Q&A Two views of workout and sports nutrition

What to have for maximum recovery from training and when to have it

I recently was asked to join James Collier on stage at the BodyPower expo at the NEC for a nutrition Q&A. By way of introduction James is a ex dietician and now a Registered Nutritionist and probably the UK’s foremost specialist nutritionist for bodybuilders. Various topics were covered in the seminars we gave but here is a short excerpt on sports nutrition.

James (in the distance) kicks off going into good detail about the products available to the trainee like whey protein, various carbohydrates. I follow (in the foreground) up talking a little on the timing aspects of the issue. My view is that whilst you should look into things like hydrolyzed whey, vitargo, waxy maize starch etc but keep in mind that the timing dogma often followed “drop the weight and start on the recovery nutrition” is a little short sighted.

So there we go, the sports nutrition question covered from two different angles by two different nutrition specialists:

(starts 20 seconds in)

James & Drew at BodyPower Expo

My top 5 – lifestyle and sports supplement choices

Supplements are just that, additions where required to a solid healthy diet that suits you and your lifestyle. There’s a lot of money to be made out of these products and so a bewildering array of and classes of supplement have sprung up.

Here are my opinions on the top 5 of both sports and lifestyle supplements formed from working with athletes and busy health conscious people.

Top 5 ‘lifestyle’ supplements

These types of supplements are the ones used to aid your diet, they are essentially readily usable ‘functional food’ that allow you to easily bridge a gap having a concentrated serving of the desired nutrient(s) or food type

1) Fish oils
2) Milk protein concentrate
3) Greens powder
4) Flax seed powder (omega 3, lignans and fibre)
5) Unflavored whey (cooking etc)

Top 5 sports supplements

Sorts supplements are ones that are going to aid training and recovery as part of a suitable nutriton plan, they sit on top of the required amount of healthy foods as an adjunct.

1) Recovery drinks (usually whey, matodextrin and dextrose mix)
2) Fish oils
3) Beta alanine
4) Nootropics and some neurostimulants (DMAE and the like more info in an article I wrote here)
5) Creatine monohydrate (not creatine ethyle ester? Why? Look here..)

Not everybody should use these supplements, in fact most people don’t need to and some just should not so check first if you are considering using any supplements. All the above are ADDITIONS to a solid healthy diet, right for you and your goals so get that sorted first, whole food is much more important than the above.