Earlier tonight, now he's digging deep. The crowd is roaring, their hero is coming on.
Will it be a fairy tale? Flop is coming in after Hall. They're matching strokes now.
Flop on terms with Hall. They've got about 15 minutes to swim. Flop is over Hall again.
Whirl and flop. Flop's in front. Flop and Hall. Flop goes in. Australia win. New world record!
In the modern world of sport, making it to the top requires commitment at many levels.
These days it's no longer sufficient to rely on fitness, good skills and a desire to win.
Hi, I'm Matthew Egans and in this video we'll be exploring one of the hot issues
in sports performance, a winning diet. We have just, the Australians have just broken
the American stranglehold on this race. The roof is lifting up this stadium.
It is the stock of legends, Ian Brooke.
Athletes and teams in many sports are turning to nutrition as a new tool in their preparation
for winning performances. With me I have Dr Louise Burke, Head of Sports Nutrition
at the Australian Institute of Sport. Louise, can a good diet produce a champion?
Well Matthew, there's no single factor that can turn an ordinary person into a sporting legend.
A few athletes seem to excel on talent alone. However, most good athletes need to make a
serious commitment to being at their best. The right parents, the right training and the right
skills are all important factors in performance, but eating well is also part of the package.
It makes sense if winning an Olympic gold medal is your goal, but is nutrition important for those
who are playing sport at a junior or recreation level? Athletes of all ages and levels will
benefit from eating well. It's part of knowing you're at your best and enjoying what you're doing,
and that's rewarding, whatever your level of sport. So, what is a winning diet? There is no
secret formula or magic eating plan that works for everyone. Eating well is specific to you.
To your special nutritional needs and to your schedule of training and competition.
In this video, past and present day athletes will tell us about their special challenges.
The winning diet isn't just for the day or the game or race. For most athletes, the hours spent
in preparation and training will far outnumber the time spent in the competition arena. Every
day eating must tackle a number of goals. Pool training for me means two or three sessions a day
in the pool or in the gym. I need to eat so I can recover quickly from session to session
and perform at my best. Training is the time to get into top shape. A winning diet and training
program will help me reach my ideal playing weight, whether that means losing body fat or gaining
muscle. I know I can't play at my best unless I look after my needs for vitamins, proteins and
minerals. I know that a heavy training program can increase my requirements for some of these,
so I need to eat nutritious foods. I like to eat foods that taste good and that I can enjoy with
my family and friends. I want all of us to enjoy the benefits of a winning diet, but I don't want
to give up all my favourite things. For all games, I need to have my nutrition strategies just right.
Knowing what to eat before a game and what to drink during a game. I need to try new ideas
of practice so that I can fine-tune my tactics and be confident of success. Let us now examine
some guidelines for a winning diet to see how these goals can be achieved in everyday eating.
In Australia, we enjoy an abundance of food choices. There are thousands of different food
products on supermarket shelves. Most fruits and vegetables are available all year round instead
of brief seasons, and we can dine out on the cuisine of any country of our fancy. Despite this,
many of us think that there are only two types of food, good foods and bad foods. Some people
even think that a good diet means giving up all the foods that are bad for us, often the foods
they love the most. The good news from nutritionists is that no foods are good or bad by themselves,
and that no food needs to be completely banished from the winning diet. The first rule of a winning
diet is to explore and enjoy the variety of foods around us. Variety helps us not only to enjoy what
we eat, but makes sure that we can find our nutrient needs from a range of good food sources.
The food pyramid developed by nutrition experts illustrates good use of foods. All foods may be
eaten, but priority is given to the nutritious choices that best look after the special needs
of training. Although some popular diet books have spread the myth that certain foods shouldn't be
eaten together, the truth is that meals are improved by mixing and matching foods. In fact,
many foods combine cleverly to enhance the nutritional value of the total meal.
Carbohydrate foods play a vital role as the critical source of fuel for exercising muscles,
a little from blood glucose and a larger amount from glycogen stored in your muscles.
These stores can only provide for up to a couple of hours continuous exercise,
and therefore must constantly be refilled from the carbohydrate in your diet.
Running low on carbohydrate causes fatigue. You have probably experienced how bad it feels
to run out of fuel. The more you train, the greater your daily carbohydrate needs are.
