Foods & Fluids For Fitness Athletes

Get the most out of your workouts with the right foods and fluids at the right time.

Pre-Workout Foods & Fluids
At least two-to-three hours before a workout, drink 16-20 ounces of fluid.  This strategy helps the athlete to begin exercise hydrated, while allowing time for excretion of any excess fluid.

Carbohydrate is the body's powerhouse fuel and without it you'll lack energy, experience muscle fatigue and be unable to work at high intensity.  Two-to-three hours before exercise, try getting about 0.45 grams of carbohydrate per pound or about 50 grams for a 120-pound woman.  Examples of 50 gram carbohydrate snacks include:

• 1 1/2 cups tomato soup

• 1 cup cranberry juice

• 4 1/2 ounces of fruit-flavored fat-free

• yogurt and 15 mini-pretzels

Use trial and error and keep a journal to find a time, type and amount of carbohydrate that works for you and provides the energy needed for your workout.

During Workout Foods & Fluids
Starting off exercise in a dehydrated condition reduces your ability to exercise at your best.  It's important to get adequate fluids before, during and after your workouts.

Weighing yourself before and after a workout will help determine your sweat rate.  If you lose weight during your workout, drink more next time.  If you gain weight, drink less.

Remember that sweat contains more than just water and that sodium is the key electrolyte lost in sweat.  Using a lightly flavored electrolyte sport drink like Gatorade G2 can help replace the fluids and electrolytes lost in sweat.

Post-Workout Foods & Fluids
Replacing lost fluids helps prepare your body for the next day's workout.  You'll feel better and recover more rapidly.  The sweat lost in exercise represents fluid loss not fat loss.  Rehydrating after a wokout will make you feel better for the next day's workout, so drink 20 ounces of fluid for every pound of weight lost in exercise.

10-20 grams of high-quality protein can help repair and build lean muscle mass.  Individuals focused on muscle recovery or looking to gain muscle should consume ~20 grams of protein shortly following exercise.

High-Energy Foods
The best way to keep a high level of energy is to eat small meals or snacks throughout the day.  Try these healthy snacks to keep your energy level high and your metabolism revved up.

• Yogurt and raisins

• Sandwiches (cheese, turkey, ham) on bagels, pita bread or whole-grain bread

• Trail mix (nuts, raisins, dried fruit)

• Banana, pumpkin or other fruit breads

• Graham crackers or rice cakes with peanut or almond butter

• Fruit smoothies or yogurt smoothies

ref:  Gatorade Sports Science Institute
 

Top 5 Health Trends

Food Waste Consciousness.  Leftovers may be served at more meals, as increasing numbers of people choose to manage portion size and food waste.  The report states that 39% of Americans feel guilty about trashing food, and this guilt is leading to behavior change.  With mobile apps like "Love Food Hate Waste" now easily downloaded, consumers can plan meals from leftovers and get a better sense of how much food is actually needed.  Some communities and businesses are already doing something about food waste, turning compostable scraps into cash.  For example, in Marin County, California, excess food is bing processed to generate electricity, while Starbucks is turning its recycled coffee grounds and baked goods into launtry detergent!

Workplace Wellness.  Healthcare costs are expected to rise  7%, so more companies are recognizing the economic benefit to providing wellness healthcare programs to employees.  Forty-eight percent of corporations surveyed by the National Business Group on Health stated that they plan to promote employee wellness by offering incentives-- from subsidized gym memberships to onsite fitness centers and accountability groups.

Snacking and Mini-Meals.  Twenty percent of all eating "occasions" are snacks, and that percentage is expected to rise.  Salads, nuts, yogurts, fruit and other convenient, healthy snack foods are becoming the new norm for mini-meals, with the more formal designations of breakfast, lunch and dinner slowly becoming less popular.

Meat-Free Diets are Now Mainstream.  No longer regarded as the domain of hippies and hipsters, going meatless or even vegan is on a steady climb.  Celebrities and professional athletes alike are touting the benefits of an herbivore diet, now seen as a viable health alternative.  Expect to see more unusual fruits and vegetables at the grocery store, as well as more meat-free options on restaurant menus.

