Fencers tend to be the world's best or worst eaters. Many serious athletes say that one of the reasons they work out so hard is so that they can eat anything they want. Well, there is no doubt that well-trained athletes have a greater margin for eating whatever they would like without suffering the consequences of normal individuals. However, can you imagine how well these athletes could do if they worked out aggressively and knew how to eat properly. Anytime you must be at your peak both mentally and physically for greater than one to two hours, how you take in your fats, proteins, and carbohydrates is critical to your performance.
For years, athletes have been told that they need to "carbohydrate load" prior to any competition in order to optimize their glycogen stores (source of quick energy). However, over 85 to 90% of the carbohydrates that they consume are either highly-processed or high-glycemic. This leads to a roller-coaster ride for your blood sugars, which ultimately causes you to fall into this low-blood sugar range or hypoglycemia. This causes stimulation of the stress hormones, which in the end causes this vicious cycle to continue and increases your insulin levels as you decrease your glycogen levels. What is sad is the fact that you can easily maximize your glycogen stores very easily by simply eating the good low glycemic carbohydrates. This stabilizes your blood sugars and allows you to be mentally alert for prolonged periods of time because our brain works on sugar. When your blood sugars are going up and down, you simply can't stay as focused as you need to be for optimal performance.
Many athletes, especially power-athletes, feel they must be consuming high quantities of protein. This again is a fallacy. Your body needs protein, but it also needs fats and carbohydrates. If you are going to have any chance of optimizing your athletic performance, you need to be consuming good proteins, good fats, and good carbohydrates. The protein is critical for helping to repair muscle; however, good fats are needed to provide the hormonal production your body needs along with producing the body's natural anti-inflammatories. Good Carbohydrates provide the body's preferred fuel source glucose, along with all the important antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins these foods contain.
When we lose even 1 % of our hydration our strength can decrease up to 15%. Fortunately, athletes in all sports are encouraged to drink water during workouts and competition. It is essentially to remain well-hydrated for peak performance. However, I must caution you, what the body needs is water not sugar. Sports drinks are the worst things that you could drink during competition because although it provides water and some electrolytes, it also is loaded with high glycemic sugar. When you are working out or competing you may note a boost to your energy for a short 15 to 20 minutes; however, within a very short time your blood sugar will come crashing down along with you. Please, just drink water or at the most drink water with some electrolytes but nothing with sugar.
Finally, I want to discuss the principle of rest. The body actually becomes stronger during rest. Any muscle that has been broken down through training needs time to repair and heal itself. This simply takes time. If you are continually breaking down your body and your muscles in an attempt to "get in shape", your body will eventually collapse; The Over-Training Syndrome. Rest is critical and essential for peak performance of the athlete. Your body needs at least 2 days of complete rest during the week. For weight lifters, you should not work a muscle to exhaustion without allowing that muscle to rest for at least 4 days or ideally for 1 week. Most coaches now realize that rest along with light workouts is essential for optimal performance. If your muscles are becoming weaker, instead of stronger, if you are not recovering as quickly from a workout, if you just do not feel well, consider the fact that you may be developing an over-training syndrome. Now increasing your antioxidant supplements will help; however, rest is critical.
Hopefully, this will give you some great guidelines for anyone who is a serious or professional athlete. This is also great information for anyone who is just trying to develop a modest, consistent exercise program. Exercise is critical for optimal health. The serious athlete along with the professional athlete needs to take extra precautions in order to optimize their performance and at the same time protect their health.
If you have a subject that you would like covered or comments, please e-mail me at gord@scarboroughfencing.on.ca.
"All For One And One For All"
Gordon Fong, Head Coach
Scarborough Fencing Club