immune system Zinc vitamins and wellness
Photo Credit: On File

Vitamins play a vital role in our daily lives. From sustaining energy and helping with digestion to building muscle and strengthening the bodies immunity!

 

Vitamins are important because they ensure the bodies survival by converting food into energy and rebuilding body tissues and cells. It is important to use vitamins when living a healthy lifestyle to ensure you get the most out of your day.

Every vitamin serves a different purpose. Setting a fitness or wellness goal helps to design a vitamin and supplement course that can aid that fitness goal. Natrodale has a wide variety of supplements for every day life and fitness goals.

Here are some examples of fitness sports and what vitamins are needed to get the most out of the sport:

Running:

  • An Omega-3 is great to help with dilating blood vessels and for brain and heart health. Omega-3 supplements are available but a fish oil will work just as well. Flaxseed oil is a great vegetarian alternative to fish oil.
  • Vitamin C boosts the immune system and helps fights oxidative damage caused by exercise and environmental toxins, making it a great antioxidant.
  • Vitamin E fights free radical damage caused by exercising for a long time. It also supports the heart and cardiovascular system.
  • Zinc helps prolong the energy metabolism by working with multiple enzymes. It is good for maintaining the immune system and helps replenish lost zinc during endurance exercise like running.

Swimming:

  • Vitamin C helps reduce muscle soreness and boosts the immune system.
  • Vitamin E helps reduce down time and recovery during breaks between exercise.
  • Vitamin B’s are responsible for aiding production of energy and promote good heart, muscle and nerve function. A standard B Complex contains 4 out of 8 vitamin B’s.

Cycling:

  • Vitamin E for good lung health, it helps improve capacity and altitude adjustment. Also boosts stamina and endurance.
  • Vitamin B6 helps break down proteins, transports red blood cells and oxygen to muscles.
  • Vitamin B1 helps convert carbohydrates to energy, ensuring endurance for long cycles.

running

Setting your fitness goal is the easy part! Turning that goal into action is the hard part. The best way to achieve your fitness goal is to set a realistic one.

If you plan to run but never have before you need to take it slow and easy, working your way to your goal over a longer period of time. Most peoples goals fail because they burn out.

A realistic first time runners goal would be to run in 10 minute bursts with breaks in-between for 60 minutes, an unrealistic goal would be to run full on for 60 minutes. The same applies for every sport/activity you plan to do, start off slow and your body will build the stamina it requires for the exercise.

It is also a good idea to have short-term and long-term goals. Short goals build up to the long-term goal. An example of a long-term goal would be to run a 5km run, the short goal would be to run for 30 minutes every morning or evening.

Rewarding yourself for achieving goals is also a good way to stick to a fitness goal. If your goal is to run a total of 5km’s a week and you do it, reward yourself with a new running top or some sort of healthy treat, or cheat.

“Don’t wait until you’ve reached your goal to be proud of yourself, be proud of every step you take towards reaching that goal”


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Sources: Natrodale / Facebook

About the Author

Tyler Leigh Vivier is a writer for Good Things Guy.

Her passion is to spread good news across South Africa with a big focus on environmental issues, animal welfare and social upliftment. Outside of Good Things Guy, she is an avid reader and lover of tea.

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