Supplements is an area discussed a lot and everyone is always looking for the next best thing to give them the edge whether that’s on the big sportives’ you’re planning next year or smashing it up the hills with your friends.

But what supplements are actually worth taking?

Well we have performance enhancing ones and then health/recovery ones and we’re going to cover the main ones.

Performance

Creatine – A topic of hot debate within cycling but one of the most proven performance supplements available. The easiest way to decide if you need/want to use this is to think about your training! Are you currently doing off-season gym work, peak power training, track cycling or maybe you’re a crit sprinter? All these would benefit from creatine and improve your 10 second power output, recovery between efforts and sessions. But if you’re doing lots of climbing the potential of added water retention may outweigh the benefits. 5g a day to get the effects.

Beta-Alanine – Shown to improve your performance in the 1-4min effort range perfect for hill climb season and those punchier efforts you might be putting out. Takes a while to load the system (4-6) weeks but once in will be there for 10 weeks or so. Can make you feel a bit tingly after taking though. 3-6g a day best divided into 1.5-3g servings with a meal to avoid those tingles

Caffeine – Massively proven to improve endurance performance and reduce perceived effort and pain. But your average cup of joe probably isn’t enough. An amount of at least 3mg/kg/bw is needed to improve performance and takes ~60mins to peak in the blood. 1 espresso shot = ~75mg so you may be needing a bit more than usual. Be aware of any conditions you may have or steadily increase your intake. If you go from no caffeine to 3mg you may know about it.

Health

Omega-3 – An essential fatty acid we can only get from outside sources and is needed for everyday health! Proven to reduce inflammation and potentially aid in recovery. Getting a supplement to help with your daily needs at around 500mg of EPA and DHA a day or having some oily fish like Salmon with pesto crust is ideal for your daily intake.

Vitamin D3 – shown to help with bone density and formation. But also aids in immunity over the winter period or if you get minimal sunlight exposure. A recommendation of 1000iU a day or 25ug has been suggested if your blood test results come back lower than <75 nmol/L

Hydration for a Marathon

How much water do I need? This depends on quite a few factors if we look on a general daily basis there can be some debate on how much water to have but looking at around 0.033/ml/kg for an everyday sedentary individual should keep you in a fluid balance. For example, weight 70kg*0.033 = 2.31L water a day at a normal temperature and no activity.

How can you determine how much water you need to take on per hour during a marathon? Water requirements are very individualised and based off of each person’s individual sweat rate. This will also be affected by such things as heat, humidity and intensity of exercise. Though a general rule of thumb of 400-800ml an hour should suffice. But saying that there is a better way to work this out as mentioned.

Is there an equation or rough guide people can use to work this out, in relation to their height, weight and running intensity? How much will I be losing in sweat?  You can in fact perform your own sweat test which is easily done:

1. Take a standard session you might do – ideally at race pace- for this let’s say 1 hour. Weigh yourself before (naked).
2. Drink a controlled amount of water with you – for example let’s say 1 bottle of 500ml, ensure you drink all of this over the session.
3. After the hour session before consuming anything else, undress, wipe yourself down with a towel and weigh yourself again.

This number at the end will let us know your average sweat rate per 1Hr at race pace at that outside humidity and temperature.

Pre-race hydration – how much extra water should you be taking on each day in the week before your race to ensure you’re adequately hydrated? Over hydration protocols have been shown to not be an effective form of hydrating in the lead up to an event. You’re best off making sure you meet your daily needs and then on the morning of just ensuring you’re adequately hydrated as I describe below.

How much water should you consume in the hours before your race? Start sipping about 600ml of water with an electrolyte in 3 hours before the race until your urine is clear if it still isn’t clear have another 400ml on top of this.

