Basics of proper nutrition in sports

Many novice athletes, and sometimes more experienced ones, do not pay due attention to proper nutrition when training with weights. Most athletes believe that the key to success is hard training and good rest. This statement is undoubtedly correct, but more than 50% of success in intensive training depends on proper nutrition. As the proverb says- "We are what we eat"! And this statement applies to all sports that use strength training to improve athletic performance. So, whether you are a bodybuilder, a powerlifter, or a fitness enthusiast , you must follow the basic recommendations regarding sports nutrition.

Below we will look at the main points and rules of sports nutrition, including time limits, ways to optimize the diet, what to give preference to when choosing products. Let's also look at how to determine the daily amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fat you need, as well as the total number of calories.

DAILY CALORIE ALLOWANCE FOR ATHLETES

Before discussing the main components of nutrition, you need to determine the common denominator that connects all types of products-calorie content.

In recent years, this topic has been discussed a huge number of times, high-calorie diets were replaced by low-calorie ones, then back again, and so on, depending on the fashion. The same applies to protein with carbohydrates and fat. Recently, by the way, American bodybuilding magazines diligently exaggerated the advantages of a high-fat diet over a high-carb one. In General, opinions change very often and you need to put up with it.

The proposed formula, on the other hand, has already been tested and is suitable for most cases. If you follow it and gradually adjust to yourself, you can at least get the optimal diet, nutritious Nirvana, so to speak. The formula, unlike most currently used, is very simple and effective.

If you want to gain muscle mass without accumulating fat deposits, or even slowly destroy the existing extra pounds, you need to multiply your weight in pounds by 13, 14 or 15. 13-if you have a slow metabolism, 14 — if medium and 15 - if fast. For serious and long-time bodybuilders, multiply by 16, 17, or 18, respectively. If you need to lose weight, multiply by 10, 11, or 12 depending on your metabolism.

(1 pound = 0.453 kg, i.e. to find out the weight in pounds, you need to divide your weight in kg by 0.453. for Example, for an athlete weighing 80 kg, his weight in pounds will be equal to-177 pounds )

For example:
male, 200 pounds, slow metabolism, goal is to gain muscle mass and reduce body fat. We multiply 200 by 13 and get 2600 calories a day. Or: female, 105 pounds, fast metabolism, goal is to gain muscle mass without increasing body fat. 105 times 15, you get 1,575 calories a day. When we calculate our daily calorie intake, we need to know how much protein, carbohydrates, and fat we need per day. Roughly, 30-35% of calories should come from protein, 50-60% from carbohydrates, and 10-15% from fat. Each gram of protein or carbohydrates provides approximately 4 calories, and each gram of fat provides 9 calories. Your daily diet should be divided into 5-6 meals. An important point is high-calorie refueling after training.  And do not forget about vitamins and minerals. Buy yourself some fancy multivitamin complex and consume it for your health according to the instructions on the box. Such a nutrition program may well provide you with a so-called healthy lifestyle.

PROTEIN is the head of everything

Protein, also known as protein, is important for muscle tissue repair and growth. The amino acids supplied by proteins form the building blocks for all cells in the human body. Without protein, your internal organs, hair, immune system, and all other body systems can't exist. Bodybuilders need to consume enough protein to perform their daily life functions as well as to restore muscle after training. Daily consumption rates for physically active people have been discussed for many years by sports doctors. The author of this article believes, based on the opinion of sports nutritionists and professional bodybuilders, that a day for a pound of body weight of an athlete should have 1-1. 5 grams of protein. A little less - and the process of recovery and growth will slow down, increasing, on the other hand, will not give any effect. I read somewhere that the body digests and uses about 30 grams of protein per meal, no more.
Do not forget that the energy from protein should be 3-35% of the total daily calories. The aforementioned 200-pound man, who consumes 2,600 calories a day, should therefore eat 215 grams of protein per day, which will give about 33% of the calories. Divide your protein intake in approximately equal proportions throughout the day. If our 200-pound man eats 6 meals a day, he consumes 30 to 40 grams of protein at a time. Protein sources can include foods such as Turkey, chicken, white fish (meaning not sturgeon, but Pollock), lean red meat, egg whites, and all sorts of protein mixes for cocktails.

Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for the body. Carbohydrates can be divided into two categories — simple and complex. Complex carbohydrates should form the basis of your energy supply, excluding the short period after training. Complex carbohydrates break down slowly, causing a moderate increase in blood sugar, which does not lead to a sharp release of insulin.
Consumption of simple carbohydrates causes a rapid rise in blood sugar levels, which leads to an active release of insulin and, as a result, a drop in blood sugar. This makes you feel tired and exhausted, but for 1.5-2 hours after training, your body and muscles are very susceptible to simple carbohydrates. Increasing insulin levels as a result of consuming simple carbohydrates helps fill up your depleted glycogen stores and ultimately helps you recover from intense exercise.
Some experts believe that 60-80% of energy reserves are restored within 1-3 hours after the end of training. In other words, the faster your tired and hungry muscles get high-quality fuel, the better your chances of having a good next workout. But remember, this is the only ideal period for consuming simple carbohydrates. The rest of the time, your energy levels are supported by complex carbohydrates that provide a constant flow of glucose to your muscles. Carbohydrates, it has been said, supply 5-60% of the daily calorie allowance. As with protein, evenly distribute the total required amount of carbohydrates to all meals throughout the day. A good ratio is 2-3 grams of carbohydrates per gram of protein in post-workout meals, and 1-1. 5 grams per 1 gram of protein at normal times. After training, you should get two meals. Once we eat right after the end of training, usually a cocktail or a bar like "tiger milk", the second time is a full dinner an hour and a half after training.
These two meals should contain 30-45% of the daily value of calories and carbohydrates. A useful simple formula: for a pound of your weight, take about half a gram of carbohydrates for each post-workout meal. If you have a high-carb meal before your workout (an hour and a half before), plan your meals for the rest of the day accordingly to balance your diet. Complex carbohydrates are supplied to the body by high-quality pasta, oatmeal, wild rice, legumes, corn, yellow and green vegetables, products made from coarse flour, rye bread. For refueling after a workout, you can use a variety of sports drinks, apples, bananas or oranges.

FATS

The main part of the fat that we need for normal life is provided by the usual daily diet, no additional effort is needed. If the fat intake is excessively reduced, less than 10%, it can have a bad effect on health. Take one tablespoon of vegetable oil, preferably olive oil, or eat a handful of peanuts, and you will provide yourself for a while with important fatty acids that play an important role in growth, recovery, and overall daily well-being.

FOOD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

You have probably been warned more than once that it is bad to eat before going to bed, because what you eat will immediately turn into fat and settle on your sides. This is not quite true, you just need to keep track of the number of calories you get inside. And ruthlessly cut off the extra ones. One of the biggest mistakes sometimes made by a bodybuilder is to spend 10 or more hours without food. If you eat every 2-4 hours during the day to avoid catabolism, what can make you get up in the middle of the night to eat? Vasisualiy Lokhankin like dragging meat from the soup. Here, by the way, is a good example of an incorrect power supply scheme. On the other hand, if you do not eat in the evening, you can negate everything you have achieved during the day. In the evening, you need to eat, but little by little, 1-2 meals rich in protein.

During the night, the body does not need much carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are only needed in small amounts for proper protein absorption. Protein will help keep the body anabolism all night until morning. This promotes the release of growth hormone. Drink a protein shake, eat 3-4 egg whites (pasteurized or boiled), or a Cup of cottage cheese before going to bed. If you get up later to go to the bathroom, don't forget to look in the refrigerator on the way back and have another glass of protein. If you are not used to eating at night, you can limit yourself to taking a set of amino acids. In total, you need 75-125 calories per meal in the evening, and do not forget to turn on the Power with minimal cost.

Here is the basic diet. Everything is primitive, easy to prepare, cheap and relatively balanced, although not perfect. Do you get extra money? Well, we buy a chicken breast and cook it. Reduce the number of eggs eaten, add chicken. For example, at a meal we eat a quarter of a breast and a couple of eggs. There was more money - we start throwing out the yolks, to get saturated fat, we use butter instead. We buy a half-kilogram bag of raisins to throw a handful in the oatmeal in the morning for about a month - it's very smooth when you eat the same thing for months.

