5 ‘Golden Supplements’ to make you go faster!

We all train to go faster on the bike, but what if I told you that you could increase your performance without having to work any harder? Here’s 5 of our ‘Golden Supplements’ which will make you faster!

Cherry Juice

Cherry Juice has been found to have a notable effect on muscle damage. It has been shown to help to reduce muscular pain post intense exercise and loss of strength over multiple days of highly intensive training/racing.

This will mean that you can train harder and more effectively by reducing your recovery time between high intensity training sessions.

Reference: British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2006

Beetroot Juice

Beetroot juices contain high levels of nitrate, which is a naturally occurring chemical that is converted into nitric oxide. Research studies have shown that nitric oxide can increase blood flow, improve lung function, strengthen muscle contraction, improve stamina and VO2 max.

There has been a big influx of interest within this market and there are now multiple beetroot supplements which are easily accessible.

One research study shows cyclists improved their 50-mile time trial by 0.8% when consuming beet juice, showing around 1-minute improvement in performance! Significant improvements in the final 10 miles can be seen in a vast number of research studies. Both oxygen efficiency and fatigue resistance (time to exhaustion) are significantly increased.

Vitamin D

Important for muscular function, health and the immune system, vitamin D can be very under rated on the list of supplements.

There is also a large amount of studies that show how many of us have low levels of vitamin D naturally in the blood. Having a blood test (which are available to be done at home) can show you any deficiency and opportunity to boost your performance! Studies show that after eight weeks there can be a significant increase in performance.

Without a test, it’s widely recommended that you take 10mcg during autumn and winter.

Caffeine

The use of caffeine has been around a while but is not often supplemented or widely used at all levels of the sport.

Caffeine is a stimulant that acts on the brain and can stop a chemical action which would make you feel tired (adenosine). The use of caffeine would therefore increase alertness, concentration and give you a decreased perception of your effort meaning you are likely able to push yourself further.

Research studies have shown that caffeine has a large impact on performance and can shave an average of 3.2% off finish times as well as increasing performance on short duration events!

You need to consume around 1-3mg/kg to receive the performance effect (a lot less than people are led to believe!). Try to consume the caffeine 30 to 60 minutes before the time you need the desired effects.

Responses to caffeine can vary significantly so it’s important to test this out in training before the event itself.

Creatine

Creatine is a naturally found substance, commonly seen in red meat and salmon. However, it can also be used to increase power and strength.

The supplement will aim to increase levels of phosphocreatine in the muscles, this is a compound that is used for fuel when working at a high intensity (such as sprinting). The extra stores would not only increase the power of your effort but it would also allow for you to repeat the effort multiple times.

Although there are many studies which confirm the benefits, there is a side effect of weight gain. The added creatine will increase water retention and therefore increase body mass. Meaning it is more favoured to events that do not rely on power to weight as much (like track sprinting).

This supplement will need a ‘loading’ period where you have a slightly higher dose before maintaining a smaller amount throughout the season to maintain the effects that have been built up.

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