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Sports and Fitness Supplements – Safe and Legal?

Are sports supplements a safe and legal way to maximize sports and fitness performance?

Athletes who participate in competitive events at the professional, college, and even the high school level are always looking for a performance edge that will allow them to perform at their peak potential.

The same is true of ordinary individuals who enjoy participating in competitive sports or athletic events like tennis, racquetball, pick-up basketball games, company baseball leagues, or charitable walks and runs.

Participating in sports can be highly competitive, and there is always a desire to be just a little bit better.

Even those involved in other non-competitive physical exercise or fitness activities like bodybuilding, aerobic exercise, or rock-climbing are interested in maximizing and enhancing their performance. In solo exercise like these they are competing with the person they were yesterday, seeking to progress a little farther every day on the way to their personal goals.

Many athletes try to find supplements, techniques, or special equipment that helps them perform at their maximum. These are sometimes called “ergogenic aids”. The term ergogenic means to enhance athletic performance by improving energy efficiency, production, or control during exercise.

Nutrition ergogenic aids include such things as vitamin and mineral supplements, extra protein, electrolytes, carbohydrates, creatine, fish oil, bee pollen, flax oil, and glucosamine/chondroitin.

According to many experts nutrition plays a key part in athletic performance. It is the position of Dietitians of Canada, the American Dietetic Association, and the American College of Sports Medicine that physical activity, athletic performance, and recovery from exercise are enhanced by optimal nutrition. They suggest that an appropriate selection of food and fluids, timing of intake, and supplement choices be made for optimal health and exercise performance.

In a departure from statements made in the past, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) now concurs that nutritional supplements can boost athletic performance. In the IOC Concensus Statement on Sports Nutritiion 2010 issued on October 27, 2010, the organization concedes that some supplements may enhance performance for some athletes. In the past, the IOC had warned athletes against using nutritional supplements. Continue reading Sports and Fitness Supplements – Safe and Legal?

FDA Warns Dietary Supplement Marketers About Deceptive Claims

The FDA has issued another warning critical of dietary supplements. To many people who believe in the value of dietary supplements this was just another example of how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration caters to big pharmaceutical interests and discredits the value of dietary supplements.

However, there is some justification for legitimate concern about “bad actors” in the dietary supplement industry. These are the companies which make deceptive claims, have no scientific evidence or clinical studies verifying the efficacy or safety of their products, intentionally mislabel their products and don’t provide complete ingredient information.

These unscrupulous manufacturers seem to be focusing on three main health and lifestyle issues: weight loss, sexual performance and body building.

The real issue is how to ensure continued access to legitimate and beneficial nutritional supplements while reining in companies that are giving a black eye to all dietary supplement manufacturers, products, and representatives and may threaten the health of consumers. Continue reading FDA Warns Dietary Supplement Marketers About Deceptive Claims

A Basic Senior Bodybuilding Routine

The key to any senior bodybuilding regimen would be to not overdo it. It’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling like a young, viral 18 year old, but as a person’s body ages we start to slow down. This isn’t any reason to avoid cardiovascular exercise or senior bodybuilding routines, but rather a reminder to take things a bit slower than you would have a few years ago.

As we age, our metabolism slows down and sometimes our digestive system has to function harder to keep everything moving. Working your fingers to the bone at the gym, then eating like a horse to build muscle doesn’t perform as efficiently as men and women creep past middle age. After age 50, testosterone isn’t nearly as abundant, which means overdoing it (when doing senior bodybuilding) is a lot more likely to lead to injury, rather than better fitness.

How You Should Get Started

Starting a program geared toward senior bodybuilding needs is the ideal method to prevent injury. Beginning with a couple of simple exercises, spread out over the course of the week is ideal. Continue reading A Basic Senior Bodybuilding Routine