I love the Olympics – despite all the doping scandals.
One of the things that strikes me the most is how much better they all look than 30 years ago – Some of the physiques are truly outstanding.
Not so much in the endurance events like triathlon but as you will know if you’ve been reading my emails for a while, endurance activity doesn’t leave you looking like an adonis – That’s not the point.
Well, it’s not the point of any of the Olympic events actually but I digress….
As sport has become more professional though, the athletes have become far more focussed on the minutiae. At one point in the past nutrition would have been far less focused on by the majority of athletes, now all will have nutritional support.
This is one of the reasons behind their improved performances and physiques.
The other variables will be things like improved S&C support, improved technology, funding etc etc.
As with all things at the top of sport, the trends they follow drip down in to the amateur ranks, which is why I don’t have any room for more one to one clients – amateur triathletes really do value the importance of an individual nutrition plan.
So what does an Olympian do to get the most from their performance and leave them looking like an athlete?
They will have set calories for the day.
They will likely have set calories for different days training – So for example if they do a 6 hour ride they will eat differently to if they do a swim drills session.
They will have individual macro nutrient targets – This refers to how much protein, carbohydrate and fat they eat. This may also differ depending on their training, perhaps with more carbs on higher intensity sessions.
They will eat a whole foods diet which includes lots of micro nutrients.
Endurance athletes will struggle to get enough calories in, so they will supplement.
They will likely have a lot of their food prepared for them by the environment in which they train – for example if they are away on camp, they don’t need to cook.
They will record what they eat and likely how it makes them feel in relation to their training, hence if they are under fuelled they can address this quickly.
They will have regular body composition assessments.
In short they will receive an awful lot of support and rightly so.
Thats the main difference between them and you and me.
They deserve this level of interaction because of their talent and their commitment to their sport.
You and me though – Well we have jobs and family and some of us are NOT in our 20’s anymore!
My point here is that our circumstances will drastically effect our results – obvious I know.
That’s not an excuse though, you and me can still be the best version of ourselves, that our circumstances allow.
We can definitely be in control of our nutrition most of the time and we can have an individual nutrition strategy, just like the Olympians, even if I can’t do it for you.
This is the reason I wrote my E Book, “The Triathlete Nutrition Code”
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It teaches you how to setup your perfect diet plan for your circumstances, for your training, for your physiology and for your aims (six pack anyone?)
It’s £9.99/£14 ish
It’s full of tasty recipes as well which work for the whole family, a family which may have some future Olympians!
Get it now:
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Jamie “Wish I looked like Bolt” Leighton