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 Basketball Supplement Guide The Best Products For Basketball!
To achieve on-court dominance, basketball players must be focused, motivated, agile, and must utilize appropriate athletic conditioning strategies in conjunction with sound dietary supplementation measures and nutritional practices. But what nutritional supplements are appropriate for the basketball player? This guide will help you answer this important question and will list supplements that are appropriate for your sport. Best of all, all supplements in this guide comply with existing basketball regulations. This means that, instead of worrying about rules and regulations, you can focus on being your best and dominating your competition! NOTE: To sort product by price, servings and more, simply click the VIEW ALL links in each category.
The basketball athlete must select a multivitamin and mineral product that supplies an adequate level of water-soluble vitamins, and that contains generous amounts of choline and l-carnitine. L-carnitine will help the body use body fat stores as fuel during long bouts of exercise. This will ensure that you avoid a mid-game energy crash. Water-soluble vitamins are not well stored by the body, so a vitamin and mineral product with time released technology will be most beneficial to you who. Unlike other athletes you utilize vitamins and minerals at an accelerated rate due to an increased metabolism resulting from prolonged bouts of cardiovascular activity. Multivitamins are best taken with a meal in the morning upon rising, and then again at mid-afternoon with lunch.
The body uses l-glutamine to protect the immune system, prevent muscle loss, and promote recovery from intense exercise. Basketball athletes risk losing muscle mass because of the cardiovascular activity required by their sport. Glutamine can help to protect you from this risk. The preservation of functional muscle mass will protect bones from fracture, and will help you preserve your athletic abilities. Glutamine also helps to improve endurence and will help you run faster for longer periods of time. Glutamine is best taken in divided dosages throughout the day. It is commonly taken upon rising, at lunch, midday, and then before going to sleep. In this way, glutamine is in the body at all times throughout the day and it can best deliver results.
B-vitamins increase muscle mass, protect vital organs, increase endurance, repair joint tissue, supply energy, heal wounds, increase motivation and focus, and enhance performance. You must protect your existing muscle-mass at all costs. Functional muscle tissue can enhance performance, and its loss can lead to injury. Cardiovascular activity can cause the body to use muscle for fuel, and B-vitamins can offset this possibility. Your energy requirements often surpass your bodies ability to derive fuel from food. B-vitamins can provide needed energy via non-food related means. The ability of B-vitamins to heal wounds will increase your ability to recover from intense exercise. Being in peak form at the right time is possible only if your body recovers as quickly as possible. The body uses water to absorb and use B-vitamins, and it is recommended that b-vitamins be consumed with plenty of water t regular intervals throughout the day.
Flax seed oil is beneficial to the basketball athlete because it provides energy, prevents the breakdown of muscle tissue and enhances mental clarity and focus. Flax seed oil also supports the cardiovascular system and improves general mood and feelings of well-being. These benefits will enhance performance. The benefits of flax seed oil on your mind will give you a mental edge so that you will be able to act with increased motivation, focus, and mental flexibility in the face of ever-changing game conditions. Flax seed oil comes in liquid or capsule form. The liquid form is the best and most effective, and is taken in divided teaspoon dosages throughout the day. Many do not like the taste of flax, but it does not taste that bad, and the results that it delivers are well worth any possible disliking of its taste.
Vitamin E enhances endurance, reduces muscle soreness and protects the immune system from damage. Because of the prolonged bouts of cardiovascular activity that you must endure, your joints and muscles can be placed under tremendous tension and stress. Vitamin E supports healthy joint function and can help to reduce muscular inflammation. Heart health is of critical importance to the basketball athlete, and vitamin E helps support healthy heart function. To best benefit from vitamin E, you should take vitamin E approximately one hour prior to game-time. Vitamin E comes in gel capsules, and is quite easy to use. Basketball players should strive to obtain at least 400 I.U.’s of vitamin E daily, with 800 I.U.’s being preferable.
