Study: Should Endurance Athletes Avoid Vitamins C and E?

While the jury is still out on whether or not you should take supplements for your general, overall wellbeing, a lot of people hail the benefits of taking such pills for fitness and athletic performance. Whether you take little gels with you on your long runs, or pump up with a protein shake after long strength-training workouts, fitness experts and enthusiasts believe in the wellness benefits of supplementation – which may make a new study quite a hard pill to swallow. Researchers in Norway have suggested that, if you are an endurance athlete, taking some types of vitamin supplement may make it harder to train for big events like marathons.

 

The findings of the study, which were published in The Journal of Physiology, led the researchers to conclude that you should use vitamins C and E with caution as they may “blunt” the way your muscles respond to exercise. That said, other leading experts have questioned the research, as the 11-week trial results revealed that actual athletic performance was not affected. The team of researchers at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences in Oslo argued vitamin supplements were readily taken and available, but they did admit they were unsure if they affected athletic ability.

 

The trial went on for 11 weeks and, during this time, the 54 participants were given either 1,000mg of vitamin C plus 235mg vitamin E or a sugar pill and trained up to four times per week. The participants were given a beep test – in which you run faster and faster between two points 20m apart – but there was no difference in their performance during this test. The blood samples and tissue biopsies, on the other hand, suggested there were differences developing inside the muscle. Your muscle cells gain energy from lots of internal tiny mitochondria, and taking the supplements seemed to cause the participants to produce fewer extra mitochondria to cope with the increasing demands placed on the muscle.

 

Researcher Dr Goran Paulsen commented, ‘Our results show that vitamin C and E supplements blunted the endurance-training-induced increase of mitochondrial proteins, which are needed to improve muscular endurance. Our results indicate that high dosages of vitamin C and E, as commonly found in supplements, should be used with caution, especially if you are undertaking endurance training.’ However, Mike Gleeson, a professor of exercise biochemistry at Loughborough University, was less than convinced by the study results. According to Gleeson, the biggest factor in performance is actually how fast your heart and lungs can get oxygen to your muscles, not mitochondria. He added that the lack of a difference in athletic performance ‘makes it difficult to interpret,’ noting ‘The bottom line is studies show changes in the ability to adapt to exercise could be impaired by high-dose vitamins, but until there are studies showing them affecting athletic performance people shouldn’t be worried.’

 

Dr Emma Derbyshire, from the industry-backed Health Supplements Information Service, commented that some studies had shown a benefit. ‘In a four-week randomised controlled trial evaluating vitamin C and E supplementation among female athletes, supplementation reduced markers of oxidative stress compared with a placebo tablet and reduced muscle damage markers associated with aerobic exercise,’ she said. ‘This latest study is essentially preliminary and the research findings would need to be re-assessed in further work. Eating as healthy a diet as possible is very important for sports people and athletes. However, if they have a hectic training schedule, particularly for those doing endurance training who are not able to eat as well as they should, a multivitamin and mineral supplement provides a method of ensuring that the intakes of these essential nutrients, including vitamin C and E, follow recommended guidelines.’

Categories: athletic performance, endurance, Endurance Athletes, endurance training, performance, Research, study, Supplements, vitamin

Performance Anxiety: Four Things to Remember in the Bedroom

If you think your “below-the-belt” area is the most important part while performing a sexual activity, think again; the most important organ that determines your performance in bed is your brain! Performance anxiety can damage the sexual health and wellness of any man, rendering him incapable of fully enjoying his sex life for fear of messing things up. So how can you protect your wellbeing against the fear of performing?

 

1. Don’t Be Too Body-Conscious: You are exposed to so many different types of media these days that it’s impossible not to view images of good-looking people with perfect bodies. As a regular, human man, this can make you feel under pressure to meet these unfeasible standards and, as a result, you can lose your sense of self-esteem and even stumble into depression. When you’re having sex, your body is indeed on display, which can make you worry about the odd skinny or wobbly bit and not enjoy sex fully. However, it’s important to note that no woman expects absolute perfection – if you were a complete 10, you’d make your partner feel insecure about how she looks. Try to focus on the parts of your body that you like and, if you really do want to look better, hit the gym.

