I’m an athlete

Engaging in physical education is not only useful, but also fashionable. Today, young people and middle-aged people regularly visit fitness clubs, train in sections or on their own. Someone trains every day, someone once a week, and each sets its own tasks – either to build muscle, or to gain a slender figure, or simply to maintain and strengthen health. It is useful to know in this case that according to the Scandinavian recommendations on nutrition and a healthy lifestyle (NNR), which are the most authoritative for the Nordic countries (including Russia), adults need to spend at least 150 minutes a week on moderate loads or more than 75 minutes per week for high-intensity loads. This means that you need to train at least two to three times a week. If this doesn’t work out like this, you can gain the necessary level of physical activity with daily morning exercises (at least 15-20 minutes) and walking, controlled by a pedometer (10 thousand steps per day).

Everyone who trains fairly regularly and intensively is faced with the need to organize proper nutrition, especially before and after training. Nutrition of Olympic and professional athletes is carried out by nutritionists and sports doctors, who take into account a lot of factors – the characteristics of the sport, the intensity of the loads, the content of sports activities (active training, preparation for competitions, competitions, recovery periods), as well as the individual characteristics of a particular athlete up to habits in food.

But amateur athletes (or rather, those involved in mass sports – physical education) have to independently take into account all these factors and form their diet in order to ensure a comfortable level of endurance and energy supply, as well as contribute to the growth and development of muscle mass. Therefore, it is important to provide yourself with the right amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, and in the right ratio, in which the body will strengthen muscle mass, and not accumulate fats. The most important thing is to know your body and find out its reaction to exercise in order to nourish it properly. Proper nutrition at the right time before and after training will help you constantly replenish energy reserves, improve performance, endurance and burn fat effectively.

Here are some suggestions that may be helpful to you:

1. In general, the total calorie intake should be distributed as follows: the calorie content of breakfast should be 30% of the daily allowance, lunch – 45%, and dinner – 25%.

2. It is very important to have a timely meal before a workout, depending on how long it takes. Many people prefer to study from morning until breakfast. At the same time, you can’t go hungry for a workout, but you should eat, for example, a banana with yogurt or tea with honey and crackers or a muesli bar, for example, 30-40 minutes before it something “carbohydrate”. If the training is supposed after breakfast, lunch or dinner, then on this day breakfast should be “carbohydrate” (best porridge made from whole grains with fruits or dried fruits, or a salad of fresh vegetables with sour cream or a teaspoon of vegetable oil and whole grain bread), and training – not earlier than 1.5-2 hours after eating (breakfast, lunch, early dinner). Half an hour before your workout, you can drink a glass of water or tea with 1-2 tablespoons of honey – this will help you stay alert and energetic. If after eating more than 3 hours have passed, then 30-40 minutes before training, have a snack, as before an early workout in the morning.

3. After the workout, a snack in the first 20-30 minutes is very important. If you refrain from eating for 2 hours, then there will be no increase in strength, muscle density, harmony and metabolic rate. In the first 20 minutes after training, the so-called “post-workout” window for consuming proteins and carbohydrates (but not fats!) Is open in the body. Everything that will be eaten during this period will go to muscle recovery and muscle gain. After a workout, it’s especially good to drink a protein shake that you can make yourself and take with you to the workout – whisk 1 st. a spoonful of soy protein or hemp protein in a glass of juice, skimmed cow’s milk or soy milk. Protein bars, for example, a bar with hemp and chia seeds, are good for such a snack.

4. Full-fledged food – be it breakfast, lunch or dinner – allow yourself only 1.5-2 hours after training, and these should be protein dishes, and fats should be minimized, because they slow down the intake of carbohydrates and proteins from stomach into the blood. Once again, the special importance of protein for the nutrition of an amateur athlete should be emphasized – it increases the efficiency of recovery both after power loads and after endurance work. To adjust protein intake, in addition to protein, we can offer other high-protein and low-fat products, such as: Tofu, Soy goulash, Soy minced meat, Soy schnitzel.