As an athlete, eating a healthy, balanced diet is essential—but it’s just the beginning. What’s equally, if not more important, is focusing on one key factor — performance!
What does that mean?
It means optimising your intake to ensure you’re well-fuelled and adequately recovered to meet your training and performance needs.
An athlete’s requirements could be considered abnormal when you compare them to the general population. After all, an athlete can train as much as 4 to 8 hours per day, compared to the average person who may struggle to exercise that much in a week! For this reason, it is important to consider your individual needs and what your training and performance requirements are.
Good overall health and a strong immune system are fundamental for any athlete. However, performance nutrition goes beyond simply meeting the standard nutritional guidelines—it’s about having a wide range of tools in your toolbox to truly optimize your performance.
Below are my five priority areas to help fuel yourself as an athlete.
1. Periodise Nutritional Intake
One of the most important elements of an athletes training program is periodisation. This means some sessions or even whole training blocks are much harder than others. It will also include scheduled rest days and ‘down’ weeks. These intermittent intensities, durations and types of training are important to maximise performance and ensure optimal adaptation.
For this reason, it is imperative that your are adjusting your intake to match your output. Different training sessions, mean variations in nutritional requirements.
For the harder, more intense sessions your body will use more glucose and glycogen to fuel the session. This means you should be taking on more nutrition prior to, and immediately after, those sessions to maximise your training output and also recovery.
Some nutrients and foods should be adjusted more than others. For example, carbohydrate intake should be adjusted based on the type of training. This is different from protein intake which should remain relatively constant day-to-day.
2. Maximise Protein Intake– Timing, Distribution and Type
Protein is the key nutrient involved in muscle growth. It’s not just about how much protein you consume, but also the type, timing, and frequency of intake that plays a crucial role.
Consuming 4-6 smaller doses of high-quality, high biological value protein throughout the day activates the muscle protein synthesis pathway more frequently than having just 2-3 larger protein-rich meals. To achieve this, try spreading some of your protein intake from lunch and dinner into breakfast and snacks.
Research has also shown that the ability to gain lean muscle mass is elevated for 24-48 hours after a training session. This is why it is important for an athlete who is training most days to keep a relatively constant protein intake as their body is always in a state of recovery.
3. Adjust Carbohydrate Intake
Adjusting carbohydrate intake around training is one of the most important ways to help get the most out of training. It is also helpful for optimising body composition.
While protein intake should stay relatively consistent each day, carbohydrate intake should vary. Different training sessions demand different amounts of carbohydrates, so adjustments should be made before and during training based on the session’s intensity. Higher-intensity sessions require more fuel than lower-intensity ones. Refer to the table below for best practice guidelines on carbohydrate requirements during activity.
4. Meet and Exceed the Recommended Fruit & Vegetable Intake
Fruit and vegetables are imperative for the human body to function at its best. Meeting micronutrient requirements are essential for supporting every metabolic function the body performs. Inadequate intake can jeopardise metabolic function which will reduce performance and limit results.
A diet rich in fruits and vegetables also helps ensure good health and immunity. Consistency with training is key to improving performance, and nothing disrupts training like injuries and illness.
This is an area you should be referring to the guidelines, to ensure you are not only meeting but exceeding their 2x serves of fruit and 5x serves of vegetables.
5. Hydration
Human beings function better when they are hydrated. This includes cognitive function, physical performance and metabolic efficiency. Hydration needs are highly individual due to variations in sweat rates between people, or even for the same person exercising in different conditions.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to replacing fluid losses from sweat. You should be aware of your own hydration requirements before, during and after exercise. A few useful tips include
• Aim for pale yellow urine over the day.
• Start your training hydrated and avoid losing more than 2% body weight.
• Replace more than what you have lost in a session – the general rule is 120 – 150%.
Focus on the areas that are easiest to change, or will give you the biggest bang for your buck – meaning the biggest performance impact. Invest time into the process and ensure you understand the individual requirements needed for your sport and training.