 

2. Don’t Expect Real-Life Sex to Be Like Porn: As a teenager, it’s easy to get your hands on a lot of porn, which means most men have a slightly warped view of what sex is like. This internet-given sex education can make you feel like you have to last for more than 30 minutes, for example, which is completely unrealistic. Again, not meeting up to these expectations can knock your confidence, but it’s important to note that these things aren’t real; just like images of perfect bodies are the result of clever camerawork, pornographic acts are often performed with several cuts. In fact, research shows the standard time that a man should take to ejaculate after penetration is three to five minutes, so you’re doing fine.

 

3. Don’t Obsess About Size: A lot of men worry about the size of their penis but, again, this can be warped by the viewing of pornography. Let me speak on behalf of women everywhere; it’s not the size – it’s what you do with it. If you can learn about things like female erogenous zones and kegel exercises to enhance your sex life, your partner won’t be thinking about how big it is. If you’re really concerned about how you measure up, the average penis size for adults is about 14-16cm (5.5-6.3 inches) when erect, and the average girth for an erect penis is 12-13cm (4.7-5.1 inches), so you’re probably way bigger than you realise.

 

4. Forget Your Past Negative Experiences: If you’ve ever had a partner ridicule you, or even make some sort of off-hand comment about your performance, you can carry that with you for years. If you’ve had such an experience, this has probably knocked your confidence and, as such, led to performance anxiety. The weird thing is that even if you’re amazing at sex, worrying that you’re not can actually make your performance worse, as you’re worrying rather than focusing on the experience. Remember that every person is different, which means that your current partner might love the things that your negative partner didn’t. Moreover, part of intimacy is working out what each other likes, and improving together. She’s not expecting you to be a rock star on your first try, and women quite like tailoring a man’s skills to their personal needs.

Categories: Body image, life, nbsp, partner, Penis Size, perfect bodies, performance, performance anxiety, sex life, size

How to Create a Happy Office by Making Sure You’re Healthy

A corporate space is a difficult one in which to incorporate physical activity. Nevertheless, numerous studies have shown that employees who have better wellness and a strong sense of wellbeing perform better in the workplace when compared directly to employees with poor wellness or low morale.

 

In the past, employers have not been too concerned about the health or lifestyle of their employees, seeing it as ‘private business’, but there is becoming more and more awareness of the impact that wellness can have on the performance of employees and, therefore, a company.

 

Companies are now looking at wellness-related ways to get the most out of their employees, by keeping them healthy, making them feel confident and empowering them to take control of their own careers.

 

There are lots of different ways to go about this, from wellness programmes to individual mentoring, but one way that you may not have considered is hosting an outdoor team building exercise. This is especially useful in an office where the work is generally computer based or desk based, and employees spend long periods of time sitting down. The opportunity to get outdoors for a fun series of activities can improve their mood and physical wellness, and can also encourage them to adopt a healthier way of life. Those who participate in the physical activity and feel the rush of endorphins afterwards may feel themselves drawn to taking more physical activity in the future. All that fresh air could also trigger creative thinking, which could be of huge benefit when back in the office again.

 

Think, too, about changing the menu in your workplace canteen. A healthy menu offering employees the opportunity to consume good, nutritious food can make a great difference to employee wellness and wellbeing.

Categories: activity, employees, fitness, nbsp, performance, physical, physical activity, Wellness

Twerk Like Miley Cyrus: Get Fit and Have Lots of Fun!

Miley Cyrus has been in the news a lot recently, and mostly for all the wrong reasons. The young starlet is trying to shake off her squeaky clean Hannah Montana image, but critics are questioning the effect that this is having on the wellness and wellbeing of her young fans. The phrase ‘outrageous’ has been used frequently, alongside the word ‘scandalous’.

 

It may be that Miley Cyrus’s embarrassing performance is nothing to be proud of, but this does not change the fact that her weight and fitness are enviable to those who are trying to get into shape. Not only did the singer dance around in an energetic manner during her VMA performance, she also stripped down completely for her latest music video, looking toned and slender.

