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If you are not happy with your fitness progress, you are not alone. According to research, more than three-quarters of American adults are not satisfied with their results in the gym. Most people desire to have a better body, yet they have no idea what to do to make that difference in their lives. Thankfully, many people have found help in using botanicals in combination with a healthy diet and gym routine. Botanicals help with muscle recovery, fat loss and even improving strength and endurance.
The question is, how can you use botanicals to improve your results in the gym? Also, how exactly can botanicals help to improve your fitness??
Thankfully, we’ve created this detailed guide to help you understand more about botanicals. Especially in combination with a fitness routine.
Keep on reading to learn how you can utilize botanicals to help you reach your full potential in and out of the gym.
What Are Botanicals?
Botanicals are plant-originated compounds that are notoriously known for their ability to transform, heal, and promote health and wellness.
Contrary to western medicine, which has only been around for centuries, botanicals have been used in the world of natural medicine and Chinese medicine for thousands of years.
Perhaps the biggest difference between western medicine and botanicals is that botanicals are used preventatively. Unlike western medicine which can only treat you when you are sick. Also, most pharmaceuticals originated from botanicals, including antibiotics, pain killers, and others.
Botanicals can come in the form of tinctures, supplements, oils, or dried herbs. They have multiple benefits other than improving your health, as they can also help you to improve your overall results in the gym.
1. Botanicals Can Help Support Your Endurance
Many bodybuilders feel the pressure to purchase pre-workout supplements that are loaded with caffeine and other synthetic stimulants. While they may feel effective in the meantime, they put a lot of stress on your adrenal system. This could lead to an eventual crash such as adrenal fatigue.
If your adrenal system suffers, your athletic performance will nearly diminish. The thought of walking up a set of stairs will feel overwhelming, let alone crushing a good weightlifting session.
By supporting your adrenal system, you can support your body’s ability to sustain difficult workouts. This helps to keep the results coming, instead of a “quick fix”.
Ashwagandha is an adaptogen, which supports your adrenal system from stressful situations and overtraining. Ashwagandha also helps to increase your maximum oxygen intake (VO2Max), which helps your muscles to utilize more oxygen during training.
2. Botanicals Improve Athletic Performance
Aside from your endurance, you need to improve your overall athletic performance such as strength and power to reach your fitness goals.
This is due to the SAID principle, which stands for specific adaption to imposed demand. This is a common term spoken in the bodybuilding industry which means that you need to challenge your body to improve your results.
Thankfully, beetroot, also known as beta Vulgaris, is an incredible addition for improving athletic performance. This is because beetroot is full of nitric oxide, which improves muscle efficiency.
One study discovered that beetroot improved sprint performance and cognitive function during prolonged intermittent exercise. Beetroot also acts as a vasodilator which helps those who suffer from hypertension.
3. Botanicals are Also Antioxidants
Contrary to typical belief, the more you train does not mean that you will have better results. In fact, overtraining may hinder your athletic performance and overall health.
This is because heavy training causes muscle damage, oxidative damage, and inflammation.
Thankfully, many botanicals contain antioxidants that help to combat inflammation caused by overtraining.
CoQ10 is a botanical which is not only an effective antioxidant that helps to prevent cellular damage, but it is also is an effective supplement for energy production.
4. Botanicals Reduce Symptoms of Aging
As we age, our results in the gym can become harder to achieve. This isn’t because of chronological age, but more because of cellular aging. If you can reduce or slow down your cellular age, you can reduce the overall symptoms of aging.
Resveratrol is a botanical which helps to reduce signs of aging, among many other benefits. It can also help to balance your blood sugar levels, which reduces obesity and diabetes.
It also helps to lower your LDL (bad cholesterol), while improving your HDL (good cholesterol).
Also, it also helps prevent the breakdown of cartilage, which treats and prevents joint pain. This helps improve your overall mobility, which is a common side effect of aging.
5. Botanicals Help You to Focus
Most of us live a fast-paced lifestyle. This not only affects our mental health but can also affect our ability to be present.
Training in the gym requires focus and concentration, especially if you have big strength goals. If your mind is distracted during your training session, it will affect your results.
Many botanicals help improve overall brain health, improving your brain power, focus, and concentration. We suggest stacking a few of them together to make the most out of your experience.
How to Make the Most Out of Your Botanicals
To make the most out of your botanicals for fitness results, you need to ensure you are living a healthy lifestyle.
Some key tips for living a healthy lifestyle include:
- Get adequate sleep
- Eat plenty of nutrients
- Cut out synthetic ingredients from food and supplements
- Eat a balanced diet of macronutrients
- Have a consistent workout routine
- Limit your daily stresses with meditation and mindfulness
By following these tips, you may experience results in the gym like never before!
Start Taking Botanicals Today!
Now that you know the incredible benefits of adding botanicals to your fitness routine, you are probably wondering how to get started.
Check out our guide on the best herbal supplements to learn more!
Stop completely guessing.
Use our interactive PWA tools to calculate your exact macros, 1RM, and running pace offline.
