1. Swimming Nutrition & Performance Talk
Presented by Personal Trainer, Chris Rowley

2. What is Sports Nutrition all about?
Erm…Which one
will make me swim faster??

3. Getting the balance right
Positive Performance
X Negative Performance

4. What is Swimming?
Whole body sport that involves all the large muscle groups
A sport that uses all three energy systems during both a race and training
A sport that uses all three muscle fibres during both a race and training
A sport where training is normally hours in length and sessions cover distances in their thousands.
It is overall a muscular endurance sport!

5. So why is nutrition different for swimmers than it is for the general person??

6. Your child is Unique and Special person
Your child is Unique and Special person! They are high performance Athletes! They bodies are highly tuned like sports cars. For a sports car to work efficiently they need the right types of fuels, just like our bodies.

7. Fuels For success

8. 20% Training + 80% Nutrition = Peak Performance

9. What fuels do swimmers need?
Carbohydrate (FAST & SLOW) – TO GO!
- Swimming Fuel (stored in muscles and liver)
Fast Carbohydrates – Super Quick energy but likely to crash.
Slow Carbohydrates – Slower released energy but lasts a long time without a crash.
Protein – TO GROW!
- building blocks (growth & repair of body tissues)
Fat – TO WORK!
- Brain and muscles work (cellular function)

10. How much do we need?
60% as:
50% Slow Carbs
10% Fast Carbs

11. Energy – the petrol to our system
To be able to swim fast, swimmers need lots and lots of energy. Energy come from the food we eat. Calories (Kcals) are the bodies currency to work. Carbohydrates, Protein and Fats are all made of Calories.
A 2 hour EASY swimming session burns off around 1,428 calories!
A Basic guideline to the energy your children needs to stay fuelled up for swimming is:
(Their Body Weight x 25 kcals) x 2 = Energy Requirement per day. I would suggest for younger squad x 1.5.

12. Example: Chris Rowley – I weigh 85kg
(my body weight of 85kg x 25 kcals = 2,125) x 2 = 4,250 Kcals per day.
That's 4,250 kcal just to maintain my weight at 85kg.
National government average:
2500kcal per day – Adult Male
2000kcal per day – Adult Female
These are only guidelines and can vary due to the squad your child is in and the amount of training they do.

13. 6:3:1 Diet – Broken Down
Following the 6:3:1 Swimmers Diet for me that’s 4,250 kcals broken down into:
Carbohydrates (60%) – 2550 Kcals
Protein (30%) – 1,275 Kcals
Fats (10%) – 425 Kcals

14. Now what’s that in amount of food?
Carbohydrate has the value of 4 Kcals per gram in the body – so I will need 2550 Kcals divide by 4 = gs
Protein has the value of 4 Kcals per gram – 1,275 Kcals divided by 4 = 318.5gs
Fats have the highest value in the body at 9 kcals per gram – I will need 425 Kcals divided by 9 = 47.2gs

15. Where would you get these foods from?
Carbohydrates - FAST (best used before and after a race or training, or in the morning): Fruits, sugar, chocolate, jams, sweets i.e. Jelly babies, sports drinks, Carbohydrates – SLOW (used all day as main energy source): Oats, Weetabix, muesli, brown rice, noodles, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pasta, wholemeal bread, pear, milk, apple, high fibre cereals

16. Protein (should be included in every meal and particularly after training): Chicken, red meats like beef, steaks, eggs, fish, nuts, Fats (good fats): Olive oils, nuts, seeds, avocados, vegetables, oily fish like sardines or salmon.

17. Timings of Meals
Everything we do in swimming is based around time and so should your meal plans.
Aim to eat little and often. Around 4-6 Small meals is better than 3 Big meals

18. Pre-training/Event Feeding
Why is it so important?
Helps to top up the bodies energy stores both in the liver and muscles
Helps to maintain blood sugar levels (glucose)
Blood sugar is the only energy for the brain.
The brain controls everything!!
This is the most important meal of the day!
(Chris’s top tip – always eat a larger meal 2-4 hour s before a training session and then eat a quick snack with the simple carbs 45 to 30 minutes before. At morning training I know its hard but try to encourage your child to eat a piece of toast with jam on it or a pop tart. Anything to fuel that engine!)

19. Appropriate Pre-training/ Events Foods
Breakfast Pre-training Snacks
Cereals – oats, Weatabix, porridges Fruit
Toast with scrambled eggs Jam sandwich
Yoghurts popcorn
Fruit jelly sweets– not too many
Fruit juices Nutritgrain or fruesli bars
Milkshakes
Pre-training meal (2-4 hours before)
Pasta with chicken & low fat sauce
Jacket potato with tuna or baked beans
Sandwiches
Rice with a meat
Cereals & toast

20. During Training – GET IT RIGHT!!
Fluids - Water
Contained within all cells in the body
Vital for all cellular function
Transport system
- makes up 50% - 60% of blood
- takes oxygen and energy to muscles
- takes waste away from the body
Cooling system
Stops you from getting too hot

21. Dehydration
2% Body weight lost through sweat – impaired performance by 15 %
5% Body weight lost through sweat – heat exhaustion
10% Body weight lost through sweat – circulation collapses and heat stroke
Scientist have found that athlete including swimmers in training sweat an average of
1 – 1.5 litres of water per hour.
In a two hour training session that is almost 3 litres of water.
1 litre of weighs 1kg
So for me who weighs 85kg. in a 2 hour if I didn't drink anything, I would lose 3kg through sweat. That is around 3.5% of my body weight lost and I'm more than half way to heat exhaustion.
IF THEY ARE THIRSTY THEY ARE ALREADY DEHYRDATED!
If you swam 20 x 50m and on a good day you can normally manage to hold 30 seconds each 50m. If you 2% dehydrated you will like struggle to make 34.5 as you have already drop performance by 15%!