How can you tell if you’re adequately hydrated? Urine colour is the easiest way to check with the darker it being the more dehydrated you are and the lighter/clearer it is being more hydrated. You can if you want though

Should you avoid ‘dehydrating’ tea and coffee? Tea or coffee does not dehydrate you in itself – it would be illogical to think taking on more fluid will dehydrate you. But caffeine is a diuretic meaning it will cause you to pass urine more frequently. So, every time you go the bathroom you should be topping up. If anything, caffeine is proven for its performance enhancing abilities and I would recommend it at 3mg/kg/bodyweight 30-60mins prior to the event. Though this should be practiced and/or consulted with your GP if you have any reason to be wary of high caffeine intakes

How will the weather on the day impact your hydration? Will be there be enough water stations on course, or should you carry some water with you? How can you plan for this? It takes 2 weeks to acclimatise to a certain temperature. Running regularly and sessions at “race pace” will ensure you’re acclimatised but if it’s hotter on the day understand that your fluid requirement with alter with an increased sweat rate.

What are the signs of dehydration and overhydration – how do you know if you’ve had too little or too much water? Is the risk of overhydration (hyponatremia) worse than the risk of dehydration? There are quite a few signs of dehydration and overhydration with hyponatremia being a place that can be caused both by having too much fluid or not enough as the main issue is electrolyte balance, symptoms of this can be causes fluid movement into the brain, causing swelling with symptoms that can progress from feeling strange, to mental confusion, general weakness, collapse, seizure, coma and death.

One noted sign is to see your heart rate raise 5-8bpm for every 1% of dehydration.

Using the sweat test making sure you don’t lose more than 2% of your bodyweight is important as past this point you will start to struggle and start to get issues.

How to work this out:

70kg * 0.02 = 1.4kg or 1.4L of water

If in your 1 hour sweat test while consuming 500ml of water at the end weight 69.5kg we know you lose 1L/1kg of water an hour at the race pace, at the temperature/humidity.

If you carried on drinking at that rate for 3 hours you would now be 1.5L dehydrated which is over the 2% which we want to avoid.

Is the ‘drink when you’re thirsty rule’ reliable while running? Typically, if you’re drinking when you are thirsty rule probably means you’re already a bit dehydrated – but as explained over hydration isn’t good either. Steady consumption of water that is matched with your hydration testing and making sure you’re not losing more than 2% bodyweight should be the focus.

What’s the best method for alternating water with energy drinks (London usually has Lucozade Sport stations every 4-5 miles) and why should you be drinking Lucozade Sport/energy drinks as well as water? Muscle glycogen stores (stored carbohydrate) typically will only provide enough energy for ~90mins of exercise so taking on carbohydrate each hour will enable you to maintain blood glucose levels and keep performing. Carbohydrate solutions of 3-5g per 100ml also improve your uptake of water hydrating you better and typically sports drinks contain electrolytes too.

How important is it to take on electrolytes both during and before the race? Incredibly important – water on its own doesn’t hydrate you as well as if it contains electrolytes as mentioned but things like hyponatremia only happen with excessive water intake and no electrolyte intake upsetting the balance and essentially diluting yourself. You can get your sodium loss rate tested but if you’re leaving salt lines on your face or clothes you are probably a salty sweater.

Recommendations of 0.5 to 0.7 g/L of sodium for exercise lasting <3hours with longer durations going up higher per hour. Your typical electrolyte tab is around 0.4g.

Can you explain how energy drinks can contribute towards grams of carbs you need to fuel yourself per hour, and how many they can supply? Well it depends on the drink used, but performance improvements have been seen from as little as 20g an hour. I would suggest aiming for 40-60g an hour at least and more if you’re running intensely. Getting this from a glucose:fructose mix at a 2:1 ratio with improve your ability to digest it and reduce incidence of gastro-intestinal distress. The reason for carbohydrate-based drinks is simple the maintenance of blood glucose enables you to keep performing the exercise you’re doing. The amount we need will vary depending on exercise intensity, duration and also how well trained an individual you are.

Post-race hydration – how much water should you take on after your race? Ensuring you’ve replaced what you’ve lost should be the main goal so continuing to drink water with electrolyte for a while after the event should be expected – ensuring you’re getting the right mixture as described above to help.

