Endurance sports  

What are endurance sports?

A good spinning lesson of more than an hour falls under endurance sports or cardio training. Just like a round on the exercise bike, treadmill, rowing machine and cross trainer. For endurance athletes, the use of these devices is extremely suitable to improve general condition and to train different muscle groups. During endurance sports you burn a lot of calories and even after training your body needs energy to recover and so you still burn calories. Your stamina and fitness grow and your overall health improves. It has a positive effect on your heart and blood vessels and is ideal for losing weight. If you combine endurance sports and strength training, the fat burning is even greater.

Diet and exercise

Healthy food is the basis, just as it applies to everyone. Lots of fruit and vegetables, whole grain products, such as wholemeal bread, wholemeal pasta, couscous and brown rice. Meat, fish, legumes, nuts, eggs and vegetarian products Enough dairy, such as milk, yogurt and cheese, nuts, fats, but preferably soft or liquid. Sufficient moisture. Eating and drinking well before, during and after training or competition is very important to be able to train well and to recover well after training. There are many different types of endurance sports, levels, levels of intensity and the duration of a training or competition can vary greatly. What is best to eat before, during or after endurance sports varies from person to person. For example, a cyclist needs something different during a competition than a skater. A well-thought-out training and nutrition plan, suitable for a specific endurance sport and a test of how your health is doing, should not be missing if you want to tackle it in a serious way. So do not go wild, but let yourself be informed, have your first check-up by a doctor and /or be guided by a personal trainer.

Nutrition before and during a workout

For an endurance athlete it is in any case important that the last meal is eaten 1 to 2 hours before exercise and that this meal preferably contains a lot of slow carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are your energy supplier. During exercise, the blood transports oxygen and nutrients to the muscles so that they can convert them into energy. If you eat too soon in advance, the blood will go to your stomach because it is necessary there to digest the food. As a result, the process of transporting nutrients and oxygen through the blood to your muscles cannot be optimally utilized, causing you to simply perform less well. In addition to this meal, you should drink enough, especially during training or the competition. Studies show that drinking too little is still going on during training and competitions. This is not good for performance. Water and sports drinks with added minerals (electrolytes) and fast and slow carbohydrates are ideal. These sports drinks with carbohydrates can also be used 30 to 60 minutes before you start a workout or competition to bring up the glycogen stock. You can also load carbohydrates. The so-called carboloading, mainly a well-known process in endurance sports. In endurance sports, this means that you take in extra carbohydrates a few days before a competition to ensure that the glycogen stores in the muscles are fully charged, ready to be used as energy.

Recovery and rest period

After a hard workout, your body is screaming for nutrients. Your muscles must be able to recover and that also costs energy. In two hours, after training, glycogen production increases from normal 5% to 8% per hour. If you eat carbohydrates in those two hours, the glycogen level will be back to the same level as before your training within je day and your body is ready for the next training. Would you not do this, recovery can take 1 to 2 days. A significant difference. In addition to carbohydrates, it is important to take proteins. All your body cells and tissues, including your muscle tissue, consist for a large part of proteins. Heavy training or a tough competition causes small tears in the muscles that need to recover. Protein supports this recovery in combination with sufficient rest.