women's fitness

Train hard, stay healthy

As you will probably have experienced there is a fine line between training hard and over training. So where does the line lie? What kind of training can affect the immune system and are there supplements we can take to support our training regime’s effects on it?

Subject of huge debate is what effect the intensity of your training has on the body’s immune system and whilst there is no clear cut answer, the general consensus from sports medical journals is that hard, intense, training to near exhaustion can make it very difficult for the immune system to perform its normal, day-to-day defense duties.

Whilst conversely, light anaerobic exercise can actually strengthen the body's response to stress and inflammation. Obviously that’s not to say take it easy and never break a sweat, but instead intelligently take care of your immune system during those intense periods of training so you can continue to exercise free of sickness.

There are supplements that have been proven to help boost the body’s immune system and help keep your training on the right path. Perhaps the most well known being glutamine (one of the most abundant amino acids in the body) which, as well as playing a vital role in cell volumisation and nitrogen transfer, has also been shown to help the body’s immune system and aid recovery. In fact, research at the Conway Institute for Biomolecular and Biomedical Research at the University College of Dublin found the immune boosting properties of glutamine were so impressive, it was used to treat patients with inflammatory conditions such as infection and injury. Experts recommend around 5 grams per day should greatly help to support a healthy immune system during periods of heavy training.

Secondly another aspect to be considered when looking at supporting your immune system is your body’s PH levels since, when they drop below 6.0, your body becomes far more susceptible to disease as it becomes an ideal environment for viruses to thrive. This is because during intense training your body crosses that barrier from aerobic (working with oxygen) to anaerobic (working without oxygen). When this happens, the body responds by taking other vital systems of their alkaline (acid neutralizing) compounds, therefore producing a more acidic environment (below PH 6.0.) Put simply, you need to keep your body as alkaline as possible and supplementing your diet with minerals such as calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium can do this. That’s why Myprotein.com created MP MAX Elle Active Woman, a unique and highly effective blend of high potency vitamins and minerals designed to support the body’s immune system.