 

Twerking (the bottom-shaking dance that Miley has become famous for) is actually really difficult and take some incredible leg power to keep going for more than 20 seconds at a time.

 

If you want to twerk like Miley Cyrus, you need to get your legs a lot stronger. The best way to do that is with a leg press machine. The machine focuses on your quads, which are the muscles at the front of your thighs, and it also tackles your glutes (bottom). Doing a few sets of around 20 – 25 reps of a medium weight.

 

It’s also a good idea to do some plié squats – these are done by dancers throughout the world as they help to focus on burning away the muscle that are at the inside of your thighs. These are the muscles that help to control the hips, and when your hips are in tip top condition you can shimmy like a top superstar performer. Do a few sets of plié squats every day and you will see a big difference.

Categories: cyrus, dance, miley, miley cyrus, nbsp, performance, pli squats, twerk

Could Fifty Shades of Grey Help You to Lose Weight?

A fitness expert in Manhattan has recently released an exciting Fifty Shades of Grey-inspired fitness routine, to help those who want to reduce their weight in a fun and sexy way. The fun routine could help to improve your wellness and wellbeing through moves that are based on the bestselling sexy novel.

 

Designed to help women to feel as sexy as Anastasia, the main character in the novel, the workout also targets core strength, giving you a physique that should do wonders for your self-esteem and sex appeal.

 

For most people, the most they probably do to prepare for the physicality of sex is to do a few kegel exercises, which strengthen your pelvic floor muscles. These exercises always used to be recommended to help improve your performance in the bedroom as well as to help reduce the strain of childbirth on the pelvic floor.

 

Exercise and a healthy lifestyle are the best ways to make sure that your reproductive system works well as you get older. It also helps to ward off excess fat, and this is important if you want to keep your sexual performance up as you get older.

 

Cardio directly translates into more stamina and better performance in bed (because, if you think about it, sex is just one big cardio workout!) The intense core strength and cardio workout that has been devised by the creator of the Fifty Shades workout could well help to improve your performance between the sheets.

 

Designed specifically with women in mind, the workout focuses on flexibility, cardiovascular endurance (stamina) and toning of all your core muscles. When you are up to speed with the workout, you should be able to try different positions that you have not previously accessed.

 

Every workout that you do will help to tone up your core which will make you look and feel sexier, and this core strength will also make sex better for you.

Categories: cardio workout, Core, core strength, fifty, fifty shades, nbsp, nbsp designed, pelvic floor, performance, Sex, Workout

How Even Casual Smoking will Affect your Workout

People go to the gym for different reasons. Some want to tone up, others want to get seriously bulky and there are those who want to improve their stamina. Whatever reason you may have to hit the gym you might also want to consider giving up on the smokes. Pharmacist and online doctor Chemist Direct asked a broad selection of health experts if the combination of cigarettes and the gymnasium is a good one. Interested in their answers? Here they are:

 

We kick off with homeopath and pharmacist Margo Marrone. We asked her how smoking affects your body’s physical performance. She notes that during physical performance oxygen is vital. The harder you work out the harder the heart pumps in order to transport oxygen to muscles. Smoking is counterproductive to your workout.

 

Marrone: “Smoking competes with oxygen for haemoglobin in red blood cells and wins, which means there is less oxygen flowing in the blood and less oxygen available to the muscles. This in turn makes the heart work even harder putting more stress on the heart. Smoking also constricts blood vessels making it harder for blood to flow through them and therefore an increase in the risk of heart attack. It also constricts the airways in the lung through inflammation and a build up of mucous which causes more lack of oxygen.”

 

Second and third up are Mark and Kathy Brown from Fitness Sitacise. They are personal trainers and have trained with Olympic athletes. They have seen first hand how smoking retards the growth and development of muscles. Just like Marrone, Mark and Kathy Brown note that smoking cuts down the amount of oxygen in the blood. They also mention that smokers that go to the gym have to work extra hard to achieve the same results non-smokers do.

