Nutrition during physical exertion
Three points in time are crucial for planning nutrition during physical exertion:
3-4 or 1-2 hours before exercise
shortly before and during exercise
(directly) after the exercise
Before exercise (3-4 or 1-2 hours)
Before exercise, the main goals are nutrition:
Top up energy and fluid stores
Do not overload the digestive tract
Digestion is slowed down by foods high in fat, fibre and protein. Therefore, these three food components and large volumes of food should be avoided as much as possible during the last large meal before exercise. Carbohydrate-rich foods are recommended so that energy stores can be replenished.
White bread with honey, pieces of banana, cornflakes or oatmeal with a little diluted milk are options for a morning meal. Another form would be porridge such as oatmeal, semolina or rice pudding. If the last meal is lunch, pasta (not egg pasta), rice, corn or mashed potatoes with a low-fat sauce are recommended. A meal should be accompanied by 0.5 litres of liquid, which is best consumed in the form of water or fruit tea. If you tend to have a poor tolerance, you can also eat children's porridge with a little banana or 2 litres of a maltodextrin-based sports drink combined with a small amount of banana, rusk, white bread or similar.
In any case, it is important to eat familiar foods before exercise and not to try any experiments in order to avoid unpleasant experiences with your stomach during the competition. Tolerance should be checked during training.
Shortly before and during exercise
Immediately before exercise, avoid high-fat snacks, foods high in fibre and therefore difficult to digest or foods containing protein.
Vegetables, (unripe) fruit, wholemeal products, nuts, pizza, hamburgers etc. are not suitable snacks just before exercise. White bread with honey, apple sauce or (ripe) low-fibre fruit such as bananas or peaches, low-fat cereal bars, rice pudding or low-fat sweets are suitable. We recommend drinking 3-5 litres of water or tea to ensure that your fluid reserves are optimally replenished shortly before exercise.
Energy stores must always be available in order to maintain exertion, maintain intensity and delay fatigue. When it comes to nutrition during exercise, it is very important that only familiar and well-tolerated foods and drinks are consumed. The intake of solid food during exercise is always tricky because the digestive tract can work less efficiently during exercise as the metabolism is busy supplying the muscles.
It makes little sense to eat solid food for short periods of exercise. However, as soon as a more intensive activity is carried out over a longer period of time (more than 2 hours), approx. 60g of carbohydrates per hour should be replenished to prevent a drop in performance. This can take the form of sugary sports drinks and gels, or liquids in combination with solid food (pieces of banana, fruit gums, white bread, low-fat bars). Fluid intake is not necessary for exercise lasting less than an hour. However, as soon as the activity lasts longer than an hour, you should drink 1-2 dl of fluid in sips every 15 to 20 minutes from the start. If the sporting activity is an intensive form of training or competition, 0.4-0.8 litres of carbohydrate-containing sports drinks should be consumed per hour. Carbonated sweet drinks (e.g. cola, Fanta, Sprite or similar) are unsuitable for fluid intake.
After exercise
Energy intake can have a decisive influence on recovery after exercise. A quick and balanced intake of food after sporting activity enables the athlete to switch more quickly from catabolism to anabolism (catabolism: metabolic processes in the organism that break down the body; anabolism: metabolic processes in the organism that build up the body) and thus rebuild the trained structures (e.g. the muscles) more quickly. The better the nutritional intake after a sporting activity, the faster and more complete the regeneration process.
The most important, and in any case necessary, factor after exercise is the replenishment of fluid reserves. If the regeneration time is more than one day, this can be done with water or unsweetened tea. If the recovery time is longer, there is no need to focus on a specific diet. However, if the regeneration time is limited to one day or less, the regeneration processes can be supported by targeted nutritional intake. In the case of a short recovery period, the first steps are to replenish fluid and carbohydrate stores, which can be done with sweetened drinks or water combined with solid food (in bites). All foods that contain carbohydrates and are easy to digest are suitable. Two hours after exercise, an easily digestible and extremely carbohydrate-rich meal is recommended. This should be followed by at least 5-6 carbohydrate-rich main meals and snacks until the next exercise session. After exercise, it may also be useful to consume protein in the diet to support the body's adaptation processes.
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