Eating Prior To Athletic Event

What and when is a good time to eat before an athletic event? This is a question asked quite often and has many variables. Such as; what kind of competition? What level? What time period in the season? What is the significance of the event? What time of day is the event? How long is the event? There are many things that should be considered. So let’s just take a few things.

 

This example is when the athletic event is in the afternoon, during normal season play and is about 1 ½ to 2 hours long, such as a football game, soccer game, volleyball match, etc.

 

Ideally, you should eat a well balanced meal a couple hours prior to the event and then eating a small snack approximately ½ hour prior to the event. Feeding your body the proper protein, carbohydrate, and fat mix is important to give your body the necessary nutrients that will be delivered during the event. An ideal balance would be to have approximately 30% protein, 55% carbohydrates, and 15% fat with your meal 2 ½ hours before. This is a good balance that should give you plenty of energy and nutrients. The number of calories will vary per individual, but it should be approximately 1/4^th of your total daily caloric intake. An example of a good meal may be chicken breast, mixed vegetables, and brown rice. The small snack may be a fruit of some sort. Something that will give you a good source of carbohydrates so it doesn’t sit in your stomach and will give energy. An example may be a banana, apple, or kiwi.

 

Eating nutritious food prior to an event is important for good performance. Be sure and eat a good balanced meal after the event as well to replenish all that was used during the event and prepare for the next.

Hamstrings for Speed

In order to improve your speed, it is important to have strong and powerful hamstrings. The hamstrings play a vital role in sprinting and it is important to include hamstring exercises in your training routine. Traditional exercises such as squats, lunges, and dead lifts will work the hamstrings, but you may need more in order to emphasize them and build the speed and power you want.

 

Some exercises that do emphasize the hamstrings are:

• Russian Dead Lifts (RDL’s, straight-legged dead lifts)
• Leg Curls (prone or on your stomach and seated)
• Ball Leg Curls (feet in ball, shoulders on ground, pull ball towards body while body goes up)
• Chair Walks (sitting on a chair with wheels and pulling forward on your heels)
• Hip Extensions (standing, kneeling, on stomach)
• Seated Body Lifts (seated on ground, hands under hips, feet out in front, lift body with one leg and hands)

 

There are many more ways you can work on the hamstrings and incorporate them in your routine. It is important that you have a balance of all muscles surrounding the hip and many times the hamstrings get neglected.

Centering

Centering your body or qi (pronounced chee), is helpful in many ways. When the body is properly centered it responds the way you would like and better. Reaction time improves. Control of the body improves. Focus improves. Clarity improves. Breathing improves. Mechanics improve. You are in the zone and will stay there.

 

In order to center the body, you want to bring your qi down to your belly button or slightly lower. To do this here is where we will begin. First, find a spot to lie on the ground on your back. Get in a quiet area to where you can focus on what you are doing. Place your hands on your belly. We will begin by circle breathing. Circle breathing is breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth utilizing your diaphragm. So take a deep breath in through the nose. As you breathe in, your belly should expand out and your hands should rise up. As you breathe out through the mouth, your belly and hands should go down. Take some deep breaths in and out. Focus on your breathing.

 

Once you have this down, we will work on bringing your qi down from your forehead to your belly button area. To do this, visualize your qi as a ball. It is sitting in your forehead. It might be helpful to take one of your hands, place it in a fist and just above your forehead. Close your eyes. Focus on this ball and your breathing. When you breathe in, the ball stays where it is, as you breathe out, the ball slowly moves down along your body on its way to your belly. With each breath it moves down to your face, then throat, then chest, and finally belly button area. As you lose your focus, your qi will creep back up to your forehead. Regain your focus and bring it back down slowly.

 

When you get it down to your belly button, keep it there. Focus on the ball spinning around and around. It is getting faster and faster. My ball always burst in to flames and becomes a big ball of fire. Let your belly get warmer and warmer. Continue with your circle breathing and stay here for a while.

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