Category: Recovery

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Health Nutrition Performance Recovery Sports Nutrition

Is Intermittent Fasting A Good Idea For Athletes?


Intermittent fasting has undoubtedly come to the forefront over the past few years, and more and more, I am getting asked by athletes whether I think intermittent fasting is a good idea? One needs to ask, what is your reasoning for doing intermittent fasting? I mostly hear athletes telling me that they want to lose weight, lean out, become more fat efficient, or improve health. I guess the big question is, what is your actual goal? Are you trying to lose weight? Are you trying to improve your previous best marathon or Ironman time, or are you just doing it for health reasons?

Firstly, it’s a fact that intermittent fasting is a form of calorie restriction. So if you can restrict calories by fasting, why can’t you limit calories by eating correctly? When you place your body into a fasted state, you begin playing with leptin and ghrelin hormones. The inability to balance these hormones properly due to overeating or fasting can cause roller-coaster effects that do not serve the intended purpose. If trying to limit the insulin response by placing yourself in a fasted state is the objective, you should know that this can also be done in a non-fasting state.

The main question, though, is, why would you even consider fasting as an active individual or an athlete? 

Weight loss comes from eating correctly, meaning a calorie-restricted diet and proper macronutrient intake to support your unique requirements. Lean muscle gain also comes from eating correctly and ensuring proper macronutrient intake daily. I am just trying to stress how vital nutrition is for fat loss, muscle gain, and maintenance. However, what about energy, immunity, recovery, and performance as an athlete. Intermittent fasting does not support those systems. Quite the opposite, it will hamper the recovery process, limit your energy levels, and place your immune system under additional stress. 

Let me explain to fully understand the consequences of intermittent fasting while trying to be the best possible healthy athlete.

RECOVERY

When it comes to recovery, there are three main aspects that I look at, and these are:

  • Rehydration
  • Muscle Protein Synthesis
  • Glycogen Restoration and blood sugar stabilization

If an athlete embarks on intermittent fasting, then rehydration and adequate fluid intake will not be an issue. The main problems will arise regarding muscle protein synthesis and glycogen replenishment. Adequate protein intake for any athlete is essential for recovery. Generally, I work on around 1.4g – 1.7g of protein per kilogram of body weight for endurance athletes. Then, for lean muscle increase or strength athletes, the protein volume can quickly move to 2g/kg body weight and higher. The volume needed will depend on the athletes’ goals and exercise regime. 

Strength work and developing more lean muscle will require a higher protein intake, while maintenance and repair will be lower. 

Take as an example a 70kg athlete who is training on average 90min a day. His goals are body fat loss, increased lean muscle, and strength. More of a combination athlete. In this case, I would advise a protein intake of at least 120-130g of protein per day. In animal nutrition terms, 5 chicken breasts or plant terms 2kg of boiled lentils. That is quite a lot of food in protein terms. Most intermittent fasters deploy a 16:8 window which is quite long. It means squeezing this protein intake into a small amount of time.

However, as we know, when it comes down to protein, the human body can only process and absorb a certain amount of protein every +-3hrs. This is generally in the region of +- 8-11 grams per hour. If you are a plant-based eater, you will expect severe GI distress in consuming a high amount of plant protein in a short window period as fiber content is a lot higher. So, as you can see, it’s not possible to squash large protein portions into fewer meals and expect the correct portion amount for proper muscle protein synthesis to take place. Overeating protein can also trigger elevations in blood sugar, easily leading to weight gain. We also know that consuming a protein with a carbohydrate post-exercise up-regulates amino acid uptake, specifically leucine, a significant trigger for muscle protein synthesis. 

What also allows for proper muscle protein synthesis is a positive nitrogen balance. Nitrogen is the most crucial component of amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein. This means that if you are fasting, the amount of nitrogen excreted from the body is greater than the amount of nitrogen ingested, and there is no repair work taking place. It places you in a catabolic or breakdown state. This means limited training adaptations and limited progress. 

EATING FOR ENERGY

The next aspect I want to look at is the energy system, our primary fuel tanks being glycogen and fat. Glycogen is our rocket fuel used at higher intensities, while fat becomes the fuel of choice in lower aerobic zones. 

A hard workout where glycogen depletion takes place will require carbohydrate intake post-exercise to start the glycogen replenishment process and stabilise blood sugar rapidly. This would often result in high muscle damage, meaning protein intake also needs to be considered after exercise. Extending the fasted period a few hours post-exercise will delay the recovery process, leading to fatigue. This will also hamper back-to-back sessions. Then when it does become time to break the fast, how do you know how much to consume in carbohydrates and protein. The body has requirements from a macronutrient perspective and post-exercise stresses, which must be met to ensure a proper and healthy recovery. 

