Supplements

The Mental Health-Fitness Connection

Mental health and the gym goes hand in hand. When you talk to someone and why they started, it’s most likely due to mental health, but physical health and mental health are more intertwined than you’d think. Your mental health can affect your physical health, and your physical health can affect your mental health. The Mental Health Dilemma On those days that you feel down or stressed, you’ll probably find it hard to find the motivation to work out, or to even stick with a usual routine. Mental health affects more than just our brains, it affects our whole body. Energy level, focus, and even recovery can take a hit. Mental health challenges, such as anxiety or depression can make it super hard to stay consistent with your fitness goals, no matter how much you want to achieve them. How Mental Health Affects Physical Fitness Mental health can affect physical fitness in multiple ways. If you feel like you’re not hitting your goals like you should, maybe see if you fit any of these: Energy and Motivation: High levels of stress and anxiety can lead to an increased amount of fatigue, lowering motivation and making it harder to get to the gym for a workout. Especially the high intensity workouts. Focus and Performance: Mental health can affect your brain power as well. Shocking, I know. If you’re feeling down or anxious, it can be difficult to keep focused on your workout, which can give you an increased risk of injury. Sleep and Recovery: When your mental health suffers, so does your sleep. When your sleep suffers, so does your recovery. Without quality sleep, you won’t recover, making you feel much more sore and tired during the week. Stress and Fatigue: The stress hormone cortisol can spike when you’re in an anxious state. Affecting everything from your muscle gains to fat loss. The Good News On a positive note, it works the other way around! Going to the gym on a high stress day can turn the day around and end it on a positive note. From releasing endorphins, to helping with symptoms of anxiety and depression, here’s how exercise can help your mental state: Stress Relief: Exercise is amazing at reducing cortisol. Strength training, cardio or even a nice walk can lower stress levels and make you feel calmer. Boosts Mood: Hitting the gym releases endorphins and serotonin, giving you a boost in mood that gives you a natural high that lasts hours after your workouts. Better Sleep: Keeping active gives you a deeper, higher quality sleep. Good sleep plays a massive part in mental health by regulating mood, reducing anxiety and giving you emotional resilience. Routine and Control: Adding structure in your day from consistent workouts offer a sense of control and accomplishment. This can be really empowering for anyone with their own mental health challenges.  The Sweet Spot: Finding Balance Listening to your body and mind is the key. If you’ve had a rough day, and your motivation is wearing thin, don’t beat yourself up for not doing your usual workout. Swapping it out for a lighter activity like a walk or stretching can still be beneficial for you to reach your goals and keep your mental health in check. On the other side of things, if you’ve had a good day, feeling motivated and energised, make the most of it and send it.  Wrapping It Up Mental health and physical health are two peas in a pod. Fitness isn’t just physical, it builds resilience, boosts your mood and helps you find balance. Giving yourself permission to move when you’re feeling down could be the key to feeling that little bit better mentally and physically, no matter how hard it all gets. If you feel like you need further support, there are plenty of ways to get in touch with mental health professionals and get you back on track. 

Boosting Brains & Gains With Nootropics

A massive part of any workout you do is focus. Focusing on your form, how many reps you’ve done, remembering what weight you did last week, and trying to do it all with a positive mood can be difficult. That’s where nootropics come in, the brain boosting ingredients that are putting you back on course. What Are Nootropics? Nootropics can range from amino acids to herbal extracts. They enhance your brain function, giving you a focus, memory and mood boost when you need it most. They’ve been popularly put into pre-workouts, and for good reason. By supporting your brain’s neurotransmitters, which send signals in your brain, nootropics keep your brain’s communication running smoothly. This can help you stay sharp and focused. Not to mention, motivated as well. Why Your Pre-Workout Needs A Brain Upgrade Pre-workouts and nootropics are a match made in heaven. With the mix of physical energy from the stimulant and the focus and clarity from the nootropics, you’ll be able to smash out those hard workouts with pinpoint focus and razor sharp clarity. The improved focus from ingredients like tyrosine or alpha GPC can keep you dialled in on every rep and the mood elevation from L-theanine can help you keep calm before those scarily heavy lifts. Mind Power Beyond The Gym As good as nootropics can be in the gym, they can be used outside of the gym. Whether you have to study for a big exam coming up, need that extra boost in creativity for a project at work or just need to reduce your stress, nootropics are a perfect addition to get your brain firing on all cylinders and get stuff done! Top Nootropics For Your Pre-Workout Boost The most popular ingredients for brain power to look out for in your next pre workout include L-Theanine, which calms your nervous system, it also pairs well with caffeine to reduce the nasty jitters. Alpha GPC supports cognitive function, giving you enhanced mental performance. Finally, Tyrosine boosts your mental clarity under stress, keeping you sharp and calm when you’re going for that max deadlift. Unleashing Your Mental Muscle When you read about training, lots of people say it’s a mental game. Keeping yourself mentally sharp and focused whilst working out is a surefire way to get more results. Whether you’re in the gym or staying on track during a full on day, nootropics are a powerful tool for keeping your focus and mood up on those days that you need. Give them a try and see how they can make all the difference in your mentality!