Athletes who train every day can find it difficult to recover their muscle glycogen levels day in,
day out, and may gradually deplete body carbohydrate stores. This is often the cause of tiredness and
ineffective training. Typical Australian eating habits do not provide adequate carbohydrate,
and the focus of a winning diet is to increase our intake of these fuel foods.
For general health benefits and to provide energy for a light to moderate training program,
our servings of carbohydrate foods should make up more than half of our total energy intake.
Athletes in heavy daily training may need to eat higher levels again.
Eating a high carbohydrate diet means making some changes to your typical eating patterns.
The first step is to eat a high carbohydrate diet.
The first step is to identify high carbohydrate foods, especially those that are good sources of
other nutrients. These foods, which should become number one priority in your meal plans,
include breakfast cereals, the wonderful variety of breads, as well as scones, pancakes,
and other foods made from flour, rice, pasta, and noodles, fruit in all its forms,
legumes such as beans and lentils, and starchy vegetables, principally potatoes and corn.
Sweetened and fruit containing dairy foods such as yogurts, fruit, and fruit smoothies
are also nutritious high carbohydrate sources. A winning diet may mean trying some new foods,
but the biggest change is to increase the size of the carbohydrate portion at meals.
But the biggest change is to increase the size of the carbohydrate portion at meals.
Whereas typical Australian meals focus on a protein rich food, such as meat, fish or chicken,
the winning diet turns the plate inside out to put the fuel foods first.
Sometimes it's as simple as dishing up the carbohydrate foods first
and leaving less room for other parts of the meal.
Other times, we might cook recipes that make a carbohydrate food, like rice, pasta or potatoes,
the main ingredient. Although other vegetables and salad are good sources of some vitamins,
minerals and fibre, and are important in our diet, it is worth remembering that they generally
do not contribute large amounts of carbohydrate. Check for other carbohydrate foods at your meals.
Finally, sugar provides another form of carbohydrate in our diet. Sugar and sugary foods are often
favourites in our diet, although we recognise that they do not generally provide many other nutrients.
However, with nutritious carbohydrate foods being the number one priority of our meals,
there is room in a winning diet to enjoy some less nutrient rich choices.
In fact, there are some situations when sugar based foods are actually handy. For example,
a compact form of carbohydrate is best if you want to refuel during a long training session.
And for those needing to eat very high carbohydrate intakes, it can be difficult
to chew your way through a diet of bulky, high fibre foods. Sugary foods can be added
to a nutritious carbohydrate menu to top up total fuel intake.
For most Australians, a high fat diet is second nature. Although our body needs some fats and oils,
our typical eating patterns well exceed these requirements. The health disadvantages of high
fat eating include an increased risk of being overweight, heart disease and some cancers.
For an athlete, the most immediate problem is that a high fat intake displaces some of the
energy we really need from carbohydrate foods. In a winning diet, lower fat eating makes way
for our new fuel foods. Cutting back a little on fats and oils is good for all athletes. However,
if you are also concerned with losing some body fat or keeping it off, then you may need to increase
your low fat strategies. Most of us don't set out to intentionally eat fat. A significant amount of
the fats and oils in our diet is found inside other foods or added to meals in cooking or preparation.
Meats and dairy products are important in our diet as rich sources of protein and iron or calcium.
A winning diet might mean trimming the size of the serves on our plate, but even more importantly,
means trimming the fat content of these foods. This can be achieved by simple means, choosing
lean cuts of meat and chicken and removing all visible fat and skin. Supermarkets now carry a
range of dairy products in low fat and reduced fat forms for you to try. You'll see a lot of
new products in low fat and low fat products. You'll soon get used to the new taste.
Meal preparation and cooking should also benefit from low fat ideas. Use cooking techniques that
require minimum fat or oil and hold back on adding margarine, butter, cream and oily dressings to
foods. When you put your mind to it, you can often do with less fat without spoiling the taste.
Always be aware of the hidden fat inside them. Takeaway fried and battered foods are obviously
greasy, but did you realise that there is a significant amount of fat hidden inside pastries,
cakes and even healthy looking baked goods? Pasta dishes based on oily or creamy sauces
can also be a high fat trap. High fat and sugar combinations are best enjoyed as treats
rather than staple foods in your diet. Explore recipe books based on low fat cooking and learn
to read food labels to identify lower fat foods. Don't be confused by claims of low cholesterol.
