Guest Blog from TrueFitness: Nutrition

When training to improve your performance it is very important that you consider your nutrition along with the physical part of the training. Athletes are not going to get better is they are not eating properly. A race car will only run as well as the fuel you put in it. An athlete is a race car so the fuel they use is very important in determining their potential ability and thus their performance in their sport.

The right fuel for an athlete is partially determined by the type of event the athlete is in. We will be talking about Rugby since this is a Rugby blog. Now all partying and alcohol aside, the fuel that is chosen and the amounts eaten will give the athlete the ability to reach their potential, maximize their ability and develop an athletic body with low body fat and explosive powerful musculature.

So what should and shouldn’t an athlete’s diet consist of is an easy question to answer. Eliminate fried foods!!!! Eat healthy complex carbohydrates, lean cuts of meat for protein and plenty of a variety of vegetables. Fruits early in the day are a good source of carbs so be sure to add them. Low fat dairy is also vital. Be sure to eat Omega 3 and Omega 6 fats while avoiding foods high in saturated fats. Now it’s a matter of what kinds of foods provide me with these nutrients. We will begin by discussing what has come to be known as good carbs and bad carbs. Good and bad carbs come down to the discussion of whole grains and enriched grains and whether or not your food is giving you nutritional value or is simply empty calories. So the next paragraph will “begin” to clear the muck of what should and should not be eaten in regards to carbohydrates.

Now I am going to get into a discussion on whole grains, enriched grains and the whole mess of why carbs are actually good for you. For carbohydrates you are looking for whole grain. What “whole grain” means is that is complete and wasn’t stripped of it nutritional value and it provides you with all the value that nature provides in this product. It wasn’t stripped of its fiber and endosperm. You want “whole grains” in your diet so that you get all the nutritional value possible out of your food and you are not eating “empty calories”. “Enriched Grains” are what the food industry labels food that are stripped of its beneficial nutrients and replaced with nitrogen and fillers to replace “some” caloric value. However, all the nutrients that make the food beneficial are taken out so eating “enriched grains” equates to eating “empty calories”. An athlete needs to maximize the benefit of their caloric intake and empty calories can interfere with this possibility. Although “empty calories” are not essentially bad for you they do provide no nutritional value other than the calories. This can lead to overeating and can limit the likelihood of proper nutrition and can actually hinder weight loss. If someone is trying to lose weight then ‘empty calories” can give them more than their daily intake should allow for. Some athletes need to lose weight and decrease their total body fat and “empty calories” will not help with losing weight and body fat. For athletes trying to gain weight, the calories they take in are just as important as they need to also maximize benefit since it can be hard to eat the amount of calories needed that an athlete can potentially burn in a day. It is common for an athlete to need 6000-8000 calories a day when training so in order to put on muscle the athlete must eat at or above their daily need. 6000 calories is a lot of meals in one day so an athlete really needs to properly plan out their meals with as much nutritional value in each meal as possible to give them the ability to add the necessary muscle.

This blog is just a beginning on the discussion of nutrition and is merely a starting point as we get further and further into the nutritional needs of an athlete as they prepare for their sport. We will follow up with more in depth looks into carbs, proteins and fats and how other micronutrients play a role in our athletic performance

Anyone in the San Diego area is welcome to drop in at our studio at 2949 Garnet Ave. 3rd floor, Pacific Beach, CA. We would love to put you through our workout. Please feel free to call or email Spencer Aiken, CSCS (951) 296-7993 email:spencer@truefitness.biz

Article written by Spencer Aiken, CSCS, CEO, TrueFitness