In trampoline I believe that supplementation may be beneficial to a trampolinist to help them achieve higher time of Flight and to maintain height during the routines. A lot of supplements such as protein and BCAA (branch chain amino acids) are ingested to improve strength and size of the muscles. Trampolinist’s does not want size however so the search is out to figure out what supplementation would help a trampolinist.
Because I already mentioned them I will start with BCAA’s. BCAA’s are special types of amino acids that have been shows to help athletic performance (2). This review article shows that BCAA’s may help a trampolinist recover from a workout better then not taking any supplementation. Trampoline is a very precise sport meaning that if a trampolinist comes in to train with too little recovery from the previous training then that training day will most likely not go very well and even may increase the rate of injury. Recovery is very important so a supplementation of BCAA’s two or three times a day may be helpful.
HMB (Beta-hydroxy-Beta-methylbutyrate) is a supplement that is relatively new and is also said to decrease the amount of muscle being broken down during a workout meaning it would help recovery and help to build more muscle because more workouts could be achieved by the athlete.
There are a lot of different supplements and in general most of them all do the same thing. The majority of supplements for sports are based on preventing the muscle breakdown or by increasing the amount of protein so that more muscle can be built. There are a ton of other supplements that help in other areas such as increasing testosterone levels or helping to increase lean mass which is not very beneficial to a trampolinist. Taking testosterone boosters are illegal in a lot of sports including trampoline and the athlete would have to take epitestosterone in the exact amounts to make sure he or she can still pass the doping test (4). This can be very tricky and is never 100% guaranteed to work and the potential consequences are very severe. I don’t believe it is worth messing around with. The supplements that cause an increase in lean body mass is not what a trampolinist is looking for because that is more weight the trampolinist has to move in the air which will make it much harder.
A trampolinist is simply looking for about 16-20 maximum power bursts. (Ten jumps in a routines and 6-10 pre bounces to get to starting height. Any more bounces than around 8 will cause the trampolinist to be tired. The main energy system used in trampoline is glycolysis. This system provides energy for sports or activities that last about 30 – 50 seconds (5). There are a few vitamins that are shown to help glycolysis work more efficiently. Thiamin is a vitamin in the body that helps to break down glycogen so that it can go into glycolysis. You can find Thiamin in whole grains, fish, poultry and other foods of the sort (5). Niacin is also said to help the body use the energy in glucose. Niacin is instrumental in the formation of NAD and NADP which is used in glycolysis (6). Riboflavin is also used to help produce FADH but riboflavin is more focused on transporting electrons into the Electron Transport Chain. The Electron Transport Chain is primarily used in aerobic conditions which do not help a trampolinist. My belief is that riboflavin would not be beneficial. Pyridoxine is also used in glycolysis and functions to make glycogen into smaller chains more readily available for glycolysis(6).
Creatine is a supplement that gets a lot of attention and for good reason. The body’s way of initiating any activity, be it low intensity or extremely high intensity involves the use of creatine. After the initial start the body switches to an energy system that fits the demand of the activity such as anaerobic or aerobic pathways. In the sport of trampoline the phosphocreatine system would be responsible for the trampolinist gaining initial height before the start of the routine and then the energy system being switched to glycolysis to maintain the height for another 20 seconds. Logically if someone has more creatine in their body the more energy can be produced in that first 10 seconds of a trampoline routine which is crucial to how high the athlete will start. There have been no studies that I have seen done on this theory but by using applied kinesiology it is understandable how a creatine supplementation would be beneficial to a trampolinist.
There are thousands of different vitamins and supplementations that everyone advertises saying that it can promise an extra 20 lbs of lean body mass in 2 weeks but these are fake and are just over exaggerated to try and make money. Again there is no right and wrong in the world of supplementation, it’s all about what you personally need. If you have vitamin deficiencies then a supplement of that deficiency will help your body. If you don’t have any deficiencies then you will pee out the extra vitamins. Protein has not been shows to have adverse effects when taken in large quantities so do not be scared to experiment a little bit. The above vitamins and supplements are available in any nutrition store such as GNC but please ask for assistance before buying any supplement and do your own research. Everything I have told you is a generic idea of what the supplement does, but does not go into great detail. Make sure if you have any medical conditions, to talk to a doctor or specialist before trying any type of supplementation no matter where you heard about it.
Thank you
6) http://www.ehow.com/about_5030650_effect-niacin-glucose-levels.html
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