It's the total oil or fat content of a food that's important. Light is another term it's confusing.
It can often mean light in flavour, colour or salt rather than low in fat. Check labels
carefully.
Each day we need to replace about two litres of fluid to balance general body losses, even before
sweat losses during training are taken into account. Sweating is our body's way of getting
rid of the heat generated by exercise and sweating rates increase as the work becomes harder or the
environment becomes hotter. Being in fluid balance means replacing losses from day to day,
but also preventing dehydration during each training session. You can't train your body to
get used to being dehydrated just like your car can't be trained to run with an empty radiator.
Fluid needs will be important to your competition strategies so start to develop good drinking
habits in advance. Apart from the practice you can look forward to better training when you are
better hydrated. Good luck or even thirst is not the basis of a good fluid balance plan. Be organized
rather than haphazard with drinking plenty of fluids over the day. Drinking at meals and snacks
may be enough for some athletes, but when sweat losses are high you may need to keep a supply of
refreshing fluids on hand over the day. Don't overlook water as a great choice. Drinking before,
during and after a training session is important. Many athletes are not aware of the extent of their
sweat losses. For a quick estimate weigh yourself before and after exercise. After accounting for
after accounting for any drink consumed during training each kilogram of weight change is roughly
equal to a litre of fluid. Some athletes are pleased to see the scales lower at the end of
training thinking that they've lost weight. In fact this is only a temporary fluid shift
and will be regained as soon as you have a drink. What's more dehydration will detract from your
training. Aim to keep fluid deficits below a kilogram at a session. Water may be most accessible
for most training sessions however sports drinks or cordial are also suitable and may provide extra
energy during long training sessions. Make sure that fluids are available whenever and wherever you
train. Alcohol has a strong link with sport for his sponsorship. Although we have no need to drink
alcohol in a winning diet it can still be part of the healthy lifestyle of an athlete. Whether you
drink it all is a personal decision. Unfortunately some sports people use alcohol badly in terms of
their health but also their performance. There are many community health messages that remind us of
the problems associated with single or repeated occasions of heavy drinking. One of the issues
overlooked in some sports is the effect of alcohol on recovery after exercise. Many athletes who drink
heavily after training and competition forget or ignore the guidelines for recovery or for looking
after injuries. If you intend to enjoy a drink after training or competition make sure that you
have already refuelled and rehydrated with high carbohydrate foods and drinks. Beer is not a good
source of carbohydrate and causes less efficient rehydration than non-alcoholic drinks. Put first
things first then drink in moderation. Now that we know how foods fit into a winning diet we must
arrange the winning diet to fit our total nutritional needs and our daily timetable. How much you need
to eat depends on how much energy you expend and whether you wish to maintain your current weight
and body fat levels. These factors will vary from athlete to athlete and at times you may want to
change the balance to lose or gain weight. In other words eat enough to keep your weight and body fat
on target and don't worry if this seems to be different to other athletes. We should also arrange
our daily plan of meals and snacks to keep pace with our energy needs. Skipping meals particularly
breakfast and overeating later on is a typical trap. This is not good for get up and go nor for
weight control. Get into a healthy eating rhythm that fits in with your training times and other
daily commitments such as work or school. These guidelines form the backbone of a winning diet
but all of us may put them into practice a little differently since we all have different food
preferences and daily timetables. There may be some issues that are of particular concern to you.
I know I need to eat plenty of carbohydrate foods but is there anything else I can do to help my
recovery after a training session? Eating enough carbohydrate to replace fuel stores is important
in daily recovery but so is the timing of food intake. Recent research has shown that effective
refuelling can't take place until you have eaten a substantial amount of carbohydrate. A hungry muscle
is looking for a quick fix of carbohydrate and perhaps some protein to begin refuelling and
rebuilding. Of course rehydrating is also part of the job. If you are training more than once a day
it makes sense to work on your recovery techniques. Rehydrate quickly after a long workout.
Remember that sports drink, cordial or fruit juice will provide carbohydrate as well as fluid. Try to
schedule a snack or your next meal within 30 to 60 minutes after a heavy training session.
Many athletes do not feel like eating after a tough workout. In this situation drinks or light
snacks can be a more inviting option. Nutritious snacks providing carbohydrate and protein include
cereal with milk, flavoured yogurt, sports bars, a fruit smoothie or a sandwich. If home is not close
or there are no suitable food shops handy it's a good plan to take a snack with you to training.
