Whether you are a seasoned athlete or just starting out, understanding the role of supplements and recovery is crucial for your success. Join us as we explore tailored advice for older athletes, ensuring you train smart and recover effectively for lasting results. Dive in to elevate your performance!
Foods are made up of nutrients. Protein, carbohydrate, fat, vitamins and minerals are types of nutrients. Your body needs the right mix of nutrients to be healthy and well. This is what it means to eat a balanced diet.
Nutrition & Training
To access next level performance, we must acknowledge and understand the role diet plays in our progression.
Diet helps us to;
- Achieve our desired and correct body weight to perform comfortably at our next level
- Maintain performance at this level
- Keep our body fat as low as is comfortable.
The reduction of sugar in our diet is vital in achieving all the above!
Understand why we need to eat more complex carbs instead of simple carbs which contain more sugar which is converted into sugar very quickly.
Diet & Nutrition Tips
When we make a decision to change our eating habits, we must understand what foods to replace our ‘old diet with new’ I find keeping it simple is by far the best path to take. For instance;
- Replace potatoes with pasta and or rice a couple of times per week
- Eat more vegetables
- Use fresh rather than frozen food
- Develop a better understanding of calorie counting in relation to how hard we train and what we need to refuel with as regards calorie replacement and what foods/ supplements to get these from
- Generally eating smaller portions of food but ‘more often’
- Know what food we need to refuel with after a hard training session or indeed a race/ competition
- And of course, drink lots of water at least 1.5ltrs per day
- Diet also includes understanding supplements and why we must view them positively when we train at an elevated level of performance
- Understand that after a hard training session, of any sporting discipline, we as athletes, have a 50-60min window in which to eat /refuel. If not, we will feel tired and will experience burnout in the following days. This in turn will disrupt any training play either advanced or beginner.
- Know when to drink water and when we need electrolyte replacement or magnesium supplementation.
- Understanding the benefits of ‘gels’ and when to use them and when to avoid them
Diet & Training in older athletes / cyclists
As we get older our bodies change. Our love for our chosen sport however does not! Therefore, to accommodate these inevitable changes we must change our attitude and our approach to our physical training & our diet. This involves supplementation as well as the afore mentioned.
For older male athletes/ cyclists I can recommend a range of supplements which may include (depending on the individual & the severity/ duration of training sessions ZMA (zinc, magnesium) vit B6, testosterone boosters, protein, glucosamine & calcium. All the above are vital in any worthwhile training bloc / program.
Recovery in older athletes/ cyclists is paramount in progression and pursuit of fitness goals and lifestyle. It is as simple as this, no recovery no improvement.
Older athletes must train smart. Supplement smart. Recover smart.
Shorter sessions in the gym but with the same intensity will pay bigger dividends in the long term over a 12mth period. I would strongly recommend squatting only with an empty bar, for ROM (range of motion) deadlift is a very brutal movement. Its best avoided after a certain age. The chances of injury are far greater than perceived benefit or expectation. Ego lifting is not recommended for the older athlete. There are better more beneficial exercises for the older athlete to perform in their pursuit of excellence.
