BEFORE DURING AND AFTER

Prepare for your training through the diet

What you eat and drink before your training sessions/competitions has a great influence on your performance. The last meal before the activity is the last opportunity to fill the carbohydrate storages and make sure that you are optimally rehydrated. This meal should be quite complete to make sure the athlete does not get hungry during the session.

Fill up the carbo-storages

The carbohydrates get stored in small amounts in the liver, this storage makes sure the blood glucose stays normal and balanced. As we do not eat anything during the night, the storage of glucose in the liver is emptied and might have a negative influence on the performance. To have a meal rich in carbohydrates (moderate/low GI) before training helps the body maintain normal levels of the blood glucose; this way both mental and physical performance can be optimized.
During physical activity the body uses carbohydrates and fat as a source for energy. To be able to have maximum performance the body needs to store carbohydrates in the muscle tissue and in the liver. In the muscle tissue the carbohydrates are stored as glycogen, these storages are used a source of energy during the training; the higher intensity of the training, the greater part of the energy comes from these glycogen storages. If you train or compete every day it is therefore very important to refill these storages, especially if you do several sessions a day. The last meal before the session might help refill these storages and make sure you are able to maintain intensity and quality throughout the session.

The timing is important

The intake of a meal before training should be planned to avoid stomach problems during the session; the endurance of the digestion depends on the kind of and amount of food. Generally food with a high content of fat, proteins and fibre is harder to digest and can feel “heavy” in the stomach during training. Big amounts of food are harder to digest than smaller amounts. It is recommended to drink with the food and also to chew each bite well to make the digestion easier. Each person has to find the best time for eating before training; this also depends on the kind of activity. If you make low intensity sports or activities where the body does not move too much (cycling, swimming etc) your stomach will tolerate more food than if you are doing sports where the stomach is moving a lot during the activity. Normally it is a good idea to have a main meal 2-3 hours before the training, and a snack about an hour before.

Kinds of food and beverage

The meal before the training should be rich in carbohydrates and also contain some proteins; a moderate content of fibre and fat helps avoiding the risk of having intestine problems during the session. You should choose meals with several nutrients, including vitamins and minerals, to make sure you cover the needs of different nutrients all through the day.

 

How to regulate the blood sugar

Sometimes you can experience how the blood glucose drops with symptoms like exhaustion, tremors and dizziness if you eat carbohydrates just before you start training. If this used to happen to you maybe you should try this:
Try to eat products with a low GI (yoghurt, bread with cereals, pasta al dente, fruit etc) before the session. This gives a slower exchange of glucose during the activity and less exchange of insulin compared to a situation where you eat products with a high GI. Mix some high intensity exercise into the warm-up, this will help stimulate the exchange of glucose from the liver and make sure the blood glucose does not get too low.
Have some carbohydrates during the training.

To train in the morning

It is not always easy to have a proper meal 2-3 hours before training. Neither the less,  if you used to train early in the morning you should try to have a small breakfast more or less 30 min – an hour before you start the session. Cereals with milk, yoghurt, smoothies or fruit are good options together with a bit of liquid. This way you will be able to maintain the intensity and therefore have a more efficient training with higher quality.
Examples on food and beverage to have 2-3 hours before training:
Cereals with skimmed milk and fruit
Thick slices of bread with cereals and cheese/ham/egg/turkey etc
Pasta salad with chicken/tuna fish/egg etc.
Examples on food and beverage to have 1 hour before training
Fruit salad with skimmed yoghurt
Smoothie or liquid yoghurt
Liquid meal
Fruit
Sports/energy bar
Juice

Food and beverage during the training

Performance is closely connected to your body’s hydration level and whether it has fast access to energy. The loss of liquid should always be replaced in sessions lasting more than 30 min in sessions with endurance more than one hour it is also necessary to provide some energy (carbohydrates).
If the session does not last more than an hour normally it would not be necessary to provide the body with any energy during the training. The meals before and after the training will be enough to provide the energy and nutrients required, as long as the meals are correctly put together. An exception would be if you do not have a proper intake of energy or restitution in-between the sessions. You should always be careful with the rehydration in all the sessions lasting more than 30 min because the dehydration reduces the performance significantly.
When you are training or competing for more than an hour you should not only take care of the rehydrating but also have some carbohydrates during the session to be able to maintain the performance. What you choose to eat and drink during the training/competition depends on: The intensity (high intensity burn the carbohydrates faster)Endurance (the more endurance the more carbohydrates you burn) The intake of carbohydrates before you start the session (if you have a meal rich in carbohydrates before the training these will be available during the training) The temperature (the hotter it is, the faster you burn the carbohydrates) The intake of carbohydrates during the training might improve the performance by:
Saving the glycogen storages in the muscle tissue
Maintaining the blood glucose normal during moderate and high intensity sessions, giving extra energy to the muscles that have already used their glycogen storages.

