A recent study, as reported in the Globe and Mail today, provides some confirmation of what many rowers have long felt - protein in a diet suppresses appetite better than fats or carbohydrates. In fact, the researchers were looking at the hormone ghrelin , secreted by the stomach, which is an appetite stimulant. Drinks containing more protein did a better job of suppressing ghrelin than fats, and while carbohydrates initially did a good job, later on they were quite poor. This of course will be familiar with anyone who is quickly satisfied by a high carb feed, only to be extremely hungry shortly thereafter.
This obviously bears some resemblance to the effect seen in high glycemic index foods, where insulin reacts to high blood sugar after high carbohydrate foods, often overreacting and actually lowering blood sugar.
Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts
Winter Nutrition and Hydration
Many athletes mistakenly believe that their hydration requirements decrease in the colder winter months. Not so! Of course, if you are properly clothed for training sessions then you will still be producing excess body heat and sweating as in any hard workout. In many places, the winter air is drier and your bodies natural moistening of the air as it takes it in results in further water losses via respiration.
What's more, your thirst response is diminished in the winter - so your drive to drink is less.
Athletes and coaches...you need to consciously choose to hydrate during winter trainign sessions for optimal performance.
More on Caffeine and Training
Another recent study fromthe University of Georgia and published in the Journal of Pain looked at caffeine's ability to help recuperate from training. CBS News reports on the study:
a new study suggests drinking the equivalent of two cups before exercise may reduce post-workout muscle pain by nearly 50 percent. Researchers say that's more muscle pain relief than commonly found with pain relievers like aspirin.
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Influence of Nutrient Intake after Weigh-In on Lightweight Rowing Performance
From Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise via Row2K
Thanks to Row2K today for posting a link to this article. It is however quite a handful to make sense of, so I have provided some interpretation here. Your comments would be appreciated.
This is an interesting article looking at the best recovery methods after weigh-in for lightweight men needing to reduce body mass for racing.
The first effort (2 km erg test) was at their base weight - this is used as a control to see how they would perform without having to make weight.
Subsequent 2 km efforts had to be made at 5.2% below this weight - simulating a rapid weight loss - with 48 hours between efforts.
Different recovery drinks were used in the two hours between weigh in and the 2000 meter effort to simulate what many lightweights do - drop weight fast for the weigh in in the morning and do their best to recover to a better racing condition before hitting the water.
The three strategies tested were essentially:
Water only (and a small amount of sodium).
Carbohydrate/Sodium with little fluid.
Water/Carbohydrate/Sodium.
What did they find? Not surprisingly athletes with restricted fluid intake (carbohydrate and sodium only) after making weight performed slowest compared to the other two treatments. Having carbohydrate and sodium in the fluid didn't help recovery much, compared to water only.
What does this tell athletes and coaches?
Well - not much really - no athlete in their right mind would restrict fluids as part of their recovery, so the message that fluids are needed is far from earth shattering. Of course this was hardly the authors' point. They were more interested in whether or not the carbs will help - and they didn't seem to.
Does this mean athletes should just make weight and drink some water before racing? No it doesn't mean that either. More to the point as long as the fluids are there the individual's own recovery strategy can be personalized - so do what feels right.
On the other hand, we need to wonder if the study tells the full story. I'd say no - it only opens the door for more work which I'm sure the authors realize. For example, how did the athletes make weight? Did they eat well-balanced meals and simply make weight by dropping fluids (restricting intake and/or a "sweat run")? Loss of fluid is the fastest way to lose weight and really nobody loses 5% of their mass any other way so quickly. In this case clearly replacing the fluids would be the most important part of recovery. On the other hand, if the athletes restricted calories as well, especially carbohydrates, as many inexperienced or junior lightweights often do, then I would be surprised if only taking water on board leads to the best performance. A measure of how depleted the athletes' glycogen stores were before weigh in would be the only way to tease this out.
What would I be interested in seeing tested after this study?
So it is interesting work. Food for thought (pardon the pun). But carry on as normal - after weigh in replace fluids and take on some nutrients.
Thanks to Row2K today for posting a link to this article. It is however quite a handful to make sense of, so I have provided some interpretation here. Your comments would be appreciated.
This is an interesting article looking at the best recovery methods after weigh-in for lightweight men needing to reduce body mass for racing.
The first effort (2 km erg test) was at their base weight - this is used as a control to see how they would perform without having to make weight.
Subsequent 2 km efforts had to be made at 5.2% below this weight - simulating a rapid weight loss - with 48 hours between efforts.
Different recovery drinks were used in the two hours between weigh in and the 2000 meter effort to simulate what many lightweights do - drop weight fast for the weigh in in the morning and do their best to recover to a better racing condition before hitting the water.
The three strategies tested were essentially:
Water only (and a small amount of sodium).
Carbohydrate/Sodium with little fluid.
