When it comes to athletes, they simply require more energy everyday in comparison to normal people. They train much harder as a result of which they sweat more. Due to this reason, athletes require special attention to their hydration levels and should do what they have to, to balance electrolyte levels in their bodies.
They can attain a fair amount of hydration and energy by consuming a wide variety of fruits and vegetables in their diet. Apart from consuming fruits and vegetables as food, it can also be a great idea to juice fruits and vegetables.
Juicing has gained quite a bit of popularity amongst fitness enthusiasts in recent years with more and more people waking up to the healthy goodness of juices. It is a great way to save time and provides the body with essential vitamins and nutrients. It works great as a filler in between meals and can work to provide a boost of energy both pre and post-training.
The nutrients in juices are easily absorbed by the body making them readily available during physical activity. With a wide variety of fruits and vegetables available for juicing, we thought it would be beneficial to list out the 12 best juices that help boost athletic performance. These juices help build muscle, increase endurance and stamina and even help with post-training recovery.
Hence without further adieu, let’s take a look at the 12 best juices for athletes to boost athletic performance.
1. Beet Juice
On the top of our list is beets. Beets are loaded with nitrates that produce nitric oxide in the body. Nitric oxide helps increase cardiorespiratory performance.
During training, oxygen is delivered by your circulatory and respiratory system to working muscles. The effectiveness of oxygen delivery will define the various elements of fitness, performance and stamina. Nitrates as found in beets enables the increased efficiency of oxygen delivery in the body, thereby leading to better performance.
Due to the fact that oxygen delivery takes place at a more effective rate, you are unlikely to get tired as easily as you otherwise would and can easily help keep fatigue at bay. Hence, beets are a great way to build stamina and works as the perfect pre-training drink to do just that.
Beets contain wholesome amounts of nitrates that turn into nitric oxide in the body. Nitric oxide works to increase blood flow which means, your muscles will receive oxygen more readily. This prevents muscle fatigue and allows you to train for a longer period of time.
Nitric oxide also increases communication between tissues and cells of the person. This increased communication leads to increased blood flow and oxygen delivery, thereby improving performance.
Athletes have noticed performance improvements by 16% after taking beet juice before training. This is a substantial improvement and can provide you with a competitive edge in competitive sports.
2. Cucumber Juice
One of the most refreshing vegetables available, cucumber provides a great amount of hydration and can be a great post-training drink to rehydrate and recovery.
Athletes lose many electrolytes and nutrients through sweat, hence it is important that you find the means to recover these essential nutrients and electrolytes to allow for a speedy recovery from exercise.
Cucumber juice works just as well as a pre-training drink, providing the body with plenty of electrolytes and nutrients that can work to boost performance. This way, when you start sweating, you will already have a reserve of electrolytes and losing electrolytes through sweat won’t hamper your performance. You would find yourself better hydrated during training and are more likely to train longer without feeling the effects of fatigue.
Drinking cucumber juice before training can be a great way to stay hydrated. In fact, research has shown that athletes who drank cucumber juice before training were able to train for hours without exhaustion in comparison to those who didn’t drink cucumber juice, who got dehydrated and tired much faster.
Cucumber juice is almost as essential to performance as water and can provide you with a competitive edge sure to take your performance levels to new heights.
3. Orange Juice
Orange juice is loaded with vitamin C which helps boost your immune system. It also contains phytonutrients that help improve cell functioning during training and exercise.
Good immune function and protection is important for athletes and orange juice provides just that. Drinking a glass of orange juice in the morning provide sufficient protection to keep diseases at bay thereby preventing illnesses from hampering performance.
The phytonutrients in orange juice can be especially useful as they work to prevent cancer and heart disease. They also work to improve learning and brain function, which is important for athletes. It will allow you to stay mentally sharp and alert, something that many athletes require for optimum performance.
Vitamin C also slows down the processes that cause cell damage such as the inflammation caused by training. Hence, it is known for its ability to work well as a sports recovery drink to support recovery after training.
4. Carrot Juice
Athletes do require carbohydrates for energy. Carrots are a good source of carbohydrates and helps fight inflammation and muscle damage. They also contain wholesome amounts of vitamin A which is great for vision.
Carrot juice also contains potassium which is known for its ability to deliver energy. It works to keep fatigue at bay and will help you build stamina. The potassium in carrot juice will provide added fuel, allowing you to train for a longer period of time without getting tired. It works to regulate total body water and is responsible for muscle contractions.
When you sweat, both potassium and electrolytes are lost through sweat. Drinking carrot juice can be a great way to keep both potassium and electrolyte levels in balance, thereby preventing dehydration from affecting performance.
5. Tomato Juice
Post-workout pain and muscle fatigue is a common phenomenon amongst many athletes. They experience this after almost every training session. Fortunately for athletes, tomato juice has been clinically proven to help with muscle pain.
Drinking tomato juice before a workout session or training helped to prevent muscle pain and fatigue that would normally otherwise be experienced the following morning. Workouts cause stress on the muscle and the pain experienced is a result of oxidative stress on account of the physical force exerted.
Tomato juice works to control oxidative stress which helps the athlete train more effectively and reduces the pain that usually accompanies oxidative stress. Tomato juice contains an antioxidant called lycopene which essentially reduces the effects of harmful chemicals that cause oxidative stress.
