Health & Wellness for Endurance Athletes

Everyone needs to look after their body, of course, but it is extremely important to look after your body if you are taking on ultra-marathons, or other long endurance events. This means you need to consider your nutrition and supplementation choices in order to get the best from your training and performance.

This article will look at the key supplements for endurance athletes and how they can benefit your workouts, training, and overall performance.

Endurance athletes need to ensure that not only are they fuelling their bodies correctly (through a balanced diet) but also that they have enough of the key nutrients that are required for stamina and endurance activities.

What are the most important vitamins to take?

You've probably heard of vitamins, but what are they exactly? Vitamins are compounds that our bodies need to work properly. Most of the time, our bodies can't make all of these compounds, so we have to get them from food and other sources.

There are 13 different vitamins that we need to survive: A, C, D, E, K and the B vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12 and folate).

But which ones are the most important for your health? Check out this list of five essential vitamins you need to take every day: 

Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium and promotes bone health. You can get vitamin D from sunlight exposure, but it's also important to eat foods like fortified milk, egg yolks, orange juice and tuna.

Calcium is another important vitamin for functioning bones and teeth. You can get calcium through dairy products like milk, yoghurt, and cheese; dark, leafy greens like kale and collard greens; and seafood such as sardines and shrimp.

Magnesium is another vitamin that helps you maintain healthy bones, but it is also great for energy production. Foods that contain magnesium include nuts, seeds, and whole grains.

Zinc helps your immune system function properly as well as support your body's use of carbohydrates, protein, and fats for energy. You can find zinc in seafood like oysters, red meat, and poultry as well as fortified breakfast cereals.

Iron is good for increasing energy levels as well as boosting brain function and creating healthy red blood cells. Iron is found in spinach, peanut butter, red meat, and eggs.

What supplements do we recommend?

If you're looking for supplements to take on a daily basis to improve your performance, then take a look at our list below, you can also see our full Wellness range here.

Most Popular for Electrolytes: Saltstick Fastchews

Best Selling Nitrate Supplement: Beet-IT Nitrate 400 Shot

Best Selling Sleep: Pillar Triple Magnesium

Best for Cramping: CrampFix QuickFix Shot

Top Selling Greens: 33Fuel Ultimate Daily Greens

Best for BCAA: GU Roctane BCAA Capsules