“Coach, what do I eat before the game…and practices?”
I hear this from athletes, parents and coaches…thing is, there is so much bad information out there that it’s hard to know what’s legit or not. I’ve been reading articles by Dr. John Berardi for some time now, but when I got a hold of his Precision Nutrition System, I was extremely excited. Below is an excerpt from one of his articles. Stay tuned — I will be sharing much of Dr. Berardi’s nutritional support system.
When you wait until a pre-competition situation to decide to eat
well, you’ve waited far too long. Good nutrition is training
nutrition, the food you eat day in and day out while preparing
for competition day. Simply put, the adaptations that take place
during your training (and the food you eat during this time) are
what lead to successful competition-day performances. Your only
goal during a pre-competition feeding is to not screw things up.
So, what do I mean when I tell you not to screw things up? Well,
check out the following competition-day nutrition mistakes.
Competition Day Mistake #1 – Overeating on Competition Day
Overeating within the few hours leading up to a competition will
certainly screw things up. Some individuals have the notion that
eating a lot before a competition will give them an abundance of
energy for optimal performance; however this is an ineffective
way to fuel the body. Large feedings delay stomach emptying and
therefore this feeding strategy will simply cause sensations of
fullness, a diversion of blood flow from the muscles to the gut,
and a feeling of discomfort during competition. Rather than
eating a lot of food, eating small amount of easily digested food
(and hydrating) during the hours leading up to a competition is
the best way to handle the pre-competition period. If your event
is long in duration, drinking some energy (carbohydrate and
protein) during competition is also a good strategy.
Competition Day Mistake #2 – Eating Novel Foods on Competition
Day Eating foods that are novel or that disturb the gastrointestinal
tract causing gas, the urge to defecate, or stomach cramping will
certainly screw things up. Rather than trying foods or
supplements that you typically don’t eat (including things like
novel energy bars, drinks, and gels – supposed performance
boosters), you should stick with foods that you know will not
upset your stomach.
Competition Day Mistake #3 – Trying to Carb Load on
Competition Day. Athletes often screw things up by attempting to “carb load” prior to competition by having large carbohydrate meals within a few hours of competition. This is an unwise strategy for several reasons. First, carbohydrate loading only is effective during
prolonged exercise (events lasting longer than 90 minutes). For
shorter duration activities (<90 minutes), carb loading isn’t all
that important; so why bother downing all that food and running
into the problems discussed in problem #1 above?
Also, even if carbohydrate loading is required for your event,
eating a big carbohydrate meal is not the same as a targeted
carbohydrate load spread out over 3 days prior to competition.
You don’t get the same muscle glycogen boost.
Finally, eating a large feeding of simple or rapidly digesting
carbohydrates too close to a competition can actually dull mental
acuity and lead to rebound hypoglycemia, a condition in which
blood sugar falls low, high insulin concentrations decrease fat
utilization during exercise, and premature fatigue sets in.
That’s definitely not the way to win your races.
In the 3 situations above, I caution you against common
competition-day mistakes. In the 2 situations below, I want to
caution you against common pre-competition day mistakes.
Pre-Competition Day Mistake #1 – Eating Different Foods or Too
Little Food Before Competition Day Pre-race jitters & concerns, an exhausting travel schedule, and difficulty obtaining good nutrition can all easily lead to poor nutritional choices and under eating. Don’t fall into this trap and screw yourself up by forgetting to bring the foods you know you should be eating, by choosing easily available foods vs.
nutrient dense foods, or by forgetting to eat while traveling.
Instead, you should be following your typical nutritional intake
(hopefully “Precision Nutrition Approved” intake) as closely as
possible. From here, based on your event, you can adjust your
intake by eating less or more food.
Pre-Competition Day Nutrition Problem #2 – The Big Pasta
Dinner
As nutritional intake can be sub-optimal on the days leading up
to competition (discussed above), many athletes will try to make
up for their intake with a big pasta or other carbohydrate dinner
the night before competition. This is the athlete’s attempt at
“carbohydrate loading.” There are a few problems associated with
this. First, carbohydrate loading takes a few days to accomplish – one meal won’t do it. Secondly, not all athletes need to carbohydrate load – for those athletes who don’t, carbohydrate loading can actually be a liability. As mentioned above, specific carbohydrate loading is only really effective for longer duration events. If you’re loading on carbs for shorter duration events, you should be aware that carbohydrate loading can increase body mass anywhere from 0.5 to 2kg; this mass coming from a combination of muscle glycogen and intracellular fluid as carbohydrates hold about 3g of water for every 1g of carbohydrate stored. Therefore, during
shorter duration events, unnecessary carbohydrate loading leads to unnecessary increases in body mass — water weight.
More to come…
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