The way to supreme fitness 3
TASKS: FOLLOW THESE TIPS - YOU WON’T GO WRONG
Three strategies to give you the edge in your upcoming competition:
Believe it
Athletes come to me asking if it is a good idea to have a meal before their big match. There are questions that are needed in order to answer correctly, like how much time until your match? When was your last meal? What type of food do you normally eat? And the list grows. The main question one should be asking is, can food enhance High Intensity Performance? Research was done on 13 cyclists by Mears SA et al. Three different groups had to ingest something 90 minutes before a 10-minute steady state cycle at 60% max aerobic power output and then perform a 20-minute time trail cycle. The first group ingested carbohydrates and the second group ingested a placebo comprising taste and texture but did not have any carbohydrates in it, yet was perceived to be a carbohydrate and the third group just drank water. The results found that the carbohydrate and placebo groups completed the race quicker than the group that drank water. The conclusion is that during short races, results are due to psychological factors rather than physiological.
Be mindful
Mindfulness can be considered a state of being. You are aware of the moment or experience, but you act in a non-judging, non-avoiding and accepting manner. Being mindful is almost as if you have this outer body experience where you don’t take the world on your shoulders. For example, let’s say you scored an own goal in a cup final. You knew it was not your fault but the team nevertheless yell at you. Someone who is not mindful in the situation will immediately lash out, lose focus and become highly stressed. Someone who is mindful acknowledges the situation without giving the situation an emotional lashing. He is clear in mind and moves on from it to prevent the situation from happening again. Mindfulness can also be referred to someone who is more often than not in the zone. He is operating in an altered state to anyone else on the field. Although much more research is needed, there has been enough evidence that mindfulness can have a positive effect in the following areas:
Higher sense of control Reduced anxiety Elevated goal-focused energy Better post-match recovery
In order to elevate your sports performance level, you can learn to be more mindful, which will give you an added advantage in your game.
Recover
At a youth level, recovery is almost non-existent with players and teams because they are not aware of the benefit recovery has to their sports performance. Often I will see athletes straight after a game run to the tuckshop and buy packets of chips, sugar drinks and sweets and often fried slap chips. It is a travesty but we are doing something about it through better educating parents.
Recovery post-match should be seen in three ways: 1. Rehydration 2. Nutrition 3. Rest and Sleep
Athletes, no matter their age, should weigh themselves pre-game and then weigh themselves post-game. Any weight difference has to be replaced with water before the athlete heads for the change-room. Post-match games, athletes have 40 minutes to ingest a protein shake with at least 20g of protein. For younger athletes this can be found in full-cream milk, almond milk, yoghurt or a small chocolate milk. High intensity workouts require a lot of energy before the body decides to start breaking down its own proteins for the repair process, you are providing your body with liquid amino acids to start the recovery process. Other strategies post-match are to immerse yourself in an ice-bath to bring down the swelling of the muscles, electrostimulation and compression garments.