The Ultimate Guide to Sports Performance Nutrition

We are pleased to present an article authored by Sophie Bishop, a freelance writer passionate about health care, mental wellbeing and sustainability.

Achieving peak performance in sports is multi-faceted, it does not all come down to how hard you’ve been training; it’s also about fueling your body in the correct way to match your training, and allowing it to have exactly the right nutrients and sustenance to produce power on demand, build muscle and help you endure moments of high stress.

Nutrition is so important that the American College of Sports Medicine declared that athletes should be referred to their very own registered dietitian who can create a personalized and specific plan, which would be a game-changer no matter what you’re training for.

This guide will help athletes of all abilities understand the essentials of sports performance nutrition including what foods to eat, when to eat them and how they will contribute to your overall performance; so let’s dive in. 

The Importance of Nutrition in Sports Performance

The importance of nutrition cannot be overlooked and affects sportspeople at all levels. Imagine refueling a vehicle for its entire life with low-grade gas; it’s dirty, unfiltered and causes your car to chug along producing bad emissions and struggling with build-ups of material in all the wrong places. 

Well, the way you fuel your body is exactly the same; the quality of food that you consume directly affects the way your body stores and burns it, not to mention the damage that can be caused by long-term abuse.     

Nutrition is one of the first building blocks for athletic performance at any level as it provides us with the energy to train, aids in recovery and supports overall health and body function. In fact, proper nutrition can enhance endurance, strength and mental focus, whilst poor nutrition can lead to fatigue, injury, and sub-par performance.

As with many things in life, you can’t just tick off nutrition and be good to go. Good nutrition must work in conjunction with other elements of wellbeing in order to build a strong athletic foundation; training, commitment, good sleep and mental wellbeing all go hand-in-hand with your food intake and don’t work without the others.

The Building Blocks of Sports Nutrition

Sports nutrition revolves around understanding how different nutrients fuel your body during workouts and each is as important as the last. These nutrients can be broken down into macronutrients and micronutrients that do different jobs within your body, and produce different results.

Macronutrients: The Energy Sources

1. Carbohydrates  
Carbs are your body’s primary energy source and during exercise, they are broken down into glucose for immediate energy, or stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver for later use. The key is balance—moderate amounts of both simple carbs (like fruits and dairy) for quick energy, and complex carbs (like whole grains and starchy vegetables) for sustained energy means you’ll have all the right energy reserves for the right times.

2. Proteins
Protein is essential for muscle recovery and growth, after exercise your muscles need protein to repair the tiny tears that occur during physical activity, and as they repair they get stronger. Great sources include lean meats, fish, eggs, and plant-based options like beans or peanut butter.

3. Fats
Fats are often misunderstood and heavily demonized, but the truth is, we need them. While they have more calories per gram than carbs or protein, they are a vital energy source for long, low-intensity exercise and a range of fats, as always, is better than just one type.

Focus on healthy fats from foods like avocados, nuts, and fatty fish, and avoid trans fats found in processed foods.

Micronutrients: The Helpers

Micronutrients, or vitamins and minerals, play critical roles in our overall health, and having a micronutrient deficit can be detrimental not only to our sports performance but also to our day-to-day lives.

They aid in energy production, bone health, and immune function, basically all the important stuff; key minerals like calcium, potassium, and iron are especially important for muscle function and recovery.

Hydration: The Key to Performance

This may seem like an obvious statement but hydration is absolutely key to performance in any sporting event, and before you dismiss this statement with a wave of your hand, it may interest you to know that a study conducted by medical students found that nearly 40% of athletes in a range of competitions were considered to be dehydrated; that’s no small number. 

This may come as a surprise to you, but even these college-level athletes partaking in semi-professional sports at a high level were not hydrating themselves correctly, and it’s thought that being as little as 2% away from your optimal hydration is enough to affect performance at any level of sport. 

All the nutritional planning in the world can go out the window without ensuring that your body is hydrated correctly, so be sure to pay attention and follow these quick tips below to remain at optimal hydration:

• Drink consistently throughout the day.
• Monitor the amount of water you take on board, you’ll start to figure out your optimum amount and you can adapt your intake from there. 
• Pre-hydration is super important before a big session or activity, it allows your body to operate on all cylinders when the time comes for exertion. 
• Drink during a workout or activity, not just before and after. Your body will need its electrolytes replenished as you go.   

Timing Your Nutrition

We just talked about the importance of pre-hydration, and it’s important to note that the same goes for your nutrition. There are certain moments where different nutrients will benefit you differently so having a nutritional plan is essential when trying to optimize performance.  

Pre-Workout Nutrition

Eating a fully balanced meal containing carbs, proteins and a small amount of fat can help to tick all the boxes and allow your body to have everything prepared and ready for when it’s needed; some like to call it an ‘athlete’s diet’, but just eating healthy is fine too. 

Hitting your body too hard without preparation can lead to injury, energy spikes and dips as well as more serious afflictions.  

In-Workout Nutrition

If you are heading out for a long cycle, a particularly intense swim or any other kind of challenging and sustained exercise, you’ll need to keep yourself topped up so your body can’t ‘overspend’ its allowance of nutrients, this is important for athletes in all sports, but the longer the session the more you’ll need to top up. 

Things like oat bars, bananas, small amounts of chocolate and nuts are great but must be consumed in balance and moderation to avoid the aforementioned spikes and troughs.  

Post-Workout Nutrition

Your post-workout food is crucial for your recovery, and can affect a lot more than just one session; you’re teaching and allowing your body to heal itself after all. 

You’ll need to correctly replenish your glycogen stores to repair and build muscle mass, but also top up your vitamins, minerals and nutrients to ensure a full, speedy recovery. 

The Role of Supplements

Whilst there is no question about whole foods being the best source of nutrition, supplements can be very beneficial in certain circumstances and can help to fill holes left by dietary requirements. 

For those looking to enhance endurance ribogen mg (ribose + magnesium) helps to improve stamina and energy production during prolonged activities and ribose in particular is difficult for some to get from a regular diet as it is found in beef, poultry and dairy products; it’s the perfect candidate for a supplement. 

Magnesium and BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids) help with muscle relaxation and reduce aches and pains after workouts, allowing your body to start healing much quicker, and this can be particularly powerful when combined with curcumin, an anti-inflammatory that enhances recovery.   

Adaptogens

With the rise in supplements and the wave of people beginning to realize their importance in our lives, people are turning to adaptogens like ashwagandha and Rhodiola Rosea to help manage the physical and mental stress of exercise, allowing for lower blood pressures, calm mental states and clarity after a high-stress session.   

It is essential to consult with a professional before starting a supplement regimen; in some circumstances, they can have the opposite effect, so be sure to know what you’re doing before giving it a try. 

The Final Word

So there you have it, a guide to managing your nutrition with the aim of enhancing your sporting performance. 

If utilized correctly, the information presented above will help you maximize your body’s functions and efficiency, battle fatigue and go from struggling to understand why you’re feeling sluggish, to quick recoveries and optimal performances.

Be sure you’re giving your body what it needs to perform, and remember that it’s different for everyone, so learn as much as you can, listen to professionals, and stay healthy. 

The right nutrition can help you to achieve your athletic goals from endurance athletes to amateurs; listen to your body, give it what it needs and perform with confidence and consistency.