Pre-Exercise Supplements that Will Fuel Your Workout
If you are going to the gym, or picking up a game of your favorite sport without seeing much improvement or progress in the last couple of months, you may not be doing all you can to fuel your workouts. Sometimes, your performance can be sub-par because you just don't have the right energy or stamina for your best game. What does that mean, exactly?
Compare your body to a car engine. Sure, your car will run on regular gas. It will run better on premium gasoline, though. What if you put a special additive into your tank to give it even better, top-of-the line sports performance? The human body reacts in a very similar way.
Your body will run on junk food. Not well, but it will function. If you feed it lean protein, healthy vegetables, fruits and grains, it will run very well. If you add to this a special supplement here and there to give it the chance to have the best possible performance, you will see the results.
If you're the type of person who goes to the gym faithfully and already eats a fairly clean diet, you should look into some pre-workout supplements that will help you achieve your highest goals. Whether you want more brute force in the gym, greater longevity for more cardio miles, or a faster recovery, there are some excellent supplements to take in all of these areas.
If you want to make phenomenal strength gains, one of the best supplements you can take before your workout is creatine. Creatine is a great energy source that used to be known only to bodybuilders, but has now become popular by those who lift weights in the gym, as well as endurance athletes and team sports players.
Although creatine is found naturally in the body, it is not produced at high enough levels to be effective as a strength-gaining supplement. Most athletes who use creatine supplements consume a large amount, or "load," for about a week before tapering off to a regular pre-workout dosage.
Creatine is best taken with a high-glycemic carbohydrate, which means something high in sugar. You can take it mixed with orange juice or another quickly-digested, high-carbohydrate sports drink. If you take it about thirty minutes prior to your workout, you will notice great results in strength and longevity. Over time, your strength gains will produce the lean body mass you are looking for in the gym!
Another great pre-exercise supplement is called nitric oxide, not to be confused with the nitrous oxide that you receive in the dentist's chair! Nitric oxide, again, occurs in the body naturally. It contains amino acids, most notably a form or arginine which is an amino acid that stimulates the release of growth hormone and helps to reduce adipose tissue (body fat), while helping lean muscle mass to form. Arginine is a pre-cursor to nitric oxide, meaning it is needed in the body in order for nitric oxide to be of value.
Once you take nitric oxide, your blood vessels expand which causes greater blood flow and oxygen transport to the muscles. Not only does this give you quite a powerful workout, as it delivers nutrients to your muscles quickly, but it reduces your blood pressure as well. The increase in blood flow to the muscle helps produce greater growth of muscle tissue over a shorter period of time. Who doesn't want that in a pre-workout supplement?
Since we have covered a couple of the best pre-workout supplements for growth and stamina, let's look at what works well for endurance athletes before they hit the track or field. While they too may benefit from the use of creatine and / or nitric oxide, their cardiovascular systems are going to be more challenged than those who perform mainly anaerobic activity. Accordingly, they will need small doses of higher-glycemic compounds.
The marathon runner, for example, may need to ingest something before he begins his grueling twenty-six (and two tenths!) mile trek. However, the best fuel for him is a small, half ounce portion of something like "Gu." These are sometimes known as runner's gels, and they are basically fruit or honey-type sugars that someone can rip from a foil packet easily and squirt into their mouth while running.
Those who run short distances will not need this kind of fuel, as their energy stores will not be depleted that quickly. However, if you are an endurance athlete who will be performing for an hour or more, make sure you invest in a bunch of these supplements. They will help you tremendously in maintaining your peak levels of performance.
No matter what type of training you favor, if you are at all serious about giving your top-notch performance, give these popular and worthy pre-workout supplements a try!
Compare your body to a car engine. Sure, your car will run on regular gas. It will run better on premium gasoline, though. What if you put a special additive into your tank to give it even better, top-of-the line sports performance? The human body reacts in a very similar way.
Your body will run on junk food. Not well, but it will function. If you feed it lean protein, healthy vegetables, fruits and grains, it will run very well. If you add to this a special supplement here and there to give it the chance to have the best possible performance, you will see the results.
If you're the type of person who goes to the gym faithfully and already eats a fairly clean diet, you should look into some pre-workout supplements that will help you achieve your highest goals. Whether you want more brute force in the gym, greater longevity for more cardio miles, or a faster recovery, there are some excellent supplements to take in all of these areas.
If you want to make phenomenal strength gains, one of the best supplements you can take before your workout is creatine. Creatine is a great energy source that used to be known only to bodybuilders, but has now become popular by those who lift weights in the gym, as well as endurance athletes and team sports players.
Although creatine is found naturally in the body, it is not produced at high enough levels to be effective as a strength-gaining supplement. Most athletes who use creatine supplements consume a large amount, or "load," for about a week before tapering off to a regular pre-workout dosage.
Creatine is best taken with a high-glycemic carbohydrate, which means something high in sugar. You can take it mixed with orange juice or another quickly-digested, high-carbohydrate sports drink. If you take it about thirty minutes prior to your workout, you will notice great results in strength and longevity. Over time, your strength gains will produce the lean body mass you are looking for in the gym!
Another great pre-exercise supplement is called nitric oxide, not to be confused with the nitrous oxide that you receive in the dentist's chair! Nitric oxide, again, occurs in the body naturally. It contains amino acids, most notably a form or arginine which is an amino acid that stimulates the release of growth hormone and helps to reduce adipose tissue (body fat), while helping lean muscle mass to form. Arginine is a pre-cursor to nitric oxide, meaning it is needed in the body in order for nitric oxide to be of value.
Once you take nitric oxide, your blood vessels expand which causes greater blood flow and oxygen transport to the muscles. Not only does this give you quite a powerful workout, as it delivers nutrients to your muscles quickly, but it reduces your blood pressure as well. The increase in blood flow to the muscle helps produce greater growth of muscle tissue over a shorter period of time. Who doesn't want that in a pre-workout supplement?
Since we have covered a couple of the best pre-workout supplements for growth and stamina, let's look at what works well for endurance athletes before they hit the track or field. While they too may benefit from the use of creatine and / or nitric oxide, their cardiovascular systems are going to be more challenged than those who perform mainly anaerobic activity. Accordingly, they will need small doses of higher-glycemic compounds.
The marathon runner, for example, may need to ingest something before he begins his grueling twenty-six (and two tenths!) mile trek. However, the best fuel for him is a small, half ounce portion of something like "Gu." These are sometimes known as runner's gels, and they are basically fruit or honey-type sugars that someone can rip from a foil packet easily and squirt into their mouth while running.
Those who run short distances will not need this kind of fuel, as their energy stores will not be depleted that quickly. However, if you are an endurance athlete who will be performing for an hour or more, make sure you invest in a bunch of these supplements. They will help you tremendously in maintaining your peak levels of performance.
No matter what type of training you favor, if you are at all serious about giving your top-notch performance, give these popular and worthy pre-workout supplements a try!
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