An Athletes Diet

As we have all heard before “hard work pays off”. This is especially prevalent when it comes to how hard athletes work in practice and the results they get when it is finally game time. In my last speech I focused on the life of a USC student athlete swimmer, now I am going to specifically focus on the nutrition it takes to keep your body at peak performance. Through out the year there is a correlation to smaller and larger amounts of certain foods with where the team is with in the season. In order for swimmers bodies to be in peak performance and shape through out the year there are different diets to follow in training season, going into and during competition, and the few weeks of off-season.

            In order to understand what you need to eat as a swimmer through season you first need to understand the yearly schedule of swimming. The year is split into three different seasons. The first short course season, which is when swimmers race 25 yards, is from the middle of August to the middle of December. The second short course season is from the middle of December to the middle of March. And finally long course season, which is when swimmers race 50 meters, also known as Olympic swimming is from the beginning of April to the beginning of August. Finally, off-season is for two weeks at the end of March and also one to two weeks in the middle of August. During off season is the most important time to make sure you are not over eating because that will just make it harder to get back into aerobic cardio shape and build your muscle back. From here swimmers go back into season, often times starting with a hell week or month, with a hard few months of training. And then the favorite part of season for most swimmers is what swimmers call taper time, also known as rest time. This meaning that you reduce the amount of swimming and weight lifting you are doing and let you body rest up and repair in order to go your fastest times at your championship meet. With every phase of the season there are different diets that will help you keep your body in the correct shape and also maximize your performance.

            The main part of the year is considered training season. Every swimmers needs are a little different but most swimmers have a very similar diet. With the amount of work and hours swimmers train between time in the pool, in the weight room, and in the cardio room the amount of calories needed per day is around 3,000 (Wayne, 2014). Most swimmers have grown up hearing about the necessity to eat a large amount of carbohydrates, although this does not give a swimmer the right to eat pasta and bagels everyday. According to John Mullen of Swimming Science “Carbohydrates are the main sugars which provide the body energy during difficult workouts”. But rather than eating all processed carbohydrates, such as pasta and bagels, swimmers should try to eat more sweet potatoes and brown rice. Another great food containing natural carbohydrates is all fruits. Although all fruits contain a mass amount of sugar, this is natural sugar rather than added sugar.  Another important food that is considered a good carbohydrate but also protein are milk products such as yogurt and especially chocolate milk right after practice as apart of recovery. Generally with in a thirty-minute period right after a hard practice is the best time to have these recovery items because this is when the body is the best at digesting carbohydrates (Mullen, 2014). In addition to carbohydrates it is also important to have a large amount of protein through this phase of training when you are training to build and maintain muscle. These proteins include the general protein such as eggs, fish, and meat but also nuts are an amazing protein filled snack (Rosenbloom, 2014). And last but not least are healthy fats. Most swimmers get a lot of their needed fat from peanut butter, but other foods containing healthy fat are all nuts, avocado, and mayonnaise (Rosenbloom, 2014). Based on this diet a day’s food plan would go somewhat like this. For breakfast I generally wake up and have a yogurt go and go to weights and swim. Directly after swim I either have chocolate milk or muscle milk, eggs and a smoothie. For lunch and dinner I generally have chicken or flank steak with broccoli and sweet potatoes. And following afternoon swim practice I have another chocolate milk and pistachio nuts. According to Mullen I am following a good diet for mid season training with a good balance or carbohydrates, proteins and fats.

