 |
| Smoothies are a great Pre exercise snack |
You can split your nutritional intake into 3 main categories; Pre exercise nutrition, Post exercise nutrition and nutrition during exercise, all of which need to be given attention to if you wish to exercise or compete to a high level on a regular basis. Obviously what you need to take is related to creating more energy so it will revolve around the basic nutrients that I have mentioned in the past, carbohydrates, protein and fat. Though depending on when you are fuelling or refuelling this can vary!
Pre Exercise Nutrition
There isn't too much to worry about in terms of pre exercise nutrition, the main purpose of this is to make sure that glycogen reserves are full and the blood sugar levels are at a good level. To do this we need to make sure that we have the eaten the right amount of carbohydrate! Studies show that if 2.5g carbohydrate / kg of body weight is ingested 2-4 hours before exercise then running endurance can be increased by 9% (Chryssanthopoulos et al 2002).
Now that you know how much you should be eating you should know what kind of carbs that you should be eating. Not all carbs have the same effect on blood sugars, the effect that they have on blood sugars can be defined by the GI (Glycaemic Index) with foods with a high GI causing a rapid increase in blood sugar that is short lived, and foods with a low GI releasing sugar slowly into the blood. You can find a table with GI values of common foods here.
It is debatable which is more important for pre exercise nutrition, but I personally prefer a nice low GI meal before a big workout, which is why I have smoothies with things like oats, bananas and blueberries. Having a smoothie also allows a nice bit of hydration prior to the workout so its a great thing to have beforehand!
Nutrition during Exercise
It is not always necessary to have to eat something while you are exercising, if you are exercising for less then an hour your body should have enough glycogen stores to be able to cope with the work out. After doing strenuous exercise for over an hour though the body starts to run low on muscle glycogen supplies and has to start relying on blood sugar to fuel your exercise and without extra input you will start to feel fatigued.
To combat fatigue the body needs to receive about 30-60 g of carbohydrate per hour as this is about the maximum rate at which the muscles take up glucose from the blood (Coggan, Coyle et al 1991). It is important though that you start consuming carbs about 30 minutes into exercise as it takes time for what you eat / drink to be digested and get into the blood! As you would expect you want something that gets into the blood quickly so high GI foods are ideal and they will give you a quick spike in blood sugar and the amount ingested will not cause the blood levels to fluctuate to wildly!
 |
| Power Bar |
On top of carbs, you can also consume some protein as this has been shown to have positive effects on endurance and can also prevent muscle break down after exercise. Obviously hydration is important and you should try and drink about 1 litre per hour! This is why I eat power bars just before workout / during as it allows me to stay fuelled all the way through my workout!
Nutrition can only go so far, and eventually other factors will appear that will cause fatigue to occour and you will eventually have to stop exercising and move onto recovery!
Post Exercise Nutrition
Post exercise nutrition is all about reducing recovery time, if you want to be the best you can be you need to be able to at your peak as quickly as possible so you can compete or train at your best quickly! There are 4 main factors to consider when recovering from a workout:
How low your Glycogen stores are
You can't be at your best until your glycogen stores are back to there highest levels, the longer your workout the more depleted your stores will be. These stores will slowly fill up over time but the harder you work the more quickly you use them up!
Muscle Damage
When doing things like weight lifting, or intense physical workouts there will be some degree of muscle damage afterwards, due to small microscopic tears appearing in your muscles. Obviously if muscles are damaged then you aren't in peak condition and you will have to let them recover, getting more protein into your diet will help with the rebuilding process and stop any more damage being done to muscles after. When you experience DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) a day or two after a workout this is a sign of small muscle damage, and ingesting protein and some light exercise can improve this!
Carbohydrate Intake
As your glycogen stores are depleted you need to get more carbohydrates into you so that you can help you refuel faster. Depending on when you start to take in carbs you will refuel at different rates, In the first 2 hours after exercise you refuel quickest so it is important to eat during this time. Studies have shown that during the first 24 hours that high GI food are best as they allow quick refuelling but after this low GI food is better as it can improve endurance and promote better overall health and fat burning (Stevenson et al 2005). The minimum time it takes to refuel is 24 hours and can last up to a week after endurance events, obviously the higher the daily consumption of carbs the quicker your body can recover!
 |
| The higher the intake the higher the storage! |
Overall Fitness
The higher your fitness level, the quicker your body learns to take up glycogen into the muscles quicker. People with higher fitness levels can also develop higher overall glycogen levels so should be able to last longer (which is unsurprising).
That's everything for nutrition, if you have any questions about anything mentioned then let me know and I'll try and help you!
Rich
No comments:
Post a Comment