Nutrition Facts
Proper nutrition is vitally important to your performance. It can help you prevent injury, boost your immune system, increase overall stamina and help you to recover more quickly. While poor nutrition can adversely affect your performance and your long-term health. You owe it to yourself to learn about the major nutrients and how to use them to perform at your peak.
Body Energy
The average body can store 2000 calories worth of carbohydrate in the form of glycogen, our body's primary energy source. Energy from carbohydrates are key for fueling all athletic performance. In fact, carbohydrates are the only thing that fuels speed and quickness.
Caloric Intake
The average American male requires ~2000 calories, of which, 1/2 of 1000 calories must be used for brain, liver, heart, and kidney function alone. The average Titan player requires 5,000 calories/day, 2,000 of which must be used to fuel their sport performance.
Body Temperature
Water conducts heat away from the body 25 times faster than air because it has a greater density (therefore a greater heat capacity). This is why it is more important to get fluids inside the body when exercising in extreme temperatures, than pouring them over your body. Drink up to 32oz. of fluid per hour of exercise. Once you have done that, then you can pour additional fluids over your body.
Calcium & Sweat
Did you know you lose calcium in your sweat?! This isn't a big deal for most folks that exercise, but for athletes that lose large volumes of sweat daily, this can increase your risk of stress fractures, muscle cramps, and osteoporosis in years to come. Be sure to get your 3 low-fat dairy sources daily.
Proper Hydration
Studies have shown that some athletes can lose 1000-2000 milligrams of salt per liter of sweat. Proper Hydration is not just drinking adequate fluids. Fluid intake and electrolytes must be properly balanced to maximize hydration and maximize your sport performance.
Cold Weather
You can just as easily become dehydrated while training in cool weather as you can in hot weather. During respiration - air is heated as it enters the lungs and is exhaled with extremely high moisture content. So you may not be sweating as much when it is colder, but you are still losing a lot of fluid with every breath. This decrease in fluid level makes the body more susceptible to hypothermia and other cold injuries. Remember to hydrate every time you exercise, no matter the weather.