When you're competing, the margin between winning and losing is often very small. Paying attention to detail when you train, like monitoring what you're eating and drinking, can be that margin of difference. Athletes often know to pay attention to their diets on an event day and during an event itself. But what's often not appreciated is that the right balance of calories, carbohydrates, protein, and fat, and the proper timing of intake in relation to exercise, can help maximize the benefits of your training day in and day out. It also reduces your risk of exercise-related illness and injury. If you make the right nutrition choices in support of your training, you allow your body to fully adapt to the hard work you're putting in. Ignore nutrition, and you run the risk of not maximizing the full potential of your training and of having your performance suffer.
Training requires energy. That energy comes from calories in the food you eat. If the calories you burn match what you are expending every day, you're able to train and compete at your best. Consume too many calories, and your body fat starts to creep up, which can slow you down and hamper your performance. Too few calories can also lead to a fall-off in your performance and can increase your risk of injury and illness. Some sports require so much energy and so many hours of training that getting in enough calories can be challenging. In these cases, snacks and small frequent meals, especially between workouts, are necessary.
To assess the adequacy of your caloric intake, track your body weight periodically — about every two weeks. It's not a perfect system, because your weight will fluctuate. But if you see a sustained dip or jump in your weight over a month or two, adjust your caloric intake up or down accordingly.
There is no simple formula to pinpoint how many calories you need each day. In fact, your needs will vary based on the intensity and duration of your training, your competitions, and your other activities. If training sessions are frequent, long, and hard, your caloric needs are going to be high. However, during periods of low activity, during the off season, or if you're injured, cut back on caloric intake by decreasing the quantity of food that you consume. When it comes to calories, the key message is to adjust calories going in when you're changing the number of calories going out.
If you are doing strength training to build a larger muscle mass, muscle gain will be limited if you fail to consume enough calories to meet your energy needs. Dieting to lose weight, while trying to add muscle, is not an effective strategy. If adding muscle is your goal, your strength training program may require that you supplement your typical food intake with an additional 500 calories daily.
Carbohydrates found in foods like fruits, vegetables, breads, cereals, pastas, and potatoes are the most important muscle fuel for endurance sports. But the stores of carbs in your body — glucose in your bloodstream and glycogen in your muscles and liver — are in short supply and constantly need to be replenished. What you eat and drink each day must provide enough carbohydrates to fuel your training and optimize the recovery of muscle glycogen stores between workouts:
- For light training days (moderate duration and low intensity), consume about 2.3–3.2 grams of carbs per pound (5–7 grams per kg) body weight. For a 150-lb (68 kg) athlete, that's 345–480 grams of carbs daily.
- On heavy training days, consume 3.2–4.5 grams of carbs per pound (7–10 grams per kg) body weight, or 480–675 grams of carbs daily for a 150-lb athlete.
- For light-to-moderate workouts, a high-carb diet will usually reload your muscle glycogen stores within about 24 hours. To start the recovery process, consume 0.5 grams of carbs per pound (1.1 grams per kg) body weight within 30 minutes after exercise. For a 150-lb (68 kg) athlete, that's about 75 grams of carbs within a half hour after exercise.
- If you are engaged in heavy training, including two-a-day workouts, or where you are working out again within 12 hours, you'll need rapid recovery. To speed recovery between workouts, consume 0.5 grams of carbs per pound (1.1 grams per kg) body weight within 30 minutes after exercise, and then repeat that every hour for 3 hours or until you resume meals. For a 150-lb (68 kg) athlete, that's about 75 grams of carbs within a half hour after exercise, and another 75 grams every hour for up to 3 hours or until you start eating regular high-carb meals.
Protein is the next order of business. Good sources of protein include fish, chicken, lean cuts of beef or pork, eggs, low-fat or nonfat dairy foods (cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese), beans, and nuts. The fact is that most athletes get plenty of protein provided that their caloric intake is sufficient. So forgo the obsession to consume more protein. Instead, focus on timing your protein intake in relation to your workouts:
- If your training is mostly aerobic or for endurance, consume 10–20 grams of protein as soon as possible after you finish. This protein will provide the amino acid building blocks needed to promote muscle tissue repair and building in response to your training.
- For resistance training workouts, consume 10–20 grams of protein just before and just after working out, to help with the repair and building of lean tissue.
Keep in mind that reloading muscle glycogen stores and building and repairing muscle in response to your training doesn't begin in earnest until you provide the necessary nutrients. So, don't delay in providing the carbs and protein. Keep carb- and protein-rich snacks on hand to eat right before and right after training, to start the refueling and recovery process.
Fats are another important energy source for muscles. In fact, they are the primary fuel your muscles rely on when you are resting and during low-intensity exercise. Sports nutritionists are less concerned about replacing the fat you burn during exercise because fat stores in the body are plentiful. On your best day, you may have up to 2,000 calories' worth of stored carbs in the form of glycogen and glucose — but you have more than 80,000 calories' worth in the form of fat! So, running out of fat stores is not a worry. In practice, make sure you meet your carb and protein needs each day. The remaining calories can be provided by fats, with the healthiest sources being the heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids in certain fish like salmon; plant sources such as nuts, seeds, grains, and avocados; and vegetable oils like olive and canola.
In summary, adequate calories; the right balance of carbs, protein, and fat; and timing of carb and protein intake in relation to exercise can help you stay healthy and injury-free, and maximize the benefits of your training.
PowerBar® sports nutrition products to help you meet your carbohydrate and protein needs:
| High-carb sources: | Good protein sources: |
| PowerBar® Performance Energy bars* | PowerBar ProteinPlus® bars |
| PowerBar® Fruit Smoothie Energy bars* | PowerBar® Recovery bar |
| Ironman PERFORM™ sports drink | |
| PowerBar® Energy Gels | |
| PowerBar® Energy Blasts gel filled chews | |
| Ironman RESTORE™ sports drink mix | |
| PowerBar® Recovery bar* | |
| PowerBar Harvest® Energy bar* | |
| PowerBar® Triple Threat® bars* | |
| PowerBar® Nut Naturals Energy bars* | *Also a good source of protein |
References:
Burke L. Nutrition for recovery after training and competition. In: Burke L, Deakin V. Clinical Sports Nutrition. 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill. 2006; 415–453.
Topics:
Hydration, Recovery, Energy, Protein, Strength training
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