CYCLING guide
CYCLING
Bio-Synergys comprehensive guide to cylists and supplementation. In this short guide we explain which supplements will take your training to the next level.
SINCE 97’ WE’VE BEEN FUELLING OLYMPIC AND COMMONWEALTH GOLD MEDALLISTS
Our critically acclaimed and award winning supplements may have fuelled more PB’s, gold medals and World Champions than any other brand.
WHAT SPORTS SUPPLEMENTS SHOULD I BE USING?
Be smart, supplement with Bio-Synergy Omega 3, 6 & 9
Author of Faster: the Obsession, Science and Luck Behind the World’s Fastest Cyclists, Michael Hutchinson writes that, “The one thing that I am 100% sure works - and more or less everyone I’ve ever spoken to about it agrees – is Omega 3 fatty acids, or fish oil”. Omega 3 fatty acids improve our recovery by decreasing inflammation in our muscles. In fact, a study conducted back in 2008 and published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology revealed the impact of this for athletes’ endurance training. “The test subjects, who were trained cyclists, supplemented with omegas for a period of eight weeks”. It was found that cyclists who took in omegas found it easier to perform the task well, needed less oxygen and maintained a lower heart rate throughout the test.
Increase pedal power with Creatine Plus®
Strength-to-weight ratio is something that’s very important in cycling; you need to be a strong and powerful as you can to turn the pedals with force and light enough to carry yourself up the hills and creatine is proven to increase power output. It’s more than a pure strength builder: Creatine can help you ride harder for longer, finds a new study in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. After supplementing with creatine monohydrate for 6 days, men pedaled with more power and were more able to stave off fatigue then they could pre-creatine. So before you get in the saddle or go for a run, consider how Creatine Plus can improve your performance.
Recover faster with Bio-Synergy BCAA’s®
There is no ‘set weight’ everyone should be, so aiming to keep muscle high and fat low is what we all strive for. It’s often hard for keen cyclists to fit in resistance training for muscle and postural maintenance, and with cycling being a heavily catabolic and time consuming sport, it is important that you spend time preventing muscle breakdown. So what can you do? Take BCAAs (Branched Chain Amino Acids) are essential building blocks of protein that need to be consumed through food sources; they cannot be created by our bodies independently. With this in mind, as well as a sound diet, we should be consuming a BCAA supplement to prevent muscle breakdown on the bike.
But how will this help you to perform better? You might say that you don’t care about muscle mass, or anabolic supplements, well there’s a myriad of ways in which they can help you to consistently race and ride better.
If you supply yourself with BCAAs during your rides and in between meals, then you’re more likely to recover better when you get off the bike. Think if it as a constant stream of amino acids that your body can ‘dip into’ whenever and feed off; if the supply is always there, then your muscles shouldn’t want to breakdown. Most body builders and strength athletes will take BCAAs every day, without fail, rest day or not; and this is to maintain a large amount of muscle. As a cyclist however, your goal is to maintain enough muscle to perform on the bike, so we recommend taking them before and during your ride.
Beat the bonk.. with L-glutamine
supplement, holding a use for all athletes and weekend warriors. L- Glutamine is quite common in everyday foods, and our body holds onto stores of it already, so you’re not taking in some un-natural substance, in fact you had it in you all along. The benefits of L Glutamine are similar to other amino acids, in that they offer a ‘reserve supply’ effect, allowing you to carry on stronger for longer, without depleting levels. L glutamine is usually absorbed by the intestines, as they are crucial for repair and proper function of the digestive organs.
But how does this relate to cycling?
Well, put simply, if you’re on a long endurance ride, you’ll be whittling down your body’s supplies of glutamine, which can leave you vulnerable and weak; we might be talking very slightly here, but that’s what cycling’s all about at elite level: marginal gains. A study published in the journal of “Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise,” showed the depletion of glutamine stores in the body of endurance cyclists is related to suppression of the immune system. Cyclists who supplement with glutamine can boost their immune system to help prevent illness. Glutamine helps in the healing and building of the muscles used during cycling. Without glutamine, these muscles would take longer to repair after each hard ride. So if you’re always topped up, you’ve got a little less chance of being weak on the bike and hitting the proverbial wall! Beat the bonk.
Set a PB with Power-Beet®.
The science is that nitrate helps muscles work more efficiently using less oxygen to produce the same amount of power. Research has found that it improves the endurance capacity of athletes; as a result of the nitrate turning into nitric oxide in the body, reducing how much oxygen is burned up by exercise. In as little as a week, consumption with Power-Beet seems to produce remarkable physiological benefits for endurance athletes such as cyclists. In particular, by enhancing blood
flow in muscles, regular supplementation appears to be able to reduce the amount of oxygen needed by exercising muscles to sustain a given sub-maximal (ie not flat-out) workload, thereby increasing the muscles’ efficiency and tolerance to highintensity exercise, and extending endurance.
Joint Performance®
Don’t let age and aches stand in the way of your performance.
From the 30s onwards, a number of physical changes take place in the average person’s body. Aerobic capacity decreases, muscle mass reduces, muscle elasticity reduces, lung elasticity declines, bone density reduces, the metabolism slows, body fat increases, joints ache and the immune system becomes weaker. These changes will have an adverse impact on cycling running performance, and probably the most preventable are joint related injuries and aches. Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM is an organic sulphur containing compound which naturally occurs in
various fruits, vegetables, animals, and humans, with the most abundant natural source occurring in cow’s milk (Williams, 1966; Pearson 1981). Research has shown MSM provides multiple health benefits including anti-inflammatory effects, antiatherosclerotic and antioxidant activity,sports performance benefits. In the area of joint health extensive clinical research has demonstrated the utility of MSM in alleviating joint pain and stiffness while improving mobility. So daily supplementation with Bio-Synergy Joint Performance is ideal for cyclists and endurance runners.
