HOW TO FUEL FOR PEAK PERFORMANCE
Sep 20, 23 | News | 0 Comments
In order to perform at your best, you’ll need to have a diet that not only fuels you, but powers you too. Think of your body as a high-performance sports car with an engine that is finely tuned - premium level fuel is needed for optimal performance. During training, especially if it is training for an event, you need to be giving your body the best fuel possible to help you reach peak performance.
A balanced diet is key to giving your body the correct nutrition. You need to include a variety of wholefoods to ensure you are getting the full nutrient potential of every meal and snack. Your body receives energy in the form of calories, and comes from three sources known as macronutrients. These three energy sources are carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Every meal should ideally incorporate all three of these sources.
Fuelling your body correctly will enable you to:
- Meet your nutrition and energy requirements for your level of training
- Improve endurance performance
- Prime your body for optimal health and body fat levels for performance
- Promote recovery and tissue growth and repair
- Reduce or delay fatigue during training
- Provide adequate fluids to ensure maximum hydration before, during and after exercise
In this article, we will be discussing how you can fuel your body for peak performance through 5 key components: meal times, protein intake, electrolytes, pre-workout and intra-workout. Read on to find out more!
Meal Times
When you stress your body with physical activity it taps into these glycogen stores for energy. If these stores are not full, or consistently not replenished, your body cannot provide you with adequate energy.
You should leave at least an hour after eating before exercising and 3 hours for a larger meal. This will help avoid you feeling sick and nauseous and provide ample time for the food to be digested and absorbed into your system to be used.
Fast-digesting carbs, such as a banana, Protein Crunch bar or Endurance Gel is ideal if you are short on time before working out as they are absorbed into the body faster.
If you know you are in for a particularly challenging and intense workout (such as a marathon or ATHX™ Games event) you should aim to consume carb-rich sources 2-4 hours before to replenish and top up glycogen stores for energy.
Fasted workouts are not ideal, as this can leave you feeling faint, nauseous and with very little energy if you are participating in an intense workout. Not properly fuelling yourself could even lead to injury!
Consuming the right nutrients is just as important as eating before. Following exercise, the rapid replacement of glycogen is important as levels will be depleted. Foods high in carbohydrates and protein should be consumed after exercise, particularly in the first 1-2 hours.
Doing this helps your body:
- decrease muscle protein breakdown
- increase muscle protein synthesis (growth)
- restore glycogen stores
- enhance recovery
Protein Intake
Protein is vital for muscle recovery. If you’re training hard for an event like ATHX, your body needs a good amount of protein to recover adequately. That doesn’t mean you should skimp on fats and carbs, but it does mean that women shouldn’t shy away from protein either - consuming protein will not make you bulky!
For an athlete competing in ATHX, you should be consuming around 1.2 - 1.7g/kg per day, so someone weighing 70kg would need between at least 84 - 119g of protein per day.
You should spread out protein intake regularly throughout the day in order to get the maximum benefit from it. There are so many sources out there that you can easily incorporate protein into your breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks during the day.
You can get your protein from plenty of sources such as chicken, eggs, nuts and Greek yoghurt. Some of our grab-and-go range of protein snacks include:
To view our entire range of protein products, CLICK HERE.
Electrolytes
Fuelling appropriately is incredibly important, but for endurance athletes, it’s not just about solid foods.In order to perform at your absolute best, you need to make sure you’re replenishing your electrolytes, especially if you are working out in hot or humid conditions. Hydrating well before a workout means that you’re giving your organs, cells and tissues the fluids they need to perform at an optimal level. Electrolyte imbalance can lead to a range of issues, so it is important to make sure you’re not just taking in water for longer workouts.
Electrolytes are recommended to be consumed by athletes for a number of reasons, before, during and after exercise. They help the body retain fluid during heavy exercise when you’re sweating, so they can also keep joints lubricated and maintain your energy, avoiding dehydration related fatigue, which can degrade aerobic performance.
Key electrolytes that are essential for athletes to consume include:
- Sodium
- Magnesium
- Calcium
- Potassium
When you sweat and breathe heavily during exercise, you lose fluids. Replenishing lost water and electrolytes therefore should be your number one priority after you’ve finished your workout. Here’s some Applied Nutrition products that can help you replenish your electrolytes:
- BodyFuel Vitamin & Electrolyte Water
- Endurance Carb & Electrolyte Energy Powder
- BCAA Amino Hydrate
- Endurance Hydration Electrolyte Tablets
To view our entire range of Endurance products, CLICK HERE.
Pre-Workout
Nobody shows up to the gym 100% charged and raring to go every time. However, when you’re training for an event like ATHX, it is important that you keep showing up and putting the effort in as the results will speak for themselves on game day.
Sometimes you might need an extra push and a bit of motivation to get you running back to the gym again and put in a good workout.
There are two key types of pre-workout supplements:
- Stimulant-Based Pre-Workouts
These supplements contain ingredients like caffeine, guarana, or green tea extract that provide an immediate energy boost and increase alertness.
- Non-Stimulant Pre-Workouts
Non-stimulant pre-workouts like ABE PUMP are a great option for those sensitive to caffeine or looking for a more sustained energy release.
Applied Nutrition’s ABE Pre-Workout range is designed to take your fitness journey to new heights. Our collection includes:
- ABE Ultimate Pre-Workout
- ABE Stim-Free Pre-Workout
- ABE Ultimate Pre-Workout Shots
- ABE Energy and Performance Cans
- ABE Pre-Workout Gels
ABE is the UK’s best selling pre-workout, and delivers a unique blend of the most researched ergogenic aids and performance ingredients to fuel your physical performance, reduce tiredness and fatigue and to enhance focus throughout your training session.
Rely on ABE to take your performance to the next level. View our entire range of ABE pre-workout products HERE.
Intra-Workout
Intra-workout, or supplementation taken during your workout, are highly beneficial for those looking to accelerate their progress and boost recovery.
If you’ve ever trained for long or hard enough, you may have hit the dreaded “wall of fatigue” during one of your workouts. When you hit this wall, you may feel like you have no energy and have nothing left in the tank.
This is where taking intra-workout supplements can help. Intra-workouts supply the body with readily accessible and fast-digesting carbohydrates as well as ingredients that support blood flow which helps with greater nutrient delivery to muscle cells. Ultimately, this can help you push out more reps across more sets, leading to more gains!
When it comes to taking intra-workouts, you need to consider the length of your training and the intensity of your training.
Intra-workout consumption is crucial to maximising training intensity and getting nutrients to your body when it needs it most. Applied Nutrition’s intra-workout supplements include:
Our ENDURANCE Range provides essential nutrients to help boost performance and recovery, comes in gels and powder form.
Fuelling your body’s engine during your workout is the key to progress and peak performance. Whether you are competing in sports such as long-distance running, cycling, powerlifting or the ATHX™ Games, a balanced, nutritious diet is key to you being able to compete at your best.
To view our full range of supplements to give your training an edge, CLICK HERE.
Written by Shannon Gaskell
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