We’ve all been there, put in a hard effort one day only to suffer for it on the next. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is entirely normal, but it can get in the way of your next workout. We already know that you’ve probably tried to get another workout in a day after a big session… and you guessed it, it didn’t end well, right!
You probably didn’t achieve what you wanted to which left you feeling a little unmotivated, sore, and fatigued too. With a properly structured workout plan, rest days are accounted for, to allow you to recover and repair but if we push on without them, we will end up having to have more days off or having to constantly change your workout plan because of excessive DOMS and fatigue.
This is a fast track to losing motivation and not achieving your goals as well as becoming ill or injured too which again sets you right back to square one.
Consistency is key when it comes to gym training, especially if hypertrophy is your primary goal. Providing your muscles, a constant and progressive stimulus is critical when looking to develop or maintain muscle mass and it is also highly rewarding and fun too, which is also an important part of including gym fitness and training into your active lifestyle.
What is hypertrophy training?
Hypertrophy training primarily focuses on developing your muscles and stimulating them to grow in size and strength. A simple way to achieve this is to aim for moderate weight (around 75-85% of your 1 rep max), 6-12 reps and overall, 3-6 sets.
If you are just starting out, perhaps try aiming for 70% of your 1 rep max and the lower reps and overall sets. Progress this week on week as your strength increases and before you know it you will be making gains left, right, and centre.
Training in this way is applicable to all forms of fitness training, even cardio, and is a great way to track your progress easily and regularly. As you become more in tune with your body each wee you may even start to see and feel the difference that your training is making to your performance and wellbeing in and out of the gym. There’s nothing more motivating than achieving your goals and feeling better for it.
We’re all about balance when it comes to building a workout plan. That means there is a variety of exercises, across multiple days, with the options to be adaptable and change things up if you think you are hitting a plateau.
Group HIIT classes and cardio based exercise are just as valuable and popular as traditional strength training and provide excellent ‘bang for your buck’ whilst adding in a much-needed social element to your training.
Looking after our heath, wellness, keeping up with our job, family commitments can sometimes mean that exercise is left to the last minute. And consequently, that means that recovery from exercise skips our mind completely sometimes.
We may be rushing from the gym to work, to home, to the shops and we pick up a ‘healthy’ snack along the way to check that box. But how often are those things benefitting you and your active lifestyle.
U Perform’s signature Active Collagen is a unique blend of 2 Bioactive Collagen Peptides® plus vitamins and minerals formulated to support daily recovery from exercise as well as improve the health and vitality of our hair, skin, and nails too. So, not only will you feel good, but you will also look good too!
TENDOFORTE® Bioactive Collagen Peptides® provide collagen fibres in tendons, ligaments, and other soft tissue the elasticity and strength they need for optimal function and can speed up daily recovery from exercise and improve the rate of recovery after injury too.
Collagen is the primary structural component in the human body and is abundant in our muscles, ligaments, tendons, and even bone. It is the scaffolding which holds our body together and allows both strength and flexibility – critical characteristics of any physical structure involved in physical activity and exercise.
Unfortunately, as we age and as we take part in more and more exercise, the rate at which we produce collagen starts to decrease; by up to 1.5% per year (every year) from as early as our 20s. This means that over time, less and less collagen is available to repair the structures that are being broken down by our training in gym.
Taking a high-quality collagen supplement daily is a great way to not only increase the availability of Bioactive Collagen Peptides® in your body, but also to kickstart the natural production of collagen. Studies show that with just 2.5g of VERISOL® Bioactive Collagen Peptides® (Active Collagen contains 3g) per day, you can see a 65% increase in natural production of collagen in just 56 days.
Not only that, VERISOL® collagen peptides have a direct stimulating effect on the extracellular matrix of our skin. 90% of the protein in our skin is collagen and one of the earliest signs of collagen degradation and ageing are lines and wrinkles in the skin.
When we exercise our body sweats to try and cool down but leaving sweat to rest and dry on our skin can actually be harmful to the health and vitality of our skin.
Taking Active Collagen is a great way to further support the health and quality of your skin and is quick and easy to do every day after your workout.
Taking Active Collagen daily is simple. Each 30ml sachet contains all the collagen peptides plus vitamins and minerals you need to optimise your recovery and active lifestyle. Not only that, with the addition of B vitamins, Active Collagen also improves your overall energy levels so you can better take on the challenges and chores of day-to-day life.
You can either tear away the top of the sachet and take on-the-go straight from your gym bag, or you can mix the gel with your daily smoothie, in water, or in foods such as oats for a high protein boost to your daily nutrition.
But don’t just take our word for it, check out what the science has to say about Active Collagen…
One study by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) examined the benefits of TENDOFORTE® over a period of 6 months. The participants were 20 runners with long-term symptoms of chronic Achilles tendinopathy, not responding to any traditional therapies, and being unable to train.
