Rethinking Exercise as a Source of Immediate Rewards

I was going to skip my daily swim the other morning. I had already walked three miles with a friend and taken my dog to the park for his exercise. I was really tired, my back was sore, I had a column to write and lots to do around the house.

But I knew from past experience that I would feel much better after 40 minutes of swimming laps. So in I went. And, yes, I did feel better — not just refreshed, but more energetic, clearheaded and better prepared than I would have been otherwise to tackle the day’s essentials.

Michelle Segar, who directs the Sport, Health and Activity Research and Policy Center at the University of Michigan, would say I had reframed my exercise experience, making it ever more likely that I would continue to swim — even on days when I didn’t feel like doing it — because I viewed it as a positive, restorative activity. Indeed, exercise is something I do, not because I have to or was told to, but because I know it makes me feel better.

Dr. Segar, a psychologist who specializes in helping people adopt and maintain regular exercise habits, is the author of “No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness.” Her research has shown that even people who say they hate to exercise or have repeatedly fallen off the exercise wagon can learn to enjoy it and stick with it.

Three years ago, I wrote about research by Dr. Segar and others showing that promoting physical activity to prevent or control disease, lose weight or sculpt one’s body, and prescribing doses as if exercise were medicine, wouldn’t get most people to do it and keep doing it.

“Health is not an optimal way to make physical activity relevant and compelling enough for most people to prioritize in their hectic lives,” Dr. Segar said in an interview.

Though it seems counterintuitive, studies have shown that people whose goals are weight loss and better health tend to spend the least amount of time exercising. That is true even for older adults, a study of 335 men and women ages 60 to 95 showed.

Rather, immediate rewards that enhance daily life — more energy, a better mood, less stress and more opportunity to connect with friends and family — offer far more motivation, Dr. Segar and others have found.

“I like to think of physical activity as a way to revitalize and renew ourselves, as fuel to better enjoy and succeed at what matters most,” she said.

In her new book, she describes strategies to get even the most sedentary people off their duffs, starting with ways to overcome past failures and negative feelings about exercise that make it feel more like punishment than pleasure.

Instead of the recommended half hour a day or 10-minute doses of moderate exercise three times a day on most days, Dr. Segar suggests focusing on the idea that “everything counts” — taking the stairs instead of the elevator, weeding the garden, dancing, even walking to the water cooler.

“We should count any and every opportunity to move that exists in the space of our lives as valid movement worth doing,” she wrote. She advocates adopting a food marketer’s approach to workouts: Enjoy “snacks” of exercise that can entice gradual increases in how much is “consumed.” And like the calories in food snacks, it all adds up.

Dr. Segar likens the choices to Baskin-Robbins’s 31 flavors: “There are so many options — ‘What do I feel like doing today?’ — then picking the ‘flavor’ of physical activity that feels right for that day and moment.” The neuroscience of reward has shown that this approach can foster and reinforce positive feelings about being active.

Also important is giving oneself permission to make self-care through physical activity a priority. Dr. Segar wrote: “When we do not prioritize our own self-care because we are busy serving others, our energy is not replenished. Instead, we are exhausted, and our ability to be there for anyone or anything else is compromised.”

People who make physical activity a priority don’t necessarily have more time than others. Rather, they make sure to schedule time for it because they know it enhances their performance and the quality of their daily lives. It has been shown, for example, that schoolchildren who are given exercise breaks are better able to to pay attention and learn.

Citing a “paradox of self-care,” Dr. Segar wrote, “The more energy you give to caring for yourself, the more energy you have for everything else.” She suggests viewing physical activity as a power source for everything else you want to accomplish. “What sustains us, we sustain,” she wrote.

To those who feel they are neglecting family to fit in exercise, she suggests taking them along. The routine can help foster a culture of physical activity at an early age. When my brother and I were young, my father took us on his weekend walks. He taught us to swim as preschoolers and launched a lifetime of enjoyment in the water. Now in our 70s, both of us continue to appreciate what physical activity brings to everything else in our lives. We feel like slugs when we can’t exercise.

