What Supplements Should I Give My Child Athlete?

What Supplements Should I Give My Child Athlete?

It seems like every day a new product comes out that is suppose to enhance your athlete's performance. All these outrageous claims are made by all these companies promising things that are just completely false. In this very short blog I will give you every piece of "performance enhancing supplement" advice you will need to make sure your child athlete is performing their best. 

1. Rule #1 is NO SUPPLEMENT CAN INCREASE SKILL! I hope this is not a surprise to anyone. Taking creatine, or some magic protein shake will not make you better at any sport. The secret to getting better at a sport is Hard Work and Dedication. Its as simple as that. Supplements will not make you jump higher, they will not increase your free throw percentage, they will not give you a better touch on a soccer ball, and they will not teach you how to hit a fast ball. Skill development does not come in a bottle or pill. 
2. There is not substitute for a healthy diet. I am not a nutritionist but I can tell you that a healthy diet will beat out any supplement you can buy. Eating pizza, donuts, McDonalds, and other foods before or after a game is not negated by some make shake or pill. You can take all the supplements you want but if your eating like crap you will perform and feel like crap. They are called "SUPPLEMENTS" for a reason, they are suppose to supplement what you do not get in your regular diet. They are not made to replace good food. 
3. HOMEOSTASIS! Does anyone remember this term from sciences class? Your body wants to be in a balanced state at all times. Therefore, if you take to much of one thing your body will want to get rid of what it does not need. How does your body get rid of excess? You guessed it, you will piss it out. Many people are literally pissing their money away. Drinking a shakes with 1,000 grams of protein (obviously i'm exaggerating)  looks cool on the label but your body will most likely discard what it doesn't need. Therefore you may only be absorbing half of what's on the label.  The morale here is that more is not always better. 
4. Energy Drinks! This is one of scariest topics. Most of the energy supplements and drinks are either filled with caffeine or filled with sugar. Many of the best tasting ones are filled with both, haha. Too much of either of these in your system will cause crapping or will cause you to crash soon after you crazy adrenaline high. Either way this will not help you on the field.  After that insane blood pump and swell your body will crash to once again balance out. There are tons of studies on this topic if you want to google the scientific reasoning behind this. 
5. Money, Money, Money.  Sadly people who will sell you many of these supplements are looking to make money off of you. Its called business and here is a glimpse of how it works:        I market product A and tell you how great it is by making these empty promises to you. You buy product A from me thinking all this stuff will happen. Hopefully by the time you find out I was wrong I would have made enough money to have moved on and no longer be selling product A.  End of story. 

This is not always the case but in many situations, this is what happens. As a trainer, there is nothing wrong with selling a product that you use and believe in, but make sure it is being sold for the right reasons. As FLO we sell a very simple and pure protein shake and multivitamin. Nothing magical about that. We are sure to tell our clients that it is meant to be part of your diet, not the replace it. We also do not claim it will improve any performance. It is used to replenish your bodies stores after a workout and thats it. 

6. I can tell you after 6 plus years in the Athletic Training Field and after watching thousands of athletes perform that the #1 killer of athletic performance is…………………………………………… Drumroll please…………………………………………Dehydration!!! I have seen some of the best skilled kids in new jersey play like rookies because they were so dehydrated that their bodies could not move. I have sent athletes to the hospital in an ambulance because of dehydration. I can tell you from experience that most youth athletes walk on the field dehydrated. When I question my athletes to find out how many bottles of water they drink during a school day, do you know what the answer is?  Most reply saying they have had 1 or maybe 2 bottles, and they think that's enough. NO WAY! Not only that, they don't drink water the night before. I don't care what supplement you have in your system, if you are dehydrated the system will not work and your body will shut down. I can promise that. 
7. KISS Principle. I love how this principle works for everything. Keep It Simple.  As stated before, at FLO we offer a very basic protein and multivitamin. We also explain that proper hydration and a good diet are all you really need. All the gimmicks, magic pills, and bracelets will not make you great at a sport.  Don't believe the hype and be careful where you get your information from.  

I do NOT believe that supplements are bad. I just believe that there is so much garbage out there , that it is very confusing for most people. Hopefully this can shed some light on what supplements people choose. As I stated before we sell basic shakes and vitamins here at FLO. Do we make money for selling it? Yes. Do we force people to take it and tell them that it is the greatest thing in the world? NO!  People are free to decide to use it or go with another product. Either way is fine with us. To view what we offer here is our link http://flofitness.myshaklee.com/us/en/welcome.html

I would strongly recommend doing any research necessary before giving your youth athlete any supplement.