During my undergrad days, learned a lot from my sports nutrition professor (she is a scientific adviser on the International Society of Sports Nutrition Advisory Boards, in case you are interested). She also specialized in the effects of caffeine and performance at the time, since it was brought up in a previous post. Here’s some good tidbits I learned:
-Excessive vitamin intake will give you really expensive urine. Stick to the multivitamin if your diet is lacking. Fat soluble vitamins (such as D, E, K, and A) can build in your system and cause side effects. I still take 500 mg extra vitamin C per day, and split them in half as the body can only really absorb half that.
-Proper nutrition and enough sleep are superior to cutting corners.
-There is research indicating caffeine prior to performance is helpful. One of the neat things they think it does is exhibit (in the right dose) a glycogen sparing effect. IE, it helps the body use fat for fuel. This was based on older studies from the 70’s and 80’s. New information indicates it may be more useful for short term activity, and its endurance properties leans more towards affecting beta endorphins (the things that give you a runner’s high) and cortisol.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10852448
http://www.acsm.org/docs/current-comments/caffeineandexercise.pdf
-Protein intake is as follows:
- 0.8 g/kg (of body weight; just divide your body weight by 2.2 to get kilograms) for normal, moderately active folks
- 1.2 – 1.4 g/kg/day for endurance training
- 1.2 – 1.7 g/kg/day for strength training
So a 180 lb. man would need about 140 grams of protein per day (180/2.2*1.7). As someone else stated already, too much is really not beneficial and can be harmful – not to mention expensive. Besides, if eating mass quantities grew muscle that easily we’d all be walking around with no necks, lol.
Personally, I’m not shy about my copious coffee habit. I eat honey every day for breakfast and sometimes prior to a workout – and swear by it. It is a low-glycemic food, so it is released slowly and also spares glycogen, helping stave off fatigue. There’s also some information indicating eating local honey helps one adapt to local allergens, but I haven’t see any studies to back that up yet.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/547197-what-does-honey-do-for-you-after-you-work-out/
I used to be the poster boy for over-training injuries, so I took joint supplements (glucosamine/chondroitin). I remember a few meta-analysis studies and a really neat one from the Journal of Military medicine – one indicating they were effective in 80% of the population. The cited cartilage regenerative properties and pain relief. However, they need to be taken long term, like months to years. I stopped taking as I got better at not beating my body up as much.
Anyway, sorry about the long read. Hope it helps.
