How Sports Nutrition Can Give Women the Edge

Although today's women carry out a variety of roles and duties, their dedication to health and fitness is evident. Women's Day was recently observed around the nation, but celebration of women should be ongoing. Women in fitness are more than just athletes; they are everyday role models who strive for greatness and face each day with confidence and purpose. They are simply an inspiration daily.

Whether you want to lose a few excess kilograms or reach a personal fitness goal, we asked MuscleTech® ambassador Zaakirah Khalek, a Fitness Coach and Owner of Tribe Fitness Studio, how she helps women excel and reach their fitness and weight goals.

As a leader in her field, Zaakirah (34) reveals the surest route to embrace a healthy, balanced lifestyle and to start and maintain your physical fitness goals: "All women are amazing! You are strong, beautiful, resilient, and capable of anything you set your mind to. I celebrate you and your achievements, and I encourage you to keep believing in more. More opportunities, more growth, more happiness, more love. You deserve it all.”

New fitness journeys and how to maintain it.

Any new fitness journey will be challenging to start off, especially if you have not trained before. My advice to anyone is to become a creature of habit by creating a training routine that you consistently can adhere to. Set a daily routine that suits your personal lifestyle. By around the third week, your fitness routine will be cemented and more difficult to break. Consistency and discipline are needed to stay on track.

If there is one piece of advice I can offer women, which has worked for me over the years is to be consistent. Everyone is highly motivated at the beginning of their training program and subsequently goes too hard with too much intensity, and then loses the momentum to continue or maintain the pace. This is especially true for beginners. Be consistent. First, develop the habit and daily routine to help you reach your bigger goals.

For those women who want to push for the extra edge on meeting their goals and are dedicated to making a difference, it is important to support yourself with the proper nutrition and supplementation to support your body’s needs and enhance performance as you train, so you have the strength and physical power to maintain your workout as well as gain the confidence needed to meet your daily goals and feel more positive and empowered.

Sports nutrition for women – for all levels of fitness.

Sports nutrition is an essential part of any fitness or athletic regimen whether you’re looking to lose weight, enhance stamina and endurance, build muscle, or just maintain a healthy fitness routine.

Sports nutrition can give you the edge by enhancing your endurance and stamina by supplying essential carbohydrates and electrolytes that are needed for energy production and hydration. Supplementation can help build strength and lean muscle by providing the purest high-quality protein and amino acids that are vital for muscle growth and repair. They also promote fat loss and weight management by offering low-calorie and high-fiber options that can curb appetite and boost your metabolism.

I find that sports nutrition supports my general well-being and immunity by delivering vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other nutrients that can protect me against oxidative stress and inflammation. Sports supplements are to supplement your meals and eating habits and not replace them. I advise my clients to eat well AND take their protein powder, especially if you are not reaching your protein macros. Be consistent with your eating and training. Neither must be boring. Find the balance, eat intentionally, and you will reach those goals!

Get the nutritional support and confidence boost you need.

Each nutritional component of my daily routine offers unique benefits and supports my body as a whole. It not only boosts my strength and recovery, but contributes to my holistic mood, health, and confidence.

Every day, I rise around 4:30 a.m. and prepare to begin my day with client coaching at the studio at 6 a.m. I start with a bowl of oats for breakfast blended with Muscle Tech Nitro Tech 100% Whey Gold (R999 – 921g). Adding a protein powder to your food helps to increase its nutritional value. This whey protein is ultra-pure, absorbs rapidly, and gets quickly digested. WHO recommends eating 0.8 kg protein per kg of your body weight per day to prohibit protein deficiency. Protein intake however needs to complement your fitness goals and well-balanced diet. When you do resistance training with the aim of building toned muscles, your daily recommended protein intake increases to 1,6g - 2,4g protein per kg of your body weight daily (70kg x 1,6g = 112g protein daily). This may be split into 4-6 doses (meals), 1 every 3 hours apart. You can enjoy a protein shake throughout the day to help you reach your daily target and most importantly after workouts to help your body repair itself.

I follow by taking MuscleTech Platinum multi-vitamin (R479) to power me through a morning of coaching clients.

Mid-morning, I enjoy the MuscleTech Cell Tech® Creatine (R899), which helps me maintain my coaching performance and energy levels and stops muscle atrophy from my previous workouts. For more than two decades, Cell-Tech® has helped athletes to build lean muscle and strength. It supplies a healthy advanced dose of creatine to increase muscle strength with critical BCAAs to reduce fatigue and prevent muscle breakdown. Cell-Tech® is also ideal as a post-workout drink.

MuscleTech Amino Build (R949) is a great option for women in fitness who wants to reap the benefits of critical BCAAs which your body needs to boost strength and support recovery and is ideal for all levels of fitness. It delivers coconut water and watermelon juice with electrolytes to help replace what was lost especially during those workouts that aids lots of stamina and endurance.

Thirty minutes before my own training session, I take the MuscleTech Shatter Pre-Workout (R899), which gives me a boost of energy to push through to reach my own training goals. It helps me to stay focused and gives me the needed pump to add explosiveness to my work out – all working towards a stronger and fitter me!

Myth: Sports supplementation will make women look like body builders

There is a common misconception among some women that sports nutrition products are only for men or bodybuilders and that they can cause unwanted side effects, such as bulking up or making them look too masculine. This is a myth and not true at all. Women simply do not have enough testosterone to bulk up and look like a man. Naturally, women are unable to build the type of muscle men do because of our genetic makeup. Males utilize their testosterone to achieve greater levels of muscle gain. Females can't grow muscle tissue to the same degree since we have lower levels of testosterone. Sports nutrition products are not steroids or hormones, and they do not alter one’s natural physiology or appearance. They are simply supplements with natural ingredients that can complement a balanced diet and exercise routine and help you achieve optimal health and fitness.

Most sports nutrition ranges are designed to suit different goals, preferences, and lifestyles and can be tailored to everyone’s needs. There is no reason for women to shy away from sports nutrition products or think they are not for them. On the contrary, sports nutrition products can be a tremendous ally for women who want to improve their holistic performance, recovery, and well-being. Embrace sports nutrition products as part of your daily routine and, importantly, keep eating well.

MuscleTech® brings active nutrition and human potential together for a greater purpose. It is here to fuel those who raise the bar – whether you’re an elite athlete, weekend warrior, or just trying to stay healthy — we believe in growing stronger together. From essential nutrition to cutting-edge formulas, we've got you. Join us as we redefine what it means to be strong. After all, it’s not just about personal bests – it is about a better way for us all.

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