Martial arts supplements
When you think of supplements or dietary supplements, muscular and sometimes somewhat disproportionate bodybuilders immediately spring to mind. Of course, this group of athletes may be predestined for the use of supplements, but they are by no means the only athletes who can benefit from the targeted use of dietary supplements. Ambitious martial artists could also benefit from taking one or two additional products. However, you should always bear in mind that nutritional supplements have their name for a reason. The foundation for physical performance is laid with nutrition, supplements can be used to fine-tune it. But which products are actually useful for martial artists?
To answer this question, you first need to analyse where you want to go. In contrast to pure bodybuilders, who are "only" interested in muscle growth, the situation for martial artists is a little more complex due to the requirements of this sport. Muscle growth is not necessarily desirable per se for this group of athletes, but rather a positive side effect of training. Strength endurance, an increase in punching power or a general increase in strength, a better ability to regenerate and an increase in speed appear to be more important. One pillar for achieving this goal is certainly hard and specifically tailored training, another is a good and balanced diet. Supplements could then be added to tickle out the one or other per cent of performance. As a list of all conceivable supplements would clearly go beyond the scope of this article, we will concentrate on two products in particular.
Proteins - the building blocks of life
Protein supplementation could be particularly useful for ambitious martial artists who train several times a week and sometimes push themselves to their physical limits. Proteins are a central building block of our body and it can happen that the requirement can no longer be sufficiently covered by food, especially during very heavy physical exertion. However, you should pay attention to the dosage, the principle of "a lot helps a lot" does not apply here, as with any supplement. Depending on your preference, you can use different sources when choosing the right protein. Whey isolate, which is made from whey, is now very widespread. However, there are also powders based on eggs or soya. As the trend towards a vegetarian diet in society does not stop at martial artists, there are now also high-quality products based on peas or hemp. Overall, however, the human body is better able to utilise animal proteins than plant proteins. So if you don't care where your protein powder comes from, you can't go wrong with classic whey isolate.
BCAA - the essential amino acids
In addition to protein powder, there is another supplement that should also be useful for martial artists: Branched Chain Amino Acids, or BCAAs for short. These are essential amino acids, i.e. amino acids that cannot be produced by the body itself but are essential for life, which normally have to be supplied through food and are an integral part of the body's own cell structure. BCAAs are absorbed via the stomach and the bloodstream and are transported directly to the muscle without having to be metabolised by the liver. D.h. By taking BCAAs, energy is made available to the body directly where it is needed, in the muscles. Many manufacturers of BCAAs promise increased benefits for the muscles' ability to regenerate and a halt to muscle breakdown during hard training phases. Of course, we cannot clarify the extent to which this corresponds biologically to reality in the context of this article. However, research results at least indicate that the intake of BCAAs can have some positive effects.
In addition to these two products, the intake of various vitamins and minerals can also be beneficial, but this will not be discussed in detail here. If you are unable to optimise your diet at this point for various reasons, it may be worthwhile taking vitamin products or similar.
In conclusion, it can only be repeated that a healthy and balanced diet is a key factor for martial artists. For those who have reached their limits here and have optimised this area, it may ultimately make sense to resort to supplements in order to increase their performance by a few percentage points and get the best out of themselves.
We recommend:
Bio Tech USA 8:1:1 BCAA
Bio Tech USA 100% Pure Whey
Bio Tech USA Glutamine
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