Water/Carbohydrate/Sodium.
What did they find? Not surprisingly athletes with restricted fluid intake (carbohydrate and sodium only) after making weight performed slowest compared to the other two treatments. Having carbohydrate and sodium in the fluid didn't help recovery much, compared to water only.
What does this tell athletes and coaches?
Well - not much really - no athlete in their right mind would restrict fluids as part of their recovery, so the message that fluids are needed is far from earth shattering. Of course this was hardly the authors' point. They were more interested in whether or not the carbs will help - and they didn't seem to.
Does this mean athletes should just make weight and drink some water before racing? No it doesn't mean that either. More to the point as long as the fluids are there the individual's own recovery strategy can be personalized - so do what feels right.
On the other hand, we need to wonder if the study tells the full story. I'd say no - it only opens the door for more work which I'm sure the authors realize. For example, how did the athletes make weight? Did they eat well-balanced meals and simply make weight by dropping fluids (restricting intake and/or a "sweat run")? Loss of fluid is the fastest way to lose weight and really nobody loses 5% of their mass any other way so quickly. In this case clearly replacing the fluids would be the most important part of recovery. On the other hand, if the athletes restricted calories as well, especially carbohydrates, as many inexperienced or junior lightweights often do, then I would be surprised if only taking water on board leads to the best performance. A measure of how depleted the athletes' glycogen stores were before weigh in would be the only way to tease this out.
What would I be interested in seeing tested after this study?
- What amount of weight can be lost before weigh in while maintaining performance - 5.2% is a fairly significant amount. If a lightweight male came in at 162 pounds, for example, that equates to almost 8 and a half pounds. How would that compare to athletes only having to drop 2 pounds - or none at all?
- This study looked only at men - there could easily be gender differences that would affect this study - so repeat this with women, please.
- Does the athlete's intake of food before racing affect how hard it is to make weight (and maintain performance) for the next race?
So it is interesting work. Food for thought (pardon the pun). But carry on as normal - after weigh in replace fluids and take on some nutrients.
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More on Protein and Exercise
Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been referenced on this site before. He has an interesting health site with several articles on Fitness. One ties directly to the last post on protein and exercise. Although he seems to put more stake in some of hte research that the previous author discounts, he does refer to genuine research in all of his articles. It's an interesting and worthwhile read.
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Protein Nutrition and Endurance Exercise: What Does Science Say?
Last summer this site included a good deal of information about the use of creatine in rowing and other sports. In addition to creatine, many rowers take protein powder as part of their training. Is it useful? Is it advisable? What does research say?
The following is a summary of an interesting article from the Gatorade Sports Science institute web site. Up front I'll say I am sure that some would be skeptical and suggest that Gatorade has something to gain by their own formula reporting as the best in any research. While this is true to some extent, on this topic I would think not. Like all companies Gatorade is probably looking for new markets and new products for existing markets. If they could show that including protein in a particular drink would help, I am sure that they would be quick to go to market with something new.
The article is divided up into three significant sections:
1. Protein during exercise:
Two recent studies report that adding a small amount of protein to a sport drink improves endurance capacity. This article criticizes these studies and then reports on a better-designed trial that ensured optimal carbohydrate delivery and a more relevant sporting test. Importantly, the study was "double-blind" meaning neither the researchers nor the athletes were aware of which treatment (with or without protein) they were receiving during a given trial. (One wonders if athletes could not tell the difference between them by taste). This study confirmed the importance of carbohydrate in sports drinks during competition (admittedly 135 minutes of cycling not a 6 minute rowing race) but showed no significant improvement when protein was included.
2. Amino Acid supplementation:
Again the author of this review suggests no specific advantages in consuming a given amino acid or mixtures of them during exercise.
3. Protein ingestion during recovery:
Research about protein promoting carbohydrate replenishment is unclear. However the authors’ summary at the end of the article does report that:
In other words, it helps with "muscle repair" and though it does not make a big difference for your next workout, it may well make a difference over the long term.
What does this mean to me?
1. Don’t pay extra for a sports drink containing protein for use during exercise, or to enhance recovery for your next workout.
2. To enhance recovery ensure that you are consuming enough calories - though obviously not too many!
3. Add a bit of protein to your immediate post-exercise recovery meal for long term benefits. It doesn’t need to be in a drink. It may well improve the rebuilding of muscle tissue over the long term.
What about protein powder supplementation – especially in weight training?
Lots of young athletes - and National Team athletes - feel a need to consume protein powder. A review of this topic is for another day; however, consider this: the Gatorade Sports Science Institute also provides a "round table" discussion article. In it William Kraemer, Ph.D. of Penn State comments on the need for protein in "elite (weight) lifters" - who all presumably need more than your average rower. He says:
The following is a summary of an interesting article from the Gatorade Sports Science institute web site. Up front I'll say I am sure that some would be skeptical and suggest that Gatorade has something to gain by their own formula reporting as the best in any research. While this is true to some extent, on this topic I would think not. Like all companies Gatorade is probably looking for new markets and new products for existing markets. If they could show that including protein in a particular drink would help, I am sure that they would be quick to go to market with something new.
