SUPPLEMENTS FOR RUNNING

FUNDAMENTAL COMPLEMENTS

Multivitamins: For endurance athletes, daily intake of a multivitamin complex helps to protect the immune cells against free radicals generated during prolonged effort such as running (1).

Multiminerals : Running causes a loss of minerals due to increased sweating. Taking a daily multimineral helps to compensate for this loss and to reduce inflammation and muscle damagelinked to running, particularly thanks to zinc and selenium (2).

Omega 3 : Omega 3 is an important supplement for runners. Daily intake helps to lower the heart rate and blood pressure and improve the fluidity of the blood circulation (3). Omega 3 helps to reduce muscle soreness and improve recovery (4,5).

Type 1 Collagen : The muscular effort involved in running intensifies the degradation of collagen in joints and tendons. Regular collagen supplementation helps to better lubricate the tendons (6) and provides better protection against running-related injuries (acute aches, tendon pain, knee problems).

Potassium bicarbonate : Runners generally experience a decrease in performance due to lactic acid. Bicarbonate helps to neutralise lactic acid while increasing the production of lactate. This has a positive effect on endurance because muscle fatigue is reduced thanks to a stabilisation of the pH (7).

TRAINING SUPPLEMENTS

BCAA 4.1.1 : Intense training such as running causes amino acid losses. Taking BCAAs helps to limit these losses during the run while stimulating muscle protein synthesis. In fact, taking a minimum of 5g of BCAAs before training reduces the level of muscle soreness and accelerates its elimination (8), which contributes to a better recovery.

Cluster Dextrin : We recommend taking cluster dextrin during running training. Taking it before or during the race provides good hydration and a good carbohydrate intake. Cluster dextrin provides energy that can be directly mobilised by the body without weighing on the digestive system (9).

Glycerol : Runners need good hydration to perform well. Glycerol has 3 main benefits : better hydration, better fluid recovery and improved endurance.

The runner prone to dehydration can take glycerol to be better hydrated thanks to a better water retention of almost 50% (10,11,12,13).

(Glycerol helps reduce digestive problems through better hydration and thus contributes to better running performance. Glycerol also provides energy without causing hypoglycaemia, as it converts slowly to glucose.

Mix Focus : mix focus contains green caffeine and citicoline. The first is a stimulating booster, while the second is a non-stimulating booster. These two active ingredients synergistically provide complementary benefits on performance and concentration levels. The last active ingredient in the mix focus is astaxanthin. It is a very powerful anti-oxidant that improves muscular endurance by stimulating lipid metabolism, which leads to an increase in aerobic performance (14).

The mix focus allows the runner to less feel the effort thanks to the caffeine (15). On the other hand, the citicoline in the mix focus helps to maintain muscle strength over time. In fact, citicoline is a precursor to acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that is very important for the muscles and the brain because it controls the contraction force. Running depletes acetylcholine reserves, causing the muscles to gradually lose their strength.

ZMB : Intense running training has negative effects on the nervous system. It is during sleep that the nervous system regenerates itself, but the quality of sleep with athletes is generally impaired due to the nervous tension caused by training.

One way to counteract this is to supplement with zinc and magnesium. These minerals, combined together in the form of pidolates, have a relaxing effect on sleep and muscle and nerve relaxation (16). ZMB is a supplement containing magnesium and zinc pidolates and vitamin B6, specially designed to improve nerve and neuronal recovery.