Sports Performance

Different capacities and skills
Every sport requires different capacities and skills, and it is only natural to think that this requires different nutrition patterns. That much is obvious when one compares a sprinter with a weightlifter. But the issue may become somewhat confusing if to these two one adds a marathon runner and a decathlon athlete. Yet it is clear that to a sprinter, instant reactions and peak output for a relatively brief period are essential. To a weightlifter, on the other hand, force output is the major requirement for an even briefer period than for a sprinter. For a marathon runner, endurance is what makes champions. While a decathlon athlete requires all of these qualities and then some, considering the number of events and grueling schedules to which such athletes have to submit. The question is, how can nutrition help the performance of such different athletes?

Example 1: The endurance athlete
Let us take the marathon runner as an example, and other athletes for whom endurance is an essential attribute, like cyclists, cross-country skiers, mountaineers, boxers, tennis, basketball, hockey and football players, and so on. The principal fuel of the organism is glucose, stored in the form of glycogen in the liver and muscles. For normal living, this could last for almost an entire day. But a marathon runner would exhaust his stores of glycogen and start burning fat, before he completes his run. The exhaustion of glycogen is followed by fatigue, earlier known as "hitting the wall," and this by a drop in athletic performance, because fat as a fuel is not as efficient as glycogen.

But now marathon runners and other endurance athletes can learn the method of glycogen packing, which is also known as glycogen supercompensation or carbohydrate loading. When glycogen is exhausted, the organism gradually learns to store more glycogen in the liver and muscles. This allows the athlete to complete his task, before having to change fuel.

Example 2: The power athlete
Now take another example from track and field, this time power athletes like sprinters and hurdlers. Unlike the endurance athletes who, unless trained to practice glycogen packing, depend on oxidative energy (fat burning), power athletes use immediate energy systems that are not oxidative, in other words, that do not use oxygen.

By far the most immediate system is that known as the CP-ATP process. Creatine phosphate (CP) is a compound produced in the body and stored in the muscles. When broken down by enzymes, it generates adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which when broken down in turn triggers muscle contraction. This kind of energy however is available for a short time only. It must be obvious that the appropriate nutrition here is bound to be different from that for an endurance athlete. These two simple examples should be enough to show that different sport capacities and skills require different nutrition patterns.

Our program
It is not a very long time ago when athletes in general thought that a good steak was all that was required before a competition. When the folly of using protein and fat as energy sources for athletes was realized, this was replaced by pasta and other carbohydrates. Now we know that no single dietary regimen can accommodate all athletes, for the simple reason that all athletes do not use the same energy sources of the body. Equally, not all athletes have the same blood group, or the same genetic code. That is why in all cases, an individualized program related to your physical and metabolic needs, and the special requirements of your sport or fitness activity will be provided.

 

Briefly, our program offers,

  1. Comprehensive measures. The identification of the energy sources and systems your particular sporting activity and metabolic needs require.
  2. Diet. What foods to eat, how to eat them, what to cut down or eliminate at least just prior to competition, or when energy is most needed.
  3. Nutritional supplements. What vitamins, minerals, trace elements, amino acids, fatty acids, enzymes, soluble and insoluble fiber you may need, the dosages and time to take them so as to avoid nutrient interactions.
  4. Botanical support. What standardized herbal preparations may be of direct or indirect help for your sporting activity.
  5. Lifestyle changes. Small but significant changes in lifestyle that may help you achieve your goals easier and faster,