 

Kathy Brown: “Smoking causes blood flow to slow down and decreases the amount of nutrients, protein and minerals transported to the muscles during and after the workout. Smoking also slows down your development because you cannot train as hard or as intensely as you could if you didn’t smoke so you now must work out longer to try to achieve the same results. You also get tired more quickly and your recovery time is longer and is not as complete as it is if you didn’t smoke. Your endurance, recovery and your total physical performance is reduced by about 10%.”

 

Non-smokers perform better than smokers in the gym. Gym goers that want better stamina will do themselves a significant favour if they put down their cigarettes. Studies have shown that a smoker’s lung capacity is hugely reduced. This cuts down on smokers’ ability to achieve maximum efforts and the most noticeable results. When you are a smoker and you’re looking to buff up you’re also shooting yourself in the knee.

 

Mark Brown: “Non smokers’ heart beats are 25-30% slower than smokers’. They can generate more power and explosiveness for a longer duration. Non-smokers also have better focus, concentration and coordination to perform complex combination exercises. The potential increase in performance that quitting smoking has will be noticeable in the areas that require the greatest effort. Bench presses, squats, deadlifts and endurance power movements will improve from 10 to 20%. All super setting movements and other routines that require moving from one exercise to another will improve because of increased lung capacity and endurance.”

 

Now that we have established that smoking is bad for your gym performance it is time to come up with a solution. Personal trainer Luke DePron knows exactly what to do to increase a smoker’s performing ability.

 

DePron: “Similar to most bad habits, people fool themselves in thinking healthy eating cancels out the negatives of smoking. While healthy eating does better equip to the body to deal with environmental stresses, smoking cessation would offer the greatest benefits. Trying to cancel out the negative affects of smoking with healthy nutrition is akin to fanning out smoke while a fire still burns. Putting out the fire or in this case the cigarette would have the greatest impact.”

 

It looks like there is only one solution for all the smokers out here. If you are serious about your gym regime, make sure you quit soon rather than later as it will positively affect your performance in the gym in a huge way.

Categories: casual, Healthy Eating, kathy brown, lung capacity, nbsp, Oxygen, performance, physical performance, smokers, Smoking, Workout

How to Breathe When You"re Exercising

It’s as simple as breathing in and breathing out – or is it? When we exercise, getting enough oxygen into the body is vital for our stamina and strength. There is an art to inhaling that most people don’t value enough. The best breathing techniques could improve your stamina and boost your performance, helping you reach your peak fitness. Smooth and efficient breathing can hep the body to perform it’s various functions properly, as well as helping to calm the mind, enable you to exercise for longer, and to put an end to those stitches in your side. When you’re running, getting your breathing right is the difference between a difficult running session around the block and real endurance. Studies have even proven that improper breathing can impair your speed and performance.

 

There’s no set rule for runners, but most agree that they find it comfortable to take a breath every two foot strikes. This means that you take one left step and one right, whilst breathing in, then two steps whilst breathing out. This works best as your diaphragm and the surrounding organs are at the liberty of gravity, so by getting your breathing in line with your movements you will be able to breathe more comfortably. There is some debate as to whether it is better to breathe through your nose or your mouth, and the studies conclude that breathing through your mouth is the best option as this causes the least amount of resistance – if you are breathing through your nose, you’re making things unnecessarily hard for yourself. Of course, nose breathing does have its benefits, as it increases the CO2 saturation in the blood, which can calm you down. It also helps to minimise the amount of allergens you inhale and to warm the air as it enters the lungs (great for outdoor workouts in the colder months). It depends on what is best for you, so trial both ways of breathing and see which you prefer.

 

When you’re taking part in high intensity sports, breathing is something of a difficulty. But your breathing is crucial to stabilise your core and postural control muscles. When you’re anticipating a heavy weight or impact, you should take a deep breath and then brace the core – this will help to protect the spine. With any exercise, it’s best to breathe from the diaphragm rather than the chest as this increases the amount of oxygen you can provide to the muscles. Your ribcage should expand in a 3D pattern, top to bottom, back to front and to the sides. Aerobic exercise is just one of the forms of exercise that can benefit from good breathing practices.

