Q: I have just started exercising at the gym, what supplements should I be taking?
A: Before you even look at all the fancy supplements out there, get your food right; make sure you have enough protein and carbohydrate and calories to achieve what ever goal you are after. The top 3 supplements are a multi vitamin/mineral, a good antioxidant and essential fatty acids. Once these are in place, you will be well the way.

Q: I’m an endurance athlete. Should I be weight training as well?
A: Absolutely. Firstly, I’m assuming that you do have an off season, or a prolonged period when you don’t race. A relatively recent interview with Mark Steinle, winner of the London Marathon revealed that by incorporating weight training into his training, he is now able to maintain his top running speed for longer. He firmly believes that weight training is the difference between running 2hours 10 minutes, and running 2hours 7 minutes or less, for the marathon. A problem with a lot of sports, endurance or otherwise, is that often only a specific group of muscles are exercised and or strengthened. The analogy that you are only as strong as your weakest link often rings true. I’ve witnessed countless occasions where large, powerful looking athletes have torn hamstrings, blown Achilles tendons, and so on. Whilst some of these injuries could be attributed to an inadequate warm up or other conditions on the day…..many of these injuries could be attributed to muscle imbalances.

In short, yes. You do need to incorporate resistance training for the following reasons:

• To balance out your possibly overdeveloped power muscles.
• To maintain your lean tissue, which will decline as you age, even if you’re running 160kms a week!
• Stronger muscles will take longer to fatigue, which in theory means you can possibly race faster and finish stronger.

Q: I’ve recently started the Body for Life program. How long until I see results, or notice changes?
A:  This is a tough one as individual results can vary quite dramatically. Basically, your blood cells are replaced every 60-120 days. In 3-4 months your entire blood supply is replaced. In 6 months most of the proteins in your body are replaced, and the hard tissue such as your bones, teeth and ligaments take about a year to be replaced. All of which are constructed by what you put into your body.

The reverse is also true. You could probably function ok on a diet of takeaways for a month or two, but after a year you could be experiencing some health issues.

Congratulations on starting the challenge, I hope you see it through.

Q: I’ve heard that purified water can leach essential minerals out of your body. Is this true?
A: As soon as you down a glass of water it mixes with the contents of your stomach, and becomes a soupy like mixture. Once this mixture is absorbed through your intestinal wall it immediately blends with your own bodily fluids and becomes a part of you. There is no way minerals can be sucked out.

I recently read that some minerals and vitamins can be toxic. Is this true?
A: Too much of anything can be toxic - too much time with your mother in law for example?! Seriously though, vitamin A toxicity occasionally gets some bad press, but you’d have to take an enormous amount to feel ill. Excessive vitamin C can give people diarrhoea; again it takes a fair amount for this to occur. We tend to think the benefits of supplementation definitely outweigh the disadvantages.

If you’d like a comparison, the total number of people who have died in the US from prescription drugs between 1985 and 1990 is 2,251. The total number of people who have died during the same timeframe from vitamin abuse - 1.

Q: How do I know when I’m overtraining?
A: As mentioned in our Health and Fitness Tips section, rest is often the most neglected aspect of many exercise regimes. The key is to develop your own individual system for monitoring if you are indeed overtraining. This can be difficult for people who are just getting started, or are undertaking an exercise program after a significant amount of time off.

Here are some basic early earning symptoms that you can easily use your self.

1. Waking heart rate. It’s a good habit to take your pulse upon waking. Try and be as consistent with this as possible. For example if you choose to take it sitting up in bed 5 minutes after the alarm has gone off, then make this a daily ritual, not after you’ve had a coffee, yelled at the kids, let the dog out, etc….as these events can affect your heart rate. If your waking pulse is elevated by 8 or more beats per minute, then you are starting to over train. Have a lighter workout then planned, or have a day off.
    
2. Insomnia. If you don’t train later in the day, yet find you are restless and struggling to get to sleep, then you may well be overtraining.
    
3. Immunity. This is optional, but a very clear indication that you are overtraining. You will need to have a blood test done. If your blood test shows elevated counts of lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils, and segmented neutrophils, either individually or combined, and you’re not suffering from an illness or an infection, then you are overtraining.

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