You should definitely take a multivitamin. We received a high-calorie, high-protein, low-fat diet. Balanced, including prices. The gastrointestinal tract will work like clockwork due to its high fiber content. There will be enough energy for intensive plowing in the hall. Gorging will not, if we move and let's not get carried away with an overdose of uglevodov.

Nutrition guide for the power athlete.
George Funtikov

An athlete's progress depends entirely on their ability to recover. In this regard, the first place is the ability to eat properly — from food, the athlete receives the necessary energy and building material for new tissues. What does it mean to eat right? It is impossible to answer this question in monosyllables. On the one hand, it is necessary to constantly maintain an anabolism regime in the body, on the other hand, to minimally "force" the enzyme system and digestive tract. It is very easy to put your body under stress through food — it is enough to load a kilogram of quickly digested carbohydrates — you will immediately feel how you will start to warm up in the literal sense of the word. So, how to eat right… Overview of the main nutrients…

Squirrels

Life on earth originated when the atoms coiled in a helix of a protein molecule. Life is, in fact, the existence of protein molecules. Of course, pure materialism… But what can I do… We live in the material world and are made of flesh-the flesh is clear and accessible to us, so we will have to leave the dualistic concepts... when it comes to strength and muscle mass ... for now… Protein is primarily of high molecular weight polypeptides. Simple proteins contain only amino acids, while complex proteins also contain non-amino acid components: heme, vitamin derivatives, carbohydrate and lipid components. Almost everything is made up of protein (connective tissues, enzymes and hormones, etc., etc.) — for us, first of all, it is important to understand that our muscles are made up of protein. The protein structure is polypeptide and consists of amino acids. In total, there are about 300 amino acids in nature, and only 20 are part of fibrillar (muscle) proteins! Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. The body receives protein, in the digestive tract, this protein is attacked by enzymes (enzymes are substances that can accelerate the chemical reaction thousands of times), enzymes destroy the bonds between amino acid residues in the polypeptide protein molecule. Amino acids are absorbed into the blood. It is very important to note that the constant supply of amino acids to the body is important for anabolism.

Carbohydrates

Sugar, policecommunity connection component, without exception, all living organisms. Carbohydrates are divided into monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides. Many tissues have a specific need for glucose, which does not necessarily come from food, since it is easily converted into other dietary carbohydrates either during digestion (starch), or later in the liver (fructose, galactose). Glucose can also be formed from the glycerol component of fats and from glucogenic amino acids during glucogenesis. It is important to remember that any cell receives energy from ATP( adenosine triphosphate), glucose (carbohydrates) — the main source of ATP!

Fats

Lipids — they have no equal in energy intensity, but this is not their main function. First of all, lipids act as solvents for fat-soluble vitamins and serve as a source of essential (essential) polyunsaturated fatty acids, which the body is not able to synthesize (linoleic acid, arachidonic acid). These acids are essential as precursors of leukotrients, prostaglandins, and thromboxanes, which function as "local hormones". Fats are part of nerve cells and hormones, so it is difficult to overestimate their importance.

Dietary fiber

Plant cell wall components (fiber) that are not broken down by animal enzymes; these include cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, resins, pectins, and pentosans. In humans, a fiber-rich diet has a beneficial effect, contributing to water retention during the passage of food through the intestines and the formation of voluminous and soft feces. Such a diet reduces the likelihood of divertors, colon cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

These are organic food substances that are required for normal metabolism in small doses and cannot be synthesized by the body in adequate quantities. There are water-and fat-soluble. Now 13 vitamins are known, but science says that this is not all. Known vitamins: vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Niacin, vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), vitamin B12 (cobalamin), folic acid, pantotheonic acid, Biotin, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K. Vitamins are not a material for biosynthesis or a source of energy. The presence of vitamins in the body is a necessary condition for normal metabolism.