Getting on track and heading towards your fitness/health/fat loss goals can be daunting especially when you have no idea where to start, so making this journey as easy as possible is paramount to your success but also your enjoyment of the process.

Here are 6 simple things that you can do;

1. Walk – One of the biggest factors on our energy expenditure is our “non-exercise activity”. This is everything you do that isn’t specific exercise, so walking to the bus or train, walking around at the office or at lunch etc. If 1000 steps equate to around 50Kcals then if you increased your daily step count by 2000 steps at the end of the week you would have burnt an extra 700Kcals. And all you had to do was to walk a bit more.
2. Track your food – This is a big one! If you want to lose body fat having an idea of where you are calorie-wise is important. Without getting too technical about the ratios of what you’re having, if you start tracking your food and realise your weight/ measurements aren’t dropping then look at your average intake over a week and reduce it by 100-200kcals per day and you should see further loss – that is If you exercise stays consistent 🙂
3. Do exercise you enjoy – Too often people believe running or other various forms of exercise are the best for “fat loss” but honestly the best is the one you’re going to enjoy and consistently keep doing
4. Eat protein – Protein at every meal helps with the retention of muscle when in a calorie deficit – something you must be in to lose fat – as nobody wants to lose the muscle they have! It is also highly satiating meaning when you’re in that calorie deficit you feel less hungry, the hungrier you are the harder it is to adhere to you diet and stay on track.
5. Drink Water – The principal of all life and performance and fat loss. The process of breaking fat down is done through something called hydrolysis, and as you may guess that process requires water, and is performed much more efficiently in a hydrated state. You want to perform well in the exercise you’ve chosen, whether it’s faster or stronger and hydration has a massive impact on that with being dehydrated as little 2% seeing a significant decrease in performance.
6. 6. De-stress – Sometimes we set our goals and we’re smashing our workouts, eating well and for some reason you’re not dropping weight, or your stomach has reduced in circumference and in the end, you feel like giving up! Well it can be so easy to forget but being stressed can cause us to retain huge amounts of water thus feeling like you’re not making progress! Think about your week; think about how much sleep you’ve had; how’s work? The best way to de-stress is to ensure you’re getting those 7-8 hours of sleep; meditate; take time for yourself; organise your diary. All of these can help you de-stress and you may find a bunch of that water-weight coming off.

If you need more help drop message on my social media or website

Veganism and opting for less meat in our diets is becoming more popular and there added benefits to having more items like pulses and lentils in our diets with more micronutrient density.

Pulses and lentils are a great way to add protein and slow releasing carbohydrate to your diet that help aid in recovery and provide slow releasing energy for training, particularly great if you’re having a training session 2-4 hours after eating them.

Why 2-4 hours?
They are low GI carbohydrates so they’re digested a lot slower and so need time allow for that release of energy which is important if you’re wanting to focus on performance.

100g of cooked chick peas will provide you with;
164Kcals
9g protein
27g carbohydrates (8g fibre)
3g fat
16% your RDA of Iron

The quality of protein is dictated by the amount of amino acids that food contains and the bio-availability (how we digest them). Very few vegetable sources contain a complete amino acid profile meaning sometimes we need to combine foods together to make them complete.

Why is this important?
All nine of the essential amino acids are needed to promote “muscle protein synthesis” or the creation and stimulation of recovery and growth in muscle.

The protein of pulses is high in certain amino acids and low in others whereas grains are the opposite being high in what pulses are low in. Combining them provides all the essential amino acids needed to stimulate muscle protein synthesis.

This is really important to know if you’re a vegetarian/vegan.