Many well-organised clubs or teams provide recovery drinks and snacks for their players at the
training venue particularly on nights when players may have to stay back for a meeting.
Hot snacks include a hearty soup and rolls, healthy pizzas with low-fat toppings or a pasta meal.
How can I make sure that my players go home and eat a high carbohydrate meal?
Some of the fellows can go home to home cooking with their families but many of our players are
young and single and living on their own. What can they do? Moving away from home can place a lot of
pressure on a young athlete. It can be hard to get organised on the domestic scene when you are used
to mum looking after you. Many young athletes lack nutrition knowledge and cooking skills
and this is not helped by arriving home tired from a late training session to find the cupboards there.
It is a critical time in a sporting career and poor nutrition can often be a downfall.
A committed athlete and a wise team will identify problems early and find a way to deal with them.
Find practical ways to make good nutrition part of the program. There are many hints for quick and
healthy cooking. Products such as commercial pasta sauces, frozen vegetable mixes or pizza bases can
be used to construct high carbohydrate rice, pasta, stir fry or pizza meals. There are great recipe
ideas and healthy cookbooks including some books written especially for athletes. Sports dietitians
working with teams in sporting clubs often run cooking classes or supermarket visits to help
athletes become organised with shopping and preparing food. There are many time-saving
cooking strategies such as cooking in batches so that leftovers can be frozen and microwaved at a
later date. What about takeaways? I like them after a late night at the club especially after
one of Sheezer's legendary meetings. Are they really that bad for me? Most takeaway foods are
not a good basis for everyday eating since they tend to be high in fat and low in carbohydrate
and fibre as well as expensive. However if you're eating on the run takeaways can be useful. With a
little thought you should be able to order a lower fat good carbohydrate choice. Pizza and hamburgers
can be chosen with low fat ideas in mind and there are many variations on pasta, rice and bread themes.
Don't be afraid to ask for what you want. With a little creativity you should be able to choose
well from the menu or come up with your own ideas. Of course being well organised means that sometimes
you may be able to bring your own snacks from home or come up with a quick meal in your own kitchen.
How do I bulk up to get stronger and do I need to eat extra protein to get bigger?
Improved strength or muscle bulk is principally a result of doing the right thing.
Of course filling out can also be a process of gradually maturing in age and training.
You may need to work with your coach to set body size and strength goals and to decide on a suitable
resistance training program. There is no magic food or protein powder that provides a shortcut
to results or a replacement for the right training. Extra protein is not the chief nutritional need
for muscle gain. Instead extra energy intake should be your goal. Extra quantities of winning diet
will provide additional carbohydrate to fuel your training and plenty of protein and other nutrients
to build the result. Some athletes in heavy training may have to work on the same principles
to stop unwanted weight loss. Although it may sound like heaven, eating more food can be a hard
task for those with very high energy requirements. Finding the time and the right foods to eat can
be a problem for athletes with hectic timetables. Sometimes the size of meals can outweigh comfortable
eating capacity. The key to increasing your food intake is to increase the number of times you can
eat each day, especially the sort of snacks that can be eaten on the run.
And although we generally choose the high fibre choices of carbohydrate foods, this is a time when
it's useful to include more of the less bulky types, sugar based foods and white breads and cereals
instead of whole meal types. Action packed drinks are nutritious, yet less filling than solid foods.
You can make a healthy meal with a healthy diet, but you can also make a healthy meal with a
nutritious, yet less filling than solid foods. You can make up your own fruit smoothies by blending
up milk, fruit, yoghurt or little ice cream and skim milk powder for an extra boost. Another option
is commercial liquid meal supplements. These are specially manufactured to provide compact energy
and nutrients. How do I lose body fat, especially if I've gained weight during a break from training
or a break caused by injury? Although athletes talk about being overweight, it is excess body
fat that slows you down. Skin fold fat measurements, the pinch test, are often used to assess body fat
levels. You should work with your coach to identify a weight and body fat level that correspond with
good health and good performance. At some time during their career, most athletes need to lose
body fat to reach their ideal level. This should be achieved by changing energy balance, so that
daily energy expenditure exceeds daily energy intake. This may require changes to both food
intake and training. Losing body fat is a long-term goal. A consistent loss of half a kilogram per
week is a good target for most athletes. This can be achieved with a small reduction in energy intake
each day. A sports dietitian can help you to plan a suitable eating program, but you may be able to
pinpoint eating habits to change yourself. It's useful to keep a food record for a week to face
the truth about what really goes into your mouth. Look for improvements that you can make in the
following three areas. One, eating too much food. For example, overeating because you've let yourself
get too hungry, or when you eat what everybody else is eating. Two, eating too much fat.