When it comes down to the primary energy system, carbohydrates are, without a doubt, our rocket fuel if you are going to be doing an FTP (Functional Threshold Power) test or an interval or track session. Then how can you expect to achieve the best possible numbers without fuelling the session properly? Pushing those sessions to the best possible effort will ultimately lead to better gains and more fat burning post-exercise by elevating the metabolic rate that much more. It has been scientifically proven that a fuelled session will give better performance numbers. Better performance numbers equate to better training adaptations.

When it boils down to performance gains and being a fitter, faster and stronger athlete, you need to fuel your effort. Fuelling during an exercise session or eating post-exercise recovery meals is not why athletes are overweight. Weight gain comes with overeating and inadequate macronutrient meal construction throughout the whole day and week. 

The Fat Efficient Athlete

To become a fat-efficient athlete, intermittent fasting is not required. Fasted training is a good way of developing this, but that is entirely different from intermittent fasting. A fasted session does require a recovery meal post-exercise, and the volume and type of meal will be determined by the duration and intensity of the exercise session. Failing to recover from an exercise session is, without a doubt, failing the session itself. 

To summarise my views on intermittent fasting and sports performance. They do not go hand in hand. Whether endurance or strength disciplines or a combination of the two, they place a lot of physical stress on the body. This impacts the musculoskeletal system, the immune system, and the energy system. The athlete’s body requires nutrients to fuel, repair, and fortify it constantly. Failing to give the body what it needs will ultimately lead to a lack of performance and potentially illness or injury.

If you want to perform, get stronger, lean out, and get your resilient engine and body, then learn to eat correctly and avoid shortcuts that don’t benefit those goals.

If you are only trying to lose weight or have a medical condition that requires a calorie-restricted diet, then intermittent fasting can play a role. However, if you are an athlete intent on being the best version of yourself, get your nutrition right and stop playing games. 

Mark Wolff is a preventative health specialist with a physiology, chemistry/blood chemistry, exercise physiology, and nutrition background. He has been consulting in this space for more than 25 years, focusing on endurance and strength athletes. Working with professional and amateur athletes in various sports disciplines and people just wanting to change their lifestyles, Mark believes that a person can only reach their full potential when the foundation of health is given the proper focus. Mark places a significant emphasis on recovery, immune system and metabolic health, emotional stability, stress management, and performance.

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Nutrition Recovery Training

RECOVERY – WHAT’S THE SECRET?

This past week I have been involved in a fair amount of discussions around the endurance lifestyle of athletes and I  always hear the same tune touching on training volume, quality versus quantity, power and heart rate and so it goes on. Then all of a sudden one of the athletes I was running with switched the topic angle slightly. He said he is always seeing my Instagram posts of what I do from a training and eating perspective and then the most important question of them all came through and that was “How do your recover ?”

Now we are talking. The most crucial aspect of anyone participating in endurance sport is without a doubt recovery. Just yesterday I noticed a post on social media which stated that running more than 40km a week will shorten your life and its been medically shown that ultra distance training damages our long term health. I actually agree with that 100%. However the research conducted over the years is in my mind biased. My reasoning for this is the research looked at how endurance sport impacts the physiology of the body negatively over time. They did not take into account the many other factors of nutrition, sleep, periodization, aerobic versus anaerobic percentages and other tricks to help the body get stronger over time and not weaker.
Let’s face it of all the athletes you know how many train excessively, work hard at their careers, sacrifice sleep, eat badly and only focus from one session to the next and no further? I would say most people. This is the typical group of athletes that formed part of that research.

It’s a fact that endurance sport breaks the body down, no doubt at all. The question is can you build it up and make it stronger, or just keep on training until you completely succumb to illness, injury or both. There is such an engrained culture of over reaching in endurance sport its quite frightening. We need to change this, we need to show longevity through endurance sport by properly looking after the body and not just throwing it into one race after the next without much care for anything but a personal best or a finish line even if you are not ready for it.

So my question to you is do you do an endurance sport?
If the answer is yes, then my next question is
What focus do you give to recovery? or are you going to be just another statistic of I did an Ironman or Comrades but now I have right ventricular dilation or broken knees and cannot train any more? So you have a medal hanger but do you have proper health?

