Hydration and Timing

Recap

    The population we are focused on is male high school wrestlers. The past blog posts have offered the recommended micro and macro nutrients for this group. Now lets focus on applying these nutrients at the optimal times.

Energy and Macronutrient Comparisons 

    In this section we are going to compare high school male wrestlers, high school male altra-endurance runners, and high school male golfers. The difference in energy and macronutrient intake is compared below (Kreider, 2019): 

    Wrestlers

• 45 to 60 kcal/kg/day
• 5 to 8 g/kg/day of carbohydrates 
• 1.2 to 2.0 g/kg/day of protein
• .5 to 1.5 g/kg/day of fats

    Ultra-endurance Runners

• 60 to 80 kcal/kg/day
• 8 to 12 g/kg/day of carbohydrates
• 1.7 to 2.2 g/kg/day of protein   
• .5 to 1.5 g/kg/day of fats     

    Golf

• 41 to 50 kcal/kg/day
• 5 to 7 g/kg/day of carbohydrates
• 1.0 to 1.2 g/kg/day of protein     
• .5 to 1.5 g/kg/day of fats    

 Hydration Recommendations 

     A typical athlete sweats .5 to 1.5 liters/hour during intense training (Kreider, 2019). 6 to 8 ounces of water or sports drinks should be ingested every 15 minutes during exercise to maintain fluid levels (Kreider, 2019). Athletes should be weighed before and after a training session to monitor fluid loss. One pound of weight lost results in roughly three cups of fluid lost (Kreider, 2019). If an athlete losses 2% of body weight from fluid loss in a training session, performance can be reduced (Kreider, 2019). Before the next training session it should be encouraged that the athlete replenish the fluid lost in order to prevent the risk of heat illness (Kreider, 2019). 2% to 4% of weight reduction through fluid loss can result in an increased risk of heat stroke and/or death (Kreider, 2019). All wrestlers should be encouraged to maintain appropriate hydration levels to allow for optimal performance and reduce the risk of heat related illness.  

Nutrient Timing Recommendations

    This section will be broken into recommendation for wrestlers pre-, during-, and post- exercise (Kreider, 2019).

    Pre-exercise

• A meal 4-6 hours prior to exercise
• A snack 30-60 minutes prior to exercise (30-50g of carbs, 5-10g of protein)
• Hourly meals consisting of .8g/kg/hr of carbs and .2-.4g/kg/hr of protein. 

    During-exercise

• Fluid replacement of .5-1.0 liters/hour (water or sports drinks)      
• Exercise >90 min: 6-12 fluid ounces of carbohydrate-electrolyte solution every 10-15min   

    Post-Exercise

• Carb/protein drink (1g/kg carb and .5g/kg protein) within 30min after exercise     
• High carb/protein meal <2 hours after exercise     

    Timing the meals and the appropriate amount of fluid replacement throughout the day will ensure an athlete is well equipped to handle a competition or training session. A wrestler will want to make sure that their glycogen stores are full going into practice and that they are well hydrated. Dehydration within the sport of wrestling is very common due to the sports culture of making weight classifications. In order to make weight, dehydration and rapid fluid loss is typically utilized followed by a quick ingestion of fluids and food following weigh-ins. Appropriate weight loss over time should be utilized in order for optimal performance.   

Training and Recovery

    For wrestlers it is important to eat enough to keep up with energy expenditure from practice and competition. Meals and fluid replacement should be monitored to ensure adequate uptake. Spacing out these meals and timing them for before and after training session will reduce fatigue and improve performance. Hydration can be one of the biggest obstacles for this population. During the weekly training sessions it should be stressed to keep appropriate fluid levels to reduce the risk of heat related illness. Nutritional supplementation can be used if time is a limiting factor for these athletes or if availability to healthy foods throughout the day is lacking. Rest between training sessions and adequate sleep overnight is essential for these wrestlers to recover. The periods of down time should be used to refuel macronutrients and hydrate in preparation for the next competition or practice. A large portion of muscle damage recovery is conducted during sleep, wrestlers should be made aware of this and it should be emphasized in their programming (Kreider, 2019).

Wrap Up

    Nutrient timing, macronutrients, hydration and sleep should be the four main takeaways from this blog. Coaches working with this group should look at all four of these aspects when programming for this population. It can be difficult to prescribe nutritional recommendations to adolescent athletes. Most of these athletes are at the mercy of their environment when it comes to nutrition. Nevertheless, stressing the importance of macronutrients, hydration and sleep will allow these athletes to make educated decisions when options are provided to them moving forward. 

Cited Sources

 Kreider, R. B. (2019). Essentials of exercise and sport nutrition: Science to practice. Raleigh, NC: Lulu.

Fat, Vitamins and Minerals

 Introduction

    The athletic population that we are working with is male high school wrestlers. This post will address the fat, vitamin and mineral recommendations for this population. 