Even those with the best intentions often set themselves up for failure by establishing rigid exercise goals. They try to do too much, and when they can’t keep it up they give up and chalk it up as another exercise failure. In place of a performance goal, Dr. Segar suggests setting a “learning goal” — learning to be flexible and cutting yourself some slack when needed.

Consistency trumps quantity when trying to establish a lifetime of fitness. When a last-minute task cuts into a planned workout, you should not skip the session altogether. Even 10 or 20 minutes of activity is better than none.

It also helps to anticipate challenges to your exercise routine, using an “if-then” exercise tool. If, for example, you are too tired after work to go to the gym, think about a replacement activity you might enjoy, like taking a sunset walk alone or with a partner, friend, child, dog or even a neighbor’s dog.

Or, in the future, go to sleep and get up a half hour earlier to fit in physical activity before life’s demands get in the way.

Article Source: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/20/rethinking-exercise-as-a-source-of-immediate-rewards/?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

Lionel Messi benefiting from new diet - nutritionist Giuliano Poser

Former Argentina forward Claudio Caniggia is resting his hopes on Barcelona star Lionel Messi guiding the current crop of La Albeceleste to success at the Copa America.

Nutritionist Giuliano Poser has confirmed that he helped Lionel Messi change his diet, leading to the Barcelona star's outstanding 2014-15 campaign.

Messi scored 58 goals and contributed 23 assists as Barcelona won the Champions League, Copa del Rey and La Liga Treble, making him a huge favourite for the 2015 Ballon d'Or award.

This followed a disappointing 2013-14, which was disrupted by injury and saw Barca fail to win a trophy for the first time in six seasons.

Messi then started the World Cup impressively but appeared to tire and was unable to prevent Argentina from losing 1-0 to Germany in the final.

A number of reports put his upturn in form down to a new diet, with Blaugranatransfer advisor Charly Rexach revealing that Messi had "eaten too many pizzas" in the past.

The player was photographed meeting Poser in Italy during a break from action in April.

In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, picked up in AS, Poser, from Argentina, said Messi had taken a tip from his international colleague Martin Demichelis and consulted him.

"I am a good friend of Demichelis and he recommended he [Messi] visit me," Poser said. "After the World Cup, something changed. Messi had the intuition and humility to try and do something different in his professional life."

ESPN FC's Gabriele Marcotti elaborates on the ongoing Lionel Messi tax investigation, and thinks there is almost no chance of the Argentine going to jail.

The 59-year-old kinesiologist, whose methods reportedly include the use of Bach flower remedies, emotional therapy and a balanced diet, said the change from processed to natural foods had allowed Messi to train with greater intensity.

"He eliminated processed foods and replaced them with foods rich in vitamins -- cereals, vegetables, fish and olive oil," Poser explained.

"He had won everything, but wanted to continue this excellence for years and understood he had to change something. We are talking about a very intelligent and intuitive person."

Demichelis' Manchester City teammate Sergio Aguero is among other top players to have visited Poser at his base in the small Italian town of Sacile.

Article Source: http://www.espnfc.com.au/barcelona/story/2488255/lionel-messi-benefiting-from-new-diet-nutritionist

Here's the Best Way to Make Your Exercise Habit Stick

Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME

Having this kind of habit will make you a more successful exerciser

It’s not always easy to convince yourself to exercise after a long day of work. (Ok, it’s never easy.) But people who consistently manage to do it may be using a simple trick—whether they realize it or not—according to a new study published in the journal Health Psychology.

The most consistent exercisers, researchers found, were those who made exercise into a specific type of habit—one triggered by a cue, like hearing your morning alarm and going to the gym without even thinking about it, or getting stressed and immediately deciding to exercise. “It’s not something you have to deliberate about; you don’t have to consider the pros and cons of going to the gym after work,” explains L. Alison Phillips, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at Iowa State University and one of the study’s authors. Instead, it’s an automatic decision instigated by your own internal or environmental cue.

