swimming nutrition

The secret to success is nutrition.  This is both with your sport and with building your body the way you want it to grow.  What is crazy to me is that I think everyone knows this secret, but have a really hard time actually buying into what needs to be done with it.  Big time athletes always say the time that they really figured it out is when they figured out what was best for their bodies in relation to what they were eating.  I'ts hard to eat right, it's a little more expensive, and it takes planning.  What you put into your body is what you will get out of your body.  The three main macro-nutrients that give your body energy are:

Protein - good for building muscles
Carbohydrates - good for long energy and when you have big workouts
Fat - very fast energy, but the calories build up.  It is needed, make sure to eat the right kinds (oils, nuts, etc.)

Swimming is a sport that burns a lot of calories and nutrition is very important.  This is the case before workouts, after workouts, AND during workouts.  I'm going to try and keep this short and hit on a couple of important parts.  There are many more facts out there, but I think these are really important.

If you are doing a morning workout you need to eat something before you swim.  You burn most of your calories and food that you had in your body during sleep, so you want your body to run on something during your workout.  This something can be different for each person, a piece of fruit, a half a bagel, or a full breakfast depends on what you're body tells you it wants before you swim.  Your body will burn those calories as you're swimming and will use that as fuel.

The part that everyone seems to miss out on is what to eat and drink during their workout.  The fluids are the most important part, as you should be drinking throughout your swim workout.  Take sips between sets, during rest times for long intervals, and when the coach is talking.  You should be drinking mainly water, but if you are in a high intense workout and feel like you need it, a Gatorade will help also.  Gatorade is something that is high in sugar though, so you need to be careful when drinking it, and only drink it during or after workouts (you should never drink it just hanging out or sitting on your couch at home).  Gatorade is specially designed to replace electrolytes after you lose them and has a very good formula.  So that means don't mix it with water, keep it the way it is.  I like it if you have a lot of water in addition to a little bit of Gatorade and switch off during workout.  A small snack is important during workout also, meaning some sort of bar.  This should be something like a granola bar or cliff bar.  A snack is only really needed for workouts that burn a lot of energy and workouts over 1 hour and 30 minutes in length (eat the snack the same as you would drink your drinks, during breaks).

Finally what you eat after a workout is paramount in the timing and amount.  You need to have something within 30 minutes of working out that is helping feed your body.  Studies show that the best thing post-workout is chocolate milk.  This replenishes what you lost and has a great ratio of protein and fat to help your muscles.  This should help you get through those 30 minutes of changing, shower, driving home, and eating food.  Once it's time to eat your meal remember that you want a balance in everything.  You need to have at least 5 natural colors on your plate, which should come from fruits and vegetables.  Protein is also a key element, which is great when you get it from fish or chicken.  Some sort of carbohydrates are important as well (no white bread or starches, they do nothing for you).

These are all my suggestions and little things that I have learned over the years.  Treat your body right and be consistent with good food choices.  But remember, you have to have a little fun every once in a while too, so I'm not saying cut out everything all the time.  The key to being healthy is being happy about it, so cheating every once in a while is probably important too.  Once it's time for a big meet, have your body prepared, and know what it needs.

Blair