Sport Health

The sports nutrition that any athlete consumes is a very important aspect and a huge determinant of his health and in turn affects his performance. Everyone knows that in today’s competing world of sports, one must perform at his best to even qualify. And when it comes to winning, it’s not enough to give your best- you need to be better than the best.

To play any sport, an athlete must maintain a healthy lifestyle. It’s not only required to practice and polish the skills of the sport, but is also equally important to nourish the body so that there will be enough energy and strength to play that sport. Let’s take a look at how the right sports nutrition can help in this regard.

You, assuming that you are an athlete or thinking of becoming one, must, first and foremost, understand the principles of sports nutrition completely. What is the point of staying healthy when you do not even know what being healthy is all about?

Firstly, it’s important to avoid engaging yourself in false beliefs and misconceptions. Myths are completely different from facts, and your sports nutrition health is indeed a fact so do not, under any circumstances, mix unreal and unproven principles with facts. Compromising with your health based on misinterpretation of the facts can seriously jeopardize your career as an athlete.

It’s easy to talk about managing your health than actually doing it. So to start with, you must take note of nutrition requirements that are related to your training program. Failure to recognize these said requirements would cause stress not only to your body, but also mentally. When you don’t know what are up against, how can you build energy to tackle it?

Taking experts’ advice on the sports nutrition is helpful too. You might be taking carbohydrates all right but not in the right amount or in the amount that is appropriate for you. So there will either be an excess or a lack, and neither is helpful for your health status.

Let’s make one point clear though. There is a lot of difference between having well balanced sports nutrition and dieting to lose fat. Do not, under any circumstances, mistake them to be the same thing or else your health will be compromised.

You may have an extremely busy schedule, being an athlete and all, but you must still consume appropriate amount of food. So you must manage your time well to have an adequate time for eating. Time management is definitely the key.

For starters, you may not be financially stable right away, but that is how it always is when you are just beginning. However, this scarcity of finances might be a factor for you not to be able to attain adequate food supplies.

For those who are already making it big, your sports nutrition health should always come first. This means you have to manage your money efficiently so that you can have the appropriate supply of food, and still have enough to spend for maintaining your lifestyle.

A usually ignored, but quite important nutrition and health impairing factor is frequent traveling. Besides from the fact that traveling is expensive, it comes with a huge tendency that you will be taking your food on the road which leaves you with very few healthy choices.

Or if you carry the food, it minimized the selection of your food items to those that are portable. That will leave out the food that is difficult for you to carry but is important for your sports nutrition health. The time for eating should also not be modified.

Sports nutrition experts break the nutrition into the basic three types that the food basically is made up of. That is protein, carbohydrates and fats. A correct balance of these components in your body is very important. Anything in excess or in deficiencies could be a cause of a nutritional downfall.

Proteins give energy to the body. Whereas fats are the things that you should be more concerned about since these are the ones that decide what kind of shape to give to your body. You must not lose more than one half pound of fat in a week because if this happens, your body will individually think that you are undergoing a fasting, trying to starve yourself. If this is the case, your metabolism slows down since there is a need to conserve calories that have been used and also since your muscles will be used as sources of energy.

To say the least, you need to carefully follow the guidance about sports nutrition and ponder over the tips given in this article. Remember, it’s possible to be a successful athlete provided you maintain your health well!

If you engage in any regular athletic activity then you have likely experienced the consequences of your attempt to maintain a level of fitness. Muscle strains, pulls and aches are common occurrences of both professional and amateur athletes alike. Sports massage can help reduce the frequency and severity of these ailments. And that’s just the start of the benefits.

Whether you are participating in competitive sports or simply exercising to stay in shape, massage will help you to remain in better condition in general and will help to prevent injuries during competition or workouts. Massage can help an athlete to train more effectively, perform better and recover more quickly.

Vigorous training can lead to muscles that are rigid and inflexible. These muscles may look terrific on your frame but they are vulnerable to injury and may hinder performance. Muscle tension may result in an imbalance within the musculo-skeletal structure and may add stress to joints, ligaments and tendons. A well-trained sports massage therapist can detect these irregularities and, by applying proper techniques, help to restore the flexibility and elasticity that reduces these potentially harmful stresses.

Sports massage is essentially a form of Swedish massage that is designed to relax muscles by applying pressure in a manner that improves circulation in the muscles and flushes out toxins and waste. When muscles are tight circulation is restricted and when blood is not reaching all areas of the muscle properly the tissues are missing out on vital nutrients important for muscle repair. By using massage to loosen muscles, lactic acids, uric acids and other waste will not be restricted in the muscle tissues where they can cause damage.

Massage can be an integral part of anyone’s training regimen. Incorporating massage into an overall fitness program can insure that muscles remain supple and healthy thus insuring the maximum effectiveness during workouts and peak performance during events. Regular massage during training is essentially a maintenance program and helps insure that optimal results are achieved during training by promoting flexibility and avoiding debilitating injuries.

Sports massage can be a crucial component during a specific athletic event. A brief massage session prior to an event will increase the blood flow to the muscles and reduce tension. This will improve flexibility and performance. Massage applied during a sporting event can address any tightness or cramping that may occur and promote recovery from prior activity. After the event, massage helps the athlete to relax and assists in the repair of tissues slightly damaged during the event.

