The off-season is the perfect time to focus on muscle-building and growth. With practices limited, you have the opportunity to spend your time in the weight room increasing strength and in the kitchen feeding your body the fuel it needs to grow. Here are a number of important diet tips as well as supplement recommendations to help you make the most out of this off-season.
Importance of Daily Diet: Muscles cannot grow without the proper fuel. That would be like expecting a car to run without gasoline. The body needs large amounts of the following macronutrients: protein, amino acids, carbohydrates, fat and water in order to rebuild and repair muscle and tissue, keep energy stores high, and keep the circulatory system functioning. If the body is not being fueled every 3 hours, it will begin use muscle as an energy source (muscle catabolism). This means it is extremely important for student athletes to be consuming meals rich in protein and carbohydrates every 3-4 hours as well as drinking water frequently.
Supplementation:
A Supplement is defined as: “1. Something added to complete a thing, make up for a deficiency, or extend or strengthen the whole.” –Webster’s Dictionary
It is important to understand that supplements are not a replacement for a sound diet, training, or ample rest. HOWEVER….
Supplements are essential for athletes and all those who are pushing their body to the limit and past it, depleting vital amino acids, carbohydrates, vitamins and H20.
Q: It is extremely difficult to prepare an adequate amount of foods to intake 5-750 calories per meal every 3 hours, how can I do this as a student athlete?
A: It is almost impossible. This is where the importance of a Meal Replacement/ Weight Gain Shake comes into play. A quick and easy way to increase meal frequency of protein and carbohydrates.
Muscle Growth and Recovery:
Daily diet is a very important component of growth as we’ve stated earlier. In addition, the Pre and Post-workout windows are another very important component of increasing strength, building muscle and adding size
Pre – Workout:
It is important to pre-fuel the body before a workout if the goal is to add size and strength. Eating a meal 2-2.5 hours prior that is rich in complex carbohydrates and Protein is important to supply the muscles with the amino acids and Glycogen (carbohydrates) needed to fuel your workout
Supplements:
BCAA: Any athlete looking to increase muscle mass should be drinking Branch Chain Amino Acids before work outs. These essential amino acids are necessary for muscle growth and recovery.
Post-Workout- “The Anabolic Window”
Supplements:
Post-workout is where a lot of the growth in our muscles occurs. This is a point where it is extremely important to provide the body with the following nutrients: Protein, BCAAs, Carbohydrates, and Glutamine. The body requires these nutrients as quickly as possible and this is the optimal time to drink a Post-Workout Recovery Shake.
Vitamins/ Minerals
Getting all the vitamins and minerals the body needs is another extremely important aspect of muscle growth and recovery, but most importantly immune function. You can’t improve upon your performance if you are sick! A number of these vitamins and minerals are supplied to our bodies through consumption of fruits and vegetables. However, 99% of people are not getting the USDA recommended 5-9 servings per day. Our bodies require many of these vitamins and minerals in order to properly absorb and derive energy from the foods we consume:
Supplements
In order to fill the gap between what you consume through foods and what your body requires as an athlete, it is imperative that you use a whole-food based multivitamin. In addition, a number of athletes use greens supplements, to deliver the proper dose of vegetables to improve recovery.
In summary, there are a number of aspects that play a role in improving performance, increasing strength, and building muscle. There isn’t one thing that can be substituted for another and in order to excel at the highest level, athletes must take advantage of everything that is available with regard to training, diet, and supplementation.
- The TN Team
