How can you improve your sporting performance?
Like many athletes, you want to boost your sporting ability but don't know how to go about it? It's important to know the techniques for boosting your performance, avoiding stagnation, and above all avoiding the frustration that comes with it. So we're giving you our top tips for kicking ass at the gym.
What factors help boost physical performance?
Know your nutritional needs before, during and after exercise
It's important to know your nutritional needs, so you can adapt your diet to suit your training. For example, if you're working hard for a long time, you'll need to eat enough carbohydrates to cover your calorie requirements. Proteins and antioxidants can also help you achieve a good sporting performance while reducing the negative effects on the body (painful aches, injuries...).
Carbohydrates
As the body's fuel, carbohydrates are essential to an athlete's diet, and should account for between 55% and 60%. The body stores carbohydrates in the form of glycogen, from which it draws all the energy it needs during exercise, particularly over long periods.
We find foods made up of complex carbohydrates (wholegrain cereals, wholemeal bread, legumes, brown rice, etc.) as well as simple carbohydrates (chocolate, white sugar, honey, etc.). Simple carbohydrates are particularly effective during exercise or recovery to maintain blood glucose levels.
After exercise, your body will be looking to quickly replenish its reserves, restoring muscle glycogen to ensure rapid muscle recovery. If your glycogen reserves have been depleted by the workout, then a carbohydrate intake of 1.5g per kilo of body weight in the first 30 minutes after exercise is highly recommended to restore them.
Lipids
At first glance, lipids may seem incompatible with physical activity, but they are an essential part of a sportsman's diet. They provide energy, boost strength and, above all, fat-soluble vitamins and fatty acids, which are essential for confirmed athletes.
The fat intake of a person who practices sport at a sustained pace should not be below 15% of their total diet. But be careful to select foods that contain good lipids, which will provide your body with good elements.
Proteins
Prior to exercise, proteins ensure energy stability within the body. But they will also act as a hunger suppressant during exercise, since they take around four hours to digest.
On the other hand, intense or prolonged physical activity leads to increased muscle protein breakdown, followed by an increase in muscle protein synthesis over the following 24 hours. After exercise, it's the proteins that enable the muscle to feed itself and grow. They also help strengthen and repair body tissues weakened by repetitive muscular contractions.
The water
We don't need to tell you how important hydration is for your body, whether through water, juice or energy drinks, especially during intense physical activity. On average, sportsmen and women are advised to drink between 400 and 600 ml of water two hours before exercise, and between 125 and 250 ml 10 to 15 minutes before training.
During exercise, it's essential to drink not only to keep hydrated, but also to compensate for the mineral salts lost through sweat.
After your workout, you should drink up to 1.5 liters of fluid per kilo of body weight lost. However, drinks containing caffeine, alcohol or fizzy drinks are not recommended.
How can you adapt your training to boost your sporting ability?
It's the key to boosting your performance. So don't hesitate to get advice from a coach, who can help you define your objectives and set up a personalized sports program. That way, you'll be able to accelerate your progress.
If you already have a complete and adapted training program, then you'll need to increase the stimulation of your muscles, both in terms of intensity and regularity. You can then use advanced training techniques to help you improve your performance. These include supersets, digressive sets and negative reps, but there are many others. These techniques will enable you to go beyond failure by provoking a stimulus to work the muscle further. But be careful not to risk overtraining, and listen to your body to avoid injury.
We tend to forget it, but rest is an essential part of training. Without it, your body has no time to recover properly. Whether between sessions or between sets, it's vital to respect recovery times. The very principle of bodybuilding is to damage muscle fibers, then give them time to repair themselves. In general, it takes between 24 and 36 hours for them to heal. Then, your body will naturally "over-compensate" by not only thickening your existing fibers, but also creating new ones, which will give your muscles that volume. Consequently, if you don't respect this recovery time, you won't allow the fibers to consolidate and grow, so your muscle growth won't be optimal, your performance will be diminished and the risk of injury higher. So make sure you include sufficient recovery time in all your sports programmes.
Similarly, an athlete who doesn't take care of his sleep will find it harder to build muscle mass and increase performance. You'll need to make sure you get 8 to 9 hours' sleep a night, to give your body time to rest and, above all, to build muscle tissue. As muscle tissue is produced during rest, it's essential to pay as much attention to sleep as you do to your sports training programme.
Is it really essential to warm up?
As we all know, when we arrive at the gym, all we want to do is run onto a bench, work the muscle as hard as possible, and feel congested. But in reality, just like stretching, the warm-up is an essential part of your session. You don't need to dwell on it for 30 minutes; even a 10-minute warm-up is essential to prepare your body for a proper workout. In winter, it should be longer, around 20 minutes. Because temperatures are lower, your body will need more time to warm up.
We tend to downplay the benefits of a warm-up, but they're very real. Firstly, it reduces the risk of muscle and joint injuries. What's more, it allows your heart, which is also a muscle, to increase its rhythm slowly, putting it in optimal conditions for your training. Finally, as your body temperature rises, your muscles and joints will become more elastic, enabling you to work even harder. If you'd like to find out more about warming up, take a look at our article on the subject!
The first mistake about stretching is that many athletes use this method to warm up. But your cold joints and muscles won't react in the same way to stretching, and this increases the risk of injury. After your workout, on the other hand, it's good for your body. It allows your muscles to relax and releases tension on joints, which regain their full range of motion. It's important to ensure that your body temperature is sufficient to improve joint mobility.
Which supplements should you choose to boost your performance?
Our favorites
- Whey Hardcore whey protein powder enriched with creatine and sweeteners, promotes muscle development and improved sports performance.
- Gluta Max glutamine: pure, high-quality glutamine. Although the body is capable of synthesizing it on its own, intense sporting activity impacts reserves of this amino acid, which helps build muscle thanks to its anabolic and anti-catabolic properties.
- BCAA Hardcore l-leucine, L-isoleucine and L-valine: an ultra-balanced ratio of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), L-leucine, L-isoleucine and L-valine, of 2.1.1. These amino acids are involved in protein synthesis and reduce muscle breakdown.
- Hardcore Creatine: widely acclaimed in the world of fitness and bodybuilding for improving athletic performance, muscle volume and strength, Creatine helps to further develop muscle mass gain. Combined with other active ingredients, such as BCAAs, it promotes rapid tissue recovery, with the aim of developing high muscle density.
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