Fat

    Fat within a wrestlers diet is essential for sustaining energy. Out of all of the energy systems, fat metabolism offers the most available energy. The catch to this is that it must be metabolized in the presence of oxygen. High intensity exercise will reduce the oxygen availability and reduce the capability of fat oxidation to be utilized as a primary source of fuel. Aside from a long lasting fuel source, fat also aids in the absorption of vitamins, promotes neural transmission, helps protect vital organs, helps maintain healthy skin and hair, and helps synthesize hormones (Kreider, 2019). High school wrestlers should aim to ingest .5-1.5 g/kg/day of fats within their diet. Ultimately, these athletes should not fall below 20% of their total energy needs from fat (Kreider, 2019). 

    A popular topic right now when talking about fat and carbohydrate consumption with athletes is the ketogenic diet. There have been positive and negative claims to utilizing this diet (Kreider, 2019). The answer to if an athlete should use this diet or not comes down to the energy expenditure within the activity they are performing. A wrestler operates at a very high intensity for three two-minute periods. Within this time, they are utilized the ATP-PCr, anaerobic glycolysis and oxidative systems at the same time. Fat oxidation can be utilized within a match when they go out of bounds and must reset or if they are slowing down the pace of the match physically. For a majority of the match the anaerobic system is being taxed the most. If wrestlers carbohydrate restricted as much as the keto diet suggests (10-40 g/day), these athletes would run out of gas in their matches. Their bodies would not be able to keep up with the physical demand and the lack of available oxygen due to the high intensity. A clear negatively impacted performance would occur. 

    The keto diet has been utilized in another way. Carbohydrate restrictions are utilized to train the body to optimized fat oxidation as the primary source of energy throughout the week. 3-5 days before competition, carbohydrates are added back into the diet and carbohydrate loading occurs the 2 days before competition as well as fat loading (Kreider, 2019). The results of this are inconclusive and have not shown a clear increase in performance outcomes (Kreider, 2019). additionally, wrestlers training throughout the week on low carbohydrates will continue to have a lack of fuel during practices. This does not allow them to sharpen their skills and prepare properly for a competition. 

Vitamins

    Vitamins and minerals are essential to an athletes diet and each play important roles in metabolic and physiological function. Vitamins are essential organic compounds that cannot be synthesized by the body. Vitamins are necessary in small doses and help maintain metabolic functions (Kreider, 2019). Minerals are essential inorganic chemical elements used to maintain proper physiological processes within the body (Kreider, 2019). Vitamins that would be helpful for wrestlers are listed below: 

1. Vitamin A - helps maintain healthy vision and reduces muscle damage received from exercise (Kreider, 2019). It has antioxidant properties and the RDA is 700-900 micrograms. Can be supplemented or achieved through the diet by ingesting eggs or fortified foods such as cereal. 

2. Vitamin D - Helps maintain healthy bones and enhances calcium absorption (Kreider, 2019). This can help reduce the risk of injury. The RDA is 5-15 micrograms. Can be found in fatty fish, fortified foods and egg yolks. 

3. Thiamin B1 - Helps in the removal of CO2 and a potential increase to anaerobic threshold (Kreider, 2019). RDA is 1.1-1.2 mg/day. Can be supplemented or acquired through the diet in beef, nuts, pork, eggs and fortified foods such as rice. 

Minerals

    Minerals help in the physiological processes of the body. These processes help build body structures like muscles, teeth, bone and regulate electrically charges ions (Kreider, 2019). Some minerals that would be helpful for wrestlers are listed below:

1. Calcium - Helps bone and tooth formation. This can help reduce the risk of injury by maintaining healthy bones (Kreider, 2019). Paired with vitamin D is essential for absorption. RDA is 1,000 - 2,000 mg/day. Can be supplemented or found in milk, cheese and other dairy sources. 

2. Potassium - Helps regulate fluid balance. Has effects on nerve transmission in the body. Primarily looked at in reducing the potential of cramping (Kreider, 2019). RDA is 4.7 g/day or 2000 mg/day. Can be supplemented or acquired through ingestion of bananas and baked potatoes.

3. Sodium - Helps regulate fluid balance. Has effects on nerve transmission. Like potassium, it is used in reducing cramping and hyponatremia (Kreider, 2019). RDA is 1.5 g/day. Can be supplemented or acquired in the diet through salted meat, fish, poultry and nuts. 

Wrap-up

    Fats, vitamins and minerals are all essential to a high school wrestlers diet. Making sure that proper amounts are consumed will ensure optimal performance. Excess ingestion of fats, vitamins and minerals can have adverse health effects. It is important to know the RDA values for each of these substances and ensure that these athletes are within the healthy ranges. Too little or too much will not aid in optimal performance outcomes. 

Cited Sources

 Kreider, R. B. (2019). Essentials of exercise and sport nutrition: Science to practice. Raleigh, NC: Lulu.