Within 3 months, 12 out of 20 participants were able to return to running after starting a therapy with a daily intake of 5g of TENDOFORTE®. What’s more, the benefits continued, and more runners returned to training in the following 3 months.
Try Active Collagen today… SEE and FEEL the difference for yourself.
Whey protein is one of the world’s most highly regarded and most researched sports supplements out there right now. It sits high on the list alongside other supplements such as caffeine, creatine monohydrate, nitrate, sodium bicarbonate, and beta-alanine as a supplement that has clearly demonstrated its efficacy, safety, and value for athletes and active people alike.
This is exactly why protein sources such as whey are often the primary ingredient in ‘weight gain-promoting supplements’, and all the evidence shows that protein is highly effective at promoting lean mass gain when combined with resistance exercise i.e., weight training in the gym, for example.
Combining 12g of whey protein with 15g muscle specific BODYBALANCE® Bioactive Collagen Peptides® and a great tasting natural flavour, U Perform’s new & improved Active Whey & Collagen is a time and cost-effective way to maximise the gains from your gym training in and easy to take shake.
Whey protein and collagen are especially useful when hypertrophy is your primary goal. Hypertrophy training stimulates growth in muscle size and strength. Training in this way creates a lot of muscle damage and so crucial to the repair and adaptation process are important protein sources such as whey protein and collagen protein.
The type and structure of collagen in our muscles is highly specialised and different to the collagen in our joints and skin for example. This means that the building blocks we need to support that tissue need to be equally specialised.
And that’s where BODYBALANCE® Bioactive Collagen Peptides® come in. In numerous studies, BODYBALANCE® has been proven to improve the speed and strength of the recovery of muscle tissue, increasing power and making them more resistant to injury.
Optimising recovery means that each day we can train harder, recover faster, optimising and improving performance in the long run.
Nutrition is a fundamental piece of the fitness puzzle and can make or break your progress. Active Whey & Collagen is convenient and cost-effective and is the perfect way to kickstart your recovery as soon as you finish your workout.
Available in 2 great flavours as well as in travel-friendly single sachets, Active Whey & Collagen is a great tasting muscle recovery supplement that will fit into your diet and lifestyle - we highly recommend you give it a try - you will SEE and FEEL the benefits for yourself!
Away from muscle, ligament, and tendon injuries, today, every fourth person suffers from joint problems and that number is constantly increasing. The principal cause is wear and tear of the joint cartilage brought about by age, over exercise and stressed joints.
Exercising in the gym can be a cause of joint issues, like any sport or physical activity, but it isn’t always the only thing to blame. Doing daily chores can also cause damage to our joints and cartilage too.
For many years it was thought that once cartilage was gone, the damage was irreparable. However, with most of the dry weight in protein of cartilage being collagen fibres, what we are learning more and more is that with daily collagen supplementation we can restimulate the new cartilage as well as providing daily maintenance to protect the integrity of cartilage and joints.
Just like the collagen in our skin and muscles are different, the collagen in articular cartilage (hyaline cartilage) is also made up of a different type of collagen; Type II in this case. The way these fibres layer and weave create a gel like cushion that sits within all our joints; both lubricating and protecting the bones from impact and friction.
Improper movement patterns or excessive load can put extra stress on joint cartilage that it would otherwise not be adapted to absorb effectively. Damage to cartilage can be both painful and disruptive and should be avoided as much as possible.
U Perform’s best-selling Active Sport Collagen is a unique formulation of Type II optimised FORTIGEL® Bioactive Collagen Peptides®. In just 5 daily tablets, FORTIGEL® has been clinically proven to activate the growth of new cartilage and protect the integrity of existing cartilage: easing joint discomfort, reducing pain, and keeping joints moving smoother for longer.
FORTIGEL® has been subject to numerous studies and according to published research, the ingestion of FORTIGEL® collagen peptides stimulate a significant increase of cartilage tissue metabolism, against placebo.
One study, carried out by Harvard University, investigated the long-term effect of FORTIGEL® treatment on the composition of hyaline cartilage in individuals with early knee osteoarthritis, a common condition that can affect the ability for us to stay in the game as we get older. The analysis of the final cartilage scans revealed a statistically significant increase in proteoglycan density in the medial and lateral tibial regions of the FORTIGEL® treated subjects compared to the placebo group.
Studies have been carried out in various groups and looking at activity related joint pain as well as joint disorders: including osteoporosis and osteoarthritis with all showing statistically significant results in as little as 12 weeks (minimum 5g daily serving FORTIGEL®).
Optimise your joint health to support your gym training and wellbeing with Active Sport Collagen - in just 5 tablets a day, Active Sport Collagen keep joints moving smoother for longer and we highly recommend you check it out if boosting collagen levels and joint health are important to you.
