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Recovery

Recovery after exercise poses an important challenge to the modern athlete. Athletes commonly undertake strenuous exercise and training programs involving one or more prolonged high-intensity exercise sessions per day, which generally gives a window of 6-24hrs to recover between workouts or events. Recovery takes into account various different factors including restoration of muscle and liver glycogen, replacement of fluid and eletrolytes, regeneration and repair of muscle damage. Some guidelines for recovering after exercise are listed below:

• Consume a high carbohydrate meal or snack within 30mins of completing exercise
• Aim for intake of approximately 1-1.5g carbohydrate per kg bodyweight e.g. if you weigh 80kgs you should be consuming between 80 and 120g carbohydrate and repeat every 2hrs or until normal eating pattern has resumed.
• The consumption of protein within recovery snacks and meals may help to enhance the synthesis of new proteins underpinning adaptations to the exercise as well as meeting the protein requirements related to exercise. Protein requirements immediately after exercise are generally 0.2g/kg bodyweight to be included in the recovery meal. For example an 80kg athlete would require approximately 16g protein.
• Small frequent meals may assist the athlete to achieve high carbohydrate intakes without the discomfort of overeating and a meal plan can be devised to suit the athletes individual needs.
• Recovery drinks and supplements can be a useful technique in meeting the carbohydrate and protein needs of the athletes immediately after exercise. Peaknutrition can provide guidance on the most suitable product to use.
• Replace all fluid losses.

To arrange a free Sports Nutrition presentation for your club or society and to find out how engaging the service of a dietitian can help your performance please contact info@peaknutrition.ie or call 0868252648.