Mineral substances

Micro - (the daily requirement for them does not exceed 100 mg) and macronutrients (the daily requirement is more than 100 mg). These are calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, etc. Mineral substances must necessarily enter the body in the necessary quantities. Proper nutrition implies that proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, micro - and macronutrients should be regularly supplied to the body in reasonable doses.

The main postulates of proper nutrition as it should be:

• the level of amino acids in the blood must be constantly high — this condition is necessary for the synthesis of new tissues and the production of certain hormones (somatotropin, for example)

• energy in the form of glycogen and ATP reserves should always be sufficient

• the body's need for polyunsaturated fatty acids must be adequately met

• the need for vitamins and macronutrients should be adequately met (no more and no less)

• food should be monotonous — the enzyme system easily copes with the usual food as it should not be

• large doses of protein (more than 2.5 grams per 1 kg of body weight) lead to intoxication-protein synthesis is a toxic process-large doses of "fast" carbohydrates are undesirable — this causes hyperglycemia, which in turn will cause a sharp release of insulin (more on this later)

• high doses of vitamins can cause hypervitaminosis

• new types of food are stressful for the body

How to load proteins and amino acids correctly

An ordinary person who is not actively engaged in physical activity should consume about 1 gram of protein per 1 kilogram of their own weight per day. As soon as you put your body under stress in the form of "strength training", the need for protein increases almost twice! Under the influence of force stress, muscle fibers are destroyed... the human body is one of the most self-adaptive systems ... fibers are destroyed and the body does not like it — it tries to thicken the fibers, increase the volume of sarcoplasma, increase the concentration of enzymes, so that the next time this load is not stress-this is the basic principle of growth and increase strength… It is obvious that for a high-quality process of self-adaptation (growth of fibers, etc.), it is necessary to receive building material. This building material is protein structures, or rather the amino acids that they contain.

The composition of muscle proteins includes 20 L-amino acids, 9 of them are essential, that is, the body is not able to synthesize them. The lack of these "essential" amino acids will not only reduce your anabolism, but also lead you to catabolism (breakdown of muscle structures and other tissues) - the body will extract the necessary amino acids by splitting the tissues of your muscles and internal organs! For this reason, your diet should contain foods that consist of full — fledged protein peptides-vegetarians can not make qualitative progress "in strength", since it is scientifically established that plant proteins do not contain the necessary range of essential amino acids. Table of the most available sources of high-quality protein with good assimilation

• the product protein, %
• macaroni 10-13
• cereals 11-12
• buckwheat 12.5
• oat of 13.5
• flakes 2.8
• kefir 14-18
• cottage cheese 23-28
• cheeses 16
• lamb 19
• beef 11-17
• pork 18
• chicken 19.5
• pink salmon 21
• Pollock 16
• carp 16
• sturgeon 16
• herring iwashi 19
• Sudak 19
• cod 17.5
• squid 18
• chicken eggs 12

I deliberately omitted legumes from the table, as this class of plants contains digestive enzyme inhibitors, and plant proteins do not contain the full range of essential amino acids. Plant cells are too thick and often do not respond to the action of intestinal juice, and the plant protein itself is poorly broken down. High levels of amino acids in the blood itself is an anabolizing factor - increases the secretion of somatotropin and gonadotropins.

Dietary cutletskey recommendations…

The most valuable in terms of assimilation and content of amino acids is whey protein, for high-quality recovery, you will have to splurge on a jar of branded whey protein. It should be consumed after a workout. It is followed by egg white in quality and assimilation, but remember that the yolk of an egg contains too many lipids, so if you do not want your liver to fall off at the dawn of years, separate the protein from the yolk (no more than three yolks a day). Meat protein contains all the essential amino acids, its beauty is that it is digested for a long time, which means (unless of course you have problems with digestion) that you provide yourself with a good portion of meat constantly-a high level of amino acids for 2-3 hours. A piece of meat in the stomach can be compared to a piece of salt in water — as a piece of salt gradually dissolves in water, saturating, and a piece of meat constantly saturates the blood with amino acids.

According to their qualities, I would arrange the products like this:

— poultry meat
— lean beef
— lean pork

Fish protein — all well, well absorbed... but the composition of essential amino acids is noticeably inferior to meat....

