When you want to improve exercise performance, you may want to consider supplements beyond protein powder. There are, in fact, many supplements that may support better training results, such as beets and branched chain amino acids; however, there are also supplements that can negatively affect your performance.
Once thought to be a supplement worth taking while working out, at this point, scientific research indicates that antioxidant supplementation is mainly detrimental to exercise. There are always exceptions to the rule and you might feel like you’re getting the most out of it all. vitamin C shots, but generally speaking, the experts don’t think so.
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How antioxidant supplements can negatively affect exercise
The oxidation-reduction, or redox, cycle is important to all kinds of biological processes, including building muscle. When you exercise, you increase the concentration of reactive oxygen species, also known as free radicals, in your muscles. Your body then releases antioxidants to fight free radicals. This perpetual battle is called the redox cycle And it’s a good thing because every time it happens, your body adapts and you get a little bit stronger.
You’d think adding a bunch of extra antioxidants to the mix would only work in your favor, but this does not seem to be the case. Basically, you end up overwhelming the free radicals so they can’t dance their half of the redox tango. When the cycle doesn’t happen correctly, you don’t get the results you’re looking for.
Vitamin C is basically Exhibit A in the case against antioxidant supplementation, with research suggesting that large doses may decrease endurance capacity and suppress VO2max. exercise induced.
While supplementing with vitamin C is not recommended to improve exercise performance, you still need it in your diet as it plays a key role in the growth and repair of all body tissues, including muscle.
The antioxidant vitamin, vitamin E, doesn’t get the bad rap that vitamin C does, but not yet shown to be as effective from a fitness perspective.
How to eat antioxidants to support exercise
There are other areas of health where supplementing individual antioxidants can play a useful role in combating excessive oxidative stress, but when it comes to exercise, the best thing you can do is support your endogenous (internal) antioxidants so they can do your job properly. the The best way to do this is with whole foods. or even whole food extracts since the synergistic antioxidant combinations within should do a better job of strengthening your body’s internal defenses.
All of this is a long way of saying that if you’re looking for antioxidants to help you feel stronger and build muscle, eat your fruits and vegetables.
Here are antioxidant-rich foods to eat to support overall health and exercise performance.
Vitamin C
Get vitamin C through foodfill up on things like cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower, citrus fruits like oranges and limes, strawberries, bell peppers, and tomatoes.
Vitamin E
as for Vitamin Echeck foods as seed oils such as sunflower and safflower oil, sunflower seeds, almonds, peanuts, and avocado.
Vitamins C and E work synergisticallyso be sure to combine these foods with vitamin C foods. Did someone say guacamole?
polyphenols
Another class of antioxidants, known as polyphenols, can support exercise performance when consumed through whole foods that contain them.
Polyphenols are a class of phytochemicals: healthy compounds found in fruits and vegetables. Some of the better known polyphenols include curcumin, resveratrol, and quercetin. Studies on everything from blueberries a purple sweet potato leaves show that a diet rich in polyphenols can contribute greatly to reduce exercise-induced oxidative damage.
The best way to get more polyphenols in your diet is to eat the proverbial rainbow by adding a wide variety of different colored produce to your diet. One trick is to make sure your salads contain at least two of the primary colors (red, blue, yellow) and two of the secondary colors (green, orange, purple).
Denis Faye, M.S.
Denis Faye, MS is a nutrition consultant, journalist, and athlete committed to improving people’s lives. read more
