Supplements....!!!!

[ramleo]

Hi everybody,

With regards to sports(any), do supplements boost performance?

Cheer

[Physiobase]

Sure, that's why many are banned! Take for example the Aussie who drank (he says) 6-10 cans of coke before an equestrian event some years back and was disqualified (I think for to much caffiene). Anyway I am being a bit sarcastic here.

I would say that supplements work best in a person who is over training and under nourishing. This can help replenish various levels of minerals, glucose stores and proteins for healing. Often a change in diet is a much better way to start and then you can play around with various supplements and see what works. I have found the results to be very biased to any one individual and it is hard to make gross generalisations. Perhaps you can suggest one or two supplements to discuss and why one might consider taking them?8o

[ramleo]

Well, here we shouldn't mix supplements with steroids. For eg. Creatine is said to be performance enhancing protein.

For eg. 2 cyclist with equal physical and sporting ability are taken into consideration. Their timing for x k.m. is same.

One of them is given supplement and the other cyclist is given just water. Either of the cyclist are not told what they were given. They are told to race for the same x k.m.

Would there be any difference in their timing? Or suppose the cyclist are told what they were given, the knowledge of supplement being taken plays in the mind of the athlete and the performance will increase.

Supplements i guess can help in improving the physical being like muscle mass, which in return could increase the power. But for performance to improve technique and natural talent has a larger role to play.

Anyone with answers would be really appreciated. 8o

[Physiobase]

As far as creatine goes I think the main benefit is from training with the increased water content that the body takes on when on creatine during training. We tried this with a world cup ski team some years back with varied results. Everyone looked a little fat to be honest.

But if they put on some more weight (via fluid retention) and train at a heavier body weight then they got a bit stronger. When they stopped the creatine and lost the water they felt relatively stronger than previous. taking on the whole body water was interesting as everything perhaps worked harder which might be better that say running with a weighted vest?

Low does caffiene I believe has shown to increase performance in "some" long distance runners. The results showed that diluted caffiene could assist some but not others. Any more comments out there?

[alophysio]

Hi.

I am not sure about supplements but I wanted add something about athletes of equal sporting and physical ability...

I was under the impression that there is no such thing otherwise people would post identical times all the time.

For me, the difference between one athelete of similar ability to another is their mind. How hard can they train, how hard can they maintain their focus, how hard can they push their bodies to the limit.Why else would some athletes be so superstitous - eg Tiger Woods and his red 4th day shirt, pre-competition routines, lucky underwear, lucky boots, etc etc.

This to me is where the difference lies. I have seen many people with natural ability go nowhere simply because they lack the mental discipline to succeed.

As for supplements, where do you draw the line? What is performance enhancing illegally and what is performance enhancing legally?

[ROMinclinometer]

The last post refers to Tiger Woods.
I think for sports that are heavily weighted toward skilled motions, strokes, swings, are less likely to be helped by general sports supplements. Unless perhaps those supplements can aid concentration or focus. Strength is a positive for golf but, that is largely achieved through training. Some supplements could aid in recovery from exercise, and that can be important.

It is more likely you could find quantifiable gains from supplements, in sports that involve testing the limits of physiological and biological endurance performance.

And then there are drugs, like EPO and CERA, which are illegal in sport and definitely enhance cardiovascular performance in trained endurance athletes.