Did you know that recovering properly after exercise is as important as the exercise itself when it comes to toning up, improving your fitness and seeing results? Are you looking for the best supplements to support your sport and exercise recovery? Wondering which vitamins to take for muscle recovery, or what to consume to boost your fitness levels?

When you give your body enough time to rest and recover between workouts, it allows your muscles to fully heal and grow stronger. It can be frustrating though when you have to factor in too many ‘rest days’, which is where LYMA comes in.

Working hard in the gym and taking the odd day off to ‘rest’ just isn’t going to cut it, not if you want to see real results from your workouts. You need to supplement for exercise recovery if you want to sustain your progress. LYMA’s formula contains unrivalled, peer-reviewed, ingredients to provide your body with everything it needs to get back in the gym as soon as possible.

Here are just some of the ingredients in LYMA that have been proven to support gym recovery:

MenaQ7® Matrix is a highly bioavailable supplement that provides unrivalled support for bone and muscle health. Vitamin K2 is a vital nutrient to be taking if you want to have sturdier bones and stronger, more supple muscles, post-workout.

LYMA’S MenaQ7® Matrix complex is formulated at 75µg to support the positive uptake of calcium into the bloodstream. This means that calcium reaches the bone mass and our muscles quickly and efficiently and our bodies are able to remain strong and supple no matter how hard a workout we throw at it. MenaQ7® Matrix is a particularly important supplement for those who are susceptible to injury.

With regular supplementation you should notice that your recovery time becomes faster, your endurance is vastly improved, and you sustain fewer injuries.

Vita-algae D3™, as clinically dosed at 2,000 i.u. in LYMA for immune and muscle function, has been formulated and optimised to support musculoskeletal, bone and cardiovascular health.

Vitamin D3 deficiency is rife in the developed world - we spend so much time indoors working and glued to our screens - and it has been estimated that up to 70% of people in the UK may be deficient in Vitamin D3. The body cannot synthesise or utilise Vitamin D3 without the help of the sun or, failing that, by taking a supplement; LYMA’s formula uses one of the most advanced forms of the vitamin; Vita-Algae D3™.

Vitamin D3 not only enhances your recovery and boosts your overall musculoskeletal and cardiovascular health, higher levels of the vitamin have been linked to increased oxygen efficiency which can improve your capacity to workout.

One study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, and conducted over the course of four years with 2,000 participants between the ages of 20 and 49 split into four groups based on their base vitamin D3 levels, found that the cardiorespiratory fitness of individuals in the quarter with the highest vitamin D3 levels was a staggering 430% higher than those in the group with the lowest vitamin D3 levels at the end of the study.

Vitamin D3, then, is fundamental to increasing both the quantity and the quality of the exercise that you’re able to do.

Exercise releases cortisol into the bloodstream. Cortisol is the stress hormone that contributes to the ‘fight or flight’ response and which, when moderated, plays a fundamental role in gearing the body up to workout. When cortisol production gets out of control, however, it can cause inflammation to build up in the body. Your body is likely to excrete excess cortisol if you are over exercising, for example, as it attempts to mitigate the stressful effects of overexercise of the body’s systems. Inflammation in itself is a healthy immune response, and is in fact fundamental for transporting lactic acid out of your muscles, and thus aiding recovery. Again it’s when inflammation gets out of control that you’ll begin to experience health problems. When left unchecked, chronic inflammation can result in a compromised immune system, breakouts, reduced focus and productivity, problems sleeping and gut health disorders.

HydroCurc® is the world’s first 100% water and fat-absorbable form of curcumin and it could prove indispensable for speeding up muscle recovery and reducing inflammation in the process. Hydrocurc™ is curcumin in its most bioavailable form.

The three main groups of inflammatory markers associated with overexercise are: Creatine Kinase, Interleukin-8 and TNF-a.

Creatine Kinase, Interleukin-8 and TNF-a all help to regulate the amount of oxygen and energy your muscles receive when you exercise, and they also help your immune system to break down and flush out damaged muscle tissue so that new, healthy tissue can grow in its place. When levels of these proteins are elevated because you’ve worked out too hard, or too much, you will experience stiffness and pain in your muscles.

Athletes who supplemented with curcumin showed reduced levels of all three proteins 24 hours after exercise compared with a control group, meaning that the participants in this group were in less pain and were able to get back to their workout routine.

Not feeling like exercising again? Maybe you are being a bit too hard on yourself, sometimes the best health benefits come from low impact workouts such as a walk in nature, read our article on the matter.

Clinically-backed trials have determined that 250mg of Hydrocurc™, as formulated in LYMA, is just the right amount needed to optimise the body’s muscle recovery.

Furthermore, LYMA has upgraded its formula with the addition of Levagen®+ that supports our patented curcumin extract Hydrocurc®, to combat inflammation’s causes and effects.

Levagen®+ is a patented form of palmitic acid monoethanolamide (otherwise known as palmitoylethanolamide or PEA), a fatty acid the body naturally produces in our childhood however its amount decreases as we age. PEA helps us recover when we’re in pain acting as a powerful anti-inflammatory providing the body with a naturally strong pain relief. As LYMA Director of Science Prof. Paul Clayton explains, "If we weren't capable of making Levagen®+, if I banged my head on the table, I would be incapacitated by pain".

Also, research has shown that it is almost impossible to get sufficient amounts of PEA through diet alone so at LYMA we have chosen to introduce the most effective and bioavailable form of PEA to our all-in-one Supplement formula.

Forget about skipping the gym next time you’re feeling sore - if you want to boost your workout regimen for complete and faster workout recovery, trust us. LYMA is the ultimate Supplement.

Always consult your medical professional if you have a medical condition, or existing health protocol, before beginning any new supplementation regime.