Sports Nutrition Session 4 3 rd Nutritional Timing Window Electrolytes

Sports Nutrition Session 4 Objectives:  The students will learn the benefits and pitfalls of nutritional timing associated with athletic performance. The students will learn the definition of Electrolytes and how the consumption of electrolytes benefit athletic performance. The student will learn what nutrients are appropriate to consume during the 3rd Nutritional Timing Window to enhance athletic performance. SOLs: 11/12.1, 11/12.2, 11/12.3, 11/12.4, 11/12.5

3 rd Nutritional Window Post Exercise Nutrition Should (w/in 30min):  Restore Electrolytes and Water  Replenish Skeletal Muscle Glycogen Stores (CHO)  Rebuild/Repair Skeletal Muscle Fibers (amino acids) (IMMEDIATELY AFTER TRAINING)

What are Electrolytes?  An electrolyte is any substance that contains free ions that behaves as an electrically conductive medium (conducts electricity).  All higher forms of life cannot exist without electrolytes, and that includes humans.  Muscle tissue and Neurons are considered electric tissues of the body.

Electrolytes Electrolytes include:  Sodium (Na + ), potassium (K + ), calcium (Ca 2+ ), bicarbonate (HCO 3 -, magnesium (Mg 2+ ), chloride (C1 - ), hydrogen phosphate (HPO 4 2- ), and hydrogen carbonate (HCO 3 - ).  Electrolytes regulate our nerve and muscle function, our body's hydration, blood pH, blood pressure, the rebuilding of damaged tissue.

Muscles and Electrolytes  A muscle contraction needs calcium (Ca 2+ ), sodium (Na + ) and potassium (K + ) to be present. If levels of vital electrolytes are wrong, the muscles either become too weak, or their contractions are too severe.  Our heart, muscle and nerve cells use electrolytes to maintain voltages across their cell membranes to carry electrical impulses across themselves and to other cells.