22. Appropriate fluids to drink
Before Training (Getting Ready)
Aim to drink about 500mls of water in the 2 hours leading up to a training session. This will allow for adequate hydration.
During training (Little and often)
Water
Cordial and water mix
Fruit juice and water mix
(Chris’s top tips – if you are going to drink sports drinks drink them 40 minutes into the session so that the second half is just as good as the first)
Post-training/event (replace the fluids lost)
All of the above
Sports drink – PowerAde, Luczocade etc.
Milk or Protein shake

23. Post-training/event feeding
Why is it so important?
Optimises adaptations from training
Second most important meal of the day.
Protein
Prevents muscles damage
Start to rebuild the muscles
Carbohydrates
Restores muscles energy stores – optimal training capacity
Both
Enhanced recovery
Enhanced immunity
Improved body composition

24. Appropriate Recovery Foods
Feeding 1. The golden 30minutes immediately after event (poolside)
Milkshake
Protein shake
Yogurt drinks
Sandwich/wraps with lean meat, egg or fish
(Chris top tip – any type of fruit or juice that has vitamin c in will help get rid of things called free radicals in the body and help you recover faster)
Feeding – 2 hours after event
Lean beef, rice and sauce
Fish, potatoes and vegetables
Sandwiches
Baked potatoes, salad, and cottage cheese
Chicken, pasta and sauce

25. Everyday Kit Bag Carbs Dried Fruit Jaffa Cakes WATER! Bag of Nuts
Malt Loaf
Pop Tarts
Go Ahead Bars
Rice Krispie Squares
Nutritgrain Bars
Fruit
Suitable Kit Bag Drinks
WATER!
Lucozade Sports
Boot’s Isotonic
Gatorade
PowerAde
High 5
Maxim
Tesco/Asda Sport

26. Supplements – if you can’t get it anywhere else
Supplements are a great nutrition tool that’s help athletes get all the fuel and energy you need to training and race at their best.
Best Recovery Drink –
Optimum Nutrition – Recovery 2:1:1
High Quality Multi-vitamin: Centrum - one a day
Extra Calories
Maximuscle – Progain

27. RACE DAY – OPEN MEET RULES
Performance at a open meet start 5 day earlier in your diet.
5 Days before competition you should increase you Slow Carbohydrates . Simply have a little bit more pasta, rice etc in each meal.
The day of the meet switch pasta for Salads ,Wraps and Nuts with proteins.
This is when you also need you FAST Carbohydrates – before and after races.

28. Example Open Meet Diet
6am – Wake Up 6.15am – Breakfast – Beans on toast & Fruit Juice OR Porridge with some fruit 6.30am – Travel to Pool – Nutritgrain Bar, Some Nuts, sipping water 7.30am – Stretching/Get ready for Warm Up 8.00am – Warm –Up – Water or Powerade/Lucozade (little amount) 8.30am – After warm up – more fluids and a Snack – couple of Jaffa cakes/ Nutritgrain bar 8.50am – Handful of Jelly Babies/Sip some Energy drink or water 9.00am – RACE ONE– 200m Free 9.05am – Swim Down – Small Chicken Wrap/Snack/Nuts/ Recovery drink 9.30am – After swim – bigger meal – Big salad with chicken or tuna/small amount of Slow Carbohydrates – Small bowl of brown rice am - Handful of Jelly Babies/Sip some Energy drink or water 11.20am – RACE TWO – 50m Breast stroke 11.22am - Swim Down – Small Chicken Wrap/Snack/Nuts/ Recovery drink 12.30pm – END OF SESSION - Big salad with chicken or tuna/small amount of Slow Carbohydrates – Small bowl of brown rice.

29. Tips for success Be organised!!
Ensure to top up carbohydrate stores every 2 -3 hours
Aim to get 5-7 small meals throughout the day. Little and Often!
Portion sizes should be a palm hand size. Each meal should contain a palm of Carbs, palm of protein.
Eat at least 5 different types of fruit and vegetables a day. If not use supplements.
Do not go for long periods of time without eating
Aim to eat SLOW Carbs throughout the day and FAST Carbs around training times (before and after)
Never swim on an empty stomach
Golden Half hour after training. EAT EAT EAT!
Be flexible. Change your eating habits to fit the duration and intensity of the training session.
Drinks plenty of water to prevent dehydration occurring.
Always have Carbohydrates/food in their kit bag.

30. Thank you for listening to my presentation. Are there any questions