Supplements for CrossFit athletes

Supplements for CrossFit athletes

There are so many different supplements on the market; all of which are marketed very well. They are often made to look literally like a magic pill which is going to take your training to the next level, whilst magically adding 10 kg of lean muscle to your body and dropping 5kg of fat - all in only 2 short weeks.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news... but they won't. However, what good supplements will do is supplement good nutrition, to help you recover so you can continue to train at a high intensity on a regular basis.

First of all, if you're lacking energy for training, take a look at your food - are you eating enough veggies on a daily basis? be honest... Also, are you getting the right dose of vitamins and minerals from real food? Try determine this before you try to add various different stimulants to your diet for energy.

Secondly, nothing beats sleep for recovery. Before you start spending hundreds of dollars on recovery supplements, do an audit of your sleep patterns - are you getting a good 7-8 + hours per night? Sleep is where all the magic happens as this is when your body really makes all the gains. If you're getting enough sleep, you will be jumping out of bed ready to go each day with far more sustainable energy than an over the counter magic pill.

Once you have those two points dialed in, you should definitely start looking at supplementing your lifestyle. We recommend our athletes start with;

1. Whey Protein

A quality whey protein, that is not jam-packed with fillers, is great for athletes to get adequate amounts of protein in their diet provided you're not intolerant to milk products. The maintenance, repair and growth of lean muscle mass is dependent on protein.

Athletes need more protein than sedentary people. We have our athletes intake around 1.8g to 2g of protein, per kg of body weight, per day - but this varies depending on the athlete's goals and training volume.

Getting all your protein solely from natural food sources can be very inconvenient - this is when a supplement comes to the rescue.

We use Clean Nutrition Whey Protein

2. Omega 3 fatty acids - Fish oil

In a perfect world, you could get enough fish oil naturally from the foods you eat, but unfortunately this isn't always available in our day to day lives.

Fish oil has a huge range of benefits as a result of its powerful anti-inflammatory properties, capacity for improving brain function for mental clarity and its proven positive effect on cardiovascular health.

Some world-renowned strength coaches, such as Charles Poliquin, recommend that high-level athletes who train high volume should take anywhere from 30-60g per day (this is an extreme in most cases).

The amount that you should be taking is hard to pinpoint exactly, but for an athlete who is training 5 times per week, we would recommend starting with 5-7g per day.

3. Magnesium

Magnesium is one of the most common supplements we recommend to athletes. Magnesium allows muscles to relax properly and help you recover faster, allowing you to sleep better and as I mentioned earlier, this is essential to our bodies development.  Low magnesium levels decrease insulin sensitivity, which makes it harder for you to lose fat and get lean. Good magnesium levels are essential for the metabolism of cortisol, which allows you to return to a more relaxed state after an intense workout significantly faster than if you had low levels. Athletes that are training high volume could take anywhere from 1000 - 2000 mg per day.

4. Creatine

Creatine is naturally found in animal food sources, primarily meat. Creatine helps regenerate ATP, our body’s energy currency. Creatine is important for all the powerful movements that we do in CrossFit on a daily basis and can drastically help our top end strength and recovery.

With our athletes that supplement with creatine, and who are consistent with their strength training, we see amazing results in their strength numbers.

 

5. Xendurance - Extreme Endurance

This is a product that we recommend to our athletes that have everything else on track and are looking for that tiny extra edge with their training. Extreme Endurance is clinically proven to reduce lactic acid. We have found when using it our athletes recover faster, have a reduction in soreness and improved stamina.

We should never be reliant on supplements; As I said earlier, nothing beats a lot of hard work, a well-balanced diet full of real food and plenty of sleep, but the above supplements can definitely help improve performance where necessary.

Remember to always read the label clearly and taksupplementsts at your own risk