FUELLING COMPETITIVE FIRES
A healthy — and well-timed — diet can work wonders for older athletes
The last decade has seen a steep increase in the number of athletes achieving personal bests in their 40s and beyond. This group of dedicated older athletes has redefined the idea of aging, rewriting the record books with performances in the pool, on the track and in the saddle. So remarkable are their achievements, exercise scientists have been busy studying their training and lifestyle habits to see if they can gather more information on what successful aging looks like.
According to a group of French researchers, there is still a dearth of published research on the link between nutrition and performance in master athletes. In particular, do older athletes have a different set of nutritional needs than their younger counterparts?
“We proposed to identify the metabolic challenges that master athletes may face and that require specific nutritional recommendations,” said the French researchers in their article Nutrition for Master Athletes: Is There a Need for Specific Recommendations.
One of the primary nutritional goals of any athlete is to adequately fuel training and performance. Active individuals who engage in a high volume of exercise need to consume more calories than someone who is sedentary, based on a greater number of calories expended while training and competing. But nutritional strategies for athletes go far beyond counting calories. Knowing when to eat and what to eat is also key to maximizing performance.
A slowing metabolism and gradual loss of muscle mass, estimated to be six to eight per cent per decade after the age of 30, are two markers of aging that impact performance and nutritional needs. Optimizing the diet of master athletes so as to slow down the physiological changes that occur as the decades add up is an important strategy when it comes to sustaining the volume and intensity needed to maximize potential.
“Master athletes who are able to maintain a high training volume and sufficient energy intake with age could maintain their body composition, metabolism and ultimately, resting metabolic rate (the amount of energy expended at rest and during the activities of everyday life),” said the research team.
To assist in meeting these goals, master athletes need to consume more protein than younger athletes and their sedentary age-matched peers. The current recommendation for older adults is 30 grams of protein per meal, 10 grams more than recommended for younger adults. For master athletes however, 35 to 40 grams of protein at four-hour intervals throughout the day is considered crucial to repair and rebuild muscles utilized during exercise.
“Practically, this recommendation corresponds to a minimum of four portions of greater than 30 g proteins per day, for breakfast (8 a.m.), lunch (noon), afternoon snack (4 p.m.) and dinner (8 p.m.) for a total of around 120 g protein or 1.5 g/kg body mass per day for an 80 kg athlete,” said the French researchers.
In addition, a protein-rich snack should be consumed within 60 minutes of exercise for master athletes with high training loads or after an intense workout. A pre-bedtime glass of milk will also aid in muscle recovery — especially after a tough day at the gym. Any source of protein, animal or plant-based will do the trick, though there is some suggestion that protein-rich dairy products may be some of the best options.
How effective are those extra few grams of protein? One study of master athletes noted a 33 to 38 per cent increase in muscle mass and strength among those who consistently consumed a high-protein post-weight-training snack compared to those who didn’t.
Still, as attentive as master athletes are to their diet and training schedules, injury and short-term health issues are common. A forced interruption from training and competition is a fact of life for athletes of all ages, but for master athletes even brief periods of inactivity can lead to a decrease in precious muscles mass. Maintaining a protein-rich diet while on the mend can help minimize some of that loss.
As for fat and carbohydrates, carbs should be periodized based on the volume of training with fewer carbs consumed on rest or easy days and greater amounts consumed pre, during and post workouts on days when training volume is high.
Fat should be ingested in moderate amounts with an emphasis on foods rich in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids, like nuts, avocados and fatty fish such as salmon and tuna.
Keep in mind that athletes should always rely on a foodfirst approach to realizing their dietary goals, versus consuming supplements in the form of powder, shakes, gels or pills.
There’s no replacing the synergy of the macro and micronutrients found in food versus a manufactured product that often promises more than it delivers.
Also important to remember is that older athletes who limit themselves to moderate workouts of less than an hour need nothing more than a healthy, protein rich diet to fuel their workouts.
But for master athletes with performance goals and a rigorous training and competition schedule, it’s always wise to seek professional advice from a certified dietitian/sport nutrition specialist who can further individualize the special dietary needs of master athletes.