Eat for Fuel, Not for Fun!
Uriia Underhill, B.Sc.
What role do you believe nutrition plays in the life of an athlete?
Are good training habits enough to overcome poor nutrition?
Is good nutrition enough to overcome poor training habits?
It seems that the latest trend for athlete’s is to find out more information about nutrition in order to help their performance unfortunately there is as much bad information in the mainstream as information that can actually help. It seems that athletic performance can only get you so far. At some point it doesn’t matter how hard you train if your body is not receiving the adequate amount of nutrients the body will cease to thrive. I believe that this is apparent in the form of top athlete’s suddenly getting a career ending injury or having a major disease stop them dead in their tracks. This may not be the main thing that happens, but in the case where they are constantly demanding high output but not feeding the body with what it needs ends up causing undue stress, which eventually breaks down the body. After time these “breakdowns” lead to problems that cannot be repaired.
Athletic recovery time and perform are enhanced when optimum nutrition is followed (EatRight, 2013).
In a different aspect if the body is receiving proper nutrition however training is not adequate, the body may look aesthetically pleasing however when it comes to a training aspect the muscle will not be strong enough or have the muscular endurance to be able to perform many of the tasks needed to have the optimum athletic performance. It is apparent that fitness and nutrition are somewhat like a married couple in a sense that both must work hard together in order to get the greatest return. With that being said in order to perform to the best of the athletes ability you must practice good nutrition paired with adequate training techniques, of course this isn’t a fail proof system but it definitely is a closer step to success.
Reference:
EatRight, (2013) It’s About Eating Right, Nutrition and Athletic Performance, (pp.509-527) Retrieved March 22, 2013 from http://www.eatright.org/about/content.aspx?id=8365