) value. Protein 2.0 is a class of proteins called ‘bioactive’ protein – it gives you more bang for your buck because it not only helps you build muscle, it also offers active peptides that bolster your immune system and promote a healthy inflammatory response.

Tara-Hurdles-Competition

2. Anti-Oxidants

When you exercise, you breathe harder. This means you’re taking in more oxygen. Great, except that oxygen produces free radicals in your body that damage your cells and DNA. So antioxidants are critical to any athlete’s training regimen, because the harder you train, the harder your cells are going to get pummeled with free radicals.

Sure you can get anti-oxidants from some foods, but my money’s on glutathione, which is like the Great White shark of anti-oxidants – hundreds of times stronger than anything found in fruits or vegetables. Your body manufactures it internally, but production declines from as early as age twenty on. Unfortunately, a glutathione supplement is useless (it just gets digested). Fortunately, supplements that provide the precursors for your body to rev up its own natural glutathione production are effective. As an added bonus, when you increase glutathione production, you increase ATP – ATP energy, or cellular energy, so not only do you fight free radicals, you also get more energy.

3. Immune Enhancement

Train hard and your immune system crashes. “High intensity exercise impairs immune function for up to several hours post-exercise.” (Nieman DC. Is infection risk linked to exercise workload? Med Sci Sports Exerc 32: S406 –S411, 2000.). This means that you’re open to illness and infection – and being sick isn’t good for business. A mean flu can have you knocked on your ass for weeks. Better just to strengthen your immune system. Echinacea? Meh. Vitamin C? If you must. But, as I mentioned above, if you take a bioactive protein, you’re going to boost your immune system as a side benefit – and save money by not having to buy an extra product.

4. Adrenal Support

Your adrenals sit on top of your kidneys and regulate stress, including that handy fight-or-flight response that kicks in right before and during an event. You know, it’s that adrenaline cold sweat that makes you feel like you could wrestle a cougar (which is probably what that short burst of energy was originally intended for). Modern times haven’t been so kind to our adrenals though, and daily life stress (think traffic jams, your boss, bills, etc…) combined with workout stress spells adrenal burnout. If your adrenals aren’t at their best, neither are you, and your performance will suffer. So if you’re training or doing extreme sports, an adrenal supplement could be what you need.

5. Memory, Focus, Concentration

Sports and training aren’t just about strength – they’re also about focus, concentration, and reaction time. So taking something for your brain is a good idea. Fish with a low mercury content and high fat content is optimal because it contains lots of DHA, but it not always available and hard to take with you when traveling. Other promising memory and focus supplements are Gotu Kola, DMAE and CDP Choline.

While I’m not a professional athlete, I take my training and my body’s long-term health seriously. I’m not planning on making it to the Olympics, but I do want to be in great shape well into my retirement years.

Here’s what I take:

1-2 scoops Protein Extreme Energy in the morning before breakfast (for protein and immune system)

2 Maxodin with breakfast (for concentration, memory, focus)

1-2 scoops GSH-Ignite before work-outs (for free radical protection)

In some cases I will take 1 scoop of Protein Extreme Energy for post work out muscle support and recovery

2 Adrenal ReBoot with dinner (for adrenal support)

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