One of my blog goals for 2018 was to start incorporating more health and fitness posts into my page as it's something that I've become quite passionate about over the last few months. I'm not going to start filming fitness workouts because frankly nobody wants to see how much I sweat at the gym. I will however be sharing with you some insights to do with the fitness world. When I first got back into the gym I bought a bunch of stuff before even doing my research on what they actually do, so my l-carnitine is still sitting in my cupboard untouched. When I finally did my research I thought the following was all I really needed for my own fitness and health goals.
PRE-WORKOUT
I started using pre-workout about a month ago and I don't know if it was the idea of it but I felt like superwoman the first time I tried it, if superwoman had tingly arms and lips. Apparently this is caused because of the beta alanine stimulating the nerve endings to 'fire up'. Either way, it helps with my endurance mostly during cardio. I manage to maintain a higher speed on the cross trainer without too much difficulty, You're meant to cycle off this after a month, so I'm waiting for my tub to finish before doing that. I opted for the blue slush flavour, and anyone who knows me knows I'm a big Slush Puppy lover so this does the trick in winter, although I need to head for the toilet twice before starting because I end up downing a lot of liquid.
BCAA'S
Also known as branch chain amino-acids, these are basically the nutrients that your body doesn't produce and so you need to get them from elsewhere. These include leucine, isoleucine, and valine. Since I have cut out dairy and meat this month, my intake of these are even lower so this is helping me fight fatigue at the gym.
I guess my D in AS Biology wasn't totally useless. You can take this before, during or after your work-out and they aim to help with muscle recovery, reduce soreness and help with building lean muscle mass. I prefer the powder form because you can get it in lots of yummy flavours so it makes your training time a bit more fun. I'm currently using Goddess Nutrition Green Apple which tastes pretty similar to those apple lollipops you get given at Chinese restaurants - you know what I mean?
POST-WORKOUT (VEGAN) PROTEIN POWDER
If you're a gym goer then I probably don't have to explain why I take this, but to clarify it's to help with muscle growth and recovery and to help me reach my protein goals for the day. I'm currently participating in Veganuary and luckily enough I still had a bag of Nutribuddy's vegan protein powder in my cupboard. For me the vegan protein tastes a bit more 'oaty' than regular protein powder (see my full review here) but it still does the job and I mix it with 200ml of coconut milk. I'm trying to implement it into more of my baking, so watch this space for future recipes!
Thank you to Goddess Nutrition for sending me some of their products, and for helping me be a beast at the gym!
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