Introduction
For a person to become an outstanding athlete, they have to engage in various exercising regimes. In addition to this, athletes have to ensure that their intake of certain nutrition is optimal and to achieve this, some athletes employ the use of chemicals of various types. Nutritional ergogenesis if properly applied can give an athlete an edge over his opponents. In this paper I will offer my professional suggestion to Jason who aims to use supplements to improve his sprint time. I will take a critical look at the current supplements that he is taking and analyze whether they will help him achieve his goal with little or no side effects.
Analysis and Suggestions
Proper nutrition is key to an athlete achieving his goal. While consuming mineral and vitamin supplements is a prudent behavior especially for an athlete so as to enable him to obtain adequate vitamins, research indicates that these supplements should only be used to augment a proper diet as the supplements may lead to the risk of deficiency of certain classes of vitamins especially for sprinters and other weight-control sports (Maughan, 1999). Jason should therefore consume more quality foods during all his meals and avoid the assumption that the mineral and vitamin supplement he is taking are a substitute for healthy foods.
Good development of muscles mass and strength is crucial for elite sprinters. The consumption of Boron by athletes is meant to increase testosterone causing the increase in muscle mass. However, research indicates that there is no evidence of a positive effect of boron supplementation on the muscle mass of male athletes. Maughan (1999) asserts that boron supplements have no effect on the gain in strength or any effect on the circulating testosterone level. Considering that Jason is a health young male, the boron consumption has no positive effect on his and should therefore be avoided since it is an unnecessary expense.
Arginine and ormithine are potent stimulators of growth hormones and there exists published evidence that supports that these supplements promote the growth of lean tissue when taken during a period of strength training (Maughan, 1999). Considering the fact that Jason will be consuming these supplements while undertaking resistance training, these supplementations compounded with a healthy diet will greatly assist him reach his goals of increasing his power and strength.
Chromium picolinate acts as a potentiator of insulin in the body thereby giving it particularly high value to athletes. While chromium does occur naturally in foods such as meat, yeast and shellfish, highly refined foods contain little chromium. Hargreaves (1999) reports that there is a widespread deficiency of chromium in the general population as a result of consumption of highly processed foods; this creates the need for supplementation by athletes. Jason would therefore benefit from supplements considering his poor dietary habits. However, it should be noted that chromium can lead to renal failure or even anemia if abused.
Intake of proteins is important to any physically active person; as such, they are imperative to an athlete. This is because intense exercises increase the need for proteins and aminos in the body. Whey proteins in particular have been observed to have special properties such as enhancement of liver and heart glutathione and higher solubility (Hargreaves, 1999). Despite the observable need for proteins, need of protein supplementation has been arguable. A research carried out by Tipton et al. (2004) on the result of ingestion of whey proteins after resistance exercise revealed that increase in muscle protein was similar despite the difference in composition of amino acids in the blood. This is a view which is shared by Melvin (2005) who reasserts that “protein supplements are not necessary for athletes as they are easily obtained from natural foods”.
Jason is reportedly engaged in resistance training two to three times per week. Faigenbaum et al. (2009) reports that majority of the injuries to high school aged athletes who engaged in resistance training was as a result of inappropriate training techniques and poorly designed equipment. Jason can therefore avoid injuring himself during his resistance training by ensuring that he uses proper training equipment and that he is supervised by a qualified adult throughout the training.
Conclusion
This paper set out to take a critical look at Jason’s current training regime and in particular his supplementation intake. From these report, it is evident that some supplementation that Jason currently takes is not warranted and may in fact be harmful to him on the long run. It is my opinion that if Jason follows the suggestion stipulated in this paper, he shall become one of the leading track athletes in his high school and probably in the world in the near future!
References
Faigenbaum, A. D. et al. (2009). Youth Resistance Training: Updated Position Statement Paper from the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.
Hargreaves, R. (1999). A Personal Trainers Guide to Supplements. Web.
Maughan, R. J. (1999). Nutritional Strategies to Promote Muscle Hypertrophy. Basic Appl. Myol. 9 (6): 279-284.
Melvin, H. W. (2004). Dietary Supplements and Sports Performance: Introduction and Vitamins. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2004, 1:1-6.
Melvin, H. W. (2005). Dietary Supplements and Sports Performance: Amino Acids. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2005, 2:63-67
Tipton K, et al. (2004). Ingestion of Casein and Whey Proteins Result in Muscle Anabolism after Resistance Exercise. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 2004, 36:2073-81