You need to be completely honest with yourself. Personally its most of my focus, I think about every single aspect of an endurance lifestyle from nutrition to sleep, proper periodization and for those that know me well daily heart rate readings, variability and sleep monitoring as well as regular blood works so that I can keep on top of everything happening inside my body from a health and performance perspective. Yes I know I am a freak but my health is most important and if I can keep completely in tune with what is going on with the body then the risks are reduced. We know that training breaks us down but proper rest and recovery is what makes us stronger. Notice I mentioned rest and recovery separately because rest is not recovery. Recovery has a fair amount of work to include in it and that is what I want to focus on in this blog. You might think you are getting away with it now and that you will not be another statistic like the many others that have been. However inside we know that is not true, endurance sport places the body under immense stress so repairing it properly and fortifying it should be at the top of your priority list.

When it comes to recovery there are 4 main elements I focus on:

  1. Smart Training
  2. Nutrition
  3. Sleep
  4. Enablers

Smart Training
I am not going to go into this in too much detail but I will state that there is no guess work when it comes to a proper structured training program to get you to a specific goal. Over training and over racing has become so engrained in the endurance communities of today. It’s crazy to think but most amateur athletes who work full time jobs and have families tend to train and race more than professional athletes. Be smart about your training, watch the percentage of quality to volume and ensure the body has sufficient time between sessions to recover properly without overloading it to the extent that it will lead to fatigue or injury. Most coaches will agree that when an athlete is over-reaching they are generally quiet about it or just ignore it, eventually leading to injury or illness. Why? Because the mind of an athlete is so stubborn. If you are training on your own and do not have the expertise to structure a proper program based on your goals then the best advice I can give is to find a coach that is suited to your needs. If you do have a coach then the most crucial thing you can do is give honest and frequent feedback to ensure that he or she is able to guide you properly.

Nutrition
Nutrition is my number one for any endurance athlete. I will use the usual analogy I usually do of comparing an athlete to a vehicle. When you decide to participate in any endurance event you are basically turning your body into a high performance vehicle. Whether you like it or not you are placing your body under stress. Imagine owning a Lamborghini and sticking in diesel fuel and bad grade oil. I bet you there is no way if you owned a car of that nature you would shove in mediocre fuel. The same as a jet engine it only runs properly on a specific grade of jet fuel.
This is where most athletes fall short. They fuel themselves with lower grade fuels most of the time. Causing havoc and blockages with their own engines and now they are wanting to place those engines under even more stress. It’s a great recipe for disaster.
With endurance training you need to have in mind what stress you are going to be placing on the system and for how long. Meaning time and intensity (usually a measure of heart rate over time) . Then you need to decide how you are going to fuel yourself for the session, during the session and after the session. Each and every aspect of your nutrition calendar needs to be laid out in respect of the training. Its not just about selecting your favourite bib shorts or running vests while packing your bag the night before. Its about properly preparing each meal around each workout and through the day to ensure proper recovery from session to session. This means a lot of focus needs to be placed on what is being eaten between session as that will determine break down or build up over time. Not meeting the body’s requirements will only lead to a short fall. If you are not sure what, how or when to eat then its quite simple you need to get guidance from an expert that does.

Sleep

Sleep is without a doubt crucial. Its the time when the body needs to recover. Very often athletes underestimate the importance of sleep and the critical role it plays in sports performance. Most athletes sacrifice sleep due to early morning training and late nights.

Sleep is the time where the body repairs and restores. Its a well know fact that “sleep deprivation leads to depression, high blood pressure, weight gain, heart disease, and probably mortality,” says Dr. Steven Feinsilver, the director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Additionally, a 2012 study detailed how sleep deprivation increases a person’s risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Earlier studies have shown that reaction time nearly triples when a person pulls an all-nighter. Normally about a quarter of a second, it increases to 800 to 900 milliseconds. It’s about the same as the difference between being sober and being legally drunk. For elite athletes, emergency room doctors, and cab drivers, among others, losing that half of a second is costly never mind minutes over many hours due to the inability to focus due to poor cognitive function and physical fatigue.

Sleep is crucial for immunity and by placing the body under stress with physical exercise and lack of sleep is stretching the elastic bands at both ends, it will give way eventually.

If night sleep is still limited then try adding some power naps during the day. It’s been shown that taking in a large amount of caffeine before  power nap is best as consuming caffeine will eventually pass into the small intestine and get absorbed into the blood stream. It then begins a chemical reaction in the brain which blocks the receptors which are filled with Adenosine (energy transferring molecules) which actually cause drowsiness. Adenosine will make you feel very sleepy and by consuming caffeine the opposite happens when it binds to the receptors. This will trigger an effect of alertness and focus. Many people that have a power nap feel lethargic afterwards but the 20 minute coffee nap as we call it will allow you to rest for a nominal time with a feeling of energy after.

