PRE-GAME MEALS
General Nutrition Tips:
Maintaining a heathly diet is key for achieving maximum performance in sports. This means eating three or more well balanced meals each day. As an athlete, your body needs more energy and if it does not receive that energy your performance will suffer.
Make sure you are getting enough calories from the right sources. Below are a few general tips, but to read a more in-depth discussion of a healthy diet, including how many calories you should be eating based on your particular sport and where those calories should be coming from, click here.
- Calcium: Make sure you are getting enough calcium to keep you bones strong. The National Dairy Council recommends a "3-a-day" plan - that is, make sure you get at least three servings of milk, cheese, or yogurt each day. Other good sources of calcium include fortified juices, broccoli, shrimp, and spinach. Keep in mind that soda, alcohol, and smoking cigarettes can interfere with calcium absoprtion.
- Protein: to build muscle. Good sources include: meat, fish, poultry, eggs, diary products, grain, bread, beans, and peanut butter. If you include these items in your diet you will easily obtain enough protein to avoid needing protein supplements.
- Iron: to avoid anemia. Good sources of iron include: all meats (especially beef and liver), refried beans, spinach, and most cereals. Both guys and girls need iron, but girls need more iron due to increased loses of iron during menstruation (iron is inside blood cells that are lost with periods).
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STAYING HYDRATED
General Hydration Tips:
Staying hydrated before, during, and after a sporting event is important for achieving maximum performance. Below are a few general tips, but to read a more in-depth discussion of hydration click here.
- Cool water is absorbed faster than warm water.
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Drink 16 ounces of water 30-60minutes
BEFORE athletic activity
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Drink 4-8 ounces of water every 15-30 minutes
DURING activity
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Drink 16 ounces of water for every 1 pound of weight lost
AFTER activity.
- Weigh yourself before and after sporting activity to gauge how much water you need to drink. Most of the weight you lose is from lost water.
Isn't gatorade or powerade the best drink for playing sports and quenching thirst?
NO! Unless activity is very intense and lasts longer than 90 minutes, water is just as good if not better than special sports drinks. Gatorade has sugar in it, which makes it harder for your body to absorb the fluid you need while you are playing sports. On the other hand, gatorade does provide electrolytes your body needs, but as long as you have a healthy diet and are not running a marathon, water would probably be your best bet.
What is the problem with drinking sodas to rehydrate during sports?
Drinking soda while you are doing something active and sweating can actually make you more dehydrated and your performance could suffer. Sodas with caffeine act as "diuretics," which means they make you pee out more water than your body wants to. |  |
What's so bad about drinking a lot of sugar?
In addition to rotting your teeth, sugar is rapidly taken up by cells causing a quick energy rush, then energy lull. If caloric expenditure does not equal caloric intake, then sugar is easily convereted to fat as storage.
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PREVENTING INJURIES
- Warm-up: About 15-20 minutes of warming up with light activity and stretching is a good idea before starting an event. It allows your muscles to prepare for more strenuous activity, and helps prevent over-stretcing and tearing.
- Practice: Practice a sport or activity at your own pace before playing competitively. Strengthening the muscle groups you will be using can help prevent you from injuring them during the event.
- The 10% Rule: This rule means to increase the amount of practice or training your do by no more than 10% per week (For example: if you run on average 10 miles per week and want to increase that...start by increasing it by 1 mile (10%) per week) By slowly increasing the amount you train you can avoid inflammation of tendons, stress fractures, and other injuries.
- Stay Active:During the "off-season" it is important to keep exercising. By staying in shape you can avoid over exerting yourself when the season starts up again.
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STEROIDS & SUPPLEMENTS
Below is a brief summary on performance enhancing supplements. It is very important to realize that these products are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the part of the government which approves things we consume (i.e. food and drugs, duh) to make sure they are safe. In addition to the FDA not checking out the safety of these products, the companies who manufacture them have little incentive to do research to make sure they are safe.
In general you should consult with a physician before beginning any supplement, regardless of what your teammates or coach may tell you.
| Over-the-counter (OTC) Athletic Supplements |
| Product Category | Claimed Benefits | Facts |
Amino Acids
BCAA stack, Glutacine GH, Glutamine powder, Max Glutamine, Max Pro, Primo Max, Pro Complex, Supreme Pure Whey | increase muscle mass | no proven benefit |
Specific amino acids
L-Arginine, L-Ornithine | Stimulates release of growth hormone | studies disprove theory; can cause nausea and diarrhea in high doses |
Androstenedione
Andro, 1-AD, Andro 150 Poppers, Duratestin, Dyma-Bol 300, MAG10, Tesro Gel, Tribex 500 | May increase muscle mass and strength, by raising levels of testosterone in the blood | Reduces the natural level of testosterone; the long term effects are unknown; May cause a risk to your cardiovascular system; banned by the IOC, NCAA, and NFL |
B-hydroxy B-methylbutyrate
HMB | May improve muscle repair after a workout | One study found some strength benefit without side effects; adverse effects, however, remain unknown |
Creatine
Cell-tech, Creatine Monohydrate, Juiced Creatine, Phosphagen XT, Swole-Jingle Juice | induces energy production in cells | potential for kidney damage, muscle cramps, nausea, diarrhea; studies do show benefits too |
Dehydroepiandrosterone
DHEA complex | Increases muscle mass and strength by raising testosterone in blood | long term effects unknown; banned by the IOC and NCAA |
Ephedra/Caffeine & Amphetamines
Ma huang, guarana, BetaLean, Diet Fuel, red bull, Ripped Fuel, Xenadrine | May increase metabolism, energy, endurance, and reaction times | Causes anxiety, heart arrhythmias, high blood pressure, hallucinations, addiction, and possibly death |
Estrogen Inhibitors
6-OXO, Biotest M, Tribulus Fuel | inhibits estrogen activity to enhance muscle development | reduces estrogen activity; unknown long term effects |
| Other Athletic Supplements |
| Product Category | Claimed Benefits | Facts |
Human Growth Hormone
hGH | May stimulate body growth to increase muscle mass | Can develop resistance, myopathic muscles, carpal tunnel syndrome; banned by the IOC |
Erythropoietin
EPO or "doping" | Increases endurance by increasing the number of red blood cells to carry oxygen | The increase in the number of cells in your blood causes your blood to become more viscous, or thick; this can lead to a heart attack or blood getting clogged inyour lung (a "pulmonary embolism"); banned by all sports |
Anabolic Steroids
Testosterone, "T", designer steroids, tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) | Increases muscle mass; decreases body fat | Testicular shrinking, liver damage, heart disease, clogging arteries, high blood pressure, heart attacks, sudden death from heart problems, less control of aggression; banned by the IOC, NCAA, NFL, NBA, MLB |
*IOC= International Olympic Committee; NCAA= National Collegiate Athletic Association; NFL= National Football League; NBA= National Basketball Association; MLB= Major League Baseball
The information in these tables is from multiple sources:
Mangus, Brent EdD, ATC, "Supplement use by adolescents,"Contemporary Pediatrics, September 2003; Vol. 20, No. 9, p100.
Tokish, J. et al, "Ergogenic Aids: A Review of Basic Science, Performance, Side Effects, and Status in Sports," The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 32:1543-1553, 2004
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Pre-Game Meals