Three, eating because you are bored or upset. Consistency with your new eating habits will
achieve and maintain your body fat goals. Are there any special nutritional needs for females?
I've heard iron and calcium can be a problem. For many female athletes, the struggle to keep body
weight and body fat at a desirable level becomes the dominant issue of nutrition. In some cases,
it can take over your life and make eating and sport activities that should be pleasurable,
full of misery and frustration. Part of this problem is in setting targets that are healthy,
good for performance and achievable. This is understandable since in our society females are
rarely satisfied with their shape and weight no matter what it is. Even when loss of body fat is
warranted, many female athletes attempted to follow quick loss schemes and fad diets, risking
frustration and failure to achieve long-term weight control as well as the risk of nutritional
deficiencies. Your menstrual cycle is often a casualty of inappropriate weight loss and other
poor nutrition practices. Whatever the cause, absent or irregular periods should always be
discussed with your sports doctor. Hormone balance is important for the health of your bones.
Strong bones are not only important for your sporting career but also to reduce the risk of
osteoporosis later in life. It is important to set yourself a healthy weight and body fat level and
a happy attitude about your body. It is often useful to get some expert help with this. Even
if it seems that male athletes have an easier time with their body fat levels, be pleased with all
the benefits of your winning diet. Iron and calcium are important nutrients for all athletes
but are often in short supply in the diets of female athletes. The best calcium sources are
dairy products with low fat and reduced fat types playing a major role in a winning diet.
We should all include at least three serves in our daily food plans. For example,
two glasses of low fat milk and a carton of yoghurt. Calcium is important for strong healthy
bones, especially during teenage years when peak bone mass is being laid down.
A regular menstrual cycle is also important for this process.
Iron is important for good oxygen carrying capacity in your blood and muscles and iron
deficiency may cause fatigue and loss of performance in heavily training athletes.
Many athletes find it difficult to meet the iron needs of heavy training
and female athletes have even greater requirements to cover additional iron losses due to menstruation.
Lean red meat is a great source of well-absorbed iron and should be included regularly in a varied diet.
Whole grain cereal foods, particularly breakfast cereals, are another good source of iron.
Consuming a vitamin C food at the same meal is a clever plan since this helps the iron
content food sources to be better absorbed.
Although tiredness can be caused by a number of factors, if you're feeling unnecessarily fatigued
and you think you may be at risk of a poor iron intake, then check in with a sports doctor or
dietitian. Iron supplements may be part of treating iron deficiency but it is also important to
take the best long-term plan. Iron supplements may be part of treating iron deficiency but they
should only be taken on the advice of these experts. The best long-term plan is a winning diet
high in iron. Vegetarian eaters should seek special help from a sports dietitian to ensure that they
find alternative sources of iron in their meals.
Do I need to take supplements? There seem to be so many to choose from and they all promise great
results. The sports world is filled with advertisements and stories about supplements that
claim to improve speed, strength, leanness and endurance. The range is never ending and the
promises attempting. However, there are no shortcuts to the top. Many of these supplements have
either not been tested or have not lived up to their claims when tests have been conducted.
It is also possible that the benefits seen by some athletes come from the power of positive
thinking. Seeing a change because you believe in something is known as a placebo effect.
While it is possible that future research will prove the benefits of new supplements,
do not lose sight of the factors that can really improve your performance. A winning diet, good
training, the right equipment and a winning attitude. Of course, there are some supplements
that can be part of a winning diet. In this video, we have already seen that supplements such as
sports drinks, sports bars and liquid meal supplements can be very useful in meeting
important nutritional needs in sport. These supplements are a tailor-made and practical way
to provide nutrition at special times, particularly during and after exercise. However, the benefits
come not from the supplement itself but from knowing how to use the supplement as part of
your nutrition plan. Creatine is the hottest new supplement on the market and unlike many of the
products that hit the headlines each month, it has undergone the scrutiny of scientific research.