The researchers wanted to see whether this type of habit, known as an instigation habit, was better than another type of habit at predicting who stuck with a month of exercise. At the beginning and end of the monthlong study, they asked 123 university students and faculty questions that assessed how often they exercised and how strong their exercise habits were—whether they did it without thinking, for example. From these questions, they gleaned whether a person has a strong instigation habit—one where a cue triggers the instantaneous decision to exercise—and whether a person has a strong execution habit—that is, knowing exactly what kind of exercise they’ll do once you get to the gym, or being able to go through the motions of an exercise routine while being mentally checked out.

The only factor that predicted how often a person exercised over the long-term, they found, was the strength of their instigation habit.

MORE: 7 Psychology Tricks To Make Your Resolutions Stick

It got stronger with time, too. “When people started exercising more frequently over the month and became more active, I saw that their instigation habit strength increased with that frequency, but execution habit didn’t really change in relation to frequency at all,” Phillips says. Zoning out mentally during exercise didn’t have a negative effect, but it didn’t help a person adhere to a regimen, either.

That’s good news for newbie exercisers who might be intimidated by the same routine day in, day out. “In the long term, it seems beneficial, or at least not harmful, to have variety in your routine,” Phillips says of the results. “A lot of people might shy away from starting to exercise because they think, oh man, I can’t possibly imagine myself doing this forever. They might think of one boring routine—running on the treadmill—and to them it sounds like torture, so they give up before they even begin.”

Some repetitive behaviors do reinforce exercise, she says. “When you’re just starting to develop an exercise routine, I think it might be helpful to engage in the same behaviors, to have this patterned action.” But sticking with a cue—instead of clinging to the same tired routine—appears to be what will get you back to your workout again and again.

Article Source: http://time.com/3950220/exercise-healthy-habits/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=FaceBook

Five Steps to Increase Emotional Maturity

Five Steps to Increase Emotional Maturity
Written by Invictus Intern Faith Clay

There is no substitute for experienced coaching with an accurate and broad knowledge base. I dare say this is a generally accepted concept. Perhaps less well understood and discussed (but no less important) is the concept of emotional maturity.

“What? Emotional Maturity? Maybe I’m reading the wrong blog,” you may be thinking.

Actually, the sports world has been recognizing more and more the importance of knowing oneself, one’s limitations, strengths, weaknesses, and being able to manage your attention and focus. Getting into the zone, pushing yourself to your limits, and knowing when to back off are all part of emotional intelligence or maturity (EI or EM).

There are 18 competencies identified as making up emotional intelligence with some being more essential in sports and fitness than others [1]. An athlete’s most important emotional/mental faculty is that of self-awareness—knowing one’s emotional state, providing accurate self-assessment, possessing self-confidence, and managing one’s own emotions and focus.

For coaches, the list expands to recognizing the emotional state of others and building relationships of trust and influence. This is exceptionally important for coaches of athletes who may be lacking emotional intelligence.

Not convinced? Researchers in India have investigated various types of competitive athletes from handball players to combative sports such as boxing, Judo, and wrestling [2]. They found that the level of emotional maturity was not significantly different based on the type of sport the athlete played; however, “International level players demonstrated significantly higher levels of emotional maturity as compared to the other two performance groups” (national and state level competitors) [2,3].

With all that CrossFit has done and continues to do for the world of fitness, it is essential that we as participants and proponents check ourselves with regard to our own emotional intelligence. Bo Hanson, four-time Olympian and coach, reassures us that emotional intelligence is a skill that can be learned. By developing this maturity, self-awareness, and self-management, we can better understand ourselves – when we need to back off or seek coaching to avoid an injury and when we are ready to push ourselves to the limits for maximum gains. In this regard, perhaps emotional maturity is the prescription to “Forging Elite Fitness.”