Here is an awesome recipe of mine that you may enjoy

RECIPE: Roasted vegetable and lentil soup

Ingredients:

• 1 tin mixed beans (can be in a sauce)
• 1 tin mixed pulses or chick peas
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes
• 1 onion & bell pepper
• 2 garlic cloves – minced
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1/2 tsp chilli,
• 1tsp smoked paprika
• Salt & Pepper
• 1tbsp Worcester sauce
• Fresh Coriander to garnish

CHOP onion and bell pepper and fry in pan till golden

ADD rest of ingredients and bring to a simmer

LEAVE to cook for 15-20mins and reduce

DONE

SERVE in a big tortilla wrap with some fresh coriander and some sour cream

There is the main thought process that brown or complex carbohydrates are good and white is bad. But ultimately, it’s all about context, and isn’t as black and white as that. Both white and brown or simple and complex carbohydrates have their place in the diet. What is more important is the timing in which we have them and the foods we have them in conjunction with.

Glycaemic index (GI)

GI is measured on a scale of 1-100 where 100 is glucose and fastest releasing – with complex typically being lower.

• 1-50 Low
• 51- 70 Medium
• 71-100 High

Low to Moderate:

Low to moderate Gi carbohydrate is ideal to have most of the time in particular that 2-4-hour period before training – this is for the steady rise in blood sugar – as well as tending to be higher in fibre and micronutrients. This means you will feel fuller for longer and potentially solve any energy fluxes you might have been getting through the day.

It’s not the most ideal food to have on the bike though, for the above reasons and when looking at performance, the higher Gi, simpler carbohydrates are much more effective

High:

The whiter, more simple carbohydrates increase blood sugar a lot quicker, tend to be low in fibre and depending on the source micronutrients.

Where this type of carbohydrate excels is in the period directly before, during and after a workout or ride. This is due to the speed of the release making the energy viable for use straight away, aiding in immediate performance or recovery.

Knowing more about these allows you to know when you can have some of those sweeter foods and when you should cut back on them in relation to energy levels and best utilisation.

RECIPE: Mediterranean flaked sea bream pasta

Ideal to have 2-4 hours before a session providing 80g of steady releasing carbohydrate and 20-30g protein.

Ingredients per 1 person;

• 1 fillet sea bream
• 100g Spaghetti
• 1tbsp Olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• Small handful cherry tomatoes
• 1tbsp of olives
• Salt & Pepper
• Fresh Basil to garnish

BOIL your spaghetti with some salt till just before it’s done (al dente)

FRY minced garlic in your pan with olive oil first then adding fillet, salt and pepper

ADD halved cherry tomatoes and olives after 3 or so minutes

DRAIN cooked pasta

ADD pasta to frying pan and stir in once fillet is crispy

SERVE with a garnish of basil, and remaining oil from the pan.

Hydration testing is something you can do throughout the year at different points as the weather changes. It’s a great way to stay on top of how much you should be drinking to avoid dehydration and hyponatraemia.

It’s recommended that we avoid water loss exceeding 2% of our bodyweight. So, if you weigh 70kg that would be the loss of 1.4kg of water.

Here’s the test:

1. Take a standard session you might do a 1-hour turbo is ideal. Weigh yourself before (naked).
2. Drink a controlled amount of water over the turbo – let’s say 1 sports bottle (500ml). Ensure you drink all of this over the session, oh and that you’ve dressed yourself again haha.
3. After the hour session before consuming anything else, undress, wipe yourself down with a towel and weigh yourself again.

This number at the end will let us know your average sweat rate per 1Hr in those conditions. It’s important to remember this number relates to the intensity of that session and the ambient temperature. You will always sweat more indoors as there is no wind cooling.

With that loss add the 0.5kg from the bottle you drank. This now tells you your sweat loss per hour. So, if you lost 0.5kg you’ve lost in total 1kg over 1 hour.

You can use an outdoor ride to test this too BUT ensure it’s still only an hour if you go for longer then you will start eating food or gels, you will also be expending large amounts of glycogen that will also affect the results.

What sources of food or sports supplements would be the most ideal to be eating on the bike to keep you energised and give you fuel for optimal performance?

