Which Endurance Supplements to Use to Give Your Workout a Boost

Endurance training is the type of physical activity that oftentimes gets most people confused: is it cardio, is it weight-lifting, is it a combo of the two or what? Well, endurance training isn’t exactly cardio, but more like very structured weight lifting with the single purpose of gaining strength and cultivating it for extended periods of time. However, gaining endurance strength is practically impossible without a significant amount of conditioning in the form of cardio, as experts claim. Cardio prepares your body for weight lifting and allows you to be able to withstand the rest periods after which you could easily continue your sets.

There’s a catch though – endurance training isn’t about doing a lot of reps with smaller weight, but all the way around. This ultimately means that if you want to develop real strength, you’d definitely need to up your weightlifting game. So, the equation in this case is not doing more reps with smaller weights, but less reps with heavier weights. Additionally, you’d need to shorten your rest periods and increase the volume in terms of sets. It should be something like this: 10-20 sets x 1-4 reps with heavy weights, and a rest period in between sets of about 20-40 seconds (never more than 60).

Once you figure out the system, you’ll need to pay attention to the supplementation part. Like it or not, during endurance training you’ll be burning a lot more than during regular trainings, and consequently, you’ll need more energy and muscle recovery boosters, so supplementation here is almost a must. Make sure you get these supplements when you look for products in the endurance sports nutrition offers.

Creatine Monohydrate

As a supplement, creatine and the products derived from it didn’t really fall under the endurance sports nutrition category until athletes who perform in the endurance training area discovered that the benefits of creatine monohydrate can really contribute to their performance. Athletes aren’t fond of using creatine for many reasons, but if you look beyond the known effects it delivers, you’ll see that using it in endurance training is actually very beneficial. Creatine delivers indirect benefits to cyclists, runners, triathletes , and as such, it helps them push their training to a superior level.

Caffeine

If you’re getting into endurance training and trying to completely give up coffee, stop. Caffeine is another supplement which has been long used by endurance athletes to boost performance. It’s a type of supplement that has the power to boost your energy levels and it is mainly used for early morning training sessions. It reduces the perception of effort and also successfully delays fatigue. Another advantage of consuming caffeine is the increase of fat oxidation, which ultimately helps with another important aspect of endurance training – weight management.

Beta Alanine

Beta Alanine is a supplement mainly used by athletes performing high intensity activities. Endurance training isn’t a high intensity training activity, but that doesn’t mean that as an athlete, you won’t ever do any. As a matter of fact, you’ll most likely do quite a lot of it: tempo runs, race pace and improving running economy by lifting, are all activities that would deliver the greatest results by using beta alanine supplementation. A little science behind the importance of beta alanine: when performing high intensity sessions, the hydrogen ions your body accumulates lower the PH value of your organism. A lower Ph value causes you to feel fatigued. Beta alanine is an amino acid derivative, and as such, it can increase the intramuscular carnosine content which allows muscles to better buffer the hydrogen ions in the organism.

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