March: Spring is coming with March, waking up our body

March is here. The month in which winter is replaced by spring, so long expected by many people. The month characteristic with the first strong sunbeams, higher air temperature and the first days in which the day will finally be longer than the night. Nature is waking up and we are often fascinated by its quick blossom in the first spring days. But your body is in the same blossom too. It prepares for warmer days, and your condition should prepare for them too. The generally described biorhythms show that the spring days are the best for increased activity after hibernation. And sporting activities performed outside in the clean spring air will stimulate us very agreeably.

Cycling, in-line skating, running and hiking or Nordic walking are probably the most suitable spring sporting activities. Remember the following principles at performing such aerobic activities:

-       don’t overdo your first spring trainings, both with regard to intensity and to the duration of exercise

-       aerobic activity performed at low to medium heart rate with sufficient supply of oxygen should definitely prevail in spring - you should not get out of breath at it

-       engage in sports at the right heart, i.e. at a level of 120-140 heartbeats per minute for vocational sportsmen and at a level of 130-150 heartbeats per minute for more experienced sportsmen

-       dose your activity according to your level of training - if you want to increase your performance primarily, you should get up to 5 trainings per week; if you rather try to get rid of some kilograms of excessive fat, train at least three times a week during 45-60 minutes

-       be sure to care for correct equipment (good shoes, well-tuned bicycle) and don't underestimate high-quality clothing to provide you with the comfort of carrying-off heat, maintaining certain temperature degree agreeable to you.

The equipment and the principles of training are as important as the right supplementary nutrition and eating habits in the initial stages of your preparation already.  The experience of a lot of us with unpleasant spring fever shows that the spring period is even more demanding with regard to replenishment of energy than the summer period. Why is it so?

The answer is simple. Although the spring sun heats us up, lower temperature is still characteristic for spring days. Such lower temperature puts increased demands on heating the organism, which is made by consuming energy taken in by nutrition. Therefore you need energy both to cover the needs of your organism for muscle work and to heat the organism up.

So care to replenish energy during aerobic physical activity not only from “solid” sources of supplementary nutrition, but also from "liquid and gel" sources. The basic requirement is sufficient fluid intake during the whole day, intensified before and during performance. Drink even if you are not thirsty because the sensation of thirst is a defence mechanism of our organism, and when it emerges, it is too late already. Therefore you should drink each 15-20 minutes during your performance about 150-250 ml of a suitable liquid – the best is the hypotonically prepared ion drink IontStar Sport Sirup, or Xpower Flash XT.

We have also mentioned gel and solid sources of energy. Each of you should have sufficient high quality energy bars and sports energy gels handy, to replenish energy during performance longer than 75 minutes. What is the difference between bars and gels? Gels serve rather to supply instant energy that provides the body with a combination of suitable saccharides, amino acids and other substances for an intensive shorter period. The examples include Xpower Carbogel XT for longer support of performance and Xpower SpeedGel XT suitable to support quickly the present performance. On the other hand, the bars constitute more complex “meal” that usually has longer effect and, additionally to supplying energy, helps also to appease the unpleasant sensation of hunger. Xpower Energy Bar can be a suitable energy bar to support your performance.

With the arrival of spring, many of you probably return to roads or to running terrain after a long time. Therefore care for adequacy and definitely for safety. Adequacy because your body and the new kind of physical exercise must first get used to each other. And the same applies to safety – the drivers have lost the habit to meet bikers on the roads during winter. And don’t forget the sports nutrition from Aminostar that will make the moments spent in nature even more pleasant to you.