Enablers
There are ways through natural supplements to aid recovery and immunity. I use the term enablers as they can play a positive role in assisting with fortification of the body. There are no quick fixes here but some of these can be used as add ons to an already health nutrition regime.

I will only touch on a few enablers but they are important enough to receive a mention:

Magnesium
One of the key minerals utilized in thousands of chemical processes in the body, one of which is the production of ATP. It also acts as a sleep enabler by calming the nervous system. Best used would be just before sleep at night to try to aid a better nights sleep to assist with recovery and to help build those magnesium stores.
Not all magnesium’s are created equal and one must bare in mind that its easily destroyed by stomach acid. In this case I would say an absolute no to effervescent’s and look for a powerful elemental magnesium which is buffered to break down much lower down in the bowels where there is a lower acid environment.

Vitamin D3
Without a doubt one of the most lacked vitamins due to lack of good sun exposure daily. Most athletes train in gyms or in early morning hours where they do not get the benefit of what the sun has to offer. The blood tests I have seen over the last few years of plenty of athletes have shown very low end D3 and being an athlete you certainly want to be on the higher end so its worth consuming a strong dose of D3 in the mornings. This will significantly improve your immunity. Along side D3 we look to

Calcium
D3 is the precursor to calcium absorption they work hand in hand. Take the two together especially if you are prone to injuries such as stress fractures or anything else of a bone nature. Running is a high impact sport and I would advise anyone to take calcium during high volume training especially women.

Omega-3
Omega-3 fatty acids are very key in that they provide anti -inflammatory as well as immune modulatory properties. They have been shown to reduce DOMS (Muscle Soreness), improve oxygen and nutrient delivery as well as of course reducing inflammation in the body.

Probiotics
Gut bacteria is very crucial to proper nutrient absorption as well as immunity strength. Its one of the most neglected areas in athletes. I would recommend eating raw fermented foods to try to stabilise and strengthen the gut bacteria but if you are not able to your next best bet would be to get a decent refrigerated probiotic.

Protein / BCAA’s (Branch Chain Amino Acids)
Protein is the key enabler to muscle protein synthesis and in order for this to really work well it would be needed to take in a protein that has a leucine (amino acid) amount of around 2.5-3grams to trigger it. If the protein you do consume in the form of a shake or meal does not contain this you can add BCAA’s to the meal or shake in order to gain the required amount. BCAA’s consist of 3 amino acids Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine. The only scientifically proven ratio to date is the 2:1:1 ratio, there are many other higher ratios but research has not shown any proven benefit over the 2:1:1. BCAA’s should be taken with a complete protein.

Vitamin B12
A critical vitamin one of the primary ones used for processing carbohydrates which in most athletes is a major fuel tank. However B12 is also responsible for brain and mood function, energy, the central nervous system as well as a co-processor with folate (Vit B9) to produce more red blood cells and keeping haemoglobin and iron levels topped up. Vitamins B12 and B9 also work together with Vitamin B6 to control homocysteine level. High homocysteine levels are associated with heart disease. Its best to check your B levels are correct through proper bloods and consult with a medical professional to determine a course of action should they be low.

There are quite a few more enablers which I have not mentioned, however the above are quite crucial in providing some support. I would recommend before taking in any vitamin to check exactly what the levels are in the blood and from there make a decision with the guidance of a professional what to take and when.

In conclusion this blog was mainly written out of frustration and the care I have for my fellow human beings. Exercise is good in moderation, but endurance sport is absolutely not moderation. I know because I am by personality an extremist ;-).  There are two paths you can take along your personal endurance journey and destination to the finish line. You can destroy yourself over time, or you can get stronger and participate in endurance sports until a very ripe old age. There is no emotion needed when injured or ill, a race is just a race and it will be there every single year. The human body can handle so much and if you respect it, get in tune with it and listen to it, you will grow in leaps and bounds from a health and a performance perspective.

All the best

M

 

 

Categories
Nutrition Performance Recovery Training

TWO OCEANS MARATHON – ARE YOU ON TARGET – TAPER WEEK NUTRITION

In this second part of the Two Oceans nutrition series we discuss what to do around nutrition during the taper weeks.

Below is a good read to understand what you should be thinking about around Taper Week Nutrition and you can also listen to the podcast I have pulled in below which I did with David Katz.

The Trick to Nutritional Tapering

Its important to understand that during the taper period your volume of training is reduced significantly. Reduced volume means that you’re requiring less fuel during the day than what you were used to previously.

