NEWS & EVENTS
 
You may be surprised by how simple these
are. It's not a matter of crack some magic code; it's a matter of taking
care of the things you already know are important. 1) Drink PLENTY of water. Maintaining proper hydration has positive implications on both mental and physical performance. Bluntly, it means you'll be smarter and feel better if you drink enough water. To put this in context, plenty is not 6-8 cups a day. That's BARELY adequate for completely sedentary people on low caloric diets. As a starting point, you should be drinking AT LEAST double that. If you're like most people, you're not even close. It's never too late to start. Increase your water intake significantly. You'll likely be making many more trips to the bathroom than you're used to, but that will cut back within a couple weeks when your body gets used to being fueled properly. 2) Sleep! Everyone's sleep needs are different, but in general, most people should be getting 7-9 hours of QUALITY sleep. As in wake up in a pool of drool sleep. Wake up with no feeling in your arm because you didn't move all night sleep. DEEP, QUALITY sleep. If you get 7 and you consistently wake up feeling tired, you need more sleep to recover from the stresses you're experiencing (through training or other aspects of your life). Remember that this should be consistent from night to night. Your body doesn't adjust well to 5 days of a lack of rest during the week, and then two days of excessive sleep on the weekend. Make it a priority to get a good night's sleep every night. 3) Proper Nutrition. This comes in two parts: General Nutrition, and training-specific nutrition. With regards to general nutrition, it's important that you eat adequate calories from QUALITY sources. This includes as many servings of vegetables as you can tolerate throughout the day, fats from olive oil, nuts, and cold-water fish (e.g. salmon), and carbohydrates from whole grain/high fiber sources. As a reminder, your carbohydrate intake should be determined by your activity level. The more medium-high intensity activity you do, the more carbohydrates you need. Training-specific nutrition is pretty straight forward. Consuming a liquid source of simple carbohydrates and rapidly digesting protein (e.g. whey protein) immediately after your training helps replenish glycogen (read: carbohydrate) stores within the body and stimulate protein synthesis (read: rebuilding). It shouldn't be hard to see why this would be advantageous. There is now research to support consuming these "shakes" immediately before and/or during your training, so the nutrients are readily available as your body begins to break down. Think of it as "on the fly" recovery. Personally, I usually make a half shake and sip it while I train, then make another half shake and drink it immediately after. Following these three simple (well, at least
they're simple conceptually...maybe not so simple to implement) strategies will
help you maximize your rate of recovery, allowing you to get the most out of
your training. Keep training hard. Keep training
smart. -Kevin Neeld, BSc, MS, CSCS, Director of Athletic Development P.S. If you enjoyed this topic today, please feel free to forward this to any of your friends and family that may be interested. If you haven't yet, make sure you sign up for our newsletter. Newsletter subscribers are the first to hear about new programs, specials, scholarships, and other opportunities to maximize their training results.
Bookmark:
|
|
Search Posts
CategoriesEndeavor in the Media Athletic Development Nutrition Advice Weight Loss Golf Training Endeavor Training Maximum Strength Endeavor Athlete Success Back Pain Supplements Injury Prevention Hockey Training Quote of the Week Training Intangibles Power Development Core Training Sport-Specific Conditioning Endeavor Nutrition Coaching Monthly Archives  |
