Archive for the ‘Drink’ Category

Surviving Summer

Thursday, May 26th, 2011

Bach To Basics Guide To Surviving Summer Without Needing To StartPre-Season As a Fat Bloke

With the season coming to an end, tiredness and fatigue are often present  There is a clear benefit in taking some full rest to allow the neuromuscular system to recover from the years games, training and diet to date. 

However, too much absolute rest will generate muscle loss and poor diet over the summer period will lead to fat gain.

So you need to be careful though not to neglect nutritional elements of your programme as now is the time they will help with these end of the year lows.  Below are 8 reminders to ensure proper recovery continues so you can enter the next phase of competition refreshed.

Make way for summer excess
 
1. Be sure of your own goals and be sure these are the same as your partner and family. Going out for a run on holiday in the morning won’t seem so neglectful if you’ve cleared it with the powers that be beforehand. An hours run will make room for an extra piece of cheese and cake. Plus you’ll sweat out the toxins from the night before.

Booze tactics

2. Alcohol in excess is an anti-performance, anti-nutrient.  The longer it’s in the body and the higher its concentration in the body the more damage it will do.  So if you are going to cane it drinks lots of water before and after the session.  If you can drink water during then do so.  Light aerobic activity will sweat some of the booze out the following day but this only works if you’ve drunk enough water before hand.  Best drinks are spirits with lots of diet mixers and white wine spritzers.
Support you liver if you really love caining it – milk thistle and dandelion if a good start or get a liver formula from you local nutritionist store.

Keep to a routine

3. Keep eating little and often (this shouldn’t be a problem) Try to eat something every 2-3 hours to keep nutrient supply in a steady flow to the muscles. Sometimes meal patterns can go to pot and infrequent larger meals become the order of the day – don’t let this happen, graze, then gorge – its better than starving and then gorging. Starving leads to high levels of insulin sensitivity and active fat storage enzymes and a huge appetite – curb your hunger and make merry.

Fatigue can make food choices more difficult

4. When you get tired it’s natural to crave for carbohydrates.  Try to keep your carbohydrate choices varied and not too wheat based.  Avoid overloading the carbs at night as this will contribute to early morning fatigue and excess body fat. If you’ve succumbs then go back to point 1 – get up and run, run, run!

The source of all life;

5. Keep drinking enough water.  Three litres is a good base. Water will prevent fatigue and improve performance.

Keep training – with weights.

6. If you didn’t ask for weights for a birthday present then you can always get to a local park and do some chins.
You’ll have heaps of additional stored carbohydrates – use them! Get Strong and powerful as part of your new season plan….
Focus on recovery around your training sessions.  Sip a carbohydrate drink during your sessions and make sure adequate carbs and liquid protein are taken in immediately afterwards.

Biggest problem is dropping lean mass in the holiday season – remember regular protein feeds are crucial for muscle maintenance;

7. Don’t forget about protein!  Getting tired of taking shakes all the time is not uncommon.  Get you protein from other sources if you’ve cut back on protein shakes.  Other wise you’ll end up under recovered and you may lose strength and power.  Aim for at least 2 palms at each main meal, and 1 palm for your snacks.

Keep up with supplementation;

8. Keep taking your micronutrients!  Micros are the nuts and bolts which hold the performance machine together.  Keep them in a place where you remember to take them and make sure you order in advance so supplies don’t run too low.

Matt

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Match Day

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

The majority of your recovery and glycogen reserves should already have been made up before match day.  Getting your nutrition right on match day alone will not make up for poor nutrition leading up to the match.

The art of entering an event fully prepared means enough energy has been consumed and is available for use.  Glycogen loading should have taken place over the preceding 72 hours (3 days). The athlete should not feel either hungry or full and be ready to take their pre-match drinks and supplements where appropriate.  This usually means the last solid foods will have been consumed 2 hours earlier with a substantial meal eaten 4-5 hours earlier. Any other nutrients taken pre-match should be in liquid form or be small enough to digest and absorb quickly.

CONCEPTS

• Multiple feedings: 5-8
• Adequate hydration

All original individual nutritional guidelines to apply plus the main pre-match meal should ideally contain 2 servings of starchy low GI carbohydrates, 1 serving of fibrous carbohydrate, 1 serving of protein and 1/2 to 1 serving of essential fats with an optional serving of fruit from bananas, grapes, melon or kiwi. This should be consumed 4-5 hours before the match. Normally this meal would be breakfast.

Match day
The best nutrition to follow is the one you’ve been performing on up till now and you should not make drastic changes to your existing pre match strategy without practicing during training first. However, if you feel your performance could be improved on these days then the following guidelines may be of some use.

Breakfast: Cooked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, eggs, a small amount of lean bacon or sausage followed by a low glycemic, non-wheat based cereal with non-dairy milk. 1-2 slices of whole meal bread or rye bread with a small amount of fruit spread or marmite may also be required.

Brunch: should be a light meal once again from low glycemic carbohydrate with possibly some liquid protein from whey or otherwise. Leading up to the match all other pre-match nutritional strategies should be followed. An example might be a smoothie (see recipes below). Or a chicken sandwich with 1/2 a meal replacement.

