This weekend brick and my top 5 supplements

This weekend I will be doing a brick workout at Lake Mead. Anyone is welcome to join. I will be doing an easy/moderate bike for an hour leaving at 7am from Boulder Beach. A short run will follow. The run will be moderate pace for 3-4 miles. Afterward there will be an easy recovery swim in the lake. Bring lots of fluids and sunscreen because it is supposed to be hot.

I wanted to talk about my top 5 supplement picks. I worked most of my career in the vitamin industry. Because I spent so much time in the vitamin industry (over 15 years) I get a lot of questions about supplements. Let me start by saying there is a lot of garbage out there. Anything that seems too good to be true is most likely not worth wasting your money on. On the other hand, there are a lot of beneficial supplements that can really help you in your training. I have my top five supplement picks for athletes.
  1. Multiple Vitamin - some choices are, Natures Way Alive (with or without iron - must take 3 a day), Life Extension ( requires you to take 9 pills a day), Twinlab Daily One (with or without iron - one daily), GNC Mega Men or Womens Ultra Mega (two daily)
  2. COQ10 - about 100-300mg daily and make sure you buy Ubiquinol form. Some good brands are GNC, Jarrow, Life Extension
  3. Multi-Mineral - My choice is Mezotrace
  4. Fish Oil - I like the Natures Way Fisol product because it is coated and does not break down until it reaches the intestines. This eliminates the fishy burps that you might get from other brands - yuk!
  5. Zyflamend by New Chapter - this product helps decrease inflammation. Let's face it almost anyone (athlete or not) has some type of inflammation. This product does wonders if you have bad knees, back etc. You can take it daily to keep things in check. If you feel a lot of pain you can take up to six pills instead of taking advil.
Do not get a vitamin at Costco, Wallmart, or any grocery store. Go to a health food store and buy a good name brand vitamin. You can also get most of the above supplements at The Vitamin Shoppe. Make sure if you go into The Vitamin Shoppe you check their online prices because sometimes they are cheaper and they will honor those prices. Another good website to shop for the above items is http://www.vitacost.com/.

How strong of a multiple vitamin should you get? That depends on how much you train and how well you eat. You also need to think about how many pills a day you are willing to take. Everyone should take a good multiple vitamin. That is the most important thing to take even if you think you have a very healthy diet. Your multiple vitamin will most likely contain minerals. So you might ask, "why do I need to take a mineral supplement?" When you train you lose more minerals than the average person by sweating. If you sweat more than the average person you are losing even more. This can lead to fatigue, cramping, and headaches. It is good to have the additional minerals as a reassurance.

COQ10 is an antioxidant and provides cellular energy. I take it to feel better, wake up without feeling tired, have sustained energy levels all day and on top of all that it fights free radicals. It is one of the best supplements around. There has been a ton of research on it as well. The Ubiquinol form is the better absorbed form of it. If you take this form you can take half the dosage and get the same results. Always take it in a softgel not powder form. Take a minimum of 100 mg a day.

If you have any questions about anything I listed here feel free to email me at trainwithcyndee@yahoo.com.

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