We all know we can utilize nutrition to lose weight. Most know you can also utilize nutrition to increase your muscle mass. But did you know nutrition plays a HUGE role into being able to hit PRs? What about being able to get rid of pain?
Or maybe put a better way…
- You can utilize nutrition in order to gain strength.
- You can utilize nutrition to gain energy, which results in greater endurance.
- You can utilize nutrition to decrease and/or resolve pain in order to enable you to hit new PRs because you can move better!
And when I talk PRs, I’m not talking small ones…I’m talking BIG changes…and big changes WITHOUT changing anything in your current training schedule or plan.
Some examples of people I have worked with:
- Going from being unable to do more than 1-2 handstand pushups at a time due to wrist pain to doing 5 unbroken with wrist pain resolved in 2 weeks.
- Doing a 30# dumbbell shoulder to overhead in 6 weeks.
- Hitting a 30# squat PR in 6 weeks in 6 weeks.
- Improving a 10K pace by 1:00/mile in 4 weeks.
How is this possible? By switching your food choices in order to fuel your performance.
It is time to change your thoughts around food. Rather than considering food as a means to an end, to make sure you can SURVIVE in your daily life, instead start thinking about how to THRIVE. Start considering food sources that will fuel you appropriately for your performance and recovery needs.
That’s where the difference is made!
It is necessary to take in enough calories to support your training and goals as well as making the right food choices.
Getting the calories
You not only have to get in enough calories in order to support your day to day tasks, you also need to make sure your food intake supports your training volume. It is very easy to be eating healthy and, because of the quantity of food, think you are eating enough. But all too often I find that people tend to underconsume without realizing it.
Filling up on vegetables and lean proteins is great, but they are not as calorie dense as you may think they are. If you are working to keep a low fat intake at the same time, you can be in a high caloric deficit and not know it.
A caloric deficit is not necessarily a bad thing if you are wanting to get leaner, but if you are looking to put on muscle or not fatigue as easily during workouts, the deficit needs to be controlled.
You may not even realize you don’t have full energy when training because what you are feeling during workouts is normal to you. Once you start gaining energy with more fuel inside you, you will quickly realize the difference!
Decrease inflammation in the body
Working out creates inflammation in the body; it is a normal process that occurs. This inflammation can contribute to soreness you feel and can slow down your recovery between training sessions. The slower the recovery, the less intense you will be able to train session to session.
With proper food choices, you can enhance your recovery and train at a higher level on a consistent basis. This means consuming foods that can decrease the inflammation processes in your body as well as avoiding foods that can contribute to inflammation. The more you do this on a consistent basis, the better you will feel and the stronger you will be able to train.
These two articles do a great job at explain the different foods and how they impact your body.
Inflammation: How the foods you eat contribute
Want help with your nutrition in order to resolve pain and hit some new PRs? Check out ReFuel: Precise Nutrition For The Dedicated Athlete to begin your journey!
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