Supplements / Nutrition For an athlete

irishathlete

hi guys, im a first time poster here, so not too sure how this works, but id appreciate some help and feedback from anyone who could help!

Basically im a track and field athlete, 800m -3000m at the moment, and im looking to put on some ( not loads) of lean muscle. Im thin enough and I find myself lacking the strength in the latter part of my races. Does anybody know health supplements that would help in this regard??

EileenG

Your best supplement is food. What are you eating, and how much?

irishathlete

i would consider myself healthy enough, i would eat a lot of fruit, apples mainly, quite a few bananas and oranges. i did eat a lot of white bread, but have replaced that with wholemeal. i dont eat much eggs, fish or red meat, the main meat being chicken.my meals would not be very consistent, i would sometimes not have breakfast and tend to snack in between !

EileenG

Sounds like you need to fix your diet. Can you post what you eat in a typical day? And perhaps what your workout is like?

irishathlete

a daily diet would be :

weetabix/ bran flakes for breakfast, juice ( this would not be a regular thing)

lunch: a sandwich

dinner: chicken, pork, beef with rice or potatoes or pasta , some vegetables

cups of tea, lots of fruit, some snacking on biscuits and wheat crackers


training would involve running 6 if not every day of the week. 3/4 times a week i would do some core exercises. training can change from steady running to interval work to long runs on a sunday

EileenG

Add more protein to your breakfast and lunch. Cereal is not a bad pre-workout snack, and might give you the extra oomph you need for training, but something like eggs would make a better breakfast.

Dump the juice, it's empty calories. Whole fruit is better.

Sandwiches are heavy on empty carbs and low on protein and fat.

Fruit is not bad, though I'd like to see more veggies in there, but the crackers and biscuits are not ideal. Try eating some yogurt or cottage cheese instead.

Parsley

EileenG wrote: »

Add more protein to your breakfast and lunch. Cereal is not a bad pre-workout snack, and might give you the extra oomph you need for training, but something like eggs would make a better breakfast.

Dump the juice, it's empty calories. Whole fruit is better.

Sandwiches are heavy on empty carbs and low on protein and fat.

Fruit is not bad, though I'd like to see more veggies in there, but the crackers and biscuits are not ideal. Try eating some yogurt or cottage cheese instead.

while i'd agree with adding more protein, i don't think he should be taking out the carbs he has - athletics training is gonna need a good amount of carbs for fuel, and he's trying to bulk he's gonna need a decent bit of carbs too.

my advice would just to be have some eggs with breakfast and increase portion sizes at dinner and lunch (mainly of protein sources but don't be afraid to have some extra carbs).

if you're training very hard very often maybe consider a glutamine supplement for recovery but that's all you'd really need i'd say.

irishathlete

thanks all, will take this into consideration, whats glutamine, and what are the benefits ??

muffinn

Glutamine is an aminoacid that is supposed to improve recovery after exercise, also is supposed to have anti-catabolic properties but if you ask me, I'd go for BCAA instead.

Did you consider implementing a full body resistance weight training 1-2 times a week to your workout routine ?

Parsley

irishathlete wrote: »

thanks all, will take this into consideration, whats glutamine, and what are the benefits ??

about 10-20g a day will significantly aid recovery. it's an amino acid, but an especially important one.

Transform

i second the glutamine but not before you sort out some fairly basic stuff with your nutrition