Diet & Athletic Performance

1. Diet & Athletic Performance Noadswood Science, 2012

2. Diet & Athletic Performance • To understand how diet can aid athletic performance

3. Food Groups • What are the 7 food groups? • Carbohydrates • Fat • Protein • Vitamins • Minerals • Fibre • Water

4. Essential? • Nutrients are found within different foods, and they all play important roles within the body

5. Endurance • In endurance sports it is crucial to build up a store of carbohydrates – specifically before competing athlete’s want to maximise the amount of glycogen stores in the muscles… • To aid this they will control their diet very specifically, increasing the amount of complex carbohydrates they eat (bread, pasta rice etc…)

6. Power • Other athletes will concentrate on a diet high in protein – this will build up their muscles for strength…

7. Muscle Strength • A diet high in protein will help build up muscles – baseline measurements of the strength of muscle uses the grip test method • A hand grip dynamometer can be used to measure grip strength • This records the maximum reading (kg) from three attempts

8. Sports Drinks • Sports drinks are crucial to an athletes performance – isotonic drinks (sports drinks) not only include water but sugars and electrolytes which are lost during exercise… • Isotonic – designed to quickly replace the fluids which are lost by sweating (and a boost of carbohydrates) • Hypertonic – supplements for daily carbohydrate intake • Hypotonic – replace fluids lost through sweating and are low in carbohydrates

9. Make Your Own • It is very easy to make your own sports drinks: - • Isotonic – 500ml unsweetened fruit juice (orange, apple, pineapple) + 500ml water mixed together in a jug and cool down in fridge • Hypertonic – 400ml of squash + one litre of water + pinch of salt mixed together in a jug and cool down in fridge • Hypotonic – 100ml of squash + one litre of water + pinch of salt mixed together in a jug and cool down in fridge

10. Fitness • Being fit means your body is able to do the activities your lifestyle demands - e.g. being able to run; get upstairs without getting out of breathe; being strong enough to lift things etc… • Fitness is different for each person, but is made up of: - • Strength • Speed • Stamina • Suppleness

11. Fitness • When you exercise your muscles work harder - using up more oxygen • To compensate, your heart beats quicker pumping more blood around your body • Your breathing rate also increases, allowing you to get more oxygen into your body (and expel more carbon dioxide)

12. Heart Rate • Fit people (who exercise a lot) have stronger heart muscles, so their heart pumps more blood with each beat • This means it can beat less than an unfit person’s and still pump the same amount of blood • So fit people usually have slower resting heart beat rates • After exercise a fit person’s heart rate usually returns to its resting rate quicker than an unfit person • This is also true of their breathing rate