Boost performance, with Caffeine boost®
A number of studies have shown significant performance increases in various endurance disciplines following caffeine supplementation.
FACT:
Caffeine can boost performance, so swap your espresso for the Bio- Synergy Caffeine boost and get the full benefits.
Don’t ignore the science:
In one study, elite runners improved their time in a treadmill run to exhaustion by 1.9% with caffeine. Caffeine boosted time to exhaustion in a cycling test by 15
minutes in another study. And in a study involving swimmers, caffeine was found to enhance performance in maximal-effort swims of up to 25 minutes’ duration.
The scientific literature is pretty clear that, used correctly, caffeine does improve performance on the bike, especially short-term, high-intensity efforts. Bell and McLellan found that time to exhaustion during a high-intensity effort (80-percent VO2max) was greatly increased following caffeine dosing. So half an hour before you go out take 1-2 capsules and during a long ride consider taking a further 1 every 2 to 3 hours. If endurance and power are important to you, then Bio-Synergy
A tough training regime can put a strain on even the fittest hearts and muscles, leaving them weakened for the next exercise session. When athletes take ribose before, during, and after exercise, however, they can better maintain the energy in their muscles and quickly restore any energy that may have been lost. In this way, athletes can keep their hearts and muscles in top physiological condition for their next exercise session. Studies have proven even very small amounts of ribose, if taken orally, increased the energy recovery in stressed leg muscle by 100 percent.
Raising the dose to a level that would approximately equal 2.5 grams if taken orally increased recovery by about 250 percent, and the equivalent of a five-gram dose increased the recovery rate by a whopping 350 percent. At the maximum dose tested, the recovery increased by as much as 650 percent. It generally takes no more than a few days to feel the effect of ribose supplementation. If you don’t begin to feel an effect after two or three days, try increasing the dose. Remember, your heart and muscles continually burn energy, and it is possible that the smaller Ribose dose is simply not enough.
This is no doubt why Ed Burke PhD strongly advocates the use of Ribose in his most recent book ‘Serious Cycling’ So #makeithappen with Bio-Synergy Ribose.
Want better performance? Then you need Beta Performance®
A study performed by researchers at Wichita State University in Kansas found that HMB supplementation increased VO2max in welltrained cyclists by an average of 4%). Cyclists took 3 grams of HMB, during a two week period. The results showed an improvement in VO2max, the researchers found that lactate levels increased, indicating that they were able to work harder, produce more lactate, and tolerate
it more. That means an endurance athlete with a VO2max of 70 ml/kg/min could potentially raise his/her VO2max to about 73 ml/kg/min in just two weeks! That could easily be the difference between first and tenth place in a race.
Think what this could do for a road cyclist competing in a stage race. Beta Performance could be very useful for protecting the muscles from the damage of racing, allowing the athlete to recover more completely after each race. Imagine the advantage a cyclist would have in the final stages of a tour. For the same reasons, HMB may be very useful for any endurance athlete during their heavy training periods.
Creatine Boost®
Since 1997 Bio-Synergy has been at the forefront of the development of sports supplements and shakes, which have won numerous accolades and set the benchmark for high quality and clean products.
Creatine Boost was launched in 1997 and was a ground breaking innovation as it was the first creatine powder to combine the benefits of creatine monohydrate with carbohydrates and the amino acid l-glutamine.
As you would expect from Bio-Synergy it is also suitable for athletes and gluten free. Creatine Boost will not only increase your power but allow you to increase the intensity of your training and recover faster.
Creatine is probably the most widely used sports nutrition supplement, but is often overlooked by endurance athletes as it is most closely associated with helping to increase lean muscle (which is important in endurance activities), but it also plays
a role in reducing lactic acid build up and creating a pool of anaerobic/ explosive energy which can be tapped into for a sprint finish or when extra power is needed.
Bio-Synergy Creatine Boost, provides a convenient and delicious way to supplement with Creatine as the refreshing orange flavoured drink is delicious.
Lean & Green®
Lean & Green is a ground breaking innovation as it was the first vegan protein to be free from soya & hemp.
As you would expect from Bio-Synergy it is delicious, suitable for athletes and gluten free. Each serving of Lean & Green is low fat and carbohydrates so it is ideal either as a standalone drink added to water or if you are feeling more adventurous a smoothie, oats and even for creating high protein snacks and pancakes.
So why do you need protein? Lean & Green is a 100% natural protein shake that is gluten free and contains over 20g protein per serving, 2.8g BCAA’s which is the equivalent of a large chicken breast! But at a much lower price and a lot easier to
prepare and arguably tastier too. Daily supplementation with a high quality protein supplement such as Lean & Green supports fat metabolism, preserves lean muscle & offsets the sometimes unpleasant sensations of carbohydrate restricted training, so whether you are a recreational or professional cyclist, swimmer or OCR’r Bio- Synergy’s award winning protein powders and shakes can play an important role in your training and wellbeing. Protein is essential for wellbeing and health and most research recommends that 20% of your diet should consist of protein and this increases with exercise.