A Simple Way to Get Stronger and Perform at a Higher Level

Being healthy and physically fit doesn’t have to be complicated. But it does require some attention to the scientific details. 

If you want to feel and perform well, you’ll need to optimize your vitamin D3 level. Studies have clearly shown that  vitamin D3 improves muscle reaction time, strength, balance, and coordination.  You can refer to a previous post on this subject here.

But wait.  There’s more! 

A new study entitled Nutrients:  Vitamin D and Human Health published in the journal Nutrients showed that vitamin D3 facilitates faster muscular recovery and prevents tissue damage following intense exercise. 

Researchers assessed the vitamin D level and the amount of force a physically-active adult could exert before and after intense exercise. Each study participant performed intense exercise by pushing against a force plate with one leg while the other leg acted as a control. The subjects’ strength was tested on days one, two, three, and seven following the exercise.  Based on their measurement data, it was clear that participants with the highest vitamin D3 levels also had a faster rate recovery and less muscular damage. 

How well does your body transport oxygen from your lungs to your muscles?  Does it digest proteins and utilize carbohydrates as effectively as it should?  Has your athletic performance started to decline?  Do you frequently feel fatigued or have difficulty recovering from physical or mental stress?  

Posing any one of these questions to your doctor might get you a standard, serum chemistry profile as a general screen to rule out disease.  And while insights from this type of laboratory testing can be helpful, they don’t provide any direct or relevant information about the basic, physiological processes that drive your potential for health.

At Core 4 Nutrition, determining the connection between your biological well-being and your functional performance capacity is our specialty.  Through the use of a series of unique assessments—all performed at home with a simple finger stick, saliva, or urine sample—it’s possible to identify and restore your body’s most essential nutrient needs.

I have been asked a number of times, “What’s so special about the Core 4 assessments? Can’t I just do a few extra tests the next time I go to my doctor?”  

Why Supplement Programs Fail

I was recently speaking to a coach who regularly shares the Core 4 Nutrition Program concept with his clients.  He told me that while many of his athletes were enthusiastic about getting started, others were skeptical—one of the most common symptoms of MLM (multi-level marketing) product let down.

I also spoke to three athletes who simply didn’t “believe” in taking supplements, citing a “healthy diet” as a panacea for their nutritional needs.

Unfortunately, the nutritional supplement market is too often tainted by expensive, yet ineffective, products that invariably over promise and under deliver.  After having spent a large sum of money on magic solutions that never really materialize, many users of nutritional supplements become disillusioned.

But those who have adopted an anti-supplement stance—based on a bad experience, disbelief, or misinformation—are missing the proverbial boat.

As a physician specializing in sports performance nutrition, I know two things:  Even the “healthiest” and most well-balanced of diets fall short when it comes to satisfying the human body’s nutrient needs.  And that the correct combination of the right supplemental nutrients taken in the proper amounts can have a dramatic impact on improving both cellular health and functional fitness.  During the past few years, I have amassed thousands of laboratory results to support these conclusions.

Nutritional supplements can work.  And they can work very well.  When they don’t, there’s a reason—or reasons—why.  Typically, a supplement program will fail when:    

Core 4 Education: Navigating the multivitamin maze.

One of our prime directives at Core 4 Nutrition is to educate people on the power of whole-food supplement support. If you are still taking a synthetic multivitamin, I hope this post will inspire you to do things differently.

When evaluating multivitamin formulas, it’s important to know that the quality of one product’s ingredients can vary.  The inexpensive, mass-marketed one-a-days contain minimal amounts of synthetic nutrients—just enough to meet the government’s RDA or recommended daily allowance of nutrients necessary for preventing disease, not promoting health.  Their more expensive, designer-label counterparts often contain hundreds of vitamins and minerals, all of them synthetic and difficult for the body to use. 

Don’t waste your hard-earned money on products that don’t work.  Learn the basics before you buy.  First, become familiar with the three most common types of multivitamin formulas: