By Tom Armeli
Everyone wants to be
the best they can be, especially when it comes to athletics, sports or job
performance. Most are willing to put in the time, training and sweat needed to
achieve that goal. But few really know how to get there efficiently and
effectively.
Performance can be
defined as “the ability to execute a task, sport or activity to a desired
level.” Many factors affect performance:
training or fitness status, genetics, nutrition status, hydration
status, health, gender, environment, ergogenic aids and age. Obviously some factors one cannot control,
like age and genetics. The rest, however, are controllable to at least some
degree, with fitness, nutrition and hydration being the most readily controlled.
In this article we will discuss one of those three most significant
controllable factors – nutrition.
Everyone has heard
about what to eat for good nutrition. But good nutrition from a health and
wellness point of view is not necessarily the same as good nutrition from a
performance point of view. Eating to maximize performance involves ingesting
carbohydrate (CHO), fat and protein (PRO) in the right amounts and at the right
times. Knowing when, what kind and how much to eat of each of those nutrients
is the key to optimizing performance. The best trained and most genetically
gifted athlete will fall flat on her face if she does not properly fuel her
body.
Nutrition for
performance begins and ends with carbohydrate - lots of carbohydrate.
Carbohydrate is the body’s primary and favorite source of fuel and should
comprise 65-70% of calories for the athlete.
Without carbohydrate you cannot burn fat. The body stores carbohydrate
in muscle cells in the form of glycogen.
This provides the anaerobic fuel for fast and high intensity activity and
the aerobic fuel necessary to burn fat when endurance is needed.
Optimizing performance involves eating the right carbohydrates in the correct amounts at the right times. An important factor in determining the right carbohydrates you should eat is the Glycemic Index (GI). GI measures the speed with which carbohydrate you eat gets into your bloodstream as glucose. Higher GI numbers are faster. Glucose and white bread are the reference foods, both having GI’s of 100.
You should ingest carbohydrate prior to activity to ensure your muscle glycogen stores are topped off. Solid foods (primarily CHO) may be ingested up to four hours before the start time. Any closer and the digestive process may draw blood away from your working muscles or you may suffer gastro-intestinal distress. Both conditions would adversely affect your performance. During the four hours prior to the start of activity, you should continue to ingest carbohydrate, but in the form of liquids or gels. Liquids are preferred as they will not only provide fuel, but also keep you well hydrated. Carbohydrates ingested during this time should have low GI values.
During activity you need to feed yourself carbohydrate in the form of sugars to maintain blood glucose levels. High GI foods should be used, usually in the form of liquids (again to get the dual benefit of fueling and hydrating). Solid foods should be avoided due to the potential problems cited earlier. Sufficient CHO should be ingested to provide 40-60 grams per hour (70-80 grams if you weigh over 200 lbs). Sports drinks are usually the best bet for this.
After activity you need to ingest sufficient CHO to kick-start and maintain muscle glycogen resynthesis. The CHO taken in here should again be high GI. Begin with liquids immediately following the activity and move to solid foods as soon as you can tolerate them. You should ingest 100 grams of CHO every 2 hours for at least 8-12 hours (if you weigh over 200 pounds take in 120 grams every 2 hours). Muscle glycogen resynthesis can take over 24 hours, so keep ingesting sufficient CHO (70+% of calories) for at least that long to ensure the process is properly fueled.
Fatty foods should be avoided before, during and following activity. The fat you burn during activity is already stored in your body so you do not need to eat any in conjunction with that activity. Generally, everyone has sufficient fat stores to fuel many hours of activity without refueling. For example, a 175-lb athlete with 10% body fat has enough stored body fat to jog about 275 miles!
Protein is not important as a source of fuel for your body, but it is important as a source of material for muscle building and repair. Since all exercise damages muscle, providing sufficient PRO to begin the repair as soon as possible is essential for optimal recovery. For that reason you should ingest some PRO following activity along with the CHO already discussed. Your post-activity feedings should include CHO and PRO in the ratio of 3 to 1. That means if you eat 100 grams of CHO every 2 hours following activity, you should also eat 30-35 grams of PRO every 2 hours (one serving of meat (2-3 oz) has about 21 grams of protein).
There are many factors that affect your performance. We have briefly discussed one of the most important – nutrition. Follow the guidelines provided in this article and you will optimize your performance and, thus, get the most out of your training.