For an athlete looking to create the greatest platform to build lean muscle mass, enhance recovery, and increase sport performance, it is absolutely vital to ensure that not only an appropriate training stimulus is met, but nutrition is optimized as well! Proper nutrition considerations for an athlete can ensure that these performance-enhancing benefits are met.

Now, to begin, there is always the misconception being raised that a training stimulus alone will allow an athlete to become leaner, faster and stronger; therefore increasing performance benefit without necessarily paying close attention to their respective nutrition status. Although this may be true to a certain extent, there is much benefit that is not being taken advantage of with a poor diet! Below are a few benefits associated with proper sport nutrition protocols and nutrient timing strategies for the athlete to take into consideration to substantially increase performance enhancement! This article will bring about the importance of post-exercise or post-competition feeding whether you are an endurance athlete (marathons, triathlons, etc.) or a strength/power athlete (Olympic Weightlifting, hockey, football, etc.). The emphasis will be placed on the macronutrients by name of protein, carbohydrates for each class of athlete.

Macronutrients

Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates serve as an energy source in the human body for substrate ultization. In short, carbohydrate consumption is associated with elevated muscle glycogen concentrations. To the athlete, this increase in muscle glycogen can contribute to a beneficial stimulus in high-intensity exercise with relatively short duration. It has also been shown to be of great benefit to spare intramuscular glycogen when consumed during endurance exercise. 1 gram of carbohydrate contributes to 4 kcal (kilocalories); kilocalories are the general Calories that we are used to seeing on our current nutrition labels on various foods.

With respect to carbohydrates, it is important to consider the glycemic index (GI) of the carbohydrate to determine its effectiveness in proper nutrient timing. The Glycemic Index is used to classify a food and how high and fast it can elevate blood sugar levels. Generally, it is beneficial to consumer fast-digesting, high-glycemic carbohydrate sources such as cyclic dextrins, dextrose, or glucose to rapidly replenish muscle glycogen stores after an intense bout of exercise.

Looking into the needs of the athlete, carbohydrates are absolutely critical for recovery from exercise. For an endurance athlete, muscle glycogen stores are easily depleted through long-duration exercise, thus, it is critical to ensure that the demands of training are met through carbohydrate consumption. Carbohydrates should be consumed immediately after exercise, within roughly 15-30 minutes; this will allow for better digestion, absorption and delivery of the carbohydrates, along with other nutrients via insulin spiking, into the muscle cells at a time when they are most receptive.

The endurance athlete is recommended to consume roughly 1.2g/kg of bodyweight of carbohydrates per hour 3-4 hours after exercise. Immediately after exercise, it may be easier for an athlete to consume a carbohydrate-containing beverage with a minimum of 6% carbohydrate solution to enhance absorption!

For the strength/power athlete, it is critical to consume carbohydrates post-exercise as well for the similar benefit of replenishing intramuscular glycogen storage for greatest recovery benefit. It is important to note that complete glycogen replenishment in the tissues may take 4-6 hours, onwards to as long as 24-48 hours; this is certainly dependent on the carbohydrate availability in the cell. For the strength/power athlete, it is recommended to consume 0.5g/kg of bodyweight immediately after exercise, and at 2 and 4 hours post as well. It is further beneficial for a strength/power athlete to consume carbohydrates post-exercise as this may have the ability to enhance muscle protein synthesis and contribute to muscle growth in conjunction with ingestion of protein. A beneficial carbohydrate: protein ratio should be 4:1 to create an optimal environment for muscle protein synthesis.

 

Protein

Protein is considerably effective to all athletes and individuals in general based on its role in the body to enhance muscle protein synthesis, assist in tissue repair, act as an insulin mimetic to control blood sugar levels. Most notable to the athlete is its role in muscle protein synthesis, as this will ensure that the athlete is priming their ability to recover from an intense bout of exercise or the demands of competition.

There are various forms of protein to consider that differ in their ability to digest to ensure maximal anabolic (muscle building) potential for an athlete and to ensure that recovery is at its best. For example, micellar casein is a very slow-digesting protein and may be most advisable to consume prior to bed, whereas, whey protein isolate is the fastest digesting form of protein and may be most advisable to consume post-workout or competition. These protein forms are bovine-derived, therefore, being constituents of milk; there are many vegetarian/vegan forms of protein available as well, such as brown rice, and pea protein.

For the endurance athlete, it is recommended to consume roughly 1.4g/kg of bodyweight of protein post-exercise to maintain a positive balance of hydrogen. Hydrogen plays a key role in skeletal muscle preservation and muscle protein synthesis; if an individual is in a state of negative nitrogen balance, this may result in muscle loss, whereas, positive nitrogen balance contributes to greater muscle protein synthesis.

For the strength/power athlete, it is advisable to consume a minimum of 6-15g of protein in combination with 35-50g of carbohydrates immediately post-exercise to elicit significant rate of muscle protein synthesis. Approximately 1.38g/kg of bodyweight following this initial post-exercise ingestion is recommended following exercise!

To conclude, it is critically important for athletes to consume a proper ratio of carbohydrates and protein to elicit greatest performance-enhancing benefit. To put yourself at a greater advantage against your competition, put great emphasis on your nutrition to gain that competitive edge!