 

The main thing to remember is that you need to breathe out, as many people try and hold their breath subconsciously. Holding the breath increases pressure in the chest cavity, but holding it too long can stop the blood getting back to the heart and can raise your blood pressure. It’s even possible to train your respiratory muscles which has been proven by researchers to improve your performance and stamina, particularly in high-intensity sports. Of course, there are other factors which can impede your breathing – smoking, allergies and asthma can all affect your breathing ability, in particular during exercise sessions. Giving up smoking will improve your breathing, in everyday life and during exercise, but if you’re worried you have asthma or allergies you should speak to your GP who can advise you how to exercise safely and control these conditions.

Categories: breath, Breathe, Breathing, exercise, high intensity, intensity sports, performance, stamina

How to Make Sure You Perform Well in the Bedroom

If you are a man, your sexual health and wellbeing is likely tied up in how you perceive your performance in the bedroom to be. For a man to experience good sexual and emotional wellness, he has to feel that he is doing all the right things to keep his partner happy. There are plenty of male enhancement supplements and pills on the market, but there are actually some far easier ways to keep an erection for longer, without having to pay a visit to the pharmacy.

 

Did you know, for example, that heart health is linked to sexual performance? It stands to reason, of course, because your penis functions on blood pressure. When your brain sends the signal to your penis to get an erection, the blood vessels in the genitals become engorged and of course it is the heart that pumps that blood. When there is a problem with heart function or blood pressure, this blood is not pumped as strongly and the penis can go limp too far ahead of time. It could even mean that you struggle to get a proper erection.

 

One of the best ways to achieve this is to stay active, as cardiovascular exercise will keep your heart strong and healthy and this will keep the blood pumping and flowing to every area of the body. Exercise that increases your heart rate and keeps it up (so to speak!) for a period of time is the best kind, and experts advise that you take 30 minutes per day of an exercise that makes your break into a sweat.

 

There are also some foods that are reputed to help with your sexual performance, by keeping the blood flow healthy. They include bananas, chillies and peppers, onions and garlic. In addition to these, any food that has omega-3 fatty acid is great for your heart, along with vitamin B1.

Categories: bedroom, Blood, blood pressure, exercise, heart, Man, performance, sexual, sexual performance

Sex and Sport: Does Abstinence Improve Your Performance?

You may have heard that top athletes avoid sex before a big event, so as to keep their fitness and wellness levels to an absolute maximum, but is there any science to support this? How does your sexual health really affect other aspects of your wellbeing?

 

At the London 2012 Olympics, there was more than 150,000 condoms handed out to the 10,500 athletes, as London Mayor Boris Johnson noted he wanted the Olympics to “inspire a generation” not “create a generation”. However, even if the modern day Olympiads were getting down to it before race day, that’s not how it’s always been. Boxing legend Muhammad Ali supposedly practised abstinence in the six weeks leading up to a big fight, and the England football team was reportedly banned from sex during the 1998 World Cup. Then you have American Marty Liquori, the world’s top 5000-metre runner four decades ago, who was famous for says, ‘Sex makes you happy. Happy people don’t run a 3:47 mile.’ So does that mean Mo Farah could have edged a few seconds off his time? Not according to the evidence.

 

Ian Shrier, a professor in the department of family medicine at McGill University in Canada, comments, ‘When we test people in the lab, we are examining “tests of performance” but in competition, psychology very likely plays a much more important role. Those who claim it decreases performance usually say it is because it decreases focus or aggression or tension. There are no studies that have examined this.’

 

Martin Milton, an expert in psycho-therapeutic and counseling psychology at the University of Surrey, notes that the effect of sex really comes down to who you are, how often you’re having sex, for how long and in what way. ‘If it’s “up all night swinging from the rafters” type sex we’re talking about, then obviously the athlete is not going to be getting enough sleep or rest and their mind isn’t on the job,’ says Milton. ‘So that might well be more the issue than whether or not being involved in a short period of sex might be detrimental to someone’s performance.’

Categories: abstinence, athletes, generation, london, nbsp, Olympics, performance

Male Anxiety in Bed: The Real Story!

