At all times, athletes considered proteins a key food element, on which sports successes largely depend. If the ancient Olympians pumped themselves with protein, eating meat in unimaginable quantities, today’s athletes have at their disposal a huge range of food additives. Proteins play an important role in a person’s return on exercise. Amino acids of proteins form the constituent elements from which damaged living tissues, including muscles, are formed and repaired. From these same constituent elements, hormones and enzymes are produced, regulating metabolism and other functions of the body. In addition, proteins are, although poor, but an important source of energy. Some scientists believe that athletes who train intensively for endurance, the need for protein increases to a maximum of 1.2-1.7 grams per kilogram of weight at the recommended norm for sedentary people of 0.8 g/kg.However, there is no clear and unequivocal evidence of this. This ambiguity is partly due to the imperfection of the scientific methods used to determine the body’s protein needs.
There is no need to discuss how much protein an athlete needs. Studies of nutritionists have shown that most athletes consume with food alone, without taking protein supplements, even more protein than expected at the maximum recommended norm. Therefore, it is not necessary to encourage them to increase protein intake. But, to be fair, it should be noted that all these studies were conducted on athletes adhering to a typically “Western”diet. To date, we do not have sufficient information about athletes with other food addictions.
Lack of protein most threatens athletes with a low-calorie and monotonous diet. To maintain the protein balance in the body, it is important that food is sufficiently caloric.
Although in strength sports and Bodybuilding, some athletes consume more than 2-3 grams of protein per kilogram of weight per day, there is no evidence that this increases the yields of training and promotes the increase in strength and muscle mass. Such a diet can not be called harmful, but it is quite expensive and does not always contribute to the achievement of nutritional goals, such as providing the body with the energy necessary for sports.
The latest research pays special attention to the body’s response to exercises that develop strength and endurance in the athlete. Improving the protein balance in the body is the main goal of the recovery phase. It compensates for the accelerated protein breakdown induced by the load and promotes recovery, adaptation and muscle growth after exercise. Protein synthesis in the body is enhanced by eating a small amount of complete proteins in combination with carbohydrates. In addition, there is information that the desired response of the body is strengthened if nutrients enter it immediately after exercise or, in the case of heavy loads, immediately before it.
In the light of this information, it makes sense to focus more on the overall balance of the protein and carbohydrate diet and the timing of its intake in relation to the training program than on the absorption of large amounts of protein-rich foods.
Need for protein during training
Special sports Nutrition – all kinds of bars and drinks – is convenient for replenishing carbohydrate and protein reserves in the body in cases where the usual food is not available or for its reception there are no conditions. But it should be taken into account that such Nutrition creates an additional financial burden and does not contain a full set of nutrients. But in the use of expensive protein powders and amino acid preparations there is no sense: ordinary food in its effectiveness is not inferior to them.
Finess Head 