Here are five steps that have helped me improve my emotional maturity in my personal life as well at the gym:

1. Check your ego at the door
   When I enter the gym, I leave my competitive pride at the door. I go to the whiteboard in a humble mindset of determination. I remind myself of what my limits are, how I should scale the workout (or ask the coach if I’m not certain), and take note of which movements I need to improve.
2. Be in the moment
   When the coach starts explaining the movements and standards for the workout, I try to actively listen and be present; that means not talking with others while the coach is explaining what needs to be done. The coach’s tips may help me lift more, move faster, or avoid injury.
3. Increase self-discipline
   There are times when I have no desire to leave the comfort of my house to go to the gym. I may try to find some excuse that will not help me improve. Self-discipline is a sign of maturity and can be improved by consistently doing things we know we should but may not want to do at the moment.
4. Develop personal responsibility
   This goes hand in hand with self-discipline. The coaches want me to improve, to be safe, and to enjoy my workouts. However, similar to getting myself into the gym, ultimately these are my responsibilities. I have a personal responsibility to bring a good attitude and take responsibility for my own development. I should be learning from my mistakes rather than placing blame.
5. Be a victor
   We need to work on our weaknesses to be stronger physically and emotionally.  Feeding the mind positive thoughts will help us push through hardships.  Consistently and correctly completing workouts builds confidence and experience that will ultimately enable us to attain our personal fitness goals.

Article Source: http://www.crossfitinvictus.com/blog/five-steps-to-increase-emotional-maturity/

A 15-Minute Brisk Walk Curbs Hunger Cravings

April 8, 2015

Avoid food cravings with simple and brief exercise.

A mere 15-minute brisk walk is enough to reduce hunger cravings significantly, a new study shows.

Dieters are often concerned that exercise will cause hunger and lead to overeating and a stall in weight loss, but new research is showing just the opposite. Researcher Larissa Ledochowski and colleagues from the University of Innsbruck produced data that showed exercise such as walking reduces urges for sugary snacks and offsets urges in response to the stress in overweight people (1).

The purpose of the study was to determine if a 15-minute bout of moderate intensity exercise reduces levels of sugary snack cravings and attenuates increases in cravings associated with stress. Following three days of “chocolate-abstinence,” 47 overweight, sugary snack consumers were assessed.

In the study, subjects were split into two groups. One group went on a 15-minute brisk walk, while the other remained sedentary. The groups then completed two tasks: a word interference task and handling sugary snacks. The group that went for the walk experienced a significant level of reduced cravings for high-calorie sugary snacks.

On average 97 percent of women and 68 percent of men experience food cravings (2), which, along with greater daily fatigue and less physical activity, is a hallmark of obesity (3).

Exercise is noted to reduce psychological and physiological responses to stress and has been proposed to help break the habit of snacking on unhealthy foods (4). Food cravings have also been blamed for overeating in obese people and for early dropout from weight-loss treatments (5). Specific psychological cues seem to trigger consumption of sugary snacks: dieting (6), stress (7), negative mood (3), and exposure to cues that are associated with the past use of sugary snacks (8). Experimental studies also have shown that the intake of high-caloric sugary snacks leads to an immediate reduction of emotional tension and to a decrease in tiredness in the short term, but increases both (tension and tiredness) in the long term (9).

When snacking becomes a bad habit and is poorly regulated, short bouts of physical activity could be valuable for reducing the urge to overeat, the new study suggests, especially when an individual is particularly vulnerable.

