Whether you’re training for the Iron Man competition, or wanting to complete a 10km run, how you fuel your body will be key to how you perform. Here’s what to eat so that you can perform to the best of your ability...
Weights Workout
If you’re pumping the iron at the gym, you may think that loading up on protein is the answer to building up and toning your muscles. Truth is you don’t need to buy expensive protein powders to get the protein you need to build more muscle mass. The first and key step is to have a well-designed weights program for the level you are at. The next step is good nutrition. To build muscle, you need a mixture of carbohydrate and protein.
Having a snack of protein and carbohydrate before and after weight training has been proven to be beneficial for developing muscle it gives the body the building blocks for muscle (the protein) and the carbohydrate, which is needed to stimulate the muscle growth.
Examples of appropriate snacks include:
Fruit yoghurt and a fruit cereal bar
A glass of milk and a banana
Flavoured milk and a fruit cereal bar
Cardiovascular Workouts
Getting the heart rate up and the legs pumping is hard work and increases our carbohydrateand fluid requirements. What you need will depend on how long you are exercising for.
Less than one hour of cardiovascular exercise Water is the best drink for exercise under one hour. You need to replace the fluids that you’ve sweat out so make sure you drink up afterwards. If you are exercising for over 30 mins, have a high GI carbohydrate based snack after exercise – this will help replace the glycogen used from your muscles so you are ready for your next session of exercise.
Examples of appropriate snacks include:
White toast with honey
A banana
A fruit bun
After an aerobics class A small carbohydrate snack before and after an aerobics class should be sufficient to replenish your energy levels. Taking a water bottle and drinking throughout the class and having a drink after class will help rehydrate you.
Over an hour of hard, cardiovascular exercise About two hours before your workout, eating a high carbohydrate, low fat snack can help you get the most from your workout. A large banana and a glass of juice or a fruit muffin split are examples of snacks.
After exercise, you need to replace the fluids and glycogen that have been lost. After exercise, it’s important to rehydrate as soon as possible.
An easy way to tell how much fluids you need to drink is to weigh yourself before and after exercise. For each 1kg of body weight lost, you’ll need to replace with 1.5 litres of fluid. A sports drink is a good way to replace fluids. It has an advantage as the additional glucose and sodium boosts water replacement and retention by the body. The carbohydrate provides an additional fuel source
to replace muscle glycogen.
Our muscles hold glucose in the muscles as glycogen and we use this for energy during exercise. After exercise, it’s important to replace this so we can perform well at our next workout.
Aim to eat 1–1.5g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight. For example this will mean 85–128g of carbohydrate for an 85kg athlete. A good general guideline is to aim for 50–100g in the two hours after activity is a good general guideline for most athletes.
Weights Workout
Examples of appropriate snacks include:
Less than one hour of cardiovascular exercise
Over an hour of hard, cardiovascular exercise
Our muscles hold glucose in the muscles as glycogen and we use this for energy during exercise. After exercise, it’s important to replace this so we can perform well at our next workout.(572).jpg){kind=small}