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Supplement Godfather

Don Gauvreau MSc, CSCS
Don Gauvreau, A.K.A. The Supplement Godfather, is one of the leading researchers and product formulators in the sports supplement industry.
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Top 4 Nutrition Deficiencies In Athletes

If you train hard, follow a strict diet, and don’t take too many days off in between your workouts, you’re more than likely deficient in a few areas when it comes to your nutrition. What you put in your body powers the biochemical pathways that feed your muscles, build them, and help them repair after working out. But if you’re falling short with your diet or lacking a solid supplement routine, you’ll not only be deficient but also be cutting yourself short of reaching your full muscle-building potential. Here are some of the most common nutrient deficiencies in athlete and what you can do to correct them!

1. Vitamins
Most athletes fall short on their daily vitamin requirements simply because of their increased training needs. Vitamins help unlock the energy from the foods we eat to be used in many metabolic pathways in the body. They can also help protect the body from oxidative damage brought on from a tough workout and assist in the synthesis and repair of muscle during the recovery process.
Working out puts stress on multiple metabolic pathways that require more vitamins to make specific biochemical pathways happen. With continued exercise, micronutrient turnover increases, and as a result, athletes have an increased need for more vitamins to help cover the increased needs for building and repair while maintaining lean body mass. The most common vitamin deficiencies of those who train hard include vitamin D, B vitamins, and the antioxidant vitamins, including vitamins A, C, and E. If you’re training frequently and following a restrictive diet, chances are you’re deficient in a few of these vitamins! Ensuring you eat a diet rich in whole natural and fresh foods will help ensure you’re getting your micronutrient needs met, but supplementing with the right vitamin and mineral supplement can also help provide protection against cell oxidation, decrease inflammation, and facilitate faster recovery.

2. Creatine Phosphate
Creatine phosphate is essential when it comes to driving muscle power and energy. Creatine phosphate increases the stores of phosphate that are available to convert adenosine diphosphate ( ADP) into useable energy, adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The ATP-creatine phosphate system makes it possible to train harder, longer, and with more power. The only problem is that the body’s creatine phosphate system is limited. Natural reserves of creatine phosphate last for only a few seconds of high-intensity training. The amount of ATP present can’t provide a continuous supply of energy, especially at high intensities. By increasing creatine phosphate stores, you can increase the availability of ATP, or readily available energy that the muscles need to keep pushing through sets and reps. By supplementing with creatine monohydrate or creatine HCl, you can naturally increase the availability of creatine phosphate in the body. Just 3 to 5 grams of creatine a day for 4 to 8 weeks can increase your creatine reserves and help you pack on muscle and increase strength and power.

3. Sodium and Potassium
Muscles function properly when the electrolytes, sodium and potassium, are balanced properly. Most athletes have a hard time maintaining their electrolytes because of the high amount of sweat they lose during exercise. With continued sweat loss, exercise performance becomes increasingly more impaired, particularly when 2 percent or more of body weight is lost through sweat. Sodium and potassium are important for maintaining transport mechanisms in and out of the muscle cells, balancing fluids in the muscles, facilitating muscle contraction and helping with nerve signal transmission throughout the body. Maintaining hydration is one of your best defenses against preventing losses in sodium and potassium. Athletes who sweat a lot should consume 0.5 to 2 litres of fluid per hour during exercise to prevent dehydration. Add a diet that delivers a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, along with raw nuts, seeds, whole eggs, and lean meats and you can help keep your balance of electrolytes. In addition, consider keeping yourself hydrated during exercise with an electrolyte-rich beverage such as coconut water, which provides natural sources of sodium and potassium, and much less sugar than traditional sports drinks.

4. Branched-Chain Amino Acids
If you’re eating plenty of protein in your diet, you’re more than likely getting a good share of aminos in your muscles. However as you continue to exercise, aminos continue to deplete and muscle building goes from anabolism to catabolism. Branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), particularly leucine, has been shown to be the key nutrient for turning on protein synthesis when present and turning off protein synthesis when absent. If you want to maintain your nitrogen balance, it’s important to make sure you’re getting enough BCAAs before, during, and after your workouts.

A recent study showed that resistance-trained individuals who consumed BCAAs experienced significantly greater gains in lean body mass than subjects who consumed whey protein. The BCAA group gained 4 kilograms of lean body mass, while the whey protein gained only half as much. Another recent study conducted on athletes showed that short-term BCAA (3.3 grams per day) and glutamine (2 grams per day) supplementation produces a net anabolic hormonal profile while reducing training-induced increases in muscle tissue damage. The bottom line? Keep your amino levels up!

To read more about nutrient deficiencies in athletes and how it can affect YOU click here! 

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