Optimal rehydration

Initially water is the best drink to rehydrate your body, but it is not always ideal to drink just water to replace quite an important loss of liquids as a consequence of the training. In addition to the water you should also have some salts and carbohydrates (f.ex. an energy drink), this will make the uptake of the liquid faster in the intestines. It is important to create routines for the drinking, when you get thirsty you are already so dehydrated that it affects your performance. You should drink frequently before, during and after the training. For most of us it will be ok to drink more or less 0,5 – 1l an hour (depending on the intensity and temperature) distributed evenly throughout the session (each 15 - 20 min).

Sessions shorter than 90 min

Rehydration is always important no matter what kind of exercise we are realizing. To refill with some carbohydrates is also an advantage thinking about the performance if: the activity has an endurance of an hour or more, high intensity interval sessions (even though they might be shorter) and in situations when you do not have full carbo-storages as you start the activity (eg. you  did not eat enough, did not have a total restitution etc.). A lot of people find sports drinks most practical during the training, but alternative sources for carbohydrates could be lemonade, banana, raisins, sports/energy bars etc. with some water (30-60 grams carbohydrate per hour).

Sessions longer than 90 min

When the training/competition has endurance of more than 90 min, it is recommended to have some carbohydrates during the session. This will avoid the feeling of tiredness and help maintain the intensity for longer time.
The intake of carbohydrates should be more or less 30-60 grams per hour and it should have a high GI. You should start taking carbohydrates within the first 30 min of the session, then each 15-20 min. 30-60 grams carbohydrates equals to more or less 5-10 dl sports drink. The sources of carbohydrates can be solid or liquid; sports drink, lemonade, white bread with marmalade or honey, cereal bars, bananas etc. Most people think the easiest solution is a drink with carbohydrates; it is practical and easy to have and it also has a lower risk of provoking intestine problems. Of course this is individual, so the best it to try and see what is best for you.

Ultra endurance sports

People making ultra endurance sports train and compete at a lower intensity during more time. The digestion works as normal while we are training at 70% or below of the HRFmax . This means that you can eat carbohydrate food products with small amounts of protein and fat as well – like cereal bars, sports/energy bars, bread with marmalade, soups (when you are in a cold environment). Liquid meals are very popular amongst cyclists, triathletes, and ultra marathon runners.

Post-training

After the training it is important that the body gets what I needs from nutrients and liquid, only this way the restitution can be optimal. To get an optimal restitution is important to get a maximal effect from the training. It is also important if you want to be able to train more (quantity) and avoid overuse injuries, illness and just getting burned out.

Restitution and performance

Physical activity empties the storages of Glycogen (carbohydrates) in the muscles, increases the use of proteins and loss of liquid and salts as the burning of fat-tissue.
The liquid needs to be replaced as soon as possible after the training since both physical and mental performance, restitution and other daily activities will be affected negatively if you get dehydrated. The liquid loss should be replaced with about 150% (if you lost 1 l of liquid you should replace it with about 1,5 l); you should drink about 5 dl immediately after the session, then less amount frequently during the next couple of hours until your totally rehydrated.
The glycogen storages should also be replaced as soon as possible, especially if you do several sessions a day. You can do this having a meal with quite a lot of carbohydrates just after ending the session; you can also have a smoothie or a kind of sports drink with carbohydrates.
During both strength training and hard cardiovascular training proteins are broken down which make it important to include some proteins in the restitution intake. To have some proteins stimulates the storage of glycogen and helps “repair” and rebuild damaged muscle tissue. The body fat we use in a training session will quickly be replaced at the next meal, as long as we are in an energy balance.

Timing the intake of food and beverage

It is recommended to have a snack soon after the training (within 30 min) this is when the body is most receptive for carbohydrates. This is to get an optimal restitution and be able to maintain the intensity in all our workouts. A bigger meal can be taken at a later point when it is practically possible. Generally it takes about 20 hours to fill the glycogen storages in the muscles, the storages has a speed of about 5% an hour.

Type of food and beverage

The meal after training should consist of:
High levels of carbohydrates
Moderate levels of proteins
Lots of liquids (with salts if it is taken without any food)
If you find it hard to have solid food immediately after training you should try liquid alternatives like milk, homemade smoothies (fruit, milk/yoghurt and ice-cubes), chocolate milk, juices or sports drinks. These are alternatives that can help you refill energy and liquid easily.

Contact BASE on info@basetraining.com Call + 34 629 086 395. site by www.virtuait.com