Swimming
A
good swimmer must be strong, flexible and conditioned according
to the demands of the event. If you are a sprinter you undoutably
use the immediate and glycolytic energy system which initials
following a training program accordingly. Again a swimmer
should focus on strength, anaerobic or aerobic endurance and
speed strength. A swimmer must also understand nutritional
and supplementation strategies for increased performance.
Swimmers have a tendency to overtrain. To reduce injuries
to the low back and shoulders training schedules should be
taken into consideration. Swimmer will experience a loss in
absolute strength in some overworked muscle groups. However
a solid strength training and nutritional program should retain
the power output.
In
swimming, the muscles rely on three major systems to supply
the energy needs -- the intermediate, glycolytic, and oxygen
energy systems. The intermediate energy systems are nonoxidative
-- they do not use oxygen. Instead, these systems generate
energy through the use of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and
creatine phosphate (CP). CP is produced in the body and stored
in the muscle fibers. It is broken down by enzymes to regenerate
ATP, which is also stored in the muscle fibers. When ATP and
is in turn broken down, the result is a spark of energy that
triggers a muscle contraction.
For
medium -- term energy for repeated near -- maximum exertion,
the muscles turned to the glycolytic energy systems. In these
systems, which are also nonoxidative, glycogen used produced
energy. Glycogen it is a storage form of glucose. It is stored
in the liver and muscles, and is readily converted back to
glucose when he is needed for energy.
For
a long -- term energy for endurance activities, the muscles
use the oxidation energy systems. In these systems, oxygen
is used to oxidized long -- chain fatty acids, protein, and
glucose, which generate energy. For athletes, getting enough
oxygen can mean a winning performance rather than a second
-- placed showing.
Every
sport involves a variety of skills, and each skill utilizes
a unique combination of these three energy systems. When considering
a nutritional support program to enhance your training for
swimming keep the following factors in mind:
- All
athletes needed to consume high -- quality protein several
times a day for effective recovery in adequate repair
of damage muscle tissue.
- Athletes
whose muscles rely substantially on the intermediate or
glycolytic energy systems should keep their fat intake
to a minimum because that is not inefficient energy source
for their intensive training, which is almost exclusively
anaerobic in nature. Since the fat calories consumed by
the athletes are not generally used for energy, they are
stored as body fat.
- Athletes
should consume a carefully measured amount of high-quality
carbohydrates several times a day to insure adequate supply
of energy.
- Carbohydrates
in all pre-workout meals should consist of low glycemic
indexes to insure that training intensity does not diminish
and the muscle tissue is not capitalized for energy.
The
aim of your nutrition programs to make your body healthy enough
to accomplish recovery and tissue repair speedily and efficiently
with out adding body fat. Your further aims are to do this
while maintaining a high strength to wait ratio. These aims
alone make diet an important part of your swimming success.
Eat the wrong foods or the wrong amounts just a few times
too often you'll sabotage your fitness efforts. Even more
important, do not be in a hurry takes years become a great
swimming player. Rush the nutrition and training process in
you will become fat, your recovery will get to decline, and
your injury rate will increase.
Nutrition
for Swimming
Swimmers
depending on the event are combination power-middle distance
and endurance athletes. Every position must obtain energy
from each of the three energy systems. Therefore, as a swimmer,
you need to plan your nutritional intake, from both food and
supplements sources, to support all three systems. In addition,
since her energy expenditure changes in the off-season, you
need to adjust caloric intake and macro nutrient ratio to
match. Following are the dietary guidelines for boxers to
help you in planning your nutrition program. In addition to
the nutritional guidelines, a supplementation guideline is
also added.
Dietary
Guidelines
The
following charts illustrate how you should divide your caloric
intake to match the energy demands of swimming during the
preseason, season, and off-season. They show the target percentages
of fat, protein, and carbohydrates that you or five to six
meals should supply each day.
For
more advanced workouts and training methods
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