Student Athletes
Should Children Use Supplements?
When Should they Start Taking Supplements
Do Supplements Help?
Are There Any Dangers To Using Supplements?
These are some of the questions that we get over and over again. That was another reason why we added the additional resource links to this site. This outside resource can provide you personal information from experts in the field. Please use the additional resource links that we have provided to get one on one personal help. We attend conferences and training programs on supplements. What I learned is that when people hear the word "supplements" their brain associates different meanings to the word. In working with parents, kids, and athletic programs I have learned a lot about supplements and why some parents respond with a large negative response at the mention of the word. People usually fall into some very basic categories regarding what they think when they hear the word supplements.
The first one is FEAR. There are some real reasons for this. In the news all you usually hear about are athletes taking an illegal item and it is called a supplement. Then the one that catches most parents minds is when an athlete dies and the words "abuse of supplements" are given as a possible cause of death. It is our hope that we can provide you with enough information to educate you to what supplements can do if used properly. On the other side of the coin we want you to be aware of the fact there are dangers if supplements are used improperly.
The second, is the person that is just ignorant (unlearned) as to what supplements are as a whole. There is nothing wrong with this as it took us months of research, classes and trial and error to find that we did not have a 100% grasp of the subject either. Our focus is to help you by providing you as much information as possible. The basics of using supplements are easy for anybody to learn. The hard part is finding product lines you like based on your taste. If a product taste bad to you then chances are you will not stick with it. With over 3000 products you will be able to find a product to meet your needs and will work to meet your taste.
Third, you have those people that are looking to use supplements as an edge in performance. That is their total focus. They do not care if it is legal, or can possibly cause serious health issues if taken improperly. They want to be able to perform to a higher level no matter what the risk may be long term. This group is the one that scares people and gives supplements a bad name. Why? This is the group you hear about in the news. You never turn on the local news and hear how a student athlete gained 50 lbs of muscle, gained 4 inches across his chest and shoulder, and increased his bench by 100 lbs or more because he used legal supplements properly.
Last, you have those people who have a basic understanding of supplements based on health. The elite! We want to help you become part of this group. You are the people that we want for our customers. When you look at using a supplement. You first look at what is missing from your diet and which supplements will help you to meet that need. To be the best athlete possible based on having the best health possible should be your goal as parents and student athletes!
We can provide you with some of the basics but the smart move is to educate yourself. How do you do that? First, get information from more then one source. You can learn a lot by just reading the labels of products. For example we used to buy a sports enzyme product that was suggested to help break down protein. We paid close to $30 for this product. When looking at the label we discovered that the main active ingredient was a natural product taken from pineapple called Bromelain. You can buy that product for about $10 a bottle and it worked just as good if not better.
One key point to always remember and try to understand is that just because something works for one person does not automatically mean it will work for you. Always make good health the reason for adding a supplement to your diet. Take the time to get past the advertising hype. We will also show you how to use the advertised dosage as a guide and how customize the dosage to fit you. Taste is always going to be a factor that you have to work out on your own. . It does not matter if you find a product that is the best based on it's ingredients if you cannot stand the way it taste.
What makes this process harder is all of the studies that contradict each other. For example...One study tells you to take high doses of vitamin C as your body does not produce it and you use it up everyday. Another study will tell you that too much of that same vitamin is bad for you. So you are probably asking how do I know which is correct? You may feel like this is one of those things where you have to learn by trial and error. Not really...you have an ace in the hole that you should always include in this process. Your doctor! He is the one that can tell you as your professional health care provider what you need to add to your diet based on your needs and goals.
One thing is clear to all that will be honest. Kids that use supplements excel over kids that do not. That does not mean that your son is going to become the next all pro football player if he takes supplements. There are no products that provide natural talent, skill, and will make them into Superman! Do not base your health on a million dollar advertising campaign that is designed to sell product. On this site you will find that there are over 100 companies whose products we carry. Over half of these carry the same types of products. Take a little time to learn the active ingredients of each. Some products mix several supplements together. Some provide these same items but as separate products. As mentioned before you can get an education just by reading the product descriptions to see what each product is advertised to do. Then you can go to the ingredients of each product to see which one really does have more of the ingredient in it. When looking to set up a supplement cycle you need to apply common sense to this process. For example if you are going to take 4 different supplements at the same time. You would not want them to all be in a liquid form. Imagine for a minute having to drink four 12 oz drinks at one time before going to your workout. Unfortunately for my children...some of these common sense items were learned the hard way. One key that you need to always remember. Supplements will do is exactly what they are designed to do. They will supplement what is missing from your diet to meet your goals.
The body is a marvelous creation. As we see in life our bodies will change shape to fit the individual lifestyle of a person. Some people can eat enough for two people and look like they are in perfect shape. Others can eat enough for two people and...they are two people. The same principle works with supplements. You have to look at the entire picture in order to max your results. If intake of food has different results in people then you need to realize that supplements could have different results also.
It is not just a matter of taking a supplement. They have to be taken properly. When you hear of someone that died from abuse of supplements this adds to the fear of some parents regarding the use of supplements. If you hear the rest of the story the death is usually narrowed down to two things. They were either using an illegal supplement or it was abuse of a legal supplement. Nothing in our research showed where anybody died from taking supplements properly! You have to be firm in setting the proper use of the supplements for your child and for yourself. It is a fact that adding supplements properly to an established training program works. I saw the difference in our son's progress and his teammates first hand. Their positive progress each week was noticed by everybody...including the kids who played against them.
Always remember that your child should be treated as a individual. Don't use a cookie cutter mentality when deciding to start a supplement program. You will become very frustrated if you do. Supplements work just like prescription medicine in that you cannot take a supplement every now and then and hope to get results. You have to use an established supplement cycle that will allow their body to be able to adjust to the supplements that you have added to their diet. I will say this again and again when people ask me about supplements. Always consult your doctor before starting any supplement program. Good health should be your first priority...not sports performance! With the proper supplement cycle you can do both!
We always tell parents that they need to use their child as the thermometer on what products to use and even what dosage of products to take. The label has a dosage that we use as a baseline to not exceed but do not start with the recommended dosage. I have been told that it seems a little strange for a person who sells supplements to tell someone to take less then the recommended dosage on the products that we sell. The reason for this is that we want you to get positive results more then we want to sell more product. If a bottle says to take three pills three times a day we start by looking at the product and seeing what it is designed to do. If it is a product that helps you absorb protein then I am only going to take it when I take protein. If I only take protein one time a day then I am only going to take it once a day. On that same product I would start with only one pill instead of three. Try it for two weeks at this dosage. If your child feels OK after two weeks...then you can add another pill. Try it for an additional two weeks at that dosage and if everything is still ok...then you can go to the recommended dosage of three pills a day. If something feels wrong then go back to the smaller dose. Never exceed the recommended dosage unless you get this advise from an expert in the field of nutrition. They will do this sometimes is the person is larger then average or has an unusual diet. When we are starting a new supplement we have one rule in our house. If at any time our child has any kind of reaction to a supplement that we are not sure of. DO NOT TAKE ANYMORE OF THAT PRODUCT! Take the supplement with your child to the doctor. This is all about good health and helping your child be the best they can be. Not finding a product that will provide them an extra boost and hurt them in the process.
On the following pages you will learn specific information that will help you and your child use supplements correctly. We could tell you what products we used but once again taste is a factor. We will share with you rules that we put in place while in middle school and how we advanced the products we used when we got to the high school level with the kids we work with to include our children.