How to properly load yourself with carbohydrates Proper loading of carbohydrates will help you not only increase your strength endurance, but also increase your metabolism.

Everything you eat (meaning carbohydrates) will eventually take the form of glucose. Glucose easily penetrates into the liver cells and relatively slowly into the cells of extrahepatic tissues. the glucose that Enters the cells is quickly phospholated by the action of hexokinase (an enzyme). When the blood glucose content is normal, the liver supplies glucose to the blood, and when the blood glucose level increases, its output from the liver stops. In a state of hyperglycemia (an increase in blood sugar), glucose intake increases both in the liver and in peripheral tissues. As soon as the glucose level goes through the roof, the pancreas begins to produce insulin. The concentration of this hormone in the blood changes in parallel with the concentration of glucose-the introduction of insulin quickly causes hypoglycemia. Insulin rapidly causes an increase in glucose uptake by adipose tissue and muscle by accelerating glucose transport across cell membranes by transferring glucose carriers from the cytoplasm to the plasma membrane.

In the human body is all very well thought out and balanced, so once the glucose level drops sharply (hypoglycemia) gipersecretornye anterior lobe hormones, which back the action of glucose. These include somatotropin (growth hormone), ACTH (corticotropin). Hypoglycemia stimulates the secretion of growth hormone. It causes a decrease in glucose intake in certain tissues, such as muscles. GR is known to have a growth-stimulating effect.

From all of the above, you need to remember one thing-insulin and GH are antagonists in terms of their effect on carbohydrate metabolism. How do I use this knowledge?

It's very simple — you should avoid a sharp increase in blood glucose. This will help you in training (aerobic) easier to finish working hypoglycemia, followed by increased GH secretion. Avoid sharp increases in glucose concentration is not difficult-try to avoid large dosages of carbohydrates with a high glycemic index (glucose has a glycemic index of 100 — the simpler the structure of the carbohydrate, the higher the index, the faster the blood sugar level increases), your food should contain both mono - and disaccharides in reasonable proportions (they are quickly broken down and the blood glucose level increases quickly), and carbohydrates with branched chains. Try to give preference to polysaccharides — these carbohydrates are broken down for a long time, so the blood sugar level does not jump and does not cause increased insulin secretion. Over time, I promise to post a table of carbohydrates with different glycemic indexes in this article. To make it easier for you to navigate, sources of mono-and disaccharides (glucose, fructose, galactose, sucrose, lactose, maltose):

- fruit (glucose, fructose)
- juices (glucose, fructose)
- sugar (sucrose)
— honey

Carbohydrate processing begins in the mouth - saliva contains the enzyme amylase-so chew your food carefully and wait for the saliva to do its job — the sweet taste should be clearly felt.

As mentioned above, you should avoid simple carbohydrates — your diet should contain no more than 10-20% of the total daily intake of carbohydrates, otherwise insulin will make you a sumo wrestler… However, fructose is 60-80% delayed in the liver, where it" settles " in the form of glycogen, so you can safely drink juices and eat fruit. It is very important to remember that such a carbohydrate as lactose is practically not digested by adults, so milk (which contains this disaccharide) is actually the 5th white death.
complex carbs:

- potatoes, cereals (starch)

Starch, as a complex carbohydrate, is digested slowly, so the split glucose enters the blood in small portions, and we need it.
the most preferred sources of carbohydrates

foods carbohydrates%
honey 80
dates 55
dried apricots 45
apples 10
orange 10
grapes 16
pears 10
raisins 65
juices 12-14
potatoes 20
buckwheat 68
figure 72
oatmeal 53

I always eat the same thing…

Have you ever asked yourself why the highlanders, cut off from civilization, live so long and get sick so little? Of course, clean air, herbs, ecology…

But that's not the main reason — they always eat the same thing!!! They eat monotonous simple and unrefined food day after day, year after year! Their enzyme system (and hence the endocrine system) is not exposed to the stress that inevitably occurs as a result of entering the digestive tract of unfamiliar food. Choose a range of foods that you are good at assimilating and try to limit yourself only to them. as an example, I want to give a list of products that I tried to limit myself to

- chicken, Turkey
— beef
— curd
— bollocks
- whey protein
— rolled oats
— potato
— bananas
— buckwheat
— honey
- almost all fruits and vegetables (except exotic ones)
- sunflower oil

as soon as I limited myself to these products, my immune system noticeably increased, and there were practically no problems with food assimilation.

