We’ve all had those training sessions when you feel invincible.
Everything in your mind and body seems to come together in one ass-kicking hour of pleasure and pain when you feel you can lift anything, don’t need any rest and you’re almost disappointed that you have to put the weights down and toddle off to work.
You want more. You know you could do more.
Unfortunately, these sessions are so uncommon they almost scare the crap out of you when they come along.
The good news is that recently I’ve been trying out a new supplemental combination around my training with pretty devestating effects. My last session was pretty brutal and left me buzzing for hours afterwards!
A1: Hang clean 5×5
B1:Dead lunge 4×6
B2: Barbell punch jerk 4×10
Finisher circuit: Prowler-battling ropes. Continuous for 10 minutes
I’ve been using this new rocket fuel before/during/after both weight training and my cycling training for our cycle across the USA, taking place in 4 weeks.
An very long post could be written on these supplements but my intention is to give you the basics so you can consider them for use in your training. You’ll be amazed at the difference in training intensity.
Importantly, I have increased both my clean, clean and jerk and snatch numbers and added 2kg of muscle whilst cycling over 10 hours per week.
The four main ingredients are as follows:
Vitargo S2
This is a carbohydrate solution which has been shown to improved gastric emptying and absorption over basic maltodextrin used in most pre-training drinks.
This means it gets in quicker both during training for continued intensity and after training for much faster refuelling of muscle glycogen and recovery, ready for the next session.
Citrulline Mallate
Citrulline is a non-essential amino acid which has been shown to prevent lactic acid build up and remove ammonia waste products during intense exercise. In short this means you can go harder for longer by prolonging the crippling build up of lactic acid.
I have really noticed the difference during intense leg sessions and on the bike.
The malate (or malic acid) component also aids the recycling of lactic acid aiding energy production and delaying fatigue during intense work periods.
Overall this is a powerful combination for increased ATP (energy) production and aerobic performance.
D-Ribose
D-Ribose is a form of sugar which has been shown to be a limiting factor in the availability of ATP resynthesis. Limiting ATP production means a drop in intensity as the body is unable to continue producing energy repeatedly over the duration of a training session or competitive bout.
Supplementing with D-Ribose can therefore increase endurance and muscle output during intense exercise and improve recovery afterwards.
It has also been suggested that D-Ribose can reduce exercise-induced muscle cramping which can bring a premature end to any hard session or race!
BCAA
The acronym for Branch Chain Amino Acids
BCAA’S are ’special’ amino acids which by-pass the usual processing in the liver and instead get metabolized in the muscles. This means they are highly effective in building new proteins in the muscles or for use in energy production in the muscles.
Supplementing with BCAA’s has been shown in numerous studies to improve muscle recovery and reduce muscle soreness which if not properly managed can ruin the rest of a training week!
The three BCAA’s are leucine, isoleucine and valine.
Leucine in particular is highly anti-catabolic which means it significantly reduces the muscle breakdown associated with intense training and competition.
Putting it together
My peri-workout nutrition looks something like this…
30-45 minutes before: 6g of BCAA, 5g of citrulline malate, 5g of d-ribose
Just before starting my warm up and movement preparation: 20g of Vitargo
15 minutes after: 80g of Vitargo, 20-25g of rice and pea protein, 5g of creatine
45 minutes after: 20g of Vitargo, 20g of rice and pea protein
During cycling, I’ll consume around 60g of Vitargo for every hour cycled and add Alkalizing Salts (bicarbonates of potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodium) for electrolyte replenishment.
This has proved a powerful combination enabling me to keep up a high volume of training along with all my business commitments. In the past, insufficient recovery has made life tough trying to complete business commitments whilst feeling lethargic and like I just wanted to sleep!
Whilst base nutrition is always the key to improved health and performance, well-structured supplementation will be the difference between good training and frickin’ awesome training!
Post any questions below!
