When doing any type of speed and agility training programs, there are essential vitamins and supplements that will help maximize your results. With all the over-the-counter supplements available, it’s hard to determine which ones will help and which ones will be a waist of money. Most vitamins have been tested and have proven results, but many supplements do not have scientific proof that the product will work. For the purposes of this article, I will focus only on proven vitamins and supplements.
The most important vitamin or supplement is the multivitamin. This is the foundation for maximizing your results and your other supplements if you are taking any. Without a good multivitamin, much of your training work will not yield maximum results. It is a known fact that while doing a speed and agility training program, your body is pushed far beyond normal daily activity and you need more vitamins and minerals to support the extra work your body requires to support such strenuous activity. If your body lacks vital vitamins and minerals, your training will not be as intense and will not produce the same results. Also, if you’re taking supplements, they won’t get the most out of it because your training isn’t as intense as it could be.
Another recommended mineral is Omega 3. It has been proven to relieve muscle and joint pain and increase endurance. In some tests of Omega 3 in conjunction with a speed and agility training program, weight loss was accelerated. The importance of relieving muscle and joint pain cannot be stressed enough. An athlete who is sore will not train as hard as an athlete with fresh muscles. If those tests were accurate and fat loss was accelerated, then speed and agility results will be accelerated. A big mistake many soccer players make is adding too much weight quickly, which is usually fat weight. Look at excess fat as exactly that, WEIGHT. Time your 40-yard or 100-meter dash and then do it again with a 10-pound weight on your back. What times will be faster, with or without the weight? I think you will know the answer. The argument used by many athletes is that my body will get used to the weight and the speed will be just as effective. Well, just think how fast you’d be if you shed that excess weight. Strong, tight muscles and a very low percentage of body fat will give you the best results at the end of your speed and agility training program.
The only supplement that has been proven in many scientific trials is creatine. Used correctly, this supplement will increase the results of your training program without the side effects. Creatine achieves its results in enhancing physical performance by increasing the number of times ATP can be recycled during physical exertion without increasing the absolute amount of ATP stored in the muscles. In the short term, this means that creatine supplementation taken correctly will improve your ability to maintain near-maximal force generation during repetitive bouts of intense exercise without actually increasing the amount of maximum force we can produce.
With the use of multivitamins, omega 3s and creatine, you are providing the building blocks to help maximize the results you expect from your speed and agility training program.
