As a surfer, boarder or skier, the formative years tend to be guiltlessly fuelled by sugary treats and nutritionless fuel, but there does comes a point where you have to make a few changes.
Despite the minefield of advice out there, the basics are pretty simple and your body can be a temple in no time. Thomas Allan, Director Nutri-Core, M.Sc Human Nutrition, B.Sc Human Nutrition is pretty good at breaking down this minefield turning it into more of a simple strike of a match. I’ll let Tom divulge…
Proper nutrition is the base to a lot things in life, take it for granted and it will take you for an unscheduled ride to a quicker loss in performance than you had in the gym on the Monday after that boozy Sunday session.
Disregarding your performance, a lack of decent nutrition will lead you down that slippery path of ill-health, something that once you slip, it’s a tricky and longer road to get back up. But performance nutrition is a different ballgame. Cutting out most of the boring science, let’s get to some simple ways you can increase your performance right now, in whatever your physical activity of choice may be, be that surfing, snowboarding, skiing, or any other activity.
Water – that’s right. Hydration. Why? Well, statistically if you drop 1% in body-weight in water, you can impact your performance to around 5%. 5% you say? OK, it will affect you, but you might not notice it a great deal, and we mostly run at around that level after an hour or so of most physical exertion anyway. But drop 5% of body-weight in water (what is basically a hangover, a couple of beers before anything physical, or someone who is just bad at drinking the good old free H2O), then we start to hit the levels of dehydration, what can hit your levels of performance to around 30%. But what does that ACTUALLY mean?
Well, do you ever feel heavy/ sluggish? Dehydrated. Peeking out early? Dehydrated. Can’t remember where you parked the van? Yep, dehydrated.
Physically, you will feel it. But, dehydration hits your brain first, it doesn’t matter how well fuelled you are physically, if your mind goes first, your brain will do the neat thing of protecting itself and saving all its resources for its-selfish-self. That’s your basic survival instincts kicking in. Brain first, everything else later. So, drink more water? Easy, right? Well, there is actually an easier way.
Yes, it involves water, but it also involves carbohydrates. You see, we physically move and mentally click from a mix of carbohydrates and water, together, they make up glycogen (3 molecules of water, 1 molecule of glucose for the interested geek), glycogen moves us, everywhere… It fuels our brains, and body.
All carbohydrates, fast or slow break down in our bodies to glucose to fuel our brain, and body. A Haribo sweet and a sweet potato will eventually break down the same (minus the vitamins) in relation to glucose. That’s all your body is interested in. Fuel.
So, let’s get with the carbohydrates and use our body’s natural desire to survive, and thrive, to our advantage for your next performance; let’s almost trick it. How? Well, you can fuel with fast carbohydrates like Lucozade with water. You see, carbohydrates and sugar have a bad reputation, undeservingly so, and if anyone says otherwise, they’re simply uneducated on the subject and have probably watched too many Netflix documentaries.
Any fluid concentration of sugar without physical activity is a bad idea, but with exercise? it’s fuel. No, you won’t get fat – the 500 or so calories you’re just about to burn will take care of that, but you will switch on an area of your brain (hypothalamus) that is going to send signals to your cells to convert what’s coming (sugar) to glycogen, to energy. Your brain will tick = better mental & physical performance.
Why? Your body remembers; it recalls your last gym session, your last surf, your last run, it memorises the stressors that it previously undertook – remember it just wants to survive. So, if you keep activity constant, every time you consume sugars/carbohydrates, your body will jump on the chance to store them as glycogen for your next activity of choice.
So, keep hydrated often, use the method of a minimum of 1 glass of water per 10kg of bodyweight (roughly) + 1 extra glass, per day. A big glass before anything, with half a bottle of Lucozade pre-activity, half after, both with a bottle of water. But, if you really can handle it, a coffee will take it to the next level, caffeine and sugar have a great, almost perfect relationship when it comes to performance. Trust me, or Google it.
Maybe you need a mid session pick-me-up? Hold an endurance energy gel like those guys in Le Tour De France do in your pocket (assuming you’re boarding or skiing here, unless you want to try stuffing one down your wetsuit) and consume it after an hour of exercise if you’re going to go on for another 45 minutes or so.
But, food. Let’s not forget that. Eat.
Eat all the food before and after you surf, snowboard, ski or cycle. Potatoes, noodles, breads, are all energy dense, glycogen prepping, and replacing beauties. Mix them with some lean protein. Fish in particular is lean, cheap, low in fat, and packed with Omega 3, but you could also have chicken, and maybe some red meat if you’re treating yourself (leave it for once a week tops). If you’re a Vegetarian, then have eggs and for vegans? Well, good luck with that, I’m sure you’re well versed in consuming a varied diet.
When it comes to amounts, it’s hard to tell you how much you need, as it varies with everyone, but you’re smart enough to know how much you usually eat in a day. Just start switching up your protein and carbohydrate sources, adding them to pre-& post surf, and you’re going in the right direction.
One thing to really take on board (no pun intended) is to take that time before and after any serious surfing / riding to look at food as fuel, and then to recover.
That’s all we can ask for, for now. The main thing to recognise is the importance of looking at food as fuel, and of recovery. Without suitable recovery, your performance will suffer, your next session may fall short, you’ll never get that chance again, and that will suck. So, prepare for anything and everything, and you might, might just have the perfect performance. Oh and drink water. Easy.
