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Nutritional Requirements for Sprint Athletes

Article · March 2017

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Swapnil Vidhate
Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University
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 University Grants Commission Sponsored
One Day National conference on
Recent Advances in Physical Education & Sports Sciences
3th March 2017
Organized By
The council of educations
D.R.K. College Of Commerce, Kolhapur

Nutritional Requirements for Sprint Athletes

Mahesh B. Dhembare [1] Dr. Swapnil Vidhate [2]

[1] Asst.
Prof. Green fingers College of computer & technology, Shankarnagar,
Solapur(413118), Maharashtra, India. Email – [email protected]
[2]
Associate Professor, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University College of Physical Education,
Pune (411046) Maharashtra, India. Email – [email protected]

Abstract:

Nutrition is the study of foods and nutrients and their effect on health, growth, and
development of the individual. Sports Nutrition applies nutrition principles to sport with the intent of
maximizing performance. Becoming an elite athlete requires good genes, good training, conditioning,
and a sensible diet. All athletes need strength, endurance, agility, speed, flexibility, and muscular co-
ordination for better performance. Optimal nutrition is essential for peak performance. Nutritional
misinformation can do as much harm to the ambitious athlete as good nutrition can; he Success in
sports depends on three factors - genetic endowments, the state of training and nutrition. Specialized
exercise training is the major means to improve athletic performance and proper nutrition is an
important component of the total training program. This research paper brings broader understanding
of strategies for balance diet to sprint athletes. The rational for the study stems from the need and a
search to gain greater achievement in athlete. Diet affects performance, and the foods that we choose
in training and competition will affect how well we train and compete. Athletes need to be aware of
their nutritional goals and of how they can select an eating strategy to meet those goals. The
investigator focus on the role of nutrition for increasing muscle mass and strength, as well as the
potential for nutritional choices to influence competition day performance.

Key words: Nutrition, athlete, health, growth and development.

Introduction:

Nutrition is the selection of foods and preparation of foods, and their ingestion to be
assimilated by the body. By practicing a healthy diet, many of the known health issues can be
avoided. Good nutrition is important for everyone, diet for athletes plays major role while
competition. Athletes’ need for calories is greater than the common person, ranging from 2000
to 5000 calories a day, depending on gender.

Proper nutrition for athletes is one of the most important training factors. It makes
effects on the comprehensive sports performance of the athlete. Without proper fuel and
nourishment for body, athletes will not attain his full athletic potential. The full benefits of a
consistent and well-designed performance enhancement training program require a balanced,
healthy, nutrient dense diet. Having proper nutrition for athletes is crucial to performance
enhancement and we strongly urge each athlete to treat it that way. Athletes are all different,
and there is no single diet that meets the needs of all athletes at all times. Individual needs also
change across the season and athletes must be flexible to accommodate this. Getting the right
amount of energy to stay healthy and to perform well is a key to success. This research paper is
an attempt to make awareness about nutrition among sprint athletes to make their
performance better. There are few nutritional guidelines for sprinters and other athletes, who
is expected to give the positive outputs to a practitioners.

Definition:

Nutrition:

Oxford Advance Learner’s English Dictionary defines nutrition as “the process of providing or
obtaining the food necessary for health and growth”.

The Medicine Dictionary defines nutrition as “the process of taking food and using it for
growth, metabolism, and repair.” Nutritional stages are ingestion, digestion, absorption,
transport, assimilation, and excretion.

Sprint Athletes:

The sprint event is an individual event of athletics. The sprint events cover distance from 60 to
400 m. These running and hurdle events rely primarily on the development of power through
an aerobic energy, the phosphocreatin (shorter events, e.g. 100m and 200m), and glycoltic
(longer events, e.g. 400m) systems for energy. At Olympic-level competition, sprint events
include the 100 m, 200 m, 400m, 4 x 100m relay, and 4 x 400 m relay.

Nutritional Components for Sprinter:

Carbohydrate: Carbohydrate is a key nutrient for energy supply. Athletes must be

aware of foods that can fulfill their carbohydrate needs and make these a focus of their diet.
Carbohydrate should ensure an adequate intake of vitamins and minerals. This is best achieved
by including a wide variety of nutrient-dense carbohydrate sources such as bread, cereal, fruit,
vegetables, and sweetened dairy products in the diet.
 Protein: Proteins foods are important for building and repairing muscles, but a varied
diet containing everyday foods will generally supply more than enough protein. Well-chosen
vegetarian diets can also fulfill protein needs from vegetables, fruits, beans, legumes, grains,
animal meats, oils. Maintaining hydration is important for performance. Fluid intake before,
during and after exercise is especially important in hot climates. Moderate portions of lean
sources of protein such as lean meat, skin-free chicken, eggs; low-fat dairy foods, lentils and
tofu should also be on the menu. Supplements might be useful for convenience or accuracy of
ingested amounts. Because of adaptive responses, a higher protein intake results in greater
protein oxidation. If protein intake reduced suddenly, the oxidation rate remains high for some
time and the athlete risks short-term negative protein balance.

Salt: Salt replacement is important when sweat losses are high. Athletes are cautioned
against the indiscriminate use of dietary supplements. The side effects of high protein intake
have been largely overestimated. Risks reported in the literature include kidney damage and
bone demineralization. Kidney damage has never shown in otherwise healthy individuals.