Many individuals find it difficult to eat at all on match days and may just have room for breakfast. It is likely in this situation that performance may be limited due to inadequate carbohydrate being available. Often a liquid meal is a good idea in this scenario with the ingredients being able to quickly exit the stomach. One formula we’ve used with success before is: Blend 25g oats with 500ml rice or skimmed milk and a serving of your favourite MRP or protein powder, add 1/2 a banana and maybe a small amount of nuts and seeds with a teaspoon of honey. Ideally this should be taken around 75-90 minutes before the game (you could also try this before a workout). As with all these types of nutritional strategy, practice in training first, gradually assessing tolerance and effectiveness of a particular recipe.

Pre match – Boosters and half time replenishment should be discussed individually with your doctor or nutritionist.

Post match  – Replacing lost carbohydrates and fluids is essential at this stage to ensure training can be resumed at an adequate level during the week. Ensure that you drink 500ml of water for every 1/2 kg of body weight lost during play. Try not to drink this all at once but stager it over the next few hours. Make sure that in addition to the post workout recovery drink you have some ‘real food’ ideally no longer than an hour after the match. For the next 24 hours you should aim to consume approximately 75-100% of your body weight in kg, in grams of carbohydrates each 2-3 hours. This should help fully replenish your carbohydrate reserves. All other nutritional considerations apply during this time.

Smoothie Recipes

1.
2-3 scoops of Chocolate MRP or 1 sachet
20 oz (2 1/2 cups) of skim milk
1/2 cup of low fat or fat-free cottage cheese
2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter
1 tablespoon of linseeds  ½ table spoon of lecithin  granules

2.
2 -3 scoops vanilla MRP or 1 sachet
1 container (3.9 oz) natural unsweetened apple sauce
Cinnamon as desired
Cold water (Add more or less based on the consistency you want.)
1 tablespoon of linseeds  ½ table spoon of lecithin  granules

3.
2 scoops MRP or 1 sachet
2-3 Tbsp. of sugar-free instant pudding (rice pudding)
Five ice cubes
Cold water
1 tablespoon of linseeds  ½ table spoon of lecithin  granules

 Matt

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Water

Sunday, May 15th, 2011

WATERRugby - Water

Hydration is a crucial part of life itself, and water loses of a mere one or two percent of your body weight can impair function both mentally and physically. [1] Losses of seven percent or more may bring you down for the count, disrupting your delicate balance and resulting in total body collapse. (ibid) Dehydrate a muscle by just 3% and you will cause a loss of about 10% loss of contractile strength, and an 8% loss in speed. [2] [3] The average sedentary adult male requires at least 12 cups of fluids per day, the average woman, nine cups. [4]

The most important nutrient in your body is plain water and it is vitally important that we consume clean water. This does not unfortunately mean tap water, which on average contains around 550 part per million of contaminants. If you ingest this sort of level of pollution your brain, muscles and internal organs will all become contaminated and contribute massively to your toxic load, ability to detoxify and may complicate or directly cause a myriad of unwelcome symptoms.

When we consider the feminisation of nature concept (expand) and the fact that scientists have found that drugs and xenoestrogens are making their way into our water supply one must wonder what the consequences of this type of exposure are on our health.  As 90% of excreted drugs can remain biologically active and recently Thomas A. Ternes, a German chemist found traces of 30 out of 60 commonly used pharmaceutical drugs to be present in treated water, sewage and rivers there seems to be a definite case for  obtaining pure water for your consumption.

Possible results of drinking these types of contaminated water include:

  • Increased hormonal imbalances
  • Decreasing sperm counts as a nation levels of sperm have decreased from x in 1900 to y today
  • Possible carcinogenic substances
  • Antibiotic resistant virulent strains of bacteria [5]
  • How do you obtain clean water?

Because the bottled water industry is largely self-regulating and may often contain similar pollutants found in tap water it is better to filter your own water. To prevent these toxic contaminants building up in your body the two best ways to purify your water include distilling and reverse osmosis. Distilling your water with a home distiller will result in your water being around 10-12 ppm. The next best and often most practical method is installing a reverse osmosis unit under the sink. These types of unit result in your water being taken from 550 ppm to 20-40 ppm which when you consider the impact water has on your health is a massive and easily obtainable reduction in your toxic load.

Concepts:         Clear urine indicates proper hydration

Thirst: poor indicator reliance on this mechanism results in 50-75% hydration. 4

If you exercise remember to weigh yourself both before and after the workout.

Drink before you exercise and often during exercise. 1-2 cups one hour before and half a

cup or more each 15-20 mins during your event. [6]

[1] L.E. Armstrong and Y. Epstein, “Fluid-Electrolyte Balance During Labour and Exercise: Concepts and Misconceptions,” Intern. J. of Sports Nutr. 1. (1999): 1-12

[2] Sawka MN, et al. Influence of hydration level and body fluids on exercise performance in the heat. Journal of the American Medical Association 1984; 252:1165-1169

[3] Armstrong, LE, Costill DL, Fink WJ. Influence on diuretic-induced dehydration on competitive running performance. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 1985; 17:456-461

[4] S.M. Kleiner, “Water: An Essential but Overlooked Nutrient,” J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 99.2(1999): 200-206

[5] Information obtained from Science News vol 153, March 21, 1998.”Drugged Waters: Does it matter that pharmaceuticals are turning up in water supplies?”

[6] W.A. Latzka and S.J. Montain,”Water and Electrolyte Requirements for Exercise,” Clin. Sports. Med. 18.3 (1999): 513-524

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