Eating For Winners – Part Two: During Competition
Here’s part 2 of the ‘Eating For Winners’ Series of articles. Part One is Here.
WHY YOU NEED TO EAT DURING COMPETITION
During any high-intensity exercise your body is going to need a lot of energy, the reason athletes get fatigued, cramp up and injured during the later stages of competition is because they just run out of ENERGY! High intensity exercise includes weight lifting, rugby, football, tennis and any sport that requires repeated, intense activity for upwards of 60mins.
The energy source used is called GLYCOGEN, and it is derived from all the carbohydrate (carbs) you should’ve eaten if you’ve read Part One!
The benefits of ingesting carbohydrate during exercise include:
- You can play at a HIGHER intensity for LONGER when you eat or drink carbs DURING your performance.
- Your skill performance is going to be helped as you can last LONGER before exhaustion.
- You will immediately use what you ingest for energy, saving your body’s stores of glycogen, so you will perform BETTER during the LATER STAGES of competition.
- You will feel like you have more ENERGY, so you’re gonna play HARDER.
- You will have better protection against headaches, light headedness and nausea during AND after exercise
WHAT YOU NEED TO EAT DURING COMPETITION
Prepare correctly using part one of this article series. This method should be used in conjunction with a good diet, NOT as a replacement or alternative!
Here is your plan to follow during competition:
1) For every 60 minutes of exercise ingest 60g of carbohydrate in a liquid (sports drink) or solid form (energy gels).
Fluid sources of carbohydrates also help prevent dehydration, so would be a wise choice!
2) Ingest sugary carbs as these are absorbed and used for energy quicker than other carb sources.
Sports drinks are a great idea, just read the labels and make sure you’re getting enough sugars in your body to support an awesome performance!
That’s it! During competition you gotta focus on winning! Not on your diet. So prepare your body correctly using the right nutrition, and carry through that winning mentality with a simple but effective diet strategy on competition days!
Now go kick some ass!
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Anthony Shaw
Raw Strength