Anxiety is our natural response to stressful situations, but when we’re faced with anxiety over what should be a pleasurable situation it can be less than desirable. Many people, both men and women, get nervous and anxious about their performance in the bedroom, but men in particular are known for having issues with sexual anxiety. The result is the inability to reach an erection or orgasm in a normal way. There are a number of myths which surround this problem, which has manifested a larger problem than the reality for most men.

 

Sex is considered to be the most pleasurable experience humans can have, and although it is a physical experience this isn’t the whole story. If the individuals aren’t taking their emotions and thoughts into account, this can have disastrous effects on the sex itself. Arousal is closely linked to our emotions and feelings, so when we try to ignore this and focus only on the physical act it can ruin what should be an incredibly enjoyable experience. Performance anxiety is a disease condition, meaning that the individual is quite literally ‘dis’ at ‘ease’ with their situation. However, it isn’t always just a mental complaint – physical ailments can affect your ability in bed. The root of this problem is worry though, which may be caused by stress, body image woes or a fear that they won’t be good enough to satisfy their partner.

 

Possibly the greatest myth surrounding a person’s sexuality is that worry can’t physically affect anything. Because sex is largely a physical act, it’s easy to assume that there is no connection between the mind and a person’s sexual organs. This isn’t strictly true though. Worry can affect you though, as it causes the body to release the hormones epinephrine, noradrenaline, adrenaline and norepinephrine, which are designed to prepare the body against attack and threat. In moments of extreme intimacy, they aren’t the ideal hormones to be flooding the bloodstream.

 

There is a rule of thought which states that men are the only ones who get performance anxiety in the bedroom – this isn’t true. Because it isn’t diagnosed or publicised as much, people don’t associate it with the female participants, but it can affect women just as easily. Worry, in women, can manifest itself in a lack of lubrication which can make sex incredibly painful as opposed to desirable. Many people mistakenly think that performance anxiety is a one-off situation, which the individual will simply get over and move on from. Far from it, though, as it can cause a vicious cycle where the individual develops a fear surrounding sex, which lead to a problem in the bedroom, further exacerbating the worry. No-one should have to live with a sexual problem – sex is a personal aspect of a person’s lifestyle, and is there to be enjoyed.

 

Whether it is a psychological problem or a physical condition, you should seek help for it as soon as possible so that you can resume a normal sex life. Your GP will be able to advise ways to do this, whether it is minor surgical procedures or medication for physical problems, or counselling sessions for the emotional causes. If you think you may have a problem in the bedroom that is causing your performance anxiety, you should speak to your GP about it who can help. Communication is the best treatment for this issue – bottling it up only makes the issue worse and leads to unnecessary shame about your performance with your partner.

Categories: anxiety, men, performance, performance anxiety, physical act, problem, Sex, sexual performance

How To Improve Your Sexual Performance

Sexual health is very important, especially to men. For many men, sex is at the centre of their self-confidence, and they are continually looking for ways to improve their sexual wellness and wellbeing.

 

There are a lot of male enhancement pills available on the market, but there are also lots of simple and natural ways to help you improve your male sexual performance without having to visit a drugstore.

 

Blood pressure controls the penis. When the brain sends the signal to the vital organ, the blood vessels become engorged and allows an erection to occur. Your heart pumps the blood that allows this occurrence, and thus problems with the heart can lead to problems with the blood pressure and the ability to sustain an erection. In order to keep your sexual health as good as it can be, you should work hard at keeping your heart healthy.

 

In order to keep your heart healthy and maintain the efficacy of your circulatory system, you should aim to carry out a lot of cardiovascular exercise. Sex can also get your heart rate up of course, but regular exercise can help even more, and that means sweat-breaking exercise such as swimming, running, exercise classes and so on. Just 30 minutes per day of exercise can help to boost both your libido and your sexual wellness.

 

Food can also play an important part in male sexual health, as there are certain foods that have been proved to increase blood flow to the penis. These include onions and garlic, bananas (the potassium in these can help to lower your blood pressure) and chilli peppers. Spicy foods reduce blood pressure and inflammation and thus help to improve your blood flow.

 

You can also try eating food that is high in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B1 and eggs, which all help to improve the chances so achieving an erection.