Our choices include real food like; fruit, jam sandwiches, flapjack etc. energy bars, gels and carbohydrate drinks. Ultimately though these are divided into the three sections of;

• Solid
• Semi-Solid
• Liquid

Some great research has been done showing that if all three variations contain the same amount of carbohydrate, protein and fat in them then the speed at which they’re digested is the same though the feeling of fullness is always most with solids despite the speed being the same.

Liquid options can vary in concentration with low concentrations of around 3-4g carbohydrate per 100ml promoting better fluid uptake or is more hydrating. A strong solution that is 6-8g per 100ml would be iso-tonic which has a similar concentration to blood will focus more on providing carbohydrate then hydrating and then the last being hypertonic 8g> per 100ml and will be purely focused on carbohydrate provision but will have a slower absorption rate and will cost you water from your body to move it across. Gels can be found in this area to and normally advertise what they are or you can work it out.

Solids come in many forms, bars tend to be higher in fat, and may have protein so consider the slower digestion and that if you have quite a few it will eat into your total daily amounts you should have. Personally If you’re not training for anything in particular then fuel your rides with food you will enjoy and make sure you get the most of the ride.

Ultimately consider what you’re doing; riding with friends, training for an event, racing etc. How you fuel on these should determine your choices as practicing for your race you should use what will be on your race, but if you’re just out on a jolly then the world is your oyster!

Omega-3 plays a critical role in our health, recovery and potential performance. Omega-3 is an essential fatty acid that can only be gained from outside sources. As such finding foods that can provide you with your dietary requirement of omega-3 can be important.

Why is it important?

Having the right ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 plays a role in reduction of inflammation. Seeing an increase in inflammation if omega-6 takes up the majority of your intake (fried foods, vegetable and soybean oils, salad dressings, crisps, etc). Interestingly there has been some emerging research showing that omega-3 plays a role in;

• Muscle protein synthesis – the formation of new proteins, cells and ultimately recovery within the body. Amount taken – 1.86 g EPA and 1.5 g DHA
• Potential to improve body composition – The triggers seem to be a result of improved insulin sensitivity and reduction in cortisol. 1.6g EPA and 0.8g DHA

How much is needed?

The levels of Omega-3 fats in your body will vary depending on the amount of omega-3 rich fish you eat or the amount of fish oil you take as a supplement. Current scientific evidence shows 3-4grams per day (1.5-2g EPA and 1.5-2g DHA is the ideal amount to aid body composition, muscle growth and joint mobility.

This would be the equivalent to 2 fillets of Salmon, Mackerel, Halibut or Herring per day. An ideal combination would be regular oily fish intake over a week supplemented with an Omega-3 fish oil.

RECIPE

Here is an EPIC recipe you need to try to help get that salmon in your diet and wow your friends at dinner;

Ingredients per 1 person;

• 1 Salmon Fillet
• 100g Spaghetti
• 2tsp Olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• Small handful cherry tomatoes
• 1tbsp of olives
• Salt & Pepper
• Fresh Basil to garnish

BOIL your spaghetti with some salt till it’s al dente

FRY your fillet in a pan with olive oil, salt, pepper, and finely chopped garlic

FLAKE the salmon as it cooks breaking it into little chucks to go nice and crispy

ADD halved cherry tomatoes and olives (not too soon though otherwise the tomatoes go mushy)

DRAIN cooked pasta

ADD pasta to frying pan and mix

SERVE with a garnish of basil

Pre-ride and especially pre-race or sportive is a time that’s filled with old tales of what is best to eat-the “Miracle Breakfast” that will have you riding faster than ever! Most of the time these tales are just fads or gimmicks getting you to purchase odd foods or supplements that often aren’t warranted.

Something I stand by when working with One Pro and any of my riders is the anagram “KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid”, especially before a big day out on the bike whether that’s training or sportive alike.

So why Oats?

