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SPORTS NUTRITION

By: Articles by a Naturopathic Doctor (N.D.)

Having a plan for what to do before, during, and after your workout can help to boost your productivity and your results...

The diet that you eat every day affects what your body produces with the exercise that you do. You can spend all day in the gym, but if you don't have the diet to support your efforts, you won't get the results you seek. Muscles are the biggest energy burning cells we have in our bodies, and when they don't get sufficient food, they literally begin to break down. Muscle tissue that is worked without sufficient food will break down its own mass to create energy to burn. This is why low carb (carbohydrate) diets aren't the answer to those hoping to burn fat and build muscle.

Results In The Gym Start In The Kitchen

Carbohydrates are the fuel that muscle cells use to do their work. Protein makes the building blocks the body uses to repair damaged muscle and to build more muscle. It is important that you time your intake of these nutrients to give your muscles food to run on during exercise, and building blocks to repair themselves and grow afterward.

Before Exercise - PreWorkout Supplements

It is generally a good idea to eat a small snack before the workout consisting of easy to digest carbohydrates. This can be as simple as eating a piece of fruit. There are a number of pre-workout supplement powders available. These often contain some essential vitamins and minerals, as well as energy boosting supplements. So long as these elements are quickly absorbed, and do not burden your digestive system, they can help to increase your energy level as you go into your routine. Often these pre-workout supplements also include nutrients that will help to boost your muscle metabolism to help ensure you can get the most out of your workout.

It is important to warm up sufficiently prior to any exercise. This can be anything that gets your body gently moving for at least 5 minutes, such as: a light jog, jumping rope, or doing slow jumping jacks. This gives your body the time it needs to up your heart rate and promote increased blood flow to your muscles. Blood flow the muscles is extremely important for promoting nutrient delivery and waste removal during your workout.

During Workout Supplements

If you exercise for longer than 2 hours, then it is beneficial to include simple carbohydrates (complex sugars), to prevent the body from breaking down muscle, and to rebuild depleted energy reserves. These carbohydrate boosts are often supplemented using an energy gel or bar.

The average person hitting the gym has very little dietary requirement during their workout. It is generally not necessary to eat during a workout unless it goes on longer than 2 hours. The premise is that your pre-workout snack should cover your energy requirements for the first 2 hours. Unnecessarily adding the type of carbohydrate boost mentioned above during a workout can interfere with achieving a weight loss goal, and in large enough amounts can actually promote weight gain. This includes sugary beverages, even if they claim to be "sport drinks". Excess carbohydrate ingested above and beyond that used for activity is stored as fat in the body.

Fluid intake during exercise is also important to prevent dehydration. In general, it is most beneficial to simply drink water during a workout to keep a balanced fluid level, although with more strenuous activity a gentle electrolyte solution may help to keep electrolyte levels up as well, which can reduce muscle cramping.

After Exercise - Post Workout Supplements

The average person exercising to maintain fitness should eat and drink as soon as possible after a workout. This can simply consist of a healthy portion of protein, complex carbohydrates (starches), and fluid such as water. It's often not convenient to prepare a full meal immediately after a workout. One simple way to get the benefits of the meal, without the work, is to supplement with a protein shake or bar. These protein supplements often contain sufficient protein and carbohydrate to replenish what you lost during your workout. With protein powders, you are also mixing it in a fluid, which helps to replenish fluid balance as well. If you are using this to replace a meal, you can also try a meal replacement powder, which will also contain essential vitamins and minerals that you may have depleted during your workout. 

For those individuals training harder for marathons or endurance events should be sure to include a much higher amount of carbohydrates and protein.
In general, fat should make up 20 - 30% of your daily caloric intake. Healthy fats are important for health, particularly skin, hair and digestive health. For more information on healthy fats, please see our omega 3-6-9 article.

Preventing DOMS - Reducing Muscle Soreness, Enhancing Recuperation

Anyone who has ever done an intense workout is familiar with delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). DOMS is that feeling you get the next day, or even two days following a workout where your muscles are stiff, sore, and not as strong as they usually are. This is caused by the microscopic damage that strenuous exercise does to our muscles. An accumulation of tiny muscle tears, and the buildup of lactic acid from exercise without sufficient oxygen and blood flow causes local pain. If you are having difficulty performing your normal activities the next day, it is generally a sign that your workout was too intense for your current fitness level. When this occurs it is a good idea to scale back a bit, until your fitness level improves, and then gradually increase your intensity over time.

If you are just trying to avoid the slight stiffness and sore muscles of a challenging workout, there are a few supplements that can help, such as branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), or L-glutamine powder. Both of these are supplemented prior to a workout to help prevent the problem in the first place.