The keys to staying fit are exercising regularly and eating a balanced diet. But if we practice a sport beyond the mere fact of feeling good, we will notice that, on occasion, we will need some extra help to go further and achieve the goals we set for ourselves.
Eating a balanced diet will help us have good health, but it will not provide us with the necessary nutrients to reach the performance levels our body is prepared to achieve. There, sports supplements are shown as the ideal complement to give us that “something” we lack.
Of course, what must be clear is that sports supplements can never form the basis of our diet. Several studies support that its use provides numerous benefits. Both to increase sports performance and for recovery after extensive and prolonged effort. But we must always be consistent and treat them to complement our usual diet.
Advantages of sports supplements
Sports supplements are made by extracting from food the most necessary active ingredients for our sports discipline and discarding those that are unnecessary or can be easily obtained in adequate amounts through our usual diet. For this reason, as they are specifically made with a specific objective, they offer us multiple advantages:
- The first and most obvious is that they complete our diet, providing it with the nutrients it lacks and recovering those eliminated for harmful reasons (such as tobacco).
- They improve our performance by covering the nutritional needs caused by the physical exhaustion derived from physical exercise.
- Likewise, they improve recovery by helping us recover the energy spent and, therefore, allowing us to recover in the shortest possible time to return to performing a physical exercise of considerable intensity.
- Some sports supplements allow us to increase our power and strength quickly, increasing muscle mass. Creatine, for example, is very interesting for strength and power athletes as it improves their performance and increases strength in short-duration and high-intensity activities.
- And some supplements help protect the joints, protecting them, keeping them in their optimal conditions and avoiding their inflammation.
- Since they stimulate the regeneration and stimulation of muscle tissue, they help prevent the appearance of injuries.
- Some supplements help reduce fat levels. For example, some sports supplements incorporate a high fibre content since it improves intestinal transit by retaining water.
- Finally, they provide us with the nutrients lost during exercise.
Athletes and sports supplements
In addition to using sports abe pre workout supplements as a nutritional supplement to their diet, athletes also use them for therapeutic purposes. His objective is, in this way, to obtain an increase in his abilities: resistance, strength, power, speed, etc.
They are also vital to maximize recovery after practising sports, to enhance resistance and concentration and, especially, to extend sports life.
Of course, among professional athletes, its consumption is very common. But that does not mean they take them without any control. On the contrary, its use is measured. Sports supplements provide many benefits, but it is important to use them correctly and fully understand when to use them during rest, training or competition and how much to take.