Gluten-Free as a Health Diet.  A few short years ago, gluten-free was a trend.  Now it's mainstream.  Today, items with the gluten-free logo are found in many chain grocery stores, not just in health food stores and co-ops.

ref:  Alexandra Williams, FunAndFit.org
 

Health & Fitness Fun Facts

Sometimes trivia is a fun way to learn more about health and exercise, or at the very least impress your friends at parties. Anyway, here are some fun tid-bits on fitness:

• It takes 70 muscles to speak a single word.
• One pound of muscle burns 30-50 calories per day, while one pound of fat burns only 3 calories per day.
• People who are physically inactive can lose as much as 3% to 5% of their muscle mass per decade after age 30.
• It can take about 200,000 frowns to make a permanent wrinkle.
• Eating spicy foods an hour or two before you work has been shown to increase your metabolism.
• People in Sweden refer to interval training as fartlek, which means "speed play."
• On average, every minute you walk extends your life by one and a half to two minutes. 
• Your heart beats approximately 100,000 times per day. That means that in just 10 days, your heart beats one million times.
• The number of fat cells in your body is determined at birth. A gain in bodyfat does not increase the number of fat cells, but rather the size of the existing fat cells.
• Your Brain is 2% of your body weight, yet uses 20% of the oxygen.
• On average, you breathe 700 gallons of air per hour.
• A normal sized heart weighs about the same amount as a softball.

ref:  fitnessexchange.com
 

Sandbag Exercise of the Month!

Sandbag Curls

Summary:

Nothing special about your standard curl exercise, aside from the grip work and hammer-curl motion that you get with the sandbags. Hammer curls work additional muscles of the forearm (brachioradialis) in addition to the biceps and as always, the grip work that you get is great for hand strength.  Great bicep isolation for the upper arms!

Target:  arms, hands (biceps brachii, brachioradialis, brachialis, )

Description:  Grab a few handfuls of canvas at the top of the ends of the sandbag.  Keeping your back straight, and elbows at your sides, curl the bag up to your shoulders before returning to the starting position.  Repeat for desired repetitions.
 

Mudders Wanted!

I've never been a runner... in fact I haven't run more than a 5K since elementary school.  So after doing various 5K mud runs over the past few years, I just signed up for the big daddy of all mud runs... the Tough Mudder!

Mud Runs are awesome!  They are basically trail runs that mix in obstacles throughout the course, which breaks things up and adds some fun aspects to the challenge!  Tough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. With the most innovative courses, 700,000 inspiring participants worldwide to date, and more than $5 million raised for the Wounded Warrior Project, Tough Mudder is the premier adventure challenge series in the world.

I'd been thinking about this one for a while, but I was always nervous about being able to run 10-12 miles.  Well, after a few of my buddies started talking about it, I figured I better Go Big or Go Home J  I like the fact that I'm pushing myself out of my comfort zone and giving myself a goal to train for.  Hey, I'm 46 years old... I'm not getting any younger!

Soooo... There's safety in numbers, right?  Yup, we're going there!  I created a Tough Mudder team called Delaware Mud Warriors and we're up to 7 mudders as of this April newsletter... not too shabby!  So if you're looking for a challenging event for this summer, come register with our team and join us for Tough Mudder Philadelphia on Sunday, June 2nd!  It's a team based event, so no mudder will be left behind!

Not quite up to Tough Mudder standards yet?  There are plenty of events throughout the year that you can use as YOUR motivation.  Running, biking, triathlons... whatever works for you.  Find an event and register NOW!  Commit to the challenge and lock yourself in to keep the motivation pumping!  Go ahead... do it now... I'll wait right here J

There's an App for That

While we do a lot of Crossfit type exercises, as well as similar pace and intensity at our Warrior Workouts, I can't say that I've ever been a formal "Crossfitter".  The Crossfit culture, Workout of the Day (WOD), and countless exercise combinations have realized quite a boom in popularity lately. 

If you are interested in Crossfit, or just curious about it, then I would recommend checking out this iWOD Fitness app that I found in the iTunes app store.  I think that it really does a great job of providing an overall view of Crossfit exercises, WODs, as well as providing some helpful timers that can be used during your workouts and intervals.

There's also a news feed that provides you with up to date information on the workouts of the day, as well as various Crossfit news.

The exercise library is pretty comprehensive and provide pictures and videos of the various exercises that are incorporated into the WODs.

Interested?  iWOD Fitness is available in the app store for $  Check it out!
 

It's Go Time!

For prior issues of this eNewsletter, to subscribe, or unsubscribe, please visit the following link --> todayfitness.net/news. 

‎"Success is how high you bounce when you
hit bottom." -George S. Patton

youtube of the month --> Best Bodyweight Exercises
..Awesome collection of bodyweight exercises from TeeMajorFitness