Post by phnx on Mar 14, 2011 17:56:04 GMT
If this isn't in the right place feel free to punt it somewhere, couldn't decide where it fitted best.
Anyway, I've been meaning to post this up since the mad dash for getting fit for BUCS started but kept getting distracted. This will probably geta bit spraffy and be all over the shop, so apolagies in advance. I'll try and keep it simple.
It's fantastic to see so many people taking a keen interest in getting fitter and making a real effort in the lead up to BUCS particularly the girls. While this is a step in the right direction I'm slightly worried that while traiing may be going well the diet and nutritional aspect may be letting people down. I know we're all poor students and its difficult to be able to afford a decent diet and we generally take whats got the giant shiney yellow sticker beside it in tesco regardless of how bad for us the food may be. But if people are going to take their training seriously then people really need to examine their diets closely and try and make whatever improvements to their diets they can, however small, as they can still prove to be significant.
Basic things like making sure you eat within 45 minutes of finishing a training session. If you've been doing a weights session make sure you get as much protein as you can into your meal and ideally you should be having fruit or veg with every meal throughout the day. If your doing heavy cardio or fitness again as much protein as you can cram on your plate and carbohydrates in the form of fruit, veg or wholegrains is your ideal meal.
Most people recommend eating multiple small meals throughout the day to maximise nutritional uptake and limit the body's craving for a quick fix during the day. If you really want to take your diet seriously if it doesn't grow, run, fly or swim in the wild you shouldn;t be eating it. Anything manmade or modern foods should go out the window.
Swapping white rice/bread/pasta for brown/wholewheat instead has been shown to reduce bodyfat storage by 10% in recent scientific research. This is a great example of how little changes to your diet can make a very noticeable difference, and won't cost you any extra money.
Protein sources:
Fish ( try to avoid tuna if you can, high levels of mercury found in tuna are linked to brain damageee )
turkey
lean beef
chicken
nuts
whey
eggs
Milk
Low Fat cheese
Cottage cheese
beans
Carbohydate sources:
Milk
fruit
veg
beans
(whole)grains ( oatmeal, bulgar wheat, brown rice/bread/pasta)
( if you want to read more on carbs bang this up
www.rawfoodexplained.com/carbohydrates/index.html )
Sources of good fat:
Avocado
oils ( extra virgin olive oil, flaxseed oil, walnut oil, etc. Try to avoid vegetable oil)
red meat
oily fish ( salmon, mackeral, cod)
eggs
The main goals for most people in the club will either be muscle gain, increased overall fitness or a combination of the two. My two biggest concerns are that overall diets are poor or the amount of calories being ingested is too low. For the girls, the biggest worry is your not eating enough, and that's just as bad as not eating the right things. If your not taking on enough protei and carbohydrates, your going to cause muscle degeneration instead of growth, which is counterproductive to what you want to do. Same for the guys here. We'll be playing against some incredibly fit people in BUCS, and its safe to say we dont have the biggest team going, and if your not eating enough and training at the same time you'll run the risk of either slowing your progression rapidly or simply wasting your time in the gym.
The gym isn;t the place where your muscles grow, it's where you break them down and leave them weakened, whereby the body comes in and tries to build them back up during rest between sessions. If enough proteins and amino acids get into your system during this time, they build up stronger and your muscles will grow. For the guys, your probably looking at about 3,500-4,000 calories a day, minimum, in order to see some decent growth.
I know it means spending more money on food and a healthy diet is generally seen as costing more than an unhealthy one, but that isnt generally the case. Tesco always have offers going on fruit and veg and if you keep up to date with whats seasonal you save yourself some money. LIDL and ALDI are disgustingly cheap for fruit and veg, and despite the negative stereotypes that come with the shops the fruit and veg they sell is all class 1 so is of the same quality as you'll find in other supermarkets.
A great place to buy cheap meat is here. If people jump in and buy together or bulk buy and freeze for yourself you end up saving up to 70% on what you'd pay for chicken in supermarkets, and similar savings on other meats. I really couldn't recommend this enough. www.westingourmet.co.uk/
Like I said before, I'm not expecting people to pick up the perfect diet overnight. But any changes people can make would be incredibly benificial to their training and I really do urge people who are taking their training seriously to examine their diets and try and make any changes they can that they think will benefit their training.
Feel free to bomb this up with advice, recipies, questions and general chat and I'm sure someone will be able to help. There's a few people in the club know their stuff when it comes to food, moreso than I do. Hope this has proved at least somewhat useful.