Categories: Blood, blood flow, blood pressure, erection, Heart-Healthy, male, male sexual, performance, sexual, sexual health, sexual performance, Sexual Wellness

Vegan Power: Check Out the Athletes Who Said Bye to Burgers

If you want a really powerful punch to your workouts, a vegan diet is out of the question, right? Surely you need something a little more substantial than nuts and berries to boost your strength and endurance. Not according to Brendan Brazier. This former Ironman triathlete and ultra-marathon champion changed to a vegan diet as a high school athlete hoping to turn professional, and he’s never looked back.

Brazier explained, ‘I knew I had to improve. I tried high carb, low carb, high protein, low protein, all sorts of different diets. Then I tried plant-based. It started with me just taking a daily blender drink of fats, plants, proteins.’ Since then, the 38-year-old Canadian has written three books on veganism, including Thrive Fitness: The Vegan-Based Training Program for Maximum Strength, Health, and Fitness, but he’s not the only athlete who has seen the wellbeing benefits of a vegan diet.

Tennis star Venus Williams became a vegan after being told she had Sjogren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disease, whilst olympic skier Seba Johnson has been vegan from birth. Other sporting vegans include ice hockey player Mike Zigomanis, Baseball’s Prince Fielder and ultra-marathoner Scott Jurek, so why are the world’s fittest and fastest trading in their steaks for spinach?

According to the wellness experts, plant-based diets give you more energy, deeper sleep and better performance. Julieanna Hever, a personal trainer, registered dietician and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition, commented, ‘We see athletes recovering faster, maximizing training, and thereby improving performance.’ However, she added, ‘Unfortunately, there are not yet any clinical trials on vegan athletes.’

Yet registered dietician Sharon Palmer, author of The Plant-Powered Diet noted that some studies show antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, as found in spades in a plant-based diet, can help prevent and treat issues related to recovery. Palmer said, ‘It makes sense that anti-inflammatory compounds would help athletes avoid inflammation related to training, and the majority of anti-inflammatory compounds are found in plant foods.’ She warned that veganism can put you at risk for deficiency in protein, vitamins B12, D, and calcium, and you might need a supplement or to consult a dietician. ‘I see that people just wing it.’ Palmer said. ‘They decide that their bodies will just fill in for their gaps in their diets, which is not true.’

Categories: athletes, performance, plant-based diet

Does Exercise Need to Follow the Theme of No Pain, No Gain?

When it comes to fitness, it seems that it really is a case of no pain, no gain. If you want to see results, you need to give it your all. That means you need to be disciplined, focused and willing to give it your all in the gym. It isn’t all serious though – you need to be enjoying yourself in order to feel motivated to carry on. So, how do you combine all of these features to create a fitness regime that not only keeps you focused but is also effective? Experts agree that beginning your regime with a specific goal in mind makes it easier for you to navigate a programme that works best for you – for example, do you want to run the marathon in six months time or become a more agile cricketer? Whatever it is you want to achieve, settle on the goal in the early stages so that you can tailor your programme to meet your targets. Stating that you simply want to lose a little weight will leave you unsure of how to meet these goals, and you’ll end up wavering.

 

It’s also important to remember that your fitness instructor can support you, but you need to put the effort in yourself – they aren’t a crutch on which to place all of your weight. You’ll feel and see the benefits far more if you put the effort in and maintain a strong level of performance and focus. Finding a balance of training, competing and relaxing is key to seeing the kind of results you’re working towards – the moniker of “no pain, no gain” may be tongue-in-cheek for many, but there is an element of truth to it.

 

Fitness experts are quick to agree that many people start off in the same way, with no experience and limited drive to get fit – after a while though, you begin to see results, which serves as the best motivator for striving to improve. Being healthier is a bonus to the aesthetic effects of exercise, too. For example, if you spend a lot of time working in an office, you may have poor posture – exercise and regular training can improve this, which in turn can help you reduce your risk of bad backs and muscle problems. By improving your movement patterns in the early stages, you can reduce the risk of injury and enhance your performance overall.

Categories: fitness, performance, weight