References

1. Ledochowski L, Ruedl G, Taylor AH, Kopp M. Acute effects of brisk walking on sugary snack cravings in overweight people, affect and responses to a manipulated stress situation and to a sugary snack cue: a crossover study. PloS one 2014;10:e0119278.
2. Weingarten HP, Elston D. Food cravings in a college population. Appetite 1991;17:167-75.
3. Thayer RE. Calm energy: How people regulate mood with food and exercise. Oxford University Press, 2003.
4. Hamer M, Taylor A, Steptoe A. The effect of acute aerobic exercise on stress related blood pressure responses: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Biological psychology 2006;71:183-90.
5. Cepeda-Benito A, Gleaves DH, Williams TL, Erath SA. The development and validation of the state and trait food-cravings questionnaires. Behavior Therapy 2001;31:151-73.
6. Polivy J, Coleman J, Herman CP. The effect of deprivation on food cravings and eating behavior in restrained and unrestrained eaters. International Journal of Eating Disorders 2005;38:301-9.
7. Adam TC, Epel ES. Stress, eating and the reward system. Physiology & behavior 2007;91:449-58.
8. Ouwehand C, Ridder DT. Effects of temptation and weight on hedonics and motivation to eat in women. Obesity 2008;16:1788-93.
9. Thayer RE. Energy, tiredness, and tension effects of a sugar snack versus moderate exercise. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1987;52:119.

Measure

Measure

Ask An Olympian: Can Food Really Improve Your Athletic Performance?

Like with everything else, when you reach a plateau you must go into reset mode and it’s really not that complicated – just hard to maintain until you’re able to live it and breathe it. Simply put, if you want to become faster and stronger, pay attention to the foods that you eat. Achieving and maintaining the proper levels of the right nutrients is the key to peak performance. So what are some of the main nutrients necessary to build and maintain a strong body?

Luke Walton, USA Olympic Rower suggests “HYDRATION is key to proper nutrition. There are too many positive effects of water to list here. Flushing toxins is one big one! Hydrating muscles, cells, etc. Water also aids proper digestion and absorption”.

Walton also suggest healthy fats. The kind found in avocado, coconut oil, flax seed oils, nuts, etc. “Too many people try to avoid fat completely and that is a terrible thing to do, especially for endurance athletes”.

Calcium is probably the most important nutrient for an athlete and calcium intake should be monitored by those who train seriously and consistently. Calcium is essential in the growth, maintenance, and repair of bone tissue, maintenance of blood calcium levels, regulation of muscle contraction, nerve conduction, and normal blood clotting. So it’s no shocker that low levels of calcium can increase the risk of low bone mineral density and stress fractures. And recent research shows that male endurance athletes of all ages experience testosterone deficits that can also cause osteoporosis. Say what?! Ok so let’s make sure we stock up on those dairy foods like milk, yogurt, and cheese, as well as dried beans and leafy green vegetables. Dairy intolerant? Then make sure you find the right supplements.

Iron is an essential nutrient and part of hemoglobin, which is a protein in the blood that transports oxygen to all the cells in your body. The brain has a big demand for oxygen. Shocker! That being said, without proper levels of iron in your system, you will find it hard to concentrate and will start feeling tired and irritable. Inadequate iron levels can decrease the delivery of oxygen to tissues and therefore reduce the capacity of muscles to use oxygen for the production of energy. Athletes have higher iron needs which puts them at a higher risk to experience iron deficiency (did you know that iron is lost in sweat?). So to improve your iron levels, be sure to increase your intake of iron-rich foods like red meat, rice, wheat, oats, nuts, dark leafy greens, dried fruit, beans, iron-fortified cereals, breads and pasta.

Here is a great article on Blood Iron Levels and Athletic Performance article by the Inside Tracker you might find helpful.

Proper levels of Protein will help maintain a good metabolism rate, good recovery times and will decrease susceptibility to infections. Interesting fact: endurance athletes need more protein than strength athletes because endurance athletes use protein primarily for maintaining aerobic metabolism, while the strength athletes use it to increase tissue-repair needs. In short, protein helps replenish depleted energy stores and prepares your body for its next workout, and in case of a protein deficit the body will take its needed dose from lean tissue. Not good! So make sure you get your daily protein requirements. Animal protein sources include meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and dairy products but if you’re a vegetarian get them from plant-based sources such as beans, peas, nuts, and soy products. I mean, who doesn’t like peanut butter?