The delights of separate meals…

Many foods contain inhibitors of certain digestive enzymes. In addition, you already know that a high content of amino acids causes increased secretion of certain anabolizing hormones (in particular, growth hormone). You should also know that a sharp increase in blood sugar causes the secretion of insulin. And since insulin and growth hormone are antagonists, the simultaneous increase in the concentration of sugar and amino acids in the blood is unacceptable. Increased blood sugar blocks the production of growth hormone.
In other words, try to either separate protein from carbohydrates, or look for the most appropriate combination.

Examples of acceptable combinations

- meat and fruit (juices) (containing only fructose)
- broken down amino acids and complex carbohydrates

It is important to remember that many fruits and vegetables contain fiber that is not digested. Fiber can carry meat or any other product digested in the stomach into the intestines. Therefore, fruits and vegetables rich in dietary fiber should be taken before the main meal, as it does not sound paradoxical. Such products as various cereals and potatoes are best taken an hour before taking protein food. As a result, you will significantly reduce not only intestinal intoxication, but also preserve the specific dynamic effect of protein food.

A couple of cooking tips…

Cooking is no less important than choosing and consuming food.
During heat treatment, irreversible changes occur in food:

- vegetables and fruits lose more than half of their vitamins when cooked and stored
- the peptide protein molecule denatures at high temperatures — that is, its biological activity decreases (physically, denaturation can be considered as a disordering of the conformation of the polypeptide chain)
— try to avoid fried food — when frying, carcinogens are formed

Two days in the life of an enforcer…

an example of a diet of an advanced silovik weighing 90 kg ... carbohydrate (conditional) day - "protein" (conditional) day-strength training rest... aerobic load

1. Breakfast

300-400 grams of oatmeal porridge 
2. 2nd Breakfast
8 egg whites and 2-3 yolks
3. lunch
- vegetables (not rich in carbohydrates) 3. lunch
— chicken meat (beef) 300-vegetables (not rich in carbohydrates) grams-chicken meat (beef) 300-500 grams of juice or fruit grams-500 grams of juice or fruit
4. eating before strength training (1.5 hours in advance)

4. meal before aerobic bananas (potatoes, buckwheat) training (1 hour) cottage cheese (protein) - protein in strength training easy-to-digest form intake of fast-digesting carbohydrates special drinks, aerobic training glucose solution
5. post-workout meal 40 grams of whey protein 40 grams of whey protein
6. dinner fruits and vegetables, rich fruits and vegetables, rich in fiber and fructose fiber and fructose meat (fish, poultry) 200-300 meat (fish, poultry) 200-300 grams grams
7. last meal: 250 grams of dietary cottage cheese

total: protein is about 200 — 220 grams, carbohydrates 500 grams, grams of fat and 70-100 grams, calories 3500-3700

If you feel that you are not recovering and are not gaining muscle mass, then try to consistently increase the proportion of carbohydrates first. If you notice that you have slightly gained weight due to an increase in the fat layer, reduce the proportion of carbohydrates. If you are using steroids or there is a month or two left before the competition, then try to provide yourself with high-quality amino acids. As mentioned above, you must constantly maintain an anabolic state in the body, and this requires the constant presence of high levels of amino acids in the blood. Take amino acids 4-5 times a day for 10 grams for 15-25 minutes before meals.

Conclusion

I hope that the above information about nutrition athlete - will be as useful now you can easily calculate the number of calories needed for muscle growth, the protein amount ratio of protein / fats / carbohydrates in your diet. If you train hard, recover well and get all the necessary nutrients with food, then a positive result from your training will not be long in coming. We wish you success and best sports achievements!

You can buy sports nutrition in the sports nutrition store 5lb.ua