Sports scientists have found that creatine supplementation programs can increase muscle
stores of this fuel source and enhance recovery between high intensity workouts with short rest
intervals. Although further research is needed to determine benefits to the performance of specific
types of sports and to confirm the lack of long-term side effects, creatine may be a useful aid for some
athletes in particular activities. A sports dietitian can help you with further expert advice
about these and other supplements. Competition day calls for special preparation to see you
ready and confident to put yourself on the line. Now is the time to eat to win. A 50k walk is a
four to five hour event. I need to take special steps to load up my muscle fuel stores before I
race. Heating the wall by running out of fuel is no fun so I take care to prepare well before I race.
Matches are a real endurance event for many players. We've done measurements on some of
our running players and many midfielders run between 18 and 22 kilometers in a game,
much of it at very high intensity. I need to know that my players have prepared properly.
They need to make sure that their muscles have got enough fuel to keep them running until the
final siren. Games can be won or lost in the last few minutes. Matches can turn into a real endurance
event. Many times I've played matches that stretch into four or five hour contests. I need to make
sure my muscles have got fuel to keep me running right to the end whether it's one hour or five.
It's hard to know what to eat before a match and when to eat it. There's rarely a rigid timetable
of matches and tournaments. If I'm the second or third match on court three it's hard to judge
whether my match will start in two hours or six hours. How can I organize my pre-match meal so
that I'm not taking the court feeling full and uncomfortable or getting hungry in the middle of
a match? It's hard to keep hydrated during a match. I sweat a lot when I play particularly when it's
hot. Sometimes there's a furnace out there on court. I've heard that the temperatures on centre
court during the Australian Open have been close to 50 degrees. How important is it to drink during
a game? Even when I load up before an event I will need more carbohydrate fuel to race well.
Therefore I need to consume a sports drink during my race. Extra carbohydrate will keep my muscles
working well and keep me feeling good. Running out of fuel in endurance events interferes with
work output and the ability to think clearly. To win the flag you have to be able to bounce back
after one hard game and be at full strength for the next. The draw no longer guarantees seven
days for recovery and I expect the team to train solid during the week. Good recovery is one of the
most important factors in a successful team. So I want my players to eat to recover. Recovery is the
name of the game in tournaments and on road trips. On road trips we can play two or three games. At a
tournament we may have to play every day for a week or 10 days. How can I eat to maintain good
performance day in day out? As you have seen competition nutrition strategies will vary
according to the needs of your sport and the practical consideration of your competition
timetable and rules. However the following guidelines should help you gain that winning edge.
Fueling up body carbohydrate stores is a key part of competition preparation. Some athletes think
that this activity involves great gluttony over the days or night before a competition, often
involving foods of low nutritional value. This type of preparation could be called garbo loading
rather than carbolo and could leave the athlete feeling full and uncomfortable. In addition if
high fat foods have been eaten instead of true high carbohydrate foods then muscle fuel stores
may not fully benefit. You should already be an expert at high carbohydrate eating since this is
the basis of the winning training diet. You might like to further increase high carbohydrate foods
in the meals leading up to competition but stick to the eating patterns that you know and trust.
24 hours of tapered training or rest together with high carbohydrate eating will ensure well
stocked muscle fuel stores suitable for most events. Carbohydrate loading is a more specialized
version of fuelling up for competition. It's a strategy used by endurance and ultra endurance
athletes whose events last two hours or longer. Although it has enjoyed a lot of hype and mystery
in simple terms carbohydrate loading is just an extended period of fuelling up. By extending the
exercise taper and high carbohydrate eating to three days before the event, muscle glycogen levels
are lifted above their normal stores. This extra fuel won't make the athlete go faster but will
prolong the time that they can maintain their optimal race pace. Not all athletes can manage
the ingredients of relative rest and a high carbohydrate intake and may need help from a
sports dietician to plan a menu. It makes sense to use low bulk and compact carbohydrate foods
and drinks to meet fuel intake goals comfortably. While some marathon runners in the past did a
depletion phase before loading to enhance their muscle glycogen gains, this is not considered
necessary by modern sports scientists. In fact trying to complete the last week of training
while depleted can make you feel weak and psyched out. If your event will benefit from extra
glycogen stores stick to the three-day fuelling program.