During peak weeks you were burning off a lot more calories and calorie consumption requirements were a lot higher in order to be able to try and replenish that deficit to keep your energy system up, and obviously to keep your immune system strong as well as ensuring proper recovery between workouts.

What happens during the taper weeks is that the volume drops and there’s a lot of sharpening. It does not mean you’re going to stop training, you obviously carry on training and there could be quite a bit of pace as well, but obviously shorter periods of time to keep the legs sharp and the body recovering and building to peak on race day.  Lowered volume training equals lowered calorie intake as your physical activity level drops.

Keep the Immune System Strong

There are four main areas that I like to suggest all athletes focus on during the taper and number one is immune system strength. You  need to get to your event in a very healthy state. You do not want to fall ill before that. We know that when an athlete hits peak training, generally their immune system is quite lowered, the body hits fatigue, and there is a very high susceptibility to infection.

Obviously this will be more prevalent when you’re exposed to children and people close to work who are harboring illness. I have seen some serious athletes running around with face masks close to the event because they fear getting sick.

How do you keep the immune system strong?

Simple keep inflammatory foods out of the diet, focus more an alkaline diet to keep inflammation at bay. Focus on clean foods forget take outs and processed foods you want to fortify the body not weaken it. Rest, Rest, Rest. Sleep is crucial don’t sacrifice it and due to shorter training sessions, push them out later so that you can ensure you get through all your sleep cycles by waking up slightly later than normal. Hydrate constantly and ensure you are consuming fluid in the form of healthy water and herbal teas. Keep stimulants such as coffee down to a bare minimum as it also raises acidity in the body which can equate to a higher risk of getting ill. Do not skip meals keep the portions small, healthy, nutrient dense and more frequent.
Do not think multivitamins and vitamin drips are the answer, as the body responds to this in a way which could completely weaken the energy system by playing some havoc with the bloods. As a matter of interest research has shown Vitamin C as an example of anti-oxidant supplementation has been shown to hamper endurance. In this case over consuming it is just not a good idea, best is to take it when you need it and not daily if your training is fairly heavy. Vitamins and minerals are there for deficiencies take it only when needed.

Importance of Weight Management

Number two is weight management. Obviously as the volume of training decreases, the amount of calories will need to fall in line with that. You do not want to gain weight for your race. The reason being, is that if you do gain weight by the time you race, you are going to suffer. You’re used to training at a particular weight, you want to race at that same weight. You really need to hone in on your diet and make sure you keep it in check.

The only way to do this is to obviously focus on eating cleanly, don’t eat out, reduce and cut sugar intake. The other thing is, you can also reduce is your protein intake slightly and carbohydrate intake in the week prior, and you can gradually build the carbohydrate intake slightly a few days before to maximize glycogen stores. Do not try and cycle carbohydrate depletion and an increase if you have not experimented with it before. Remember whatever you do your macro-nutrients need to be in line with calorie requirements. Do not over do it as excessive eating will lead to weight gain and this is seen in abundance with athletes when they do carbohydrate loading for which there is no major need. Keep your nutrition in check and do not let it slip in the week leading up to the race.

How to Maximize Muscle Recovery

Muscle recovery is very important during the tapering period, you need to make sure that you’re getting strength gains and you’re not fatiguing yourself for the big day. This is the time to rest, recover and build and get to the race in peak shape.

Remember, training breaks you down, proper rest and recovery builds you up and makes you stronger. This has a very large dependency on nutrition. Make sure that you eat for recovery.

How do you do that?
Ensure you get the right amount of protein in on a daily basis. If you are not sure how much you should be consuming check out my blog on protein (Protein Myths) . Eat a lot of leafy, green vegetables, this can help increase folate levels and ultimately lead to more rich red blood cells which increases your oxygen levels in the blood and this can have a very positive impact in endurance and sports performance. Aim for healthy fruit to improve your immune system and energy levels. Cut all the nonsense and eat to strengthen the body for the big day.

Be Race Fuel Prepared

One of the other very important factors during taper is to make sure that in your mind you have your race fuel preparation ready. The way you prepare your body from a nutrition perspective in the weeks and days leading up to an event will either make or break your fuelling strategy on the day. If you want to deep dive into race fuelling preparation read my previous blog Make or Break.

You need to make sure that you have practiced and trained your race fuel for race day during your training sessions. Obviously in that taper period you can still practice it a little bit here or there, but you need to make sure that at least 7-10 days out of the race you’ve got it down packed, and there should be no more experimentation.