Photo: Anna Mos, amosportfolio.com

Article Source: http://lordwallington.com/ask-an-olympian-can-food-really-improve-your-athletic-performance/

What do you guys think of this article?

Understanding Energy Balance For Athletic Performance

Are you putting yourself into a chronic energy deficiency without even knowing it? Regardless of the athletic endeavour, studies have shown that many athletes are chronically energy deficient. This includes weight class athletes in strength sports like Olympic Weightlifting and Powerlifting, but also in endurance sports, the female training population, and bodybuilding competitors.Training and performing within a negative energy balance that is not properly constructed can be detrimental to your performance and void the benefits of your training. 

We are going to examine what energy balance is, what factors play a role in it, and how we can reconstruct our thoughts about eating for performance for both the strength athlete and classical sport athlete. Because the reality is our energy balance has an effect on everything from our metabolism to our hormonal balance and mood.

What Is Energy Balance?

Energy balance refers to the relationship between the energy coming into your system and energy going out of your system. It's governed by the law of thermodynamics and decides whether you as an athlete you gain, maintain, or lose weight.

Energy balance is often spoken of as “calories in, calories out,” but taking this at face value for athletes will not produce the qualities needed to improve your athletic performance. What happens at your cellular level also plays an important role in this equation and is something to be considered when designing your nutritional performance program. That’s why looking at it as an equation of energy in vs. energy out with the goal of maintaining balance is more appropriate.

The goal of athletic nutrition is to maximize our performance. To do this, we train our bodies into the sport-specific size and strength that is required for success and focus on training the correct mix of energy systems relative to the requirements of our sport. Nutrition and working within energy balances can produce the changes that we seek for performance improvement and can sometimes be the difference in performance against competition.

Energy expenditure is a combination of your basal metabolic rate (BMR) plus the thermic effect of foods (TEF) plus the thermic effect of your activity (TEA). This essentially breaks down to your activity level and your energy requirements when you are at rest, as well as food and fluid absorption, digestion, and transport. Your energy intake is a combination of the protein, fats, and carbohydrates you eat, along with your fluid and supplement intake.

ENERGY EXPENDITURE

The energy you expend is dependent on what type of training you are doing, along with the duration, frequency of training, and intensity of that activity. Other items may play a factor such as the sex of the athlete and their prior nutritional status. Because many people don't have access to the equipment that can determine actual total-body expenditure, we use predictive equations in it's place.

The two prediction methods that best estimate energy expenditure are the Cunningham equation and the Harris-Benedict equation. Most sports dieticians use the Harris-Benedict equation.

To estimate your expenditure, BMR or RMR is multiplied by a factor of 1.8-2.3 dependent on your physical exertion levels. An alternative to this method could also be using METs, or metabolic equivalents, recorded during a 24-hour time period. Most find Harris-Benedict a sufficient starting point.

ENERGY BALANCE

There is a lot more to energy balance than just a change in your body weight. It also has to do with what is happening at a physiological level. When your body is in a chronically low energy balance it will turn to lean tissue and fat for fuel. When you lose lean tissue mass as a direct result of your nutrient intake, you also lose strength and endurance and have difficulty adapting to your training regimen.

In addition to performance, you may also compromise immune, endocrine, and musculoskeletal functions. With a chronic negative energy balance, athletes can see a reduction in their bone mass, thyroid hormones, testosterone levels, and metabolism, as well as a disruption of their endocrine system. All nasty stuff for athletes who want to perform optimally.

 But almost all athletes will say, “But I am losing weight!” And while yes you are losing weight, your body has no idea in what way this is happening. Your body cannot tell the difference between a carefully constructed nutritional program and you being stranded alone on a desert island.  All your body knows is that it is not getting the energy intake it requires. As such, your body will slow down or stop certain non-survival functions..

On the flip side, there are detriments to over-feeding or taking in more nutrients than your body requires for your sport. Blood pressure and cholesterol can increase, you could develop insulin resistance, and plaque can build up within your arteries. The human body is in constant motion, and with that it must be adaptable to the demands we place upon it. Micronutrients can help mitigate some of the issues mentioned above.