The article is divided up into three significant sections:
1. Protein during exercise:
Two recent studies report that adding a small amount of protein to a sport drink improves endurance capacity. This article criticizes these studies and then reports on a better-designed trial that ensured optimal carbohydrate delivery and a more relevant sporting test. Importantly, the study was "double-blind" meaning neither the researchers nor the athletes were aware of which treatment (with or without protein) they were receiving during a given trial. (One wonders if athletes could not tell the difference between them by taste). This study confirmed the importance of carbohydrate in sports drinks during competition (admittedly 135 minutes of cycling not a 6 minute rowing race) but showed no significant improvement when protein was included.
2. Amino Acid supplementation:
Again the author of this review suggests no specific advantages in consuming a given amino acid or mixtures of them during exercise.
3. Protein ingestion during recovery:
Research about protein promoting carbohydrate replenishment is unclear. However the authors’ summary at the end of the article does report that:
"Consuming a small amount (10-20 grams) of high-quality protein after exercise promotes muscle protein synthesis compared to CHO alone and may enhance the body’s response to long-term training."They also report that there is little evidence that protein improves performance in immediately subsequent exercise bouts (second or third workouts in one day, or perhaps later racing during a regatta). Any improvement seen in studies is probably linked to the extra calories these protein-containing drinks provide, and not the protein itself.
In other words, it helps with "muscle repair" and though it does not make a big difference for your next workout, it may well make a difference over the long term.
What does this mean to me?
1. Don’t pay extra for a sports drink containing protein for use during exercise, or to enhance recovery for your next workout.
2. To enhance recovery ensure that you are consuming enough calories - though obviously not too many!
3. Add a bit of protein to your immediate post-exercise recovery meal for long term benefits. It doesn’t need to be in a drink. It may well improve the rebuilding of muscle tissue over the long term.
What about protein powder supplementation – especially in weight training?
Lots of young athletes - and National Team athletes - feel a need to consume protein powder. A review of this topic is for another day; however, consider this: the Gatorade Sports Science Institute also provides a "round table" discussion article. In it William Kraemer, Ph.D. of Penn State comments on the need for protein in "elite (weight) lifters" - who all presumably need more than your average rower. He says:
"It doesn't appear that supplements are necessary, because most lifters get plenty of protein in their normal diets."
I would assume that several of you have opinions on this based on experience - please add your comments and direct this topic.
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Does it matter how frequently you exercise and eat each day?
The Harvard HealthBeat Newsletter reported on several studies examining the frequency of eating and exercising this week.
Looking at a number of studies involving significant numbers of people confirming the old belief that it was healthier to be a "grazer" eating several smaller meals each day.
What does this mean to you? Well, it is nice that recent studies confirm what we have felt for a long time abotu eating frequency. As to the exercise frequency, I'll assume most readers of this blog tend more to several LONG sessions in a day - I haven't seen too many people go out for three ten minute rows in a day! If there is one bit of information though - perhaps it is OK to limit the time on the water on multi-workout days, and it certainly helps technique many feel - but those points are far different ones than addressed by these studies.
Looking at a number of studies involving significant numbers of people confirming the old belief that it was healthier to be a "grazer" eating several smaller meals each day.
When the scientists tallied the results, they found that the people who ate more frequently took in more calories. Surprisingly, though, they also had lower cholesterol levels. The difference was relatively slight, about 5%, but it was consistent and significant, even after exercise, body weight, smoking, and other factors were taken into account. In all, the researchers found that people who eat six or more times a day have cholesterol levels that should reduce their cardiac risk by 10%-20% compared with people who eat once or twice a day. And male (but not female) 'grazers' were also leaner than 'gorgers,' even though they took in more calories.A number of studies looked at exercise in a similar way - albeit with older populations - and found that it did not matter whether one exercises for thirty minutes once, two times for 15 minutes in a day or even three bouts of 10 minutes in a day.
What does this mean to you? Well, it is nice that recent studies confirm what we have felt for a long time abotu eating frequency. As to the exercise frequency, I'll assume most readers of this blog tend more to several LONG sessions in a day - I haven't seen too many people go out for three ten minute rows in a day! If there is one bit of information though - perhaps it is OK to limit the time on the water on multi-workout days, and it certainly helps technique many feel - but those points are far different ones than addressed by these studies.
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Do it Yourself Energy Drink
If you like to use an energy drink while trianing it can get a bit expensive. A quick money saver is to buy it in the powdered form and mix your own. Another option is to make it yourself. This article is worth a look if you're trying to save a few pennies - and what high school, college, or even National Team athlete isn't!
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