Tomato juice is a great way to train harder and not experience muscle pain the following morning.
6. Watermelon Juice
Watermelon has a high water content which makes it very useful for hydration. It has also been found to be effective at soothing sore muscles after exercise. Hence watermelon juice works well both as a pre-training and post-training drink.
Watermelon contains a wholesome amount of vitamin C, A, B1, potassium and magnesium. While vitamin C aids with recovery and vitamin A promotes better vision, it is the magnesium in watermelon which makes it such a valuable drink for athletes.
Magnesium works to maintain normal nerve and muscle function and keeps blood pressure in check. It also controls blood glucose levels and promotes the absorption of calcium. Magnesium is a mineral that is linked to the proper function of various systems in the body. It is the helpful amounts of magnesium in watermelon that makes it great for athletes to not only stay healthy but also boost performance.
7. Apple Juice
Apple juice is a great way to stay fresh and attain the necessary electrolytes before training. It contains wholesome amounts of vitamin C that boost your immune system. It also contains soluble fibre which helps regulate cholesterol levels.
It helps to control blood sugar levels and prevents exhaustion brought about by blood sugar crashes during training. It is a great way to train longer, thereby enabling you to build endurance and stamina.
Apple juice for certain is good for your health. When it comes to athletes and athletic performance, apple juice could help you obtain essential nutrients and electrolytes that you generally lose as sweat.
8. Pomegranate Juice
Pomegranate is also rich in nitrates much like beets. The nitrates in pomegranate juice turn into nitric oxide in the body, which increase circulation to the muscles and improves oxygen delivery. This helps support the recovery process which enables you to train more often, thus improving performance.
Pomegranate juice also contains wholesome amounts of vitamin C which boost immune function. Vitamin C also assists with recovery making pomegranate juice a great drink for post-training recovery.
The antioxidant content of pomegranate juice is very beneficial for athletic performance. Runners in particular are encouraged to consume the fruit since it is known to enhance performance, aerobic activity and help build endurance.
9. Cranberry Juice
Cranberries are a valuable source of antioxidants and contain flavonoids that are responsible for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Cranberry juice works amazingly well as a post-workout drink and helps to burn fat and reduce blood clotting in the bloodstream. It also works to control cholesterol levels thereby enabling better blood flow. This enables better oxygen delivery allowing your body to function at optimum levels.
Cranberry juice is loaded with nutrients that are both beneficial for the health of the athlete and athletic performance. It is a great way to recover after a strenuous training session and provides the body with essential nutrients and electrolytes that may have been lost through sweat.
10. Grape Juice
Grapes are known as a super-fruit for bodybuilders. They are low in calories and provides the body with a wholesome amount of vitamin C.
Grape juice works to reduce cholesterol levels which increases the efficiency of blood flow. This enables better oxygen delivery and faster muscle recovery. As a result of this, grape juice becomes one of the best post-workout drinks that provide the body with a healthy dose of nutrients and is high in fibre.
Grape juice contains antioxidants that prevent exhaustion allowing you to train for a longer period of time. It works to build endurance and stamina and can help you perform at optimum levels for longer without getting tired.
11. Spinach Juice
Spinach is a superfood with loads of health benefits. It contains rich amounts of vitamins A, C and K and are loaded with iron, folate and potassium.
If you may have seen that cartoon Popeye, in the cartoon, Popeye when losing against the bad guy, eats his spinach and becomes stronger with bulging muscles and ends up beating the bad guy.
This is in fact a true reflection of the power of spinach. Spinach contains so many essential nutrients that it works to provide your body with a boost of energy. Iron and folate works to increase the production of red blood cells in the body, which helps improve oxygen delivery to muscles. This enables you to improve your stamina and endurance and helps you train for a longer period of time.
Spinach and its various helpful nutrients are power-packed with healthy goodness which will not only keep you the athlete healthy but will also help you boost your performance levels by training harder.
12. Tart Cherry Juice
Tart cherry juice is another drink that comes in handy when trying to recover from a strenuous training session. The juice is known to help reduce symptoms of training-induced muscle damage.
Tart cherry juice works as a natural healer and enables speedy recovery of muscles after an intense workout session. It is loaded with essential nutrients and works great as a post-workout drink.
If you are looking to train everyday and are worried about sore muscles, incorporating tart cherry juice into your training regimen can provide you with essential nutrients that will help you recover faster, thus train more often.
To Conclude
Jucing can be a great way to attain a healthy dose of nutrients. With many athletes sweating the amounts they do, they tend to lose many essential nutrients and electrolytes through sweat. Hence it is important to recover these nutrients and electrolytes to enable speedy recovery from training.
The juices we have set out for you all have various properties that make them unique from athletes. However, you don’t have to always drink a singular fruit or vegetable juice. You can always mix and match various fruits and vegetables based on the various benefits they provide.
For instance, if you are looking for a nitrate boost, with a boost of energy, you could try mixing beets and spinach or beets and watermelon. Feel free to mix fruits and vegetables together and formulate your own secret juice that is sure to provide you with a competitive edge. We only set these juices out in singular form so it becomes easier for you to understand the various benefical properties of each juice.
We hope reading this word to word has helped you and that you have a better idea of what fruits and vegetables to juice to help boost your athletic performance.
Happy Juicing!
