When you think of athletes, the first thing that comes to mind is high performance and a physically active lifestyle. Because of this, athletes often have much higher caloric and nutrient demands than an average person.
They have an urgent need for high-energy production, so their diets and dietary supplements usually consist primarily of key nutrients that you find in:
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Carbohydrates
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Dietary fat ( MCT Oils) &
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Protein; for muscle growth
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Digestive enzymes
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Phosphocreatine; for muscle recovery
What do athletes look for in multivitamins?
Athletes live a very demanding lifestyle. their profession requires them to perform at the very peak of their physical abilities.
This means their go-to supplements would be without a doubt, high-performance, energy-boosting supplements, as well as supplements, to help with recovery after a long day of training. As the saying goes: strong body, strong mind... there's no way they're leaving behind some added boost for mental health and focus.
To keep it short, when it comes to supplementation and vitamins, your go-to for athlete-grade supplements should consist of these essential dietary supplement vitamins;
Zinc: Zinc is essential for immune health and keeping the immune system strong. For athletes, this is especially important, since being sidelined with a viral infection like the flu or cold, or other illnesses, can force one to miss valuable workout time or time on the field.
In addition to immune health, which keeps you healthy and ready to perform at all times, zinc also helps with wound healing and tissue repair.
Iron: Iron is an important mineral that makes up a key component of hemoglobin, a compound that helps bind oxygen to red blood cells.
This is important because we need sufficient oxygen transport to enable our muscles to execute work (oxygen is transported by red blood cells). Iron is especially important for athletes due to the high work demands placed on their muscles during their intense training sessions as well as competitions.
B vitamins: Vitamin b is especially needed for female athletes. Vitamin b functions in significant pathways used during physical activity, and female athletes especially could be at risk for poor status of such macronutrients.
Calcium: A very valuable mineral for athletes' bone health, especially for those involved in collision sports or sports that require body weight.
Calcium makes the bones stronger and denser which is extremely valuable for athletes that fall into these categories. With calcium, they can reduce their injuries from the collision and can perform better.
Vitamin C: The benefits of vitamin c for athletes are almost too many to count:
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Antioxidants like vitamin C play an important role in slowing down processes that cause cell damage in the body by mopping up problematic free radicals
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It supports the formation of collagen for healthy skin, nails, and more importantly connective tissue health, as well as bone health and joint health
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It boosts the immune system so you're always in optimal health
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It helps with the absorption of iron; this is very important as iron is a key component of hemoglobin, which is the oxygen currency of the blood. an athlete with an iron deficiency is bound to be tired, lethargic, and underperforming. so if you want to get the best out of your iron supplementation, be sure to add vitamin c to your multivitamin ritual multivitamin as well.
Factors to consider when buying your athlete-grade multivitamin supplements
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No additives: Added sugars, fillers, stuff that you may be allergic to or can affect you negatively.
You do not want any of that in your multivitamins. Each multivitamin you get has to offer at least 90 percent of their capsule or tablet filled with an active ingredient rather than a harmful filler or pesky added sugars or flavors. all you want is that vital vitamin goodness.
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Potency: Because athletes can develop vitamin deficiencies through their caloric losses and strenuous exercise, the vitamins they buy must meet as many of the recommended daily values for vitamins and address as many potential nutrient deficiencies as they possibly can.
Make sure you find the most potent multivitamin supplements on the shelf before buying so you get good value for your money, and there's no better way to do it by:
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Positive reviews: before you buy any multivitamin supplements, be sure to check out their website for their reviews as well as online forums like Reddit.
Benefits of taking athlete multivitamin supplements
Here are some reasons why you should consider adding some athlete-grade multivitamin supplements to your arsenal:
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Increased performance for work and daily activities
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Guaranteed optimal health
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Has all your essential vitamins and minerals
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Goes great with a healthy diet
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Great for muscle growth and adding muscle mass
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Good for cardiovascular health
Conclusion
Can regular multivitamins get the job done? Absolutely. But getting your hands on an athlete-grade multivitamin supplement surely does more for you in the end as you can get most of your essential vitamins from a single athlete-grade multivitamin cocktail, saving you not only time spent on multivitamin supplement rituals but also cost, as you do not have to purchase several bottles of multivitamins... just one would do.
NSP's Mega One Daily Multi-vitamin
