The way you treat your body pre- and post-workout will determine how well you perform during your training session. Without the proper mental focus, nutrition, or sleep you’ll be giving up the results you desire. The nutrition and training aspect will be determined by your overall goal. Are you looking to gain muscle? Lose fat? Increase your 40-yard dash time? These will affect the amount of macronutrients you require to achieve success. (If you’re unsure what macronutrients you need to support your goals, check out this link.)

But there are other elements you can do, both dietary and training-wise, before, during, and after you train that can support your goals. Below, we’ve listed a handful you can put to use immediately …

Pre-Workout

Ramping up your energy levels before a workout or game is crucial to getting the most out of each rep, down, or minute played. Pre Game Formula was created for athletes of all levels to prep for a hardcore training session. Featuring ingredients like creatine, beta-alanine, arginine, and tyrosine, you’ll be ready to blast through your weights or opponents. Take one scoop of Pre Game with eight ounces of water pre-workout or game and you’ll be fired up and ready to rock.

An hour before training also consider chugging down a protein shake that consists of both fast and slow-digesting proteins (casein and whey). Adding protein to your pre-workout supp routine can help you put your body in the best position to remain anabolic and ready to repair muscle. Consuming a fast-digesting carb, such as oranges, can also help keep energy levels elevated.

Using a foam roller for five or so minutes, as well as engaging in a 10 to 15-minute dynamic warm-up that consists of movement patterns that mimic the muscles you’re going to use in your workout, is also a good idea to prep your muscles, joints, and tendons for the next hour of training. Think of it as a must-do, not something that’s optional.

Intra-Workout

Some experts recommend taking down a protein shake while you train. If you have an iron stomach and can do so without feeling ill, go for it. It can help starve off catabolism by providing BCAAs, protein, and other nutrients to exhausted muscles. Otherwise, you can save the shake for after the workout (we’ll explain more later). You should also consider downing six to eight ounces of P4’s Energy Formula during or immediately after a training session. It has caffeine, electrolytes, taurine, and a quick-digesting carb to provide lasting energy and assist recovery.

Post-Workout

Within an hour of your last rep you want to take down another protein shake filled with slow (casein) and fast-digesting (whey) protein that will both usher aminos into your muscles and support muscle repair. Again, you also want carbs. Recovery Push Formula features a quick-digesting carb loader, electrolytes, BCAAs, glutamine, and a vitamin matrix that will energize as it supports your body’s recovery efforts. Best of all, it’s easy to do: mix one scoop with 8-10 ounces of water, shake, and consume.

Again, the use of a foam roller is suggested to improve circulation and break up any knotted up muscle fascia. Static stretches for 10 or so minutes can also be beneficial.

Proven4 workout supplements — Pre Game Formula, Energy Formula, and Recovery Push Formula — are all feature the NSF Certified for Sport logo on the packaging. This tells you, the consumer, that every claim on the label has been verified by a third-party testing source and that all products are banned-substance-free. In other words, if the ingredient appears on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances, it is NOT used in P4 supplements.