1 November 2013 A few well-known sports scientists have recently challenged the conventional high carb diet dogma and begun promoting instead the idea that athletes can perform better on a low carb diet. What’s the evidence and should we all be cutting out carbs? Here’s my take on the low carb vs. high carb debate….
28 May 2013 The Paleo Diet has gained an almost cult-like following since the book by Professor Loren Cordain was first published in 2002. No longer is it seen as an offshoot of ‘complementary and alternative medicine’, now many regular exercisers are jumping on the low-carb Paleo bandwagon. So, should we all be switching? First,…
17 Feb 2013 Should you eat before you exercise or is it better to work out on an empty stomach? This is the question posed by researchers in several recent studies. And the answer to this age-old quandary, it seems, depends on your workout goals. If fat loss is your main goal, exercising on an…
12 Dec 2012 In these times of austerity, not many of us have money to throw around on expensive sports supplements, so I thought I’d save you money by telling you which recovery products you should be buying. I decided to compare the nutritional content and prices of milk, flavoured milk, milk shakes and commercial…
29 May 2012 The recent sunny spell has been good news for athletes hoping for a performance boost. Exposure to UVB rays raises levels of vitamin D in the body, which can help muscles function better, say scientists. Vitamin D is well known for its role in bone health but recent research suggests it may…
What and how much you eat before training can make a big difference to your workout. Choosing the wrong foods, eating too much or too little, or eating at the wrong time can affect your performance and leave you feeling hungry, uncomfortable or unwell. Eating the right pre-exercise meal at the right time ensures that…
Every day we lose fluid by sweating, breathing and urinating. It’s the sweating that exercisers need to pay attention to because as soon as you start exercising you start to dehydrate. About 75 per cent of the energy you put into exercise is converted into heat, and is then lost. Extra heat has to be…
When it comes to muscle recovery the timing of your protein intake and the type of protein are just as important as the total amount eaten. In a recent study, a group of Canadian and Australian researchers found that four 20g doses of protein evenly spaced through the day is optimal for muscle building (1)….
It seems an unlikely performance booster but mounting research suggests beetroot could be the secret to sporting success at this year’s Olympics. Athletes who drink beetroot juice perform btter than their rivals, thanks to its high content of nitrates. Beetroot juice increases the amount of nitrate in the blood. Nitrate is then converted into nitric…
