It has been well established that good or bad nutrition affects a person’s health and performance.
Furthermore, appropriate nutrient needs differ vastly depending on a variety of factors including the stage of life, gender, health status, fitness, environment, preferences, and medication. During a training plan, correct fueling is essential to maximise adaptation thus enhancing strength, stamina, and clarity. Hydration is essential to prevent dehydration and fatigue. Appropriate nutrition will also decrease tiredness and soreness, strengthening the immune system and preventing injury, thereby promoting effective recovery. To enhance the performance of any individual it is therefore important to establish the individual nutrient needs and the interaction between these needs and the demands of training.
To begin, a thorough understanding of the physiological responses is essential to provide the correct nutritional intervention. For example, a female competitive sprinter will regularly engage in high-intensity exercise. The breakdown of ATP and CrP and the degradation of glycogen will be the main sources of energy. Therefore, appropriate carbohydrate quantity and timing are essential to ensure effective glycogen replenishment around training and competition. Careful consideration needs to be made for any female athlete reducing body mass with high energy expenditures, due to the reproductive and skeletal health risks associated with these changes. This athlete will also need specific guidance around event days, such as practical strategies when traveling and pre-race intake. Nutritional factors that influence event performance include the duration of exercise involved, the training status of the athlete, environmental conditions, and the characteristics of the athlete. Body composition will also need to be maintained at a desirable level based on research for optimum performance.
Contrary, A middle-aged overweight male diagnosed with stage 2 hypertension (high blood pressure), who wants to lose body fat and reduce cardiovascular risk factors, should engage in low-intensity exercise with basic resistance movement patterns, relaxation techniques, and lifestyle modifications. Nutritional therapy for this individual should concentrate on education and behavioral change to promote a healthy sustainable energy deficit coupled with continuous support and feedback. Special consideration may need to be made of any drug-nutrient interactions and family history for this type of individual.
All individuals require a comprehensive nutritional assessment, the primary focus being the detection of short term and long term problems that will inhibit performance. Symptoms such as fatigue, slow recovery and poor concentration can all be nutrition related, leading to increased injury risk and poor performance. Correctly performed, the assessment will not only identify individuals who require specific support, but also outline the appropriate nutritional therapy that needs providing, whilst providing valuable benchmarking to monitor response from a dietary perspective.
This combined with an effective medical check and exercise screen should from the base of any training plan.
Once the demands have been understood, ideal body has been established and assessment data collected, the nutrition type, quantity, timing should then be laid out. Energy intake and macronutrient (carbohydrate, protein and fat) composition should not just be based on desirable outcomes, but a realistic reflection on current lifestyle and suitability. Micronutrient requirements may vary significantly depending on many factors including age, gender and nutritional practices. For example, a vegan female triathlete will need to carefully explore iron and B12 intake, due to the increase turnover from training and lower dietary availability of both these essential nutrients.
Around training (and competition if engaging in competitive sport), pre, during and post nutrition strategies need to be executed with precision to ensure optimum performance is achieved. Nutritional factors associated with a decline in performance include dehydration, glycogen depletion, central fatigue, gastrointestinal discomfort and hypoglycemia. Research has proven quite conclusively just a small percentage increase in any of these factors will inhibit performance. Appropriate fueling and hydration strategies to prevent these factors need to be based on the severity of the physiological challenge and genetic factors such as gastric emptying rate, intestinal absorption and salt losses. All of these genetic factors can be tested, but also require a level of trial and improvement before optimum levels are identified. It is for this reason that pre and during nutritional strategies should always be trialled in training before using them in competition.
Final Word
All individuals, regardless of their training status, age, gender and goals require appropriate nutrition intervention when training. This intervention needs to be based on research specific to their population group. Nutrition input should not just be based on desired outcomes, but realistic to the individuals current and future lifestyle and suitability. The key to good coaching is listening to the individuals needs and demands, thereby creating a suitable and sustainable plan that will provide long term physiological and psychological benefits. It is only in this environment will optimum recovery and maximum performance be achieved.
David Griffin BSc (Dip IOC)
