4 Benefits of Fuelling Your Body with Supplements Before, During and After Exercise

Endurance athletes partaking in cardiovascular activities such as running, cycling and swimming, spend long hours training their bodies for optimal performance. If you are training daily and also incorporating resistance training and weight training into your regime, your body will demand more nutrients. 

The strain may be on a physical or mental level, and thus you need to pay close attention to your diet and supplementation to ensure you replenish the energy that is burnt throughout your routine. We’ll mention this in our next blog on how to prepare a healthy eating routine for consistent training.  

 If you are new to endurance sports, or simply looking to improve your nutrition, we have listed some high-level 4 benefits of fuelling your body with supplements to aid you pre, during and post workout.

1. Delays fatigue during high intensity activity 

By fuelling your body pre and post workout you enable your body to recover quicker thus when you are exercising your body is prepared for the intensity of the workout. 

 In some instances, certain supplements can delay fatigue, such as carbohydrate-electrolyte sports drinks like HIGH’s Energy Drink and Maurten’s Drink Mix 160, as well as BCAA’s, provide the body with more energy when required to perform. 

2.  Boost performance 

As your body utilises energy when exercising, you need to supplement it to assist you in consistent performance. If you’re a runner, have you ever noticed how fresh you feel when you rest for a couple of days compared to how you feel when you are training daily? Sometimes a 5-8km can feel like a 21km because your body is depleted. This could be as a result of a combination of factors including a lack of rest and or nutrition. 

By supplementing your body during a long workout and post workout you increase aerobic capacity and time to exhaustion by enhancing the ability of red blood cells to deliver oxygen to active muscles. Caffeine and carbohydrates has been shown to be beneficial in promoting endurance performance. A fast and portable way to to consume these before, during or after exercise is via energy gels such as the HIGH5 Energy Gel Aqua Caffeine Hit or Maurten GEL 100 CAF 100. 

3. Decrease recovery time during repeated intervals 

Certain supplements aid the body in faster recovery, thus improvements in speed, power, and running economy during your training sessions is improved, resulting in a peak of performance on race day.  

4. Feeds your muscle tissue, brain, nervous system and other vital organs 

While carbohydrates and fats are known to assist athletes with endurance – protein plays an essential  role in repairing and maintaining your muscle mass. Consuming protein in powder or bar form with water or other liquids such as milk or smoothies can be a convenient way to boost your daily protein and or calorie intake, especially for those on plant-based diets. 

Supplements such as PranaOn Super Greens and HIGH5 ZERO and ZERO Protect can minimise electrolyte and vitamin C imbalance, boosting body and mind recovery, and strengthening the immune system to help prevent sickness and injury. 

By sufficiently fuelling your body before, during and after your workouts you enable your muscles to fuel and refuel themselves, aiding in recovery and performance development. We’ll dive deeper into the listed benefits, as well as other considerations such as workout intensity, overtraining, stress,  rest and sleep in future posts. 

Please note: Always consult a health professional prior to changing your exercise and nutrition regimes to ensure its suitability for your individual situation.