Article by Greg Pryor published in Kansas City Sports & Fitness.

Fans are eagerly looking forward to Opening Day at Kauffman Stadium.  We are tired of single digit temperatures and melting snow drifts. Another “opener” is our signal of the beginning of warmer, sunny days ahead. Every spring from ‘67 to ’87, I was getting ready for another opening day for my college baseball team (’67-’71), or the professional team that I was with (’71-’87).  Maybe you should create an opening day attitude for your fitness schedule.

Your personal fitness goals ought to be structured so that you are prepared to get the most out of your exercise.  Most importantly, and as a compliment to a good diet, you should use dietary supplements to promote your recovery process.    You don’t have to be a professional athlete to benefit from supplements. It’s not all about being able to clock a faster time or lift more weight; supplements also serve as an insurance policy against the additional stress and energy needs brought on by exercise.

“It’s like you have one car to drive around for the rest of your life,” said Liz Applegate, Ph.D.,professor of nutrition at the University of California – Davis, and author of the Encyclopedia of Sports and Fitness Nutrition (Prima Publishing, 2002). “You wouldn’t start taking care of it after it was 20 years old. You would do regular maintenance.”

Just as a car’s maintenance needs change as it gets older, so do those of an active aging body.

“In general, nutrient requirements increase with exercise,” Applegate said. “But at different ages there are other considerations that come into play as well.”

• Certain nutrients, not readily found in adequate amounts in the modern diet, can help encourage your mental energy and motivation in your job or workouts.  In 1991, I found two supplements, LIFT™ and MIND™ from Life Priority, that I use every day to help me feel bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to tackle each day like it is opening day!
• Then, protecting the health of cartilage, tendons and ligaments should be at the top of your list as you exercise.  Glucosamine is a smart choice to support joint health and help speed recovery from injury or over use. Life Priority offers two great products for joint inflammation, JOINT DECISION™ and TOTAL JOINT COMPLEX™.
• Exercise itself produces free radicals so, to prevent free radical damage to muscle tissue and from causing inflammation and soreness, use a mix of antioxidants prior to exercise. I suggest either the Life Priority ONE PER MEAL LIFEGUARD™ or LIFESHEILD™.
• Finally, an amino acid that I have known about since ’91, arginine, is one of the most valuable nutrients that you can use prior to exercise.  Email me at customerservice@lifepriority.com for a free report on arginine and how to use it (available in the Life Priority product, MUSCLE MEMORY™) effectively for the best workouts of your life (and quicker recovery!)

No matter what your age, your body needs certain essential nutrients every day in adequate amounts. Don’t take your body and brain for granted!  Give it the best chance to have a great opening day, every day!