Creatine monohydrate is useful for the basketball athlete because it increases ATP – adenosine triphosphate. ATP fuels muscular contraction, and an increase in ATP will help your muscles start and stop quickly on demand. Creatine monohydrate has been shown to increase cardiovascular endurence brain function and overall athletic performance. This means that creatine monohydrate will allow you to run farther, longer, and will allow you to gain a mental edge over the competition. Creatine is often “loaded” into muscle tissue by taking twenty grams for five days, followed by five grams daily for the duration of the cycle. A more effective way to use creatine is to take ten 2.5gram doses daily, divided throughout the day. This will ensure maximum absorption and maximum results. Taking creatine with water is best, as excess sugars from juice can make you put on body fat. Creatine monohydrate is proven to be safe and it has been used by basketball athletes for over a decade.
Whey protein isolate is the best protein supplement to supply energy to the basketball athlete. It is quickly absorbed by the body and is the highest known quality protein source. Whey protein prevents the buildup of muscle-destroying hormones, and can build new muscle tissue for the athlete. New muscle tissue will enhance performance. Like creatine monohydrate, whey protein can improve an athletes mental function and it has also been shown to promote fat loss.24 Building new muscle, eliminating unwanted body fat and improving mental function will make you lean, agile and focused. Whey protein isolates are digested more easily than whey protein concentrates. For this reason, whey protein isolates pre, during and post game are an ideal choice to provide your body with the materials necessary to promote energy levels, muscle growth and recovery.
Caffeine gives the body energy enhances focus and improves athletic performance. Caffeine can also improve memory function and the ability to process information.30 Caffeine supplementation will help you remember plays, and the increased focus resulting from its use will help you to efficiently process real-time game information. Caffeine helps to improve body composition by reducing body fat. The removal of functionally useless body fat will make you more aerodynamic, and lean and agile. Some athletic federations test for excessive caffeine use, so you should monitor your own use carefully.
Ginkgo biloba has long been used to protect the cardiovascular system from damage31 and increase oxygen delivery to the brain and muscles. Increased oxygen delivery to muscle tissue will ensure rapid recovery from exercise or game-play. Rich in antioxidants, ginkgo biloba will scavenge the body for harmful substances. By ridding the body of these substances, ginkgo biloba protects vital organs. Ginkgo biloba can improve an athlete’s memory and can protect the eyes and brain. This will help to ensure that you can always “keep your eye on the ball.” Ginkgo is taken orally in capsule format.
Citrulline Malate is rapidly gaining popularity as a supplement to enhance athletic performance. Research has shown that citrulline malate can increase sexual function and can increase the delivery of nutrients to muscle tissue. Your focus is recovery oriented and the ability of citrulline malate to deliver nutrients to muscle tissue makes citrulline malate and ideal supplement for you. The many basketball athletes who have discovered what is being called “the next big thing” report that it dramatically increases their ability to perform and dominate on the court, and to recover from intense game-play.
Basketball places unique physical and mental demands upon its athletes. Basketball is a fast-paced and explosive game of real-time tactical execution that requires physical agility, explosive strength, healthy joints, aerobic endurance, and mental acuity. The level at which you perform will be, to a large degree, a function of athletic conditioning and nutritional regimen. However, supplementation is also a critical factor, and too often this factor is overlooked. To compete and win, you must be focused, motivated and agile. You must also have healthy joints and the ability to perform cardiovascular exercise for extended periods of time. The supplements outlined here will serve to enhance your natural abilities and allow you to compete at the highest level possible. |
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Basketball is a fast paced game of precision, anticipation and calculation. The basketball athlete must be aware of real-time on-court conditions and must be able to anticipate the actions of his or her opponent. To do this, the basketball athlete must be healthy, posses well developed hand-to-eye coordination, have cardiovascular endurance, and have functionally developed muscles capable of rapid acceleration and deceleration.
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