Bodybuilding and Sport Nutrition For Sportsmen

Are you interested in bodybuilding and sports nutrition for athletes? If you answered yes, read on to find out some basic sports nutrition principles that apply to every athlete. Whether you are an elite athlete or a person that likes to stay fit and healthy, the following recommendations will help you get the most from your fitness program. Proper sport nutrition is essential when you're on the move to keep your body running on all cylinders.
When you exercise consistently, you need to provide a good supply of high-quality energy to your muscles. The energy we need for exercising and daily life comes from the fluids we drink and the food we eat, so that is what we must focus on. The easiest way to keep energy levels up is to eat well-balanced meals and a variety of high-quality foods every day.
Depending on how much you exercise, you should eat a meal approximately 2 hours before exercising. Experiment with different foods and in different amounts to see what works best for you and your schedule. If you train consistently throughout the week, carbohydrates is what your muscles will need to make exercising at this level possible.
The carbohydrate energy source most often used for exercise is glycogen. It is needed immediately for intense workouts such as weight lifting and sprinting. Glycogen is used up during the first few minutes of any exercise, and then any excess is stored as fat. During a slower exercise, fat can help fuel your activity, but to help breakdown the fat into something your muscles can use, you will still need more glycogen to accomplish this. So this becomes a continuous process of keeping your carbs and glycogen levels up.
It is very important to drink plenty of good, pure water before, during, and after a workout. You should start drinking 12 ounces of water prior to your workout. Proper hydration during exercise depends upon the duration and the intensity of exercise, but a good rule of thumb is to drink 8 ounces of water every 15 minutes of exercise. If you exercise for more than 90 minutes straight, you will need to replenish lost carbohydrates and electrolytes.

Try to eat a meal within two hours of an intense workout in order to replenish glycogen stores. Research shows that eating a combination of both carbohydrate and protein is the best option. A sports shake may be easier to digest after a long workout.