MICRONUTRIENTS

So what should be the goal of your nutritional intake be in regards to keeping a proper energy balance? Food quality and adjustment of your macro nutrients relative to the needs of your sport while accounting for fluid intake, micronutrients, and fiber. Micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) act as co enzymes in freeing energy from your food, helping in the repair and growth of body tissues, oxygen transport and oxidative metabolism, antioxidants, immune function and more.

If micronutrient intake is not sufficient, this could lead the athlete to sub-optimal health and an athlete that is performing at a decreased level is unlikely to perform at their best. We want to maintain micronutrient intake so as to not disturb the athlete’s energy balance and reduce the chances of the unwanted side effects of under- or overeating.

Before all the diet fad people start chiming in, let’s revisit who we are talking about - competitive athletes. We are not discussing aesthetics in this case or about your recreational competitive athlete. If our food quality (rather than quantities) could provide even a 0.01% difference in training or performance, think of the resulting effect on game or meet day. What if the athlete next to you has been poorly managing his or her energy balance? Advantage - you. When scouts are watching and scholarships are on the line, that very small difference could have a meaningful impact for you.

High quality foods with the groups mentioned becomes very important due to the fact that weight class athletes are at risk for a low intake of important vitamins and minerals. Many athletes are still young and in periods of growth and development where the low intake of important minerals can lead to deficiencies. It should be noted that vitamins do not play a direct role in energy supply but do play an importance in regulating metabolism. An athlete deficient in B-group vitamins for instance, are at larger risk of premature fatigue along with the inability to maintain a heavy weight training program, necessary for athletic improvement.

Overeating on quality food choices can also happen. The athlete needs to be cognizant of extra calories coming in through high-density food choices, such as olive oil or mixed nuts. Eating these foods is great, but eating too much of them could be detrimental to your athletic performance and health.

One productive way for a coach to address athlete energy balance during competitive season can be through maintaining weight stability. Weight stability shows the proper energy requirements are being met, providing the athlete with the ideal balance to ensure optimized performance for competition. For the athlete, this can include checking weight before beginning the day’s training, then rechecking post-training to provide feedback on his or her hydration status, providing necessary feedback for hydration protocols.

IN CLOSING

For the athlete, the maintenance of an appropriate and specific energy balance can mean the difference between standing on the podium holding a trophy and shaking your head trying to figure out where it went wrong.

Are you cognizant of your energy balance? What have you noticed your needs for your sport consist of? Let us know in the comments below.

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Article Source: http://blog.pantheratrainingsystems.com/understanding-energy-balance-for-athletic-performance

Menstrual Cycle and Athletic Performance

How you store and use carbohydrate depends on your cycle.

After British tennis star Heather Watson was knocked out of the Australian Open in the first round last month, she blamed her poor play on "girl things." That sparked a series of articles in the British press on a generally neglected topic: the effect of menstrual cycle on athletic performance. The BBC's take has some interesting details, like Paula Radcliffe's negative experiences with a drug called norethisterone that's sometimes used to delay periods, and the fact that she subsequently set her first marathon world record on the first day of her period (with no drugs).

I decided to take a look at this topic for my column in the Globe and Mail this week. There has actually been quite a bit of research on the effects of menstrual cycle on endurance performance, but with few definitive conclusions, in part because the effects seem to be highly individual. One key point: it's not just about the period itself – hormone levels vary throughout the cycle, with effects on various things like temperature regulation.

The most interesting detail to me was the effects of estrogen-to-progesterone ratio, which flips halfway through the cycle, on carbohydrate, protein, and fatmetabolism:

[Dr. Andrew] Bosch [of the University of Cape Town] and his colleague Dr. Tanja Oosthuyse of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa have found that these hormone fluctuations hamper pre-exercise carbohydrate storage during the first menstrual phase, and may compromise carbohydrate and protein availability during prolonged exercise during the second phase.

