Tony Johnson, one of PJV’s Strength and Conditioning coaches, has some helpful tips for us about athletes and eating right.
Meal Planning For Your Game
We have broken it all down for you now. Think you are done, ready to go out there and win at your game?
Not just yet, but soon you will be. As you have learned, there is much to getting your body fed the right amounts of fuel at the right time. It is not easy, but it can and does get done everyday by athletes.
Now that we have broken it all down, we can start to put it back together for you.
To do that, we will work on developing a pre game plan for what you should eat, how you should eat it and how much you should eat prior to your athletic performance.
What you eat right before your competition or performance is a direct reflection of what will happen in that performance. In short, your body will only perform to the level that you have prepped it for.
Have you ever been mid event only to feel so tired that you just feel as if you can not take just one more step? This is your fuel running out.
If you are a car, you are done, on the side of the road waiting for your driver to refuel you. But, if the driver prepared before the start of the drive, you would not have any problem hitting the destination and doing it in the way that you want to succeed.
It’s Starts Before Game Day
One thing to take note of is the fact that your pre game planning needs to start several days before you actually head out there to compete.
Don’t plan to just wake up, eat breakfast and hit the run. You need to plan several days in advance for what will happen just this one day, this one race, this one competition.
As we talked about, the goal is to store up enough glycogen in your body so that you can withstand what needs to be done during your event. We are not talking about carbohydrate loading, mind you.
This would be something you only do when you are going for a long intense effort, not for a standard event that is short lived.
By following a good regimen, your body will be better able to meet the needs it will be required to meet. The right plan can also do things that you may not have thought of needing to consider.
1. It can help to keep your blood sugar at a level amount which controls your energy amounts.
2. It helps to build up your muscle and liver glycogen that we have talked about.
3. You will have virtually nothing in your stomach at game time, meaning that you do not have that full, can’t do a thing feeling.
4. It helps you to avoid hunger as well as an upset stomach during your event.
5. It finally helps to keep your body completely hydrated so that your energy is flowing where it needs to be during your event.
Now, there are many ways to take the next plan, but we want you to know that this is just a basic plan. It is not necessarily perfect for everyone and definitely will not provide you with a perfect outcome to your events.
But, it can help you to get back on track, get your body ready to go and then allow you to change it up as you see necessarily down the road.
Things You Have To Know
As someone that is competing in an athletic event, you need to position yourself for success and the only way that you can really do that is to provide the necessary fuel for your body.
Here’s a break down of what you should be doing now.
• Your last meal before your event should happen no shorter than three full hours before your event. Do not try to eat a meal right before.
Your stomach will be upset, will weigh you down and you will feel no benefit from the foods consumed.
• Keep yourself fully hydrated for several days before your event. Of course, you really do want to try to always remain hydrated but remember that it takes the body time to re-hydrate itself (sometimes days even) when you are dehydrated.
• Now, the meal before your event should be something that is high in starch. It should be carbohydrate full to allow your body to easily digest it, quickly and effectively, so that you have the necessary power to go.
It is also helpful in maintaining your body’s blood sugar level as well.
• In that meal and maybe even the one before it, limit the amount of protein that you are consuming. Remember, proteins are not meant to be energy. They are harder for the body to digest and will hold you back ultimately.
You definitely do not want to end up dehydrated because you have consumed too many proteins either.
• Do not eat foods or drink fluids that contain caffeine. As you remember, caffeine is something that can cause your body to dehydrate and simply not give you the right outcome.
Even energy drinks that have caffeine in them will ultimately restrict your abilities in the events.
• Do not eat foods that have not been found in our food chart. You do not want to eat foods that are high in sugar at all.
This will really not do anything but keep your energy waning rather than help you to power through.
• Drop the oils. We also mentioned how fats are not a good thing for your body. So, especially in this last meal before your event, limit the foods that you eat that are high in fats.
Do not forget to consider the butter on your pancakes and the oil in your salad dressings. You will find fats everywhere and they need to be noticed.
What Should I Eat?
So you know what you want to eat on that last meal, right? You are right, it does seem limiting, but really, it does not have to be.
Go back to our breakdown of foods that fit well within the categories of carbohydrates (check out the grains!) in proteins (meats and dairy products) and avoid those foods that you find are high in fats.
Really, you can eat anything you want as long as it fits within the calorie suggestions and in the food groups we have listed there.