• When you have at least a couple of hours before heading out Oats are quite carb dense and not too high in volume – so you don’t end up overfeeding and getting bloated – and provide a nice steady release of energy.
• If it’s a big day you should have probably carb loaded for 1-2 days prior and have your muscles saturated with stored carbohydrate, so on the day you only need to top up your depleted liver glycogen stores.
• Oats can be combined with other ingredients– like honey and bananas to increase the number of carbohydrates and to further aid in liver glycogen replenishment, because they are comprised of fructose.
• Porridge is available pretty much anywhere in the world (same for bananas and honey), making it ideal to have in practice and on the day, helping you to keep to your usual routine and safe knowing you’re going to feel great because of it.
• Aiming for about 100-120g before should ensure you’re topped up, and will aid in performance – this looks like 80g of uncooked oats, 1 medium banana and 1 heaped tbsp. of honey.

Recipe: FLAPJACK

Here are my flapjack energy bars that I make for One Pro on race day. The riders absolutely love these!

I recommend making 8-12 per batch (no less than 4 per batch though as they will be too much to digest at once on the bike)

150g Oats (I used Quaker Oats)

180g Banana

50g Raisins

160g Golden Syrup

Orange zest

1tbsp of squeezed orange juice

1 or 1/2 tsp cinnamon

MASH bananas

ADD golden syrup, zest, juice

STIR

ADD oats and raisins

STIR

DIVIDE 

BAKE @ 180C fan assisted for 10-15mins

LEAVE to cool

DONE

Macros for 1 of 8 – 168Kcal – 36.75g Carbs – 2.5g Protein – 0.3g Fat – 26.75g Glucose – 10.3g Fructose

Tiredness, fatigue and drops in performance and usually and most likely caused but things like overtraining, poor sleep, lack of recovery and under nourishment -sufficient calories in the right ratios of carbs protein and fat to facilitate work load-. But sometimes there is a possibility it could be a micronutrient deficiency such as Iron.

Why?
Iron is required for the formation of oxygen-carrying proteins, haemoglobin and myoglobin, and for enzymes involved in energy production. Oxygen- carrying capacity is essential for endurance exercise as well as normal function of the nervous, behavioural, and immune systems.

What does it mean?
Iron depletion (low iron stores) is one of the most prevalent nutrient deficiencies observed among athletes, especially females. Iron deficiency, with or without anaemia, can impair muscle function and limit work capacity. Iron requirements for endurance athletes, especially distance runners, are increased by approximately 80%.

It would be worth noting athletes who are vegetarian, vegan or regular blood donors should aim for an iron intake greater than their respective RDA; 18 mg women and 8 mg for men – though if you’re vegan this goes up to about 33mg for women and 14mg for men.

Due to the increase in popularity in veganism providing a non-haem (non-meat sources) I thought it would be apt to provide a list of iron sources that everyone can eat.

• Spinach – 1 cup = 6.43mg
• Swiss chard – 1 cup = 3.96mg
• Cumin – 2tsp = 2.79mg
• Parsley – ½ cup = 1.88mg
• Turmeric – 2tsp = 1.82mg
• Beet Greens – 1 cup = 2.74mg
• Collard Greens – 1 cup = 2.15mg
• Bok Choy – 1 cup = 1.77mg
• Asparagus – 1 cup = 1.64mg

Before you take any kind of supplementation, I would highly recommend getting your blood tested though to make sure as supplementing without being deficient could be detrimental

Recipe:

Here’s a recipe for a simple addition to your day to add ~9mg of Iron to your day in an organic way

Saag Aloo

• 1 large onion
• 2 large potatoes
• 400g Spinach
• 1tsp – fresh grated ginger, turmeric, garam masala
• 2 garlic cloves chopped
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• Olive oil
• Salt

PARBOIL chopped potatoes (cubes)

HEAT oil and cumin seeds in separate pan

ADD chopped onion and cook till golden in pan

DRAIN potatoes

ADD potato and everything else except spinach to pan

HEAT till soft

ADD spinach and cook till wilts

DONE