My quest to become a more informed parent led me to researching nutrition, dieting, and supplements specifically for athletes. Fungo's thread about the making of a baseball player, and some talk about supplements there, made me think I should perhaps pass along some of what I've learned.
The consensus is that supplements for sports training are usually unnessecary, especially protien supplements. As much a part of what we eat, is when we eat it, called nutrient timing.
A few things an athlete could do to help in building strength and endurance...
From an hour before an activity (either workouts, practices, or games), to several hours afterwards, drink 12 ounces of sports drink per hour (the ideal sports drink is 8% carbohydrate). This not only hydrates the muscles but adds the needed carbohydrates to help produce muscle glycogen.
Immediately after working out, eat a protein & carbohydrate mini meal...a great example is a peanut butter sandwich. For two hours after that, consume protien/carb snacks, like peanut butter granola bars.
Change your eating habits from 3 square meals a day, to 6 small meals a day. 3 meals a day is actually a cycle of starvation and gluttony. It causes the muscles to become catabolic, feeding upon themselves, during the starvation period, and then uses excess carbs during the gluttony period to store fat, rather than build muscle.
Just knowing how little I knew about nutrition before I started, I figured there had to be more out there like me and I wanted to share some learned experience.
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