            Nutrition has a huge impact on the success of your taper. Often times swimmers continue eating the same amount of calories during taper as they do during training but this is a big “no no” in the swimmer world. Although you want to make sure that you do not lose weight during taper you also do not want to gain weight. Taper is a time that each swimmer needs to pay attention to their own bodies needs and eat when they are hungry but do not keep eating until you are stuffed. There should be an equivalent reduction in degree of hardness in training with the amount of food you are in taking. In addition to the amount of food decreasing the type of food also changes. While on taper the amount of carbohydrates increases and you should be eating 60% carbohydrates, 25% fats, and 15% proteins according to an anonymous author on USA Swimming (Nutrition During Taper, 2014). The last two important steps of nutrition during taper are also important through out the training portion of the season but are especially emphasized during the resting and competing part of the season. Swimmers should stay away from junk food and desserts and make sure to stay hydrated. Eating sugar and junk food does not properly fuel an athlete’s body and does not allow the body to fully recover and refuel (Anonymous, 2014). Another important aspect for recover is drinking enough water. But more importantly if a swimmer is keeping their body hydrated their endurance during practice or a competition will increase significantly. Another thing that will help once a swimmer is at the competition and the day before is making sure you are eating enough. During the taper you need to make sure you are not over eating but the day before the meet and through out the meet is when you need to overload your body with food especially Carbohydrates to give the optimal amount of energy for your muscles to compete. But this step usually comes naturally to swimmers because the amount of energy you are using for every race you are naturally hungrier during swim meets. Another important aspect of competition eating is being smart about when you are eating. Make sure you are waking up early enough before the beginning of the morning season to have a good breakfast, following the morning season and before your nap you need to have a very large lunch, before finals have a small dinner, and following finals have a large dinner. Most importantly, just like practices, thirty minutes following a race hopefully sooner you should drink chocolate milk and eat a banana. This is very important to help your body through the recovery portion in order to have your body rested and ready for your next race.

            Finally a swimmer needs to focus on what they are eating during off-season. This is a very important part of the year because this is determining where you are starting at the beginning of the next season.  Naturally swimmers want to continue eating the same amount they were eating during the meet, or following the meet and during off-season they want to celebrate the completion of another season or best times with junk food. Of course it is okay to have some of these sweets or junk food every once in a while but in order make sure you do not gain a lot of weight during off-season this is the time you want to especially pay attention to what you are eating and how much you are eating. If you do not pay attention to this, it could lead to packing on some weight and then making it harder to get back into shape when the time comes around to get back to work and unfortunately, let the judging begin, back into a swim suit in front of your coach. In order to avoid being called out or feeling uncomfortable with your body or just not wanting to take steps backward in your shape there are a few changes from the in season training diet. There is not a need for a lot of carbohydrates being that you are not working out so instead of focusing on eating rice, sweet potatoes, and lots of fruit, you can still get your carbs from other sources. During this time you should eat protein and lots of vegetables. (Wayne, 2014 and Castle, 2011).

            After reading all of that now you hopefully understand the important role a diet can make in not only a swimmers life but also in every athletes life. Through talking about the different diets during training, taper and competition, and post season you can really see the changes in the diet and importance of the diet through out the different points of the season.

           

Citations:

Rosenbloom, C. (2014, December 9). Top Nutrient- Rich Food Choices. Retrieved December 10, 2014, from http://www.usaswimming.org/ViewNewsArticle.aspx?TabId=0&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en&ItemId=7551&mid=11545

Castle, J. (2014, November 11). 5 Bad Eating Habits Swimmers Must Break. Retrieved December 12, 2014, from http://www.usaswimming.org/ViewNewsArticle.aspx?TabId=0&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en&ItemId=6475&mid=11780

Wayne, How Many Calories Should a Competitive Swimmer Eat? (2014, February 10). Retrieved December 12, 2014, from http://www.livestrong.com/article/301223-how-many-calories-should-a-competitive-swimmer-eat/

Mullen, J. (2012, November 27). Science of Performance: Swimming Nutritional Program - Swimming World News. Retrieved December 12, 2014, from http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/science-of-performance-swimming-nutritional-program/

Nutrition During Taper. (2014, January 1). Retrieved December 12, 2014, from http://www.usaswimming.org/ViewMiscArticle.aspx?TabId=1781&mid=7898&ItemId=5267