Elliot
Anyway, I've been meaning to post this up since the mad dash for getting fit for BUCS started but kept getting distracted. This will probably geta bit spraffy and be all over the shop, so apolagies in advance. I'll try and keep it simple.
It's fantastic to see so many people taking a keen interest in getting fitter and making a real effort in the lead up to BUCS particularly the girls. While this is a step in the right direction I'm slightly worried that while traiing may be going well the diet and nutritional aspect may be letting people down. I know we're all poor students and its difficult to be able to afford a decent diet and we generally take whats got the giant shiney yellow sticker beside it in tesco regardless of how bad for us the food may be. But if people are going to take their training seriously then people really need to examine their diets closely and try and make whatever improvements to their diets they can, however small, as they can still prove to be significant.
Basic things like making sure you eat within 45 minutes of finishing a training session. If you've been doing a weights session make sure you get as much protein as you can into your meal and ideally you should be having fruit or veg with every meal throughout the day. If your doing heavy cardio or fitness again as much protein as you can cram on your plate and carbohydrates in the form of fruit, veg or wholegrains is your ideal meal.
Most people recommend eating multiple small meals throughout the day to maximise nutritional uptake and limit the body's craving for a quick fix during the day. If you really want to take your diet seriously if it doesn't grow, run, fly or swim in the wild you shouldn;t be eating it. Anything manmade or modern foods should go out the window.
Swapping white rice/bread/pasta for brown/wholewheat instead has been shown to reduce bodyfat storage by 10% in recent scientific research. This is a great example of how little changes to your diet can make a very noticeable difference, and won't cost you any extra money.
Protein sources:
Fish ( try to avoid tuna if you can, high levels of mercury found in tuna are linked to brain damageee )
turkey
lean beef
chicken
nuts
whey
eggs
Milk
Low Fat cheese
Cottage cheese
beans
Carbohydate sources:
Milk
fruit
veg
beans
(whole)grains ( oatmeal, bulgar wheat, brown rice/bread/pasta)
( if you want to read more on carbs bang this up
www.rawfoodexplained.com/carbohydrates/index.html )
Sources of good fat:
Avocado
oils ( extra virgin olive oil, flaxseed oil, walnut oil, etc. Try to avoid vegetable oil)
red meat
oily fish ( salmon, mackeral, cod)
eggs
The main goals for most people in the club will either be muscle gain, increased overall fitness or a combination of the two. My two biggest concerns are that overall diets are poor or the amount of calories being ingested is too low. For the girls, the biggest worry is your not eating enough, and that's just as bad as not eating the right things. If your not taking on enough protei and carbohydrates, your going to cause muscle degeneration instead of growth, which is counterproductive to what you want to do. Same for the guys here. We'll be playing against some incredibly fit people in BUCS, and its safe to say we dont have the biggest team going, and if your not eating enough and training at the same time you'll run the risk of either slowing your progression rapidly or simply wasting your time in the gym.
The gym isn;t the place where your muscles grow, it's where you break them down and leave them weakened, whereby the body comes in and tries to build them back up during rest between sessions. If enough proteins and amino acids get into your system during this time, they build up stronger and your muscles will grow. For the guys, your probably looking at about 3,500-4,000 calories a day, minimum, in order to see some decent growth.
I know it means spending more money on food and a healthy diet is generally seen as costing more than an unhealthy one, but that isnt generally the case. Tesco always have offers going on fruit and veg and if you keep up to date with whats seasonal you save yourself some money. LIDL and ALDI are disgustingly cheap for fruit and veg, and despite the negative stereotypes that come with the shops the fruit and veg they sell is all class 1 so is of the same quality as you'll find in other supermarkets.
A great place to buy cheap meat is here. If people jump in and buy together or bulk buy and freeze for yourself you end up saving up to 70% on what you'd pay for chicken in supermarkets, and similar savings on other meats. I really couldn't recommend this enough. www.westingourmet.co.uk/
Like I said before, I'm not expecting people to pick up the perfect diet overnight. But any changes people can make would be incredibly benificial to their training and I really do urge people who are taking their training seriously to examine their diets and try and make any changes they can that they think will benefit their training.
Feel free to bomb this up with advice, recipies, questions and general chat and I'm sure someone will be able to help. There's a few people in the club know their stuff when it comes to food, moreso than I do. Hope this has proved at least somewhat useful.
Elliot