It is accepted that adequate and balanced nutrition does not guarantee the success of an athlete, but inadequate and unbalanced nutrition causes some health problems and poor performance. The most important goals in sports nutrition are; To protect the athlete's general health and increase his performance.
Energy requirement; It varies depending on factors such as gender, age, body size and composition (height, weight, amount of fat in the body, amount of lean tissue), type, intensity and frequency of exercise. Depending on all these, the energy requirements of an athlete differ when compared to another athlete.
The main differences between sports branches are the energy systems used and the nutrients needed in terms of total energy. Carbohydrates are the most important nutritional element for all athletes, due to their contribution to health. Although it is known that the protein requirement increases in sports requiring strength/power and in athletes with high muscle mass, other nutrients (vitamins, minerals, fat) must also be consumed adequately. Muscle glycogen stores can be completely depleted with 1.5-2 hours of exercise.
In order to quickly fill these stores, consume high carbohydrate foods and protein foods together in the first half hour after exercise. should be consumed. Thus, energy stores will be renewed for the next training/match and muscle mass will be preserved by stimulating protein synthesis.
Gürel stated that providing adequate hydration is important for all athletes. “The weight lost before and after training should be monitored and fluid loss should be replaced. A human can live for weeks without food, but only a few days without water. With a 3 percent loss, blood volume and physical performance decrease; with a 5 percent loss, concentration is impaired; with an 8 percent loss, dizziness, extreme fatigue, and difficulty breathing may be observed; with a 10 percent loss, muscle spasm, extreme fatigue, circulation and kidney failure may occur.
A decrease of 20 percent of body water results in death. It should not be forgotten that nutrition should be personalized for each athlete, even in the same sports branch. Necessary information about nutrition should be provided to athletes by dietitians. An adequate and balanced diet cannot make an average athlete elite, but an inadequate and unbalanced diet can reduce an elite athlete to average level.
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