I stand at plenty of race expos and a lot of people come up to me and say, “What do I need for my race?” I always tell them, “It’s way too late to start asking me that now; you should have been practicing this quite a long time ago.” Train your gut and ensure you have a decent nutrition plan in place for the big day.

To sum up the taper week ensure your nutrition is clean and that you are hydrating properly leading up to the event. Have your race fuel prepped mentally and you should get to race day in good shape.

all the best

M

Mark Wolff is a certified exercise & sports nutritionist, endurance nutrition and physiology expert with over 20 years experience. An endurance multi-sport athlete with a running, triathlon, mountain biking and weight lifting background, he works extensively with professional and amateur athletes in a variety of sports disciplines as well as those just wanting to change their lifestyles. He firmly believes that a person can only reach their full potential when their health and nutrition is given the proper focus. Mark’s focus on nutrition and physiology is not just on training and racing, but he places major emphasis on recovery, immune system health, emotional stability, stress management and performance. Mark is co-founder of 32Gi, a sports nutrition company, focused mainly on health and endurance nutrition. He is also co-founder of Rapid Recover focussed on pneumatic compression equipment to improve circulation for recovery and health.

Categories
Nutrition Recipe Recovery

SMARTLY REWARD YOUR RECOVERY

In this podcast I give a little inside information on how I personally recover post exercise with a quick shake to help focus on

  • Glycogen replenishment
  • Muscle Resynthesis
  • Rehydration

 

I also give a little insight into how a simple shake can be thought out and created in a versatile manner by taking certain factors into account 😉

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Health Nutrition Recovery Training

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT TO EAT POST EXERCISE? – GET THE LOW DOWN IN THIS PODCAST

The big question after an exercise session is how to properly recover from a carbohydrate point of view. Too many athletes get it wrong and its either going to lead to weight gain or a roller coaster ride on the energy and hunger craving scale. There are some simple ways to address this and in this latest podcast I chat to Mr. Active (David Katz) about getting the carbohydrate portion of the recovery meal correct.

 

 

Take a listen below, just click play.

Keep going

all the best

M

PS: If you enjoy my blogs please share with your friends and lets grow the community together on the path of health and wellness

 

Categories
Nutrition Recovery Training

RECOVERY IS THE TRUE MEASURE

My training gear is always prepared the night before so that in the morning I just up and go. I keep it simple and keep it routine so that I get up, get in my green tea and or coffee fix and head out the door. I am a creature of habit, routine and focus.

I switch on my sleep monitor which I have utilized to analyze my last 12 000 hours of sleep and set the alarm for 4:30am. Eyes close its time to sleep. I know that some days an early wake up can cause the loss of that final critical deep sleep cycle where hormonal release is crucial to body restoration and this morning I felt it. Alarm goes off, a light automatically shines from my phone for me take my heart rate immediately otherwise I go blind from it. Rest Heart Rate appears normal but I just feel like I need to recover some more. I close my eyes and go back to sleep.

I am sure every single day people across the globe battle with an early morning training session. I actually do not. Oh you thought I couldn’t get out of bed?
Actually the opposite I very much could but decided not to. I decided that I would push my training session to the late afternoon early evening to give myself an additional 12hrs of recovery meaning 36hr recovery from the previous session. Knowing your body intimately well and understanding when you should and should not train takes time and effort but its something many just don’t do.

When it comes to nutrition I am a freak of analytics. I am the kind of nightmare that walks into a Kauai and reconstructs their menu to suite my  immediate needs. I once made them make me scrambled eggs with avocado and asked them drizzle macadamia nut but over it. Another time I told them to make me half the normal rolled oats portion (as the normal portion was for a giant) reinforce it with a serving of pea protein isolate after it was cooked, but made sure they cooked the chia and gojis in the oats not to throw them over afterwards ensuring I got maximum nutrient absorption. I then asked them for a small tub of blueberries on the side. They know me well now they even have names for my meals like Wolff’s Power Oats or Marks Egg Special but that comes with the territory I don’t just accept I do whats good for my own engine. The way I am with nutrition is the exact same way I approach my training. I holistically look at an entire week and shape rest and nutrition around the workouts to ensure maximum recovery to ensure maximum strength and health gains. Its not something I was an expert at when I was younger actually the opposite. In our youth we all want to be hit with hard suffering sessions day after day. However with time you learn that it weakens you and doesn’t strengthen you. Recovery is the true measure of patience and a patient person will reap the amazing benefits from recovering well between workouts.

I often get questions from athletes such as I want you to kill me this week, or please throw a hurt-box week at me and I sit back and laugh thinking just how the concept of proper recovery is the furthest item from their minds. While most people think about their training sessions I am thinking about my recovery sessions. Pick your battles never go into war with a weakness only go in with strength or you will face a losing battle.

