By Jason Verduzco
When it comes to athletic performance, which foods best support the athlete in his/her quest for superiority on the field? Many athletes have expressed the opinion that they are even willing to put their own health aside in their quest for stardom. Which diet will best serve the athlete? Is nutrition even a factor worthy of consideration in this regard?
Our physiology supports our consumption of plants. We digest fruits and tender vegetables exceptionally well while we struggle to digest meat, which often decomposes before it digests. Our protein and fat requirements are exceptionally low while our need for carbohydrates is equally high, a ratio that best favors plants. Fiber, found aplenty in fruits and vegetables, suits us well, yet meat don’t provide none of this valuable nutrient. Our senses delight in the vision, smell, and taste of fruit, almost all of which are ergonomically designed to fit into our hands, whereas it is the sheer beauty of watching living creatures in action that we seem to enjoy most.
In the 60’s, nutrition for athletes went through a major revolution. Meat, and lots of it, had been the diet of choice for athletes up until that time. A long-distance runner discovered he could improve his performance be eating greater quantities of starchy food than he was used to and a diet revolution for athletes began. The meat-based pre-game meal was replaced by the ill-founded and eventually debunked concept of carbo-loading. Some athletes figured that if a little was good, more must be better, and discovered, to their joy, that performance actually improved when overall carbohydrate consumption rose.
The scientists had all the explanations necessary to justify this advancement. They recommended a low-fat, low-protein (as compared to the Standard Westernized Diet) diet that was predominated by carbohydrates, for the following reasons.
Carbo-loading became the norm. Unfortunately, physiologists around the world had already demonstrated that the human body has no capacity to store either protein or carbohydrate. “Functional levels” of each of these “caloronutrients” can be found in the body, of course, and like gas in your car’s tank, the level can rise or fall within predetermined norms, but excess beyond functional limits cannot be stored. All excess calories are stored as fat, whether they come from proteins, fats, or carbohydrates. The concept of carbohydrate loading was shown to be a myth at best, a hoax at worst. All that had really happened was that athletes who had been used to performing with low.
Insanity the Asylum workout program is an intense fitness exercise intended to increase power, coordination, agility and balance. This thirty day program will most likely break you down if you are a newbie or not fit. This program is specially suited for sports personality and people who have a good level of fitness.
In the article, top six tips that will prepare you for these are outlined. If you are intending to start this program then most probably this tips will be helpful. It is important to note that you must have some level of fitness as this is not for people new to fitness training.
You must have proper diet if you are to get through this. The exercise is extremely intense and you cannot afford to have poor diet. You are advised to take three meals a day with some healthy snacking in between. Also, have plenty of water as you prepare for this, have more than eight glasses daily. Without proper diet, it is very easy to get frustrated burn out and eventually drop off. You will need the energy, so eat well.
Have the tools for the job. Get prepared with appropriate clothing and equipment. Make sure that you have all the necessary equipment like jumping ropes, resistance bands and ladder. Have enough space with good lighting and ventilation if you will be carrying out the exercise at home. Go to a good sports house and have them fit you the correct shoes for your feet and proper equipment. Poor quality shoes for your feet will most likely cause injury, so avoid them.
Have the correct mental attitude. If you go in thinking that you will fail then that’s what’s going to happen. This exercise is very intense and you will need to prepare yourself both physically and psychologically. A good mental focus will give you the motivation to continue even when you feel like quitting.
Be realistic, you know what you can do and what you cannot do. If you are a newbie or your fitness level is wanting, then this is not the right thing for you at least not for now. This is not to say that you cannot pursue this in future. Get into shape and then you will have the fitness level to get this done with.
Do not exaggerate the training. Too much of something is usually not good. To avoid injury as you prepare, do not train too hard. True, you may want to reach a certain goal today; just remember that there is always tomorrow. You do not want to get exhausted even before you start the exercise.
Learn to follow instruction. It is important that you do exactly as you are told. Insanity the Asylum workout program is about following instructions and hard work. It’s true following rules is not what everybody likes to do. You have to follow instructions from your instructor if you are to rip full benefits. Following instructions will help you avoid burn out, exhaustion and injury.
There is another way of getting similar results without endangering your health or breaking the law. In nature there are strength and endurance enhancing foods that can get the same results. The pressure to win and be the best in amateur and professional sports drives many athletes, at times with the urging of their coaches, to turn to dangerous, illegal steroids and other physical enhancing drugs. At the other end, the associations who control these athletes look for more ways to detect the use of these drugs and punish the athlete for using them. Supplies of carbohydrate demonstrated that they performed better when consuming optimal levels of this important yet often undervalued nutrient. Plants had begun to take hold in the diet of the athlete.
Three changes worthy of noting occurred as a result of athletes increasing their consumption of carbohydrates. First, they were now able to push harder than ever due to just a slight modification in diet that favored plants over animals. This created a need for, and the creation of, much-improved equipment that was capable of handling the increased stresses of higher-level performances. At the same time, safety equipment also improved dramatically. All of these factors combined to bring us athletes that could perform at higher levels and had the equipment to do so. The third major change was in coaching strategies.
Creativity took hold as athletes demonstrated that they could break all existing records and coaches dreamed of more. New methods of bringing out the best in each athlete were developed. Sports psychology, plyometrics, resistance bands, and a wide range of training aids came into use.
By the late 90’s, essentially all serious athletes were being subjected to the recently “raised bar” of expectations in terms of their performance. They all had access to the new technology. The advent of the internet made almost all coaching strategies available to anyone who desired them. There was only one “secret weapon” left, nutrition. Dietary change was again coming into the forefront as the biggest single thing that an athlete could do to set him/her above the wannabe’s. The stage has been set for plants to take the athletic world by storm.