Physician and Thriver! Status Update By Stephen OConnor Thrive and the Athlete… Although I was a professional athlete for only 20 min…too long to explain, I have been an avid triathlete, adventure racer, and most recently an Ultramarathoner. I have been asked how Thrive can help athletes on many occasions and will try to advance my belief as a physician, scientist, and athlete (old one) as to why incorporating Le-Vel’s Thrive in your training program can give you an edge on training, racing, and recovery. Every athlete I know is looking for that special edge, the extra advantage to set a PR, out-kick their competition, or just finish with a sense of satisfaction (without spitting out lung tissue at the end). There are several keys to a successful training program that are well known to athletes in general: *Rest *Recovery *Nutrition *Time Management *Stress Management *Visualization and Mentalization *Progressive Training Stress *Neuropatterning or Specificity *Consistency *Integration and Application of New Data/Ideas *Coaching *Adaptation to Adversity Laypeople would look at this and be overwhelmed - thinking, wow there is a lot to learn, and I’m going to lay on the couch until that exercising feeling passes - but an athlete can appreciate what is being offered here. So, to get to the point, I have put the key concepts where I think Thrive is critical in supporting a healthy athletic lifestyle. Rest - Rest is arguably the single most important training tool that we have in our athletic toolbox. Without allowing our bodies time to heal, build, and relax, we cannot hope to improve. Notice the old athlete placing the emphasis here (I could have been a much better athlete had I known this secret years ago). To have optimum health and recovery, an athlete needs a minimum of 7-9 hours of QUALITY sleep. Glutamine and glycine can aid the athlete in achieving natural sleep patterns. Recovery - As an athlete ages or during specific training cycles, recovery becomes increasingly more important. Antioxidants, amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and proteases are, to name a few, found in Thrive products that support an active and passive cellular recovery. Additionally, proteins that are of high quality are found in Thrive. Pea protein is particularly useful in that it has one of the highest utilization rates of plant proteins; making it useful in muscle repair and formation. Nutrition - At the high rates of metabolism athletes produce, nutrition becomes supremely important. Though a proper diet of quality fats, carbohydrates, and proteins cannot be overstated, Thrive provides the athlete with the highest quality supplementation of over 100 vitamins, minerals, amino acids, pre-biotics and pro-biotics, enzymes, and energy boosters. This is not somewhere where skimping on quality is an option. Thrive helps to insure that your body has the necessary and essential nutrient well to draw from; boosting performance and reducing the risk of performance limitation due to nutrient deficiency. Time Management - Components within Le-Vel products can aid in mental clarity and diminish the brain fog that leading a chaotic lifestyle produces. Keeping your brain running at greater efficiency allows you to focus your efforts on time management and juggling a crazy schedule. Stress Management and Adaptation to Adversity - Glutamine, saffron, and glycine, in particular, enhance the support of serotonin production and help to support stabilization of mood. We train because it makes us look good and feel good - we love the endorphins we release and its effect on serotonin (our happy chemical). Studies show that training, and the mood enhancing effects of training, can boost our productivity, happiness, rest, libido, and sense of well-being. Consistency - Consistency in training stress, neuropatterning, sleep, rest, and nutrition is essential for success in reaching your physiologic best. The 1-2-3 approach with Le-Vel’s Thrive Premium Nutrition Lifestyle encourages simplicity and consistency. There are many biochemical systems that, through adaptation, supplementation, and utilization, can enhance our performance as athletes. Some are temperature sensitive and by providing key molecules, that do not need to be broken down enzymatically, the body can run more efficiently with less rate limiting reactions. Also, I want to mention the joint support benefits of Thrive. Glucosamine, white willow bark extract, white tea extract, and ginger extract can reduce the joint discomfort of heavy training. Further, the multiple ingredients that promote fat metabolism may provide you with the endurance benefits provided by preferentially burning fats instead of carbohydrates. So, although I just touched on the topic, a dedicated student of training and the science of training can understand the clear benefit that Thrive provides. This is not intended to be an all inclusive treatise on nutrition and training, but a primer to show those with a passing interest an overview of how you can incorporate the best nutritional and lifestyle product on the market into your athletic endeavors. Further, it is important for promotors and customers to be able to explain, in general terms, that Thrive can be an irreplaceable part of a healthy, athletic, and training lifestyle…so THRIVE ON!!!
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 03:36:03 +0000
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