Subject: RE: vitamen supplements for recovery, performance, and general health As long as you are eating real food and have no issues such as a lack of intrinsic factor (for B12 ) you should not necessarily need any supplements.
There are some that may be a good choice however. An oil based Vitamin D3 is something I would recommend for almost every athlete. If living in N.America for example, outside of the summer you are almost never going to get enough sunlight. And even during the summer, clothing and sunscreen limit our exposure. I've even seen triathletes in Texas with low D.
Sports drinks are good if you are working out for longer than an hour. If you are eating around the workout (such as doing a noon training session after breakfast and before lunch ) then your meals are probably sufficient.
I will sometimes take a PRO powder before an AM fasted workout.
There are many supplements on the market that may improve performance, but I hesitate to recommend or even take any of them. It is risky. One of my professors who is an exercise physiologist worked for a major supplement company, and does not recommend most supplements due to what he knows. He even spent a full class period talking about the supplement industry and breaking apart their add campaigns and ingredients.
Just recently Sergio Silva lost his gold medal in the Duathlon due to failing a doping test. One of his supplements contained a banned ingredient that was not on the ingredient list. And this is not a unique event, other athletes have lost medals due to mystery ingredients that sneak into supplements. |