The pre-event meal provides a final opportunity to top up fuel and fluid levels and this may be
important if you're still in recovery mode from your last event or workout. Most importantly
your last meal should keep you feeling comfortable throughout the competition. It can often be
difficult to eat anything if pre-event nerves leave you with butterflies in the stomach.
A high carbohydrate, low fat meal or snack is the perfect choice for a pre-event meal.
Depending on the time of day you might like to adapt one of the meals that is already part of
your everyday winning diet. It's best to eat bigger meals three to four hours before you compete.
Although a light snack can usually be eaten one to two hours before your warm up.
Liquid meal supplements are better tolerated than a solid meal particularly if you're feeling nervous.
Each athlete has their own routine based on practice in training and fine-tuned with
competition experience. Develop a plan that works for you.
Unless sweat losses are replaced during exercise an athlete will become dehydrated.
Most of us know that severe levels of dehydration have a dramatic effect on exercise performance.
But even small fluid losses reduce performance and increase your feeling of effort. Of course
the effects at lower levels are more subtle. You may not notice dehydration slowly eating away at
your performance. However well before the effects seem obvious your work output has dropped and your
skills and concentration have deteriorated. A good fluid intake is a crucial part of your
competition strategy and you'll be pleased that you practice this in training.
In an ideal world an athlete would drink enough fluid to cover all sweat losses during their event.
However in the real world of sport this is not usually practical or possible.
A realistic goal is to use all opportunities to drink what is practical and comfortable in your sport.
At best most athletes replace only 50 percent of their fluid losses during the event.
So there's plenty of room for improvement. Each sport offers different opportunities to drink
and different factors that limit fluid intake. In most team and court sports there are formal breaks
between sessions of play which provide a perfect time to grab a drink. In some codes the player
can also drink during quiet passages of the game or in formal breaks in play.
Important strategies to promote fluid intake include making sure that drinks are available within easy reach.
Individual drink bottles are a great idea to make each athlete responsible and aware of their own intake.
Continuous events such as running, cycling and triathlon races pose a special challenge.
Although a network of aid stations may provide supplies to competitors fluid intake must
occur literally on the run. Many athletes are reluctant to take time out to slow down and grab a drink.
Others may be fearful that fluids drunk on the move might cause gastric upsets.
Both problems can be overcome with practice and creative drinking strategies.
With special drink bottles and fluid delivery systems you can learn to grab a drink or consume
fluids without losing a stride or your aerodynamic position. Remember that lost time can be made up by
better performance due to better hydration. A special issue to note is that one side effect of
dehydration is an increased risk of gastric upsets. Some players who feel sick or uncomfortable after
stopping for a fluid break often blame the drink for their problems. The real problem however is
dehydration caused by not drinking sooner.
You may have experienced the feeling of running out of legs or running low on fuel during your
competition. This is typical in prolonged events that require athletes to exercise at high
intensities for many hours. The problem is that the
feeling is hitting the wall or perhaps bonking. But you can also run out of fuel in shorter events
or games when these are part of a busy competition schedule such as road trips or tournaments.
When workouts or events are close together it can be hard to fully refuel in between.
You can provide extra fuel by consuming carbohydrate during the event. This strategy
has been shown to benefit performance in events lasting longer than 90 minutes. But recent
research has shown that enhancements might also occur in events of as little as one hour duration.
You should experiment to see if carbohydrate intake works for your sport and for you.
Some athletes eat food during their event to provide extra carbohydrate fuel.
Fruit, sports bars and confectionery items are popular choices. However one disadvantage of solid
foods is that they may cause stomach discomfort particularly during high intensity exercise.
Sports drinks provide an alternative and more practical way to refuel during exercise.
The special formula of fluid, carbohydrate and electrolytes
is a combination of a
quality
fluid intake as its first advantage.
The formula also provides efficient delivery of carbohydrate while rehydrating the athlete.
Some people think that sports drinks are only useful to elite athletes.
Since they are more expensive than plain water, it's important to consider if they provide
value for money.
The answer concerns nutritional needs rather than sporting talent.
If you are involved in a sport in which you are sweating and depleting fuel stores, then
a sports drink provides a simple answer to meet your special needs.
Good use of a sports drink will improve your endurance and performance.
This represents value, whether the outcome is a gold medal, a personal best or simply
your enjoyment of an exercise session.