I always tell athletes that a rest day doesn’t mean you are not training it means you are recovering. It takes a special kind of person to recover properly. On a rest day you still train your gut by including proper nutrition to ensure proper recovery, immune system strength and health. It also might mean a toned down training session where your max HR is limited and yes you might feel like you doing nothing intense but active recovery is crucial at times.

I cant stress enough how if you focus on recovery and nutrition more than you do only on training you will start to reap the rewards of the patience game which you never thought were possible. Prepare yourself for renewed strength, energy, speed, and of course immunity and health and you will never look back. Recovery is always the true measure.

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Categories
Health Nutrition Recovery

RECOVER RIGHT WITH PROPER NUTRITION

If you ask any coach what the most crucial aspect of training is they will tell you the recovery. Training breaks you down and proper rest and nutrition build you up and make you stronger.

Athletes very rarely get nutrition correct for recovery. Most of the time I either see meals which are overloaded in calories because they “earned” it or the macros are completely incorrect based on the kind of session that has just been done.

In my last blog  Prepare to Perform we briefly touched on the topic of pre-workouts which I will be expanding on, however the element of recovery is far more important in the big scheme of things.

Recovery needs to be looked at from a few angles. Giving the body what it needs to recover is of course the main one, but what about the goals of the person. As an example, what if you are trying to drop body fat, and increase lean muscle mass? Then the type of meal you select post session will either be to your advantage or detriment. I can honestly tell you that most of you select meals which are to your detriment.

Why do I say this?

It’s simple not many people take the time to truly evaluate their sessions and understand what the body is going to go through on a physiological level which ultimately would get you planning your recovery meal prior to the session. When I go into a training session I already know what my body is going to go through in that session and then I have already planned the post exercise recovery meal. How many of you do this? I bet not many! Even if you do plan your meals its most likely based on convenience but unlikely to be based on exactly what the body needs.

Now you are wondering how the heck do I know what I want to eat after the session based on the session structure and what my body is going to be experiencing?

The truth is you can plan, it might not be 100% spot on but then all it will require is a minor modification to get it correct.

So now that you understand that recovery meals can be planned and the importance of them lets focus on how we go about strategizing our recovery nutrition.

The athletes I work with know very well that I look at sessions based on time and intensity. Why do I do this? Simple, your energy system is impacted differently based on these two main factors. We have a few fuel tanks in the human body, the two main ones being glycogen and fat. Intensity and time will determine which of these fuel tanks are mainly utilized and depleted. To understand this a little more do yourself a favor and check out my Get in the Zone explanation on You Tube.

To get recovery correct I break down sessions as follows:

Low Intensity

Medium Intensity

High Intensity

If you watched my video you will know a low intensity session even over a longer period doesn’t really touch much glycogen at all. What this means is that you wouldn’t need to take in a high amount of carbohydrates post exercise. Why? You haven’t depleted your carb stores and so why would you need to load the system. If anything, overdoing the carbs post exercise when it’s not necessary will just mitigate your fat burn zone and most likely lead to weight gain. I have very often caught athletes post exercise just before they are going in for their “deserved recovery” meals. I carried out both glucose and ketone testing on them and then asked them what they were planning on having to eat. Number one they hadn’t planned, number two they were nowhere near the correct meal selection. Glucose was stable they were not burning much fat and they were dreaming of a large bowl of oats or a large peanut butter bomb from Kauai.

 

Not needed at all. The idea of proper recovery nutrition is to give the body exactly what is needed to recover from the session and to prepare for the next. No less no more.

What exactly I am looking for is quite simple it’s these 3 main aspects I analyze from a recovery point of view.

  • Glycogen Replenishment / Blood Glucose Stabilization
  • Muscle Recovery
  • Re-Hydration

Let’s break this down a little further and I will start with the muscle recovery.
Your muscles require protein to rebuild the question is how much and when. I am not going to get too in-depth here as this can be a thesis on its own. I will just say this. Protein needs to be consumed according to your body’s requirements. As a simple example an endurance athlete should be eating anywhere to 1.1-1.7 grams per kilogram of body weight, body builders even more. This value will depend on whether you are maintaining or needing to build more muscle mass and or drop some weight. Another factor that needs to be considered is if we are working on say 1.4 grams to a kg of body weight and you weigh 60kg it means you will require around +-85 grams of protein per a day. Many people think this can be consumed at once but you couldn’t be more mistaken. Protein intake must be split through the day and preferably around 20-25 gram maximum serving at a time with around a 3 hour gap between. Protein cannot be stored it needs to be processed and if you overload on it, it will be converted to blood glucose and eventually stored as fat, assuming glycogen stores are topped up. As far as a window period goes for an athlete no not really, your windows are through the day. Taking in protein post exercise can also help curb hunger cravings depending on protein consumed. Now you know why excessive meat eaters are anything but lean 😉.

