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There are numerous elements that people could consider each day if they wish to maintain their health and wellbeing.
Training and nutrition are undoubtedly high on the list, providing the basis for individuals to maintain a fit and healthy body.
Supplementation also plays a key role, allowing people to get more out of their fitness workouts and improve their recovery afterward.
By focusing on supplements with quality ingredients, you will get the most out of your exercise regime, but knowing what to take and when to take it is no easy task.
With that in mind, we take a closer look at the timeline of when, why, and what supplementation should be used to help achieve your exercise goals.
Laying the foundations
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle should begin at an early age, although it is vital that youngsters don’t overdo things too much during their formative years.
Children are encouraged more than ever to stay active and eat healthily, but many parents are unsure about when it is safe for them to start building muscle.
Fitness guru Jeff Cavaliere knows more than most about the subject, having studied physical therapy and physio neurobiology at college.
The former head physical therapist of the New York Mets believes that kids should be active, but advises caution where weights are concerned.
“I don’t recommend in this first age bracket, 10 to 13 years old or obviously less, that anybody starts training with weights,” he said.
“I do think that exercise and training is great at any age. Even kids under 10-years-old, training is actually accomplished in a form of play.
“You watch a kid outside and they’ll play, they’re basically doing lunges. They’re doing box jumps when they jump up on rocks.
“They’re doing a lot of different movements that we’re doing in the gym that we’re calling something else and they just call it playing.
“That’s great. That actually builds body awareness. It builds coordination. It builds baseline strength. But in this 10 to 13 age bracket, don’t get them into weights – they don’t need to do that.
Introducing weights
Having established a base level of fitness, Cavaliere says that kids can start to undertake some weight training from the age of 14 onwards.
If this is done correctly, it should be feasible to continue this through the rest of your life, although you may have to reign back the intensity as you get older.
Once you embark on a weight training regime, supplementation comes into play and it is imperative to understand how different components have health benefits.
There are a few different categories of supplements including multivitamins, specialty vitamins, pre-workouts, protein powders, and meal replacement powders.
Branch chain amino acids, creatine, joint recovery formulas, and high-grade omega-3s are amongst the other most popular types of supplementation.
Cavaliere believes that multivitamins are appropriate for everyone but says that the remaining products are more age-specific and linked to food consumption.
“Nutrition should take up 98 percent of everything here,” he added. “A multivitamin, yes, maybe for some insurance.
“In the 14 to 19-year-old, a few more specialty vitamins to teach the responsibility of addressing some of your nutritional needs through supplementation.
“Now we get to this big group of stuff that I talk about as sort of performance-enhancing supplements. If you are not committed to eating well, these won’t work.
“Don’t take supplements if you’re not committed to following a proper nutrition plan. I mean a healthy nutrition plan.
“You can then start really fine-tuning and helping yourself through supplementation because it makes the job of getting nutrition right that much easier.”
Stepping up supplementation
Having safely laid the fitness foundations as a teenager, the landscape regarding supplements changes significantly for adults.
Protein and meal replacement powders are useful, particularly if they are used as a way to avoid snacking on junk food. For higher-intensity training and experienced athletes, it’s worth considering pre-workout supplementation to help you train harder and develop more muscle.
Branch chain amino acids and creatine are the next step up, and can have tremendous benefits if used as part of a structured workout plan. Cavaliere is an advocate of both products.
“I am a big believer in the benefits of creatine,” he said. “I think that creatine is one of the most well-researched performance-enhancing supplements that you cannot get in adequate amounts through diet alone.”
“To have its ergogenic benefits you’d be eating far too much meat that could cause other problems by having the amounts that you’d have to eat to get just the creatine alone.
“However, I like creocolline even more than creatine because of its less-acidic state and its ability to be taken without cycling on and off creatine.
“Combining the benefits of all three (protein powder, branch chain amino acids, and creatine) is appropriate for all three age groups, especially those that are looking for the convenience of making sure they have enough muscle-building protein.”
Supplementation for recovery
With the best will in the world, it is impossible to avoid suffering from fatigue if you engage in regular workouts.
If you are serious about training you will be pushing your body to its limits, and that will put a strain on your joints and muscles.
This is where joint recovery formulas and high-grade omega-3s come into play, helping to speed up recovery and allowing you to continue training.
Cavaliere believes that the anti-inflammatory properties of these products are extremely beneficial as a pre-emptive measure for all adults.
“I would have been taking the joint recovery formula as a proactive step to help me not be in the situation that I am in now because a lot of the damage I did was from high school sports,” he said.
“Had I been taking the joint recovery when I felt no pain back then it would have been a better situation I think for me now had I taken it?
“It’s an individual decision whether or not you take them, but if you’re competing or if you’re competing athletically or if you’re pushing yourself in the weight room, I would definitely take it.
“I think that these are totally appropriate even if you’re not feeling joint discomfort at the moment because if you continue to work out for long enough, something will hurt.”
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