Calories: Athletes and Fitness Enthusiasts need the same essential nutrients that non-
active people need with varied increases in their caloric needs as well as some increase in
macro and micronutrients. Therefore, it is essential to explore and assess these increased
nutritional needs of athletes before, during, and after competition. Nutrition and the dietary
requirements for sporting events require careful programming. The body requires food not only
for energy but also for anabolic and reparative processes. Special attention is required for food
intake pre and post training, and during competition, to maximize energy stores, minimize
fatigue and to assist with tissue regeneration.

Creatine: Creatine can enhance power and increase muscle mass, however the extra
weight gain can negatively impact performance. The most important effect of creatine seems to
be that more work can be done during high intensity training programs. Data remain equivocal,
but, importantly, none of the available studies has reported impaired performance.
Furthermore, some data indicate increased glycogen storage when carbohydrate is co-ingested
with creatine.

Sprinters Nutritional Needs:

A sprint consists of an all-out effort for a short period of time. Athlete’s performance is
determine by the ability to achieve maximal velocity and to limit the loss of power as the he
progresses. Biomechanical, neuromuscular, and metabolic factors all influence performance.
Nutritional support for athletic performance is a popular and widely covered topic. However,
most sports nutrition research has focused on endurance performance.

Sprinters need to consume sufficient carbohydrate to fuel training needs and however
carbohydrate requirements, do not reach the level of endurance-type athletes. Sprinters need
to be mindful of maintaining low body fat levels. They need to eat a sufficient variety and
quantity of food to meet nutritional requirements and allow for the development of muscle
mass. Diets need to be nutrient-dense. Energy-dense foods such as cakes, pastries, soft drinks,
chocolate, alcohol and takeaways should be used sparingly. Appropriate snacks need to be
included before and after training to maximize performance during training and to promote
recovery. Snack foods such as yoghurt, fresh fruit, low-fat flavored milk and sandwiches are all
nutritious fuel foods and make good snacks.

Sprinters require low body fat levels whilst being strong and muscular. Low body-fat
levels usually occur naturally for male athletes. However, male sprinters often need to reduce
total body mass leading into the competition phase. Some of the additional muscle mass gained
in off-season weight training is not sport specific, therefore needs to be trimmed to achieve an
ideal racing body composition. Female sprinters often need to manipulate their food intake and
training to achieve their desired body fat levels. Sprinters need to reduce their body fat level.

Although nutrition for the sprint events has not received as much attention as it does in
distance running. It can have a profound effect on recovery from training and competition,
training adaptations and power to weight ratio. Race day foods and drinks should be
individually tested so that the chance of GI (gastro-intestinal) discomfort is minimized. Careful
consideration of what not to eat is probably more important than what is going to eat.

Fat provides essential fatty acids, and athlete’s body uses it as an energy source,
particularly if his activity lasts longer than an hour. In fact, it can provide up to 75% of the
energy endurance athletes needs for the long-term aerobic performance, the athletes needed
for protein, higher if involved in resistance training.

Nutritional guidelines for sprinters:

1. Maintaining energy levels during training, carbohydrate intake should be sufficient (*5 g per
kg of71kg body mass) to maintain glycogen stores during training.

2. Energy intake should carefully considered if increased muscle mass is desired, energy intake
should be increased; if muscle mass is optimal, energy intake should be maintained and
perhaps monitored.

3. Protein intake is likely adequate for the majority of sprinters, but if energy intake is
increased a portion of this increase could, and perhaps should, be protein.

4. Type of protein and timing of protein ingestion should be considered if increased muscle
mass is the goal.

5. Race day nutrition should be developed individually with the goal of avoiding gastrointestinal
distress and dehydration.

6. Creatine supplementation may enhance increases in muscle mass and strength, but sprinters
must consider the extra weight gain associated with creatine use.

In this review, we focus on the role of nutrition for increasing muscle mass and strength,
as well as the potential for nutritional choices to influence competition day performance.
Nutritional support for athletes often considered for two general situations: Training and
Competition.
 Discussion: Nutrition for sprint training focused on developing lean body mass capable
of generating the power necessary to carry the athlete as rapidly as possible. Adaptations to
training are specific to the mode, intensity, and duration of the exercise. These adaptations
stem primarily from the exercise stimulus on the muscle fibers, but may influenced by
nutritional factors. Nutrition most certainly will influence muscle hypertrophy and this aspect of
nutrition is usually the focus for sprinters. Besides specific sprint training, weight training with
the goal of developing muscle mass is the primary form of training throughout the year.
However, it is important to recognize that optimum mass may not equal maximum mass for a
sprinter. At some point, the power to- mass ratio may begin to decline with extra mass
regardless of composition. Some aspects of the nutritional influence on training adaptations
also covered in other reviews in this issue.

Conclusion: There is an urgent need to examine and study new perspectives of nutrition
for athletes.

References:

1. Abe H. (2000). Role of histamine-related compounds as intracellular proton buffering

constituents in vertebrate muscle.
2. Jefferson et al., (2000). Lucien stimulates translation initiation in skeletal muscle of post
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3. Babrajet al., (2005). Human bone collagen synthesis is a rapid, nutritionally modulated
process. Journal of Bone Mineral Research.
4. Burkeet al., (2007). Nutrition for distance events. Journal of Sports Sciences.
5. Houtkooperet al.,(2007). Nutrition for throwers, jumpers, and combined events
athletes. Journal of Sports Sciences.
6. Stellingwerffet al., (2007). Nutritional strategies to optimize training and racing in
middle distance athletes. Journal of Sports Sciences.
7. Tiptonet al., (2007). Nutrition for the sprinter. Journal of Sports Science.
8. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/nutrition
9. http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=4602

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