The Dark Side Of Ashwagandha

Ashwaghanda. It’s the go-to for stress relief, sleep improvement and overall mental health. It’s a dream come true for people that live a high stress life, right? Well, maybe not. Recently, there’s been an uproar of an unexpected side effect: Anhedonia. If you’re unfamiliar with what that even means, it’s the inability to feel pleasure from things that would otherwise be fun. Imagine not being able to enjoy your favourite hobbies, like the gym! Why Does Anhedonia Happen With Ashwagandha? The link between Ashwagandha and anhedonia has little scientific evidence. What we do know comes from people sharing their experiences with this on internet forums, Reddit threads and other sources of social media. People have found a few theories as to why this might happen. Too Much Chill? Cortisol, your stress hormone, gets reduced on Ashwagandha. On those big days where you’re stressed and overwhelmed, this can be a gamechanger. However, if your cortisol gets that little bit too low, it can get in the way of dopamine production, the ‘feel good’ hormone. The less dopamine you have, the more flat and “meh” you feel. Relaxation Vibes Ashwagandha can be sedating for some users as well. If it relaxes you a little bit too much, it might be hard to get excited about things. Like everything is in slow motion and has no thrill to it. Playing with Hormones Ashwagandha affects your hormones. Particularly thyroid hormones. A sudden shift in your body’s chemistry can influence your energy and mood. For some people that may lead to anhedonia. How To Stay In Your Feels The stress relief from Ashwagandha can be a big benefit in everyday life. If you want the benefits, but want to keep enjoying the things you love, here are some ways to get around feeling like a zombie: 1. Lower Your Dose Less is more. If you’re taking a higher dose of Ashwagandha and experiencing anhedonia, maybe give cutting back a shot. See if you get the calming effects without the emotional numbing. 2. Cycle Your Usage Taking your Ashwaghanda in a cycle can be helpful to give your body a break and prevent your emotions from leaving. Doing a cycle of, for example, 5 days on, two off can give your body the break it needs to keep you happy. 3. Support Dopamine Production Adding in activities like music and exercise, or foods high in tyrosine like nuts and lean proteins can help boost dopamine and get you feeling good. People also supplement L-tyrosine to help with the mood and energy. Our Emotional Takeaway While it isn’t a common side effect, anhedonia from ashwagandha is definitely something that’s been reported by the community. If you experience anhedonia, don’t panic (even though you probably can’t) It’s easily managed by tweaking dosages, giving yourself a break or bringing up your dopamine levels. Remember that everybody is different, so what might work for you won’t be a good fit for someone else.

Dry Scooping: The Ultimate No-Go

If you’ve spent more than 5 minutes scrolling through the fitness-sphere on social media, you’ve probably seen an influencer “dry scooping” their pre-workout. Take a scoop from the tub and throw it straight into your mouth, followed with a water chaser. It may look good on instagram, and get you all the views, but it can be very risky to your health and have a lot more consequences than you’d think. What’s Up With Dry Scooping? Is It Worth The Hype? The concept is simple: You take your pre-workout without water and you’ll get that hit of caffeine faster. It sounds logical, but the science doesn’t back this up. You’re actually more likely to experience the effects quicker when you mix it with water, which is the way the manufacturer intended. Mixing your pre with a liquid helps your body dissolve and absorb the nutrients properly. In reality, it’s not a magical hack to get more from a pre-workout. It’s a trend from social media that’s stuck around. Why Dry Scooping Might Be Riskier Than You Think Choking Hazard - Trying to swallow a big old scoop of dry powder can cause you to choke. It can get stuck in your throat, breathing and swallowing difficult. You also run the risk of breathing it in, leaving you a coughing mess. I don’t think that’s the kind of challenge you need before lifting.  Heart Health Risks - If you’re a stim junkie, a dry scoop can be a real risk to your heart. A dry scoop can give your body a massive hit of caffeine all at once. The sudden spike of caffeine can cause your heart rate to skyrocket, which can lead to heart palpitations, dizziness or even a heart attack in severe cases. Not the chest day you had in mind. Digestive Issues - Dry powder and your stomach aren’t friends. Dry scooping pre-workout can cause digestive problems like cramps, nausea or even vomiting. Which probably isn’t the best when you’re trying to smash a PR.  Teeth and Gum Irritation - Having a powder in your mouth can act like sandpaper on your teeth, leading to irritation and damage to your enamel. Many pre-workouts are also flavoured with acidic ingredients that can wear down your teeth when you dry scoop. Smarter (and Safer!) Ways To Boost Your Pre-Workout Routine I get it, you still want a faster way to get your pre-workout into your system. Here are some ways to get that hit of pre, without the risks to your health. Less Water - You don’t need a shaker full of water to mix your pre-workout. Mixing the powder in enough water to dissolve it, but still drink it in one to two gulps is a perfect way to get that pre-workout in quickly. Try RTD Pre-Workouts If we’ve put you off of powders completely, supplement companies like Nexus, Faction labs and Ghost do energy drinks which are very similar to their powdered counterparts to get you Have It Earlier - If you’re taking your pre-workout at the gym, and don’t want to wait around for it to kick in, maybe adjust when you take it. Taking it 20-30 mins before you hit the weights can give your body the time to absorb all the good stuff. So when you get to the gym, you’re pumped and ready to go. The Final Scoop: What You Really Need To Know Dry scooping might seem like an easier way to get pre-workout into your system, but at the end of the day, the risks outweigh any of the benefits. Sticking to the method of mixing it with water is safer, more effective and, if I’m being honest, how the supplement was designed to be used. You want to be pushing your workout to the limit, in the gym, not your health.