As its name suggests, sports supplements are the companion to a good diet and a complete workout. A very common mistake is to resort to them to solve the deficiencies of our diet or our training, when really supplements should cover what we cannot cover naturally. For this reason, when taking the sports supplements of Dietetic Central we are going to ask ourselves a series of questions to know when to start incorporating them into our day-to-day life.
Do you follow a healthy and balanced diet?
The first thing we will consider is a review of our diet. If we eat a healthy and balanced diet, we will be able to maximize the effects of sports supplements. A multivitamin can have the same vitamins as a piece of fruit. However, supplements are not substitutes for fruit, but rather complementary. You can go to a nutritionist or dietitian for professional advice. In this way, you will be able to combine your diet with the supplements in the most optimal way possible.
After analyzing our diet, we have two options. If the diet is poor, we will change our eating habits and follow a healthy and balanced diet, based on the classification of the food pyramids and always looking for those that suppose us a greater nutritional contribution. Of course, do not forget to include protein in your nutritional analysis. Once we have managed to change our diet, the supplements will have greater benefits for us.
Do you do a quality training?
On the other hand, if the answer to the previous question is affirmative, we turn to the second key factor when taking any supplement: the quality of the training. A 45-minute workout can be more effective than a 3-hour workout if it’s a quality one. You must be clear that supplements are not a substitute for training, as we said before they will be the perfect complement to your exercise as long as you do a complete and quality training. In the end, supplements are not a miracle product, but a supplement to your lifestyle.
Therefore, we will review our training plan to make sure it fits what we are looking for. For example, if you want to gain strength and muscle, your training plan should be made up of multi-joint exercises with an adequate evolution of the weight you move. The nutritional supplements play therefore a key role in the evolution of your workout. The higher the quality of training, the more benefits sports accessories will bring you.
Do you have a good lifestyle?
As you well know, there are three factors that affect sports performance: diet, training and habits. Getting enough and good sleep, being an active person, not having too much stress or not smoking or drinking are good habits that help us perform much better and allow us to assimilate the training. If you do not comply with any of these habits, you should make an effort for it. Not only will your performance improve, so will your health and therefore your physical condition.
Back to the question we asked ourselves at the beginning, the answer seems simple: sports supplements will maximize their effects when we follow a balanced diet, have an effective training plan and healthy lifestyle habits. Then it will be very effective to complete our diet with supplements for pre, training and post-training. You cannot give deadlines, or ages, not to mention periods, it all depends on you and your habits. But remember that even when you take them, you must strive to follow those healthy life guidelines. In the end everything is a matter of desire, but above all, a good attitude.