That means that carbohydrate loading the day before exercise is more important for female endurance athletes during the first phase, say Oosthuyse. During the second phase, it becomes more important to refuel during prolonged exercise, primarily with carbohydrates, but perhaps also with protein if you’re out for more than a few hours.

Moreoever, there may be a "sweet spot" a day or two before ovulation where a spike in estrogen leads to optimal endurance performance. Oosthuyse and Bosch found some hints of this effect in a cycling time trial study.

Here's my rough sketch of a figure (based on a graph Ooosthuyse sent me) showing how the hormones vary, and where the different performance effects take place (this figure didn't make it into the newspaper article, which is I'm including this highly artistic sketch):

By Alex Hutchinson

Article Reference: http://www.runnersworld.com/womens-running/menstrual-cycle-and-athletic-performance

Picture Reference: http://www.robertharding.com/

Can You Be Better Than Your Best?

I thought I’d share a tidbit with all of you this morning, that has drawn some interest on Facebook…

An ironman triathlete I coach, in her unending quest to be a better athlete and achieve her (for now) ultimate goal of qualifying for Hawaii, asked a question on her Facebook wall, hoping that all of her friends might chime in with a “golden nugget” or two of wisdom, that would help her answer THE question.  And what was it that she posted?

“I am looking for a way to be better than my best.”

Ironically, we had discussed this topic in an email exchange prior to her posting this, but she was looking for more!  Yes, she is determined!  And I love that!

So, to get to the point, I read through a litany of responses from her friends, and was amused to read all of the things that had been posted, such as “try P90x,” or “dig deeper,” and even “let me know when you find the answer.”  At the end of a long string of responses, I posted a single word: “interesting”….

Of course, this athlete posted something which in hindsight, I should have expected: “Give me your thoughts, Coach!”

Since she had reached out and asked for more thoughts, I chimed in. Here’s what I posted on her wall; I hope you all find what I had to say valuable AND interesting, and I hope you find something which applies, as you ALL embark on your own hero’s journey….
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I found all of the comments your friends left, as quite interesting, that’s all. You work very hard, certainly as hard or harder than many athletes out there whom you’re competing with for a coveted Hawaii slot. “Digging deeper,” or trying some fad training program that is sold to the gullible masses, not as a way to “train” smarter as an athlete, but as some kind of magical “workout,” designed to carve a “six pack” and make you like yourself more when you look in the mirror, is NOT the answer. In my humble opinion, what you are looking for is a way to short circuit the “grind.” The process. And in my experience, that rarely – ever – works.

What it DOES often do, however, is cause us to be impatient, and look for an easier, or in your case, “better” way.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending upon how you look at it) it takes a long time to get good in this sport, and we ALL have our own unique adaptive abilities, which we aren’t in control of, as hard as that is to accept sometimes. Rather than look for ways to press on the gas pedal HARDER, why don’t you step back, and with respect to your LIFE, take your foot off the brake.

In other words, try to see if there is a way to enjoy the process, the grind, more, by not looking beyond the task at hand.

Look for more ways to balance your life away from the sport, and then what might be the hardest thing of all – accept that IF YOU continue to train smart, work hard, recover harder, and stay the course, that you will get where you want to go……because you will.

The “problem,” is that you don’t get to hand pick when that will be. Life isn’t like that.

Mental toughness isn’t just about gritting your teeth and hammering more…..it’s also about being focused on the task at hand, and not looking for any specific result from the process, EXCEPT for the process itself.

Smell the roses. Enjoy the grind. Be present. Learn every day, about yourself and about the sport. Accept that you CAN’T control much of the results of what you do, despite your desire to. And while you are working very hard, and recovering as hard as you work, just let everything else take care of itself…”

Article Source: http://pursuitathleticperformance.com/2015/can-you-be-better-than-your-best/
Photo Source: http://www.robertharding.com/