Nevertheless, if expense is a problem, a cordial mix can provide a cheaper option.
Most competition schedules call for rapid recovery between events.
Refuelling and rehydrating should become a priority in your post-competition activities.
Don't waste important time straight after the event when your body is most receptive
to fluid, carbohydrate and other recovery nutrients.
You may have to juggle eating and drinking with other commitments.
Sports drinks will help with speedy recovery and you may have developed some favourite
recovery snacks among your training tactics.
Competition venues may not always provide access to suitable foods and drinks.
Sometimes you may be glad that you brought your own supplies.
Good planning will see you bouncing back to face a new opponent.
I finish many games late at night.
Should I eat then?
Isn't it bad to go to bed with a full stomach?
Even when I finish a game or practice in the early evening, I don't feel like taking the
time to prepare and cook a meal.
I just want to eat quickly and get to bed.
Many sedentary people eat most of their days intake at the end of the day when they're
most inactive.
These are the people who should try to reduce their night time snacking.
However, for an athlete who's just finished a game or training late in the evening, eating
is an important part of the recovery process.
It is hard to find the time and energy to cook a meal when you arrive home late.
If you're living in a family situation, you may be lucky to have all your meals cooked
for you.
Hopefully all the family are enjoying high carbohydrate eating and you can simply heat
up your meal when you get home.
If you're looking after your own meals, then it's a great idea to cook ahead.
There may be time before your game to prepare a meal or you can save some leftovers from
a previous occasion.
When games are really late, you may be able to eat a hot meal as your pre-game meal and
eat a lighter snack after the game.
Portable snacks mentioned before may be taken to the game and eaten immediately afterwards
or on the trip home.
An action packed drink or bowl of cereal are other high carbohydrate snacks that can be
quickly prepared when you get home.
Playing internationally means going on the road and living out of hotels.
How can I make sure that I eat well when on tours when restaurants and takeaways are off
in the way of life?
Travelling can become a way of life for the elite player.
Teams may provide players with the daily allowance to look after their own food requirements
or better still, the team manager may organise a schedule of meals and snacks to suit nutritional
requirements and the timetable.
Team eating can be a great way to look after team spirit as well as food needs.
Most restaurants or hotels can supply a suitable high carbohydrate menu, especially if you
organise this ahead of time.
It's a good idea to arrange buffet style service since this is a quicker way to provide
food to a large group and allows each athlete to choose exactly what they want.
But take care when you are eating in groups or in all you can eat situations.
It can be easy to lose the plot and overeat treats or total meal size.
Just worry about what other people are eating.
Eat just what you need.
There will be plenty of time for celebrating afterwards.
Overseas trips are part of the life of an elite swimmer.
What do I need to think about when we are overseas?
It can be a challenge to look after your winning diet when you are overseas, particularly in
a country with different food customs and a different language.
Differences in the hygiene standards of some countries create a risk of gastrointestinal
bugs, although some athletes have also succumbed to travellers trots in quite safe sounding
destinations.
Planning ahead is the best policy.
A sports doctor or dietitian can help your team manager to plan suitable strategies for
your trip location and will advise which local foods are safe and where the bottled water
should be considered instead of the local water supply.
Many athletes take a small food supply with them on their travels, perhaps some favourite
foods or important foods that might be difficult to find in a new country.
Special menus and requests can be organised with restaurants and airlines ahead of time
so that your winning diet will be waiting for you.
Where can I find more information about a winning diet and where can I go to get more
specialised advice?
There are a number of ways to follow up the ideas in this video.
Recommended reading includes the complete guide to food for sports performance, peak performance
and recipe books such as Survival for the Fittest, The Taste of Fitness and Food for
Sport Cookbook.
These books are available through all good bookshops.
If you are having problems with your diet or would like specialised help and individual
planning, a sports dietitian is the expert you need.
Contact Sports Dietitians Australia or the branch of Sports Medicine Australia in your
state to find a sports dietitian in your area.
We hope that this video has helped to explain the importance of a winning diet and more
importantly how to achieve it.
While there's no such thing as a magic diet, we can promise you that eating well is part
of the recipe for achieving your sporting goals.
And that's a magic feeling.
We have just, the Australians have just broken the American Stranglehold on this race.
The group is lifting off this stadium.
It is the stuff of legend.
We that are talking about is the winner, this person who has been enemy, who is not saying
and
.