As far as rehydration goes you need to replace loss of fluid through sweat. This does not mean sugary drinks it means fluid, so something like a hydration drink without calories or just plain water is fine. I will be writing a few separate blogs on hydration as its quite a big topic of discussion.

Now let’s look at my favorite topic, carbohydrates. Probably the most over consumed macro post workout because you earned it right? Wrong!

I will return back to what I mentioned earlier about time and intensity and ultimately this is one of the ways I determine the timing and volume of carbohydrate intake post exercise.

The rule of thumb is:

Low Intensity = Low Carb

Medium Intensity = Medium Carb

High Intensity = High Carb

Of course you need to be realistic here as intensity can be perception. I use heart rate effort as intensity and this doesn’t lie. Over and above that if you do a high intensity session for only an hour then you really haven’t “earned” your high carb meal because taking into account warm up, warm down and time of intensity you might not have really chewed up much glycogen and in that case a lower to medium carb meal might be a way better option. However a 2.5-3 hour high intensity session could certainly earn a higher carb meal but it also depends on what was consumed during the session.

Now you don’t want to get this meal wrong, so how do you mitigate that.
This is where one of my real secrets about recovery is about to be revealed. It’s taken quite a few years to master it properly, as each individual is very different from the next. But I have developed what I call the Double Nutrition Recovery System. The actual breakdown will be discussed in complete detail in the book I am writing. However, in short, I do two things. I look at the time and intensity of the session and then I combine that with the human element. In other words, how are you feeling directly after the workout, because sometimes the body speaks to you and those messages are so critical to understand. It might have been a short hard workout BUT what you did the day or days before could have brought your world down on this day due to what I call gradual tank depletion. I see this often by the way., mainly due to nutrition neglect or and over training.

Back to the Double Nutrition Recovery System. You start with the lower to medium carb meal first rather less than overdo it, as once you have over done it there is no turning back. So, have your first meal in a low to medium carb format and then wait 30 minutes. At this stage, your body will be speaking to you, if you are under cooked you will feel it and then all you do is take in a second recovery meal within the hour of the first one BUT I need to emphasize the macros MUST be correct. This system works extremely well and sets up a proper recovery which will leave you feeling stable, strong and recovered for the rest of the day. Understanding the type and timing of the meals are crucial to its success. Of course, also knowing which foods you require are very important, it’s not just carbs you need, there needs to be a balance of protein and fat with your recovery meals and again it’s such a big topic, but my book will be discussing recovery options as well as food tolerances and intolerance’s. Stay tuned.

Once your recovery meal is down packed and you have it spot on the most incredible thing is going to happen. You won’t have energy dips during the day, you won’t have unwanted hunger cravings, you will get stronger faster and best of all you will have the body you desired.

Remember the least amount of food to achieve the greatest possible result is what we are aiming for and most importantly, it needs to taste good and be enjoyed. Health is not a sacrifice its heavenly 😉.

Marks Mochaccino Recovery Shake (Medium to High Carb-Depending on Session)


– 4 scoops of 32Gi Chocolate Recover
– 1 serving TrueStart Coffee (95mg of caffeine)
– 400ml’s of water or milk (I use almond or rice milk but dairy is also good if you are not intolerant)

Macros:
Carbs (Medium GI) 48grams
Protein 18grams
Caffeine 95mg
Wanting this shake you can get it online here click on links below or at your local Dis-Chem
To get TRUESTART ON SPECIAL DEAL NOW
To get 32Gi RECOVER

Mark Wolff is an endurance, nutrition and physiology expert with over 20yrs experience.

An endurance multisport athlete with a triathlon, mountain biking and powerlifting background Mark works extensively with professional and amateur athletes in a variety of sports disciplines.

He firmly believes that an athlete can only reach their full potential when their health and nutrition is down packed. Marks focus on nutrition and physiology is not just on training and racing, but he places major emphasis on recovery, immune system health, emotional stability, stress management and performance. Mark is co-founder of 32Gi a sports nutrition company focused mainly on health and endurance nutrition. He is a certified sports nutrition expert as well as a marathon, track, triathlon and cycling coach. He spends most of his time guiding athletes with a very holistic approach to blending training and nutrition for performance and health.