Link Of The Week
4/13/09
This week I wanted to post up this short article that features Howie Clark, a professional baseball player. He offers some interesting takes on his own training and especially his nutrition.
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/athlete-profile-howie-clark
Here is the comment that stands out to me:
"Nutrition is the foundation for everything we do in the weight room and on the baseball field."
I think often people misunderstand proper nutrition. Many people think that "eating right" is just to lose weight or maybe to try to gain some muscle. What people don't realize is that there are much more important factors involved. Most important among these factors are energy and recovery. During intense training or competition, muscle cells are broken down and need to be repaired. Proper nutrition will go a long way to helping an athlete recover faster and be able train harder. Additionally, an athlete with poor nutritional habits will find him or herself lacking energy and this can detract from performance.
The biggest nutritional failure from the atheltes I've worked with is related to breakfast. Many athletes don't eat breakfast at all and this results in not only poor recovery but lack of energy during competition. The second failure is eating too much sugary or starchy "breakfast" foods such as bagels or donuts. This results in a quick spike in morning energy followed by a crash around noon. Many athletes want to skip breakfast to get those extra 10 minutes of sleep, but that is when it's most important to get a balanced, healthy meal.
It sounds cliche, but breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.
Again, read the full article here:
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/athlete-profile-howie-clark
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