PERFORMANCE ENHANCERS

If you’ve been optimising your cardio performance via hamstring activation, stamina-building and endless rainy park sprints, well, there could have been a more efficient way to get there. It’s an elixir that, in just one month, promises to shave almost a minute off your 5km run. And it’s to do with what you put in your mouth.

Researchers at The Ohio State University found a way to trim an average of 54 seconds off the three- mile time of female participants (that’s 4.8km, in case you’re curious); the same method helped them to cycle further in 25 minutes directly afterwards and boosted their performance in a 90-second step test. And they weren’t even regular cyclists. No, they didn’t use amphetamines, a scheduled- to-the-minute meal plan or some shady performance-enhancing drug. The game-changing addition was a teaspoon-sized blend of five common or garden nutrients. The winning combo was of the minerals iron, copper and zinc, plus carnitine, derived from amino acids,