Nutrition for the swimming lifecycle
Greg Shaw
Sports Dietitian, Department of Sports Nutrition, AIS
Eating across the Athlete life cycle to maximise performance
Lessons in Sports nutrition from the
top.
Do swimmers meet their requirements
Males Females
Body composition
• Technique needs to be accurate and repeatable
• Technique must be able to track change over time with little error
• Body weight is not sufficient.
– High level of variability.
• Skinfolds able to track changes well.
• Focus on whole body composition,
– muscle mass and body fat
Body Composition and Performance
• Body composition has a large impact on performance – mainly via impact on drag and buoyancy
• In females, reduction in skinfolds are correlated to performance.
• Lean muscle tissue is important to a point
Anderson et al. J Sport Sci (2008) 26; 123-130
Nutrition for Adaptation
• Nutrition to increase lean muscle tissue.
• Nutrition for fuelling and recovery.
The manipulation of nutrients to maximise the
physiological adaptation to training stimulus
.Nutrition and Nutrient Periodisation
• The concept of matching nutrition intake to the goal of the training.
• Also matching nutrient intake before, during and after training sessions to improve the adaptation from a training session.
– Takes a very high level of nutrition skill to carry out.
– Needs consultation with professional to ensure outcomes are achieved.
– Should be targeted towards senior athletes to facilitate small changes during training cycles.
Putting it into practice
Male 100m/200m Freestyler.
Body Composition.
Body Weight 80kg
Sum of seven skinfold 42mm
Female 100m/200m swimmer.
Body Composition.
Body Weight 62kg
Sum of seven skinfold 55mm
Day/
Session
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
AM Aerobic Gym/
Speed
Off Gym/
recovery
Aerobic Gym/
Heart rate
Off
PM Heart
Rate
Aerobic/
recovery
Quality
(400 -500m)
Lactate production
Aerobic/
Kick session
Quality (500-800m)
Lactate tolerance
Off Off
Preparing a base
Breakfast
6 Weetbix and Mixed Berries (3 Tbsp) and milk
2 slices of thick toast and peanut Butter
Morning Tea
1 tub of yoghurt, 15 almonds and a piece of fruit
Lunch
2 sandwiches (Tuna, salad and cheese and ham, salad and cheese)
Afternoon Tea
Toasted English muffin with jam and a 350ml Choc ice Up and Go
Dinner
2 cups of cooked pasta with bolognaise sauce and mixed vegetables
Breakfast
4 Weetbix and Mixed Berries (2 Tbsp) and milk
2 slices of thick toast and peanut Butter
Morning Tea
1 tub of yoghurt, 15 almonds and a piece of fruit
Lunch
1 sandwich (Tuna, salad and cheese
Afternoon Tea
Toasted English muffin with jam and a 250ml Choc ice Up and Go
Dinner
1.5 cups of cooked pasta with
bolognaise sauce and mixed vegetables
Nutrition for acute training adaptation.
• Focusing nutrient intake around training to maximise adaptation to training.
• Similar to Protein intake around resistance exercise.
• Specific Carbohydrate around high intensity swimming sessions.
Day/
Session
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
AM Aerobic Gym/
Speed
Off Gym/
recovery
Aerobic/kick session
Gym/
Heart rate
Off
PM Heart
Rate
Aerobic/
recovery
Quality
(400 -500m)
Lactate production
Aerobic Quality (500-800m)
Lactate tolerance
Off Off
Easy 48hrs Hard 36 hrs?
Hard Hard
Strength Strength
Easy day Easier 36 hrs
• Maintain session intensity.
• Only necessary for specific sessions.
• Doesn’t have to be very large amounts.
Carbohydrate intake during exercise
Before a hard session
1. Ensure afternoon tea pre training 2. <30g of Carbohydrate -<500ml
Gatorade small frequent exposure.
3. Post training – WPI on water 250ml and a piece of fruit.
Before a hard session
1. Ensure afternoon tea pre training 2. 30g of Carbohydrate -500ml
Gatorade during training preferably early or a carbohydrate gel
immediately before the set.
3. Post training – Protein carbohydrate shake on skim milk
Nutrition for acute training adaptation.
• Is food always necessary?
• Periodising nutrition for training goal.
Day/
Session
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
AM Aerobic Gym/
Speed
Off Gym/
recovery
Aerobic/kick session
Gym/
Heart rate
Off
PM Heart
Rate
Aerobic/
recovery
Quality
(400 -500m)
Lactate production
Aerobic Quality (500-800m)
Lactate tolerance
Off Off
Easy 48hrs Hard 36 hrs?
Hard Hard
Strength Strength
Easy day Easier 36 hrs
Competition nutrition
Single events – minimal support.
Multiple events – basic support.
Multiple events, multiple days –
moderate support.
Multi-day meets
• Multiple events.
• Multiple heats and finals in one session.
• Important to employ suitable recovery nutrition and hydration practices.
• Shouldn’t be a buffet of sports foods.
• Swimmers not competing should have food to cover hunger.
Issues
Solutions
Nutrition recovery during competition
• Main aim is to reduce glycogen depletion over multiple days and events.
• Individual to competition load.
• Protein inclusion important to reduce muscle damage.
• Aim for carbohydrate between races and more balance at end of each session.
Between double events
Carbohydrate only choices eg sports drink or gels
During swim down from last event of the session
Protein plus 300ml and 500ml Gatorade
1 hr later
Yoghurt and fruit or Peanut butter Sandwich.
1 hr later
Lunch back at the hotel or Unit.
Between double events
Carbohydrate only choices eg sports drink or gels
During swim down from last event of the session
Protein plus 300ml and maybe 250-300ml Sports drink
1 hr later
Fruit and yoghurt 1 hr later
Lunch back at the hotel or Unit.
Nutrition for the developing Athlete
The Swimming Nutrition Jigsaw
Junior swimmers
Trying something different
• Must have good food literacy.
• Must not be reliant on easy food choices.
• Choosing “purposeful snacks” not choosing “mindless snacks”
• Don’t need to be nutrition experts by the time they are 15.
• Need to appreciate the value of food in everyday life.
The Education program
• 5 key practice area lectures
• 3 key practice tools.
– Hydration and priming water bottles
– Recovery shaker – Lunch box
5 practice modules
• Module 1: Preparing for training.
• Module 2: Recovering from training
• Module 3: Surviving the School Day
• Module 4: Competition eating
• Module 5: Supplementation
Goal of the program
• Take focus away from nutrients and focus on whole foods and nutrition concepts/practices.
• Teach swimmers about nutrition practices shown to improve performance.
• Show swimmers that by just focusing on one area of
nutrition they are missing out on other potential benefits.
• Educate swimmers systematically as they develop.
• Incorporate health message.
• Separate messages for boys and girls.
Supplementation
• Swimmers are reported as being high users of dietary supplements
• Education for swimmers around risk associated with dietary supplements.
• http://www.usada.org/supplement411
• Dietary ergogenics are not recommended for junior
swimmers due to highly variable nature of performance.
• Formulated sports food will have a place
• Immune support supplements may be beneficial in specific circumstances.
• www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/supplements