3 Effective performance supplements

There are a lot of supplements out there to choose from. Every one of them has a compelling reason why they may help us improve our performance and recovery.

In reality, there is only a very small handful that work.

So what do I use and why do I think they are effective.

If you watch any of my YouTube videos you’ll notice I talk a lot about as we age our muscles become resistant to protein, start to lose their function and quality.

The knock-on effect if we don’t train effectively or focus on our nutrition can mean we lose strength, power and our ability to ride up hills faster.

If we take training and everyday nutrition and put them to one side I think there are some wins to our recovery and performance with these 3 supplements.

Whey Protein:

You could argue that this is a food rather than a supplement but let’s not go there today. As we get older our muscles become more resistant to protein which means we have to eat more quality protein to improve our recovery and hold onto your muscle that keeps you strong and powers you up hills.

Whey protein is perfect for ensuring we get all the right building blocks for building muscle and most are enriched with the essential amino acid Leucine which is essential for maximal muscle protein synthesis.

For me, this is a low cost, low calorie food supplement that is a no brainer if you want to improve recovery, muscle quality and hold onto lean muscle.

Beta Alanine:

This is a lactate buffer. Now, why take this? As we age our muscles become less effective at dealing with lactate. This could be due to poor training quality which has a negative impact on muscle quality. This is why I think as you get older you need to train in a way that improves all muscle types quality and function.

Beta Alanine allows you to push just that bit harder and longer in high-end training sessions. The more quality you have in training the more you improve muscle function and quality.

Creatine Monohydrate:

This has been shown to improve muscle strength and function and extends the time to fatigue in short hard efforts. It’s also been shown to reduce recovery times from training, aid post-exercise glycogen uptake, is a powerful anti-inflammatory and can enhance bone formation and reabsorption.

I don’t know about you but that list alone is a good reason why it older cyclists should be taking this daily.

If you are worrying is it's bad for you. The body of evidence stacks up to show it's perfectly safe.

Vitamin D:

Strictly speaking, this is more of a health supplement however hear me out. Vitamin D is crucial for immune function and has been shown to aid bone and muscle protein synthesis.

Given that the majority of the population here in the UK rarely sees the sun enough to have adequate Vitamin D levels and its importance for our well being I think it’s an important supplement to include in this list.

Thanks for reading

Simon

Performance & Nutrition Director
2 X Winner of Gym Based PT, and founder of VPCC