Even with all of the preventive measures taken to avoid muscle damage, it is inevitable that extreme levels of activity will result in aches, cramps strains and pulls. Sports massage is an excellent method for rehabilitating damaged muscles and insuring that training is not disrupted due to severe injuries.

One thing is certain, building a relationship with a sports massage therapist will be of great benefit to an athlete or anyone else interested in maintaining good physical conditioning. A massage therapist that is familiar with your routines, your goals and the tendencies of your muscular system will be able to help you stay fit and perform effectively.

J. Terrence McDermott is the administrator of Massage Schools Guide at http://www.massageschoolsguide.com, a website offering resources for prospective massage therapists. He specializes in online continuing education resources and also administers Access Online Degrees at http://www.accessonlinedegrees.com.

A conference was held in Lausanne in 2003 on Sport nutrition, organised by International Olympic Committee. The meeting was attended by scientists, doctors, dietitians and many other experts and professionals on the topic. Also in attendance was Frankie Fredricks (one of the world’s all-time greatest sprinters) who made sure the issue was much practical. The conference was clear about the role and importance of nutrition in healthy living and sport. Resultantly, it was decided that each athlete taking part in the 2004 edition of the Olympics would be given a booklet on practical guidance on nutrition in sport. This suggests something about the imperatives of good and complete diet which needs to be carefully noted and studied.

The importance and impacts of good nutrition can not be exaggerated nor should it be underestimated. Sportsmen and sportswomen, and indeed active people should take nutrition seriously. Until recently, only body-builders took nutrition as a priority for optimum performance. For healthy living, nutrition is important but for a great performance in sport, it is indispensable. This eventually may determine winning or losing.

The nutrients needed majorly are carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals and water. Different sports have different needs. The requirements of these nutrients stretch between pre-exercise, during-exercise and post-exercise. An athlete’s diets should be the same with that which are needed by the generality, but due to intense training, he/she needs an increase in the amount of nutrients needed.

Nutrition is essentially important for energy (before exercise), recovery, repair, and growth (after exercise).

CARBOHYDRATE

Carbohydrate should be the basis of an athlete’s diet. It is important for storing glycogen. Glycogen is very important as a source of energy for the body. If carbohydrate is lacking, there will be a poor performance due to poor glycogen stores in the muscles and liver. Example of carbohydrate-rich food are bread, pasta, cereal, sports drinks. Eating large amounts of carbohydrate-rich foods can sometimes be difficult for an athlete but this can be conquered by eating smaller, more frequent meals thereby spreading food intake over the day and adding more refined carbohydrate sources such as sports drinks, liquid meal, fruit juices, honey and so on to add to the needed carbohydrates.

PROTEIN

Protein is also an important part of training diet. It performs an important role in post-exercise recovery and repair of broken-down cells. Protein can be derived from plants and animals. Food like fish, egg, milk, chicken, beans are baked beans are rich in protein. Undue emphasis on consumption of protein-rich food should be avoided to prevent (I) Kidney failure (ii) weight gain (if the food is high in fat).

FATS AND OILS

Fats and oils are concentrated source of energy. They are good for delaying pangs of hunger because a food mixture containing fat remains longer in stomach. Therefore, this helps an athlete to stay long in training and delays fatigue. Margarine, butter, fried chips, chocolate, crisps, biscuits and pastries are some of the food containing fats and oils. However, an excess fat may lead to a heart attack or stroke.

VITAMINS

Vitamins are very important both in sports and healthy living. Though there are several vitamins, almost all are needed for strong bone and teeth, and healthy body. For instance, vitamin A is needed for strong bones, good vision and healthy skin. Vitamin D helps calcium and phosphorus to form, strong bones and teeth. Vitamin B helps to maintain healthy skin and a well-functioning nervous system. Vitamin C is essential for healthy teeth, gums and blood vessels. Vitamins are found in fruits and vegetables.

MINERALS

Minerals are inorganic; they are neither animal nor plant. Most minerals are easy to obtain in quantities required by the body because almost all foods contribute to a varied intake of needed minerals. Calcium is a form of minerals and it is needed for strong bones and teeth, and blood clothing. Other important minerals are sodium, potassium, iodine, magnesium, zinc and copper.

WATER

Water makes up about 60% of an adult’s body weight. It helps to regulate body temperature especially during and after training. It also helps in many chemical reactions. High fluid intakes are needed to replace fluid loss from sweat and energy expenditure during and after exercise. Some studies have shown that an athlete that drinks water before thirst stays cooler and performs better than one who drinks on thirst. Therefore, the thirst mechanism should not be relied upon as an indication to drink in order to avoid dehydration which may hinder an athlete’s performance. It is advised and suggested that an athlete drink 400 - 600ml 2 to 3 hours before exercise, 150 - 250ml every 15 to 20 minutes during exercise and 450 - 600ml for 0.5kg of weight lost after exercise.

Incase of deficiency in any of these nutrients, natural food supplements may be needed. However, it should be taken under medical supervision. While natural food supplements work with the body, drugs work on the body. Moreover, it should be noted that excess or lack of any of these nutrients can be very dangerous and disastrous. It should be noted that the intake of a well balanced diet will make unnecessary the use of food supplements.

Diet should be well planned and balanced to optimise athletic performance, delay fatigue and aid recovery. This will also ensure good and healthy living. A good nutrition keeps one away from doctor. “Prevention is better than cure” goes that popular and famous cliche.

A young man. A student in one of the higher institutions in Nigeria.