Strength, like money, is something that humans usually cannot have enough of. And if you are an athlete or bodybuilder, this is even more applicable. Strength is not just about the size, experience, and skills of a person. It’s more intrinsic in nature and can be naturally experienced only by the person in question. For strength to be truly beneficial, you should be able to tap into it over an extended time period. In other words, you need endurance. For increased strength-endurance, you should focus on exerting yourself during training for a specific time period. It’s certainly not about one quick burst or giving it all only to crap out later.
There are specific things you could do to increase your endurance levels. Those include heavy weightlifting, shortened rest periods, increased repetitions, etc. Lifting heavy weights is a no-brainer since you cannot gain strength without lifting heavy. Curtailed rest periods ensure you exert maximum strength when your body hasn’t completely recovered aerobically. And without volumes, you will find it extremely difficult to increase your endurance.
Besides doing all these things, there are also supplements that help increase your endurance. The right supplements, in fact, would take your performance and training to the next phase. The following are supplements we recommend for your endurance cycle.
Creatine Monohydrate
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Creatine supplements and endurance steroid cycles usually do not go hand in hand – since creatine is usually identified with strength, power and speed. However, if you look beyond creatine’s direct effects, you will come across indirect benefits that creatine supplements offer to cyclists, runners, and triathletes. Creatine supplements also help reduce recovery periods during repeated intervals.
Caffeine
Caffeine has been traditionally used by athletes to boost their endurance. It does not just offer an instant spike in mental clarity, but its ability to bring down your assessment of the efforts put in and the postponement of fatigue could render longer training sessions a lot more bearable. There are multiple studies highlighting how caffeine consumption could lead to increased endurance, which includes both performance inside and outside the gym. Moreover, caffeine helps with increasing fat oxidation, which means better weight management. Since the impact of caffeine usually doesn’t last for more than an hour, it’s recommended you administer it approximately 60 minutes prior to your training.
Beta-Alanine
Beta-alanine supplements help delay fatigue and improve performance during high-intensity activities. These attributes help athletes on stamina cycles or looking for an endurance stack since such athletes do not do low-intensity exercises exclusively. Race pace, tempo runs, and also lifting for improved running economy would benefit from supplementing beta-alanine. When you train hard, your body amasses hydrogen ions. These ions lower pH, resulting in fatigue. Beta-alanine has caused an increase in intramuscular carnosine content, increasing the ability of your body to buffer the ions. This could potentially delay fatigue and boost exercise performance, reduce fatigue perceptions, and enhance training volume.
Sodium Phosphate
Sodium phosphate loading during a stamina cycle can boost aerobic potential and delay the time to reach exhaustion point. It achieves this by enhancing your red blood cells’ ability to supply oxygen to your active muscles. Moreover, multiple studies have found advances in endurance levels through maximal oxygen uptake increases and ventilatory threshold.
BCAAs
Branched-chain amino acids are a must-have if you are particular about delaying fatigue while training. Moreover, BCAAs metabolize to decrease the production of lactate, which potentially increases your endurance exercise potential. There is also evidence suggesting BCAAs could decrease protein breakdown in skeletal muscles and boost immune response and recovery from exercise.
Protein
Endurance athletes should not go without protein – it doesn’t matter whether the protein is low-carb, gluten-free, paleo, low-fat, etc. While endurance athletes and bodybuilders can be seen focusing more on their carbohydrate consumption, protein is imperative for the restoration, construction, and upkeep of muscle mass. Moreover, when you train for prolonged time periods, your body views protein as its additional energy source. This makes it even more vital to consume sufficient amounts of protein for muscle tissue growth and maintenance. If you’d like to derive the maximum benefits of protein, consume it with carbohydrates, since their combination could lead to greater rates of glycogen and protein synthesis.
Glutamine
Glutamine is naturally available in your body. But intense training sessions can easily deplete your reserves. If you do not supplement your body with enough glutamine, your body could break down its muscles for replenishment or to aid with recovery. Low glutamine levels could also mess with your immune system, heightening your infection risks.