Last time, we discussed Nutrition’s essential role in Recovery and Nutrient Timing, (see last post) but today I would like introduce you to a couple of new athletes in our program. Daisy’s daughter runs Cross Country for her High School and plays competitive Soccer 2+ nights per week.
She is also lifting with the Soccer team several days per week and is usually up till midnight of 1 a.m. doing her homework. When we completed her Nutrition Assessment, she was taking in about 37% of the Calories and Nutrition she needed daily- was it any wonder she was slower and weaker than she wanted to be?
As glycogen in the muscles deplete, the energy necessary to drive intense muscular contractions- the kind all explosive sport movements and skills are based in- is exhausted, making full speed / full power impossible. If the fuel was never fully loaded into those muscles, playing and practicing half-way to exhaustion becomes commonplace and make performing when exhausted occur twice as often.
While your athlete will not simply shut down like your phone when the battery dies, fat and amino acids stripped from their own muscle doesn’t tend to make for the fuel of winning performances.
Then there’s Keith’s son, he is Jr HS Baseball pitcher for a Select Team with practices and games most night’s through the week. After only 5 weeks of diligently using a Pre and Post Training and Practice fueling strategy, his performance is hitting new heights with more shoulder, hip and core strength providing control like he’s never seen. The right nutrition available at the right time literally allows for gene expression that will create a more Optimal Athlete with greater performance potential. (he has actually gained 4 pounds of muscle since March 30!)
Think of a Top Fuel Dragster in the Quarter Mile, because the goal is moving the desired distance in the least amount of time, (just like an athlete) using as much fuel as possible to accomplish the task makes sense. In competition, the Dragster will use one and a half gallons of nitro per second- the same rate of fuel used by a fully-loaded 747 in flight. In either case, plenty of the right fuel is top priority whether moving as fast as possible in the air or on the ground. Plenty AND Right fuel…
I meet parents and athletes every day who say things like “He gets plenty to eat…” Or “I think I do a pretty good job with their nutrition…” Do you remember the movie “Supersize Me”? Morgan Spurlock ate McDonald’s for every meal for a month and Super-Sized every meal when asked, causing him to consume approximately 5,000 calories a day.
Bloodwork related to the experiment showed that although he was consuming enough calories to meet his energy needs with leftovers to store a lot of fat, he was extremely deficient in key nutrients to support metabolism and health.
Plenty AND Right… What that looks like is determined by Gender, Sport, # of Training / Practice or Playing days, Body Composition, Study Load and Sleep Status. Like your vehicle, optimal Fuel Economy, Horsepower and Performance are all determined by the constant availability of a precise amount of Fuel and Oxygen every second it operates. You and your Athlete are no different…let’s talk about it.
More next time,
King Hoover- Transforming Athletics
This entry was posted on April 11, 2015 at 3:11 pm and is filed under Exercise. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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