In our constant pursuit of knowledge about food, we have here drawn inspiration from former elite swimmer and owner of Watery.dk, Daniel Johannesen – who became famous for his impressive appearance in DR’s TV program: “Løvernes Hule”.
Swimmers train a lot. If you swim at a high level, you can quickly reach several training sessions daily throughout the year – even during vacations. This demands a lot from the body in terms of recovery, fluid intake, and especially nutrition. Most might think that a person who trains at least 14 hours a week can eat whatever he or she likes.
But that’s not quite the case. If you want to get the most out of your training and continuously improve your results, you need to be quite mindful of what you consume. Here are recommendations on what you should pay a little extra attention to.
Why Nutrition is Important
It quickly becomes incredibly tough to swim every single day if you don’t properly refuel your body between training sessions. If you lack the right nutrition, you’ll run out of energy while in the water, and your muscles will slowly start to diminish. That’s not particularly good when you’re trying to build them up. Therefore, you simply have to have your nutrition in order, so it’s very sensible to embrace some of the most essential nutrition advice for swimmers.
This doesn’t mean you can’t eat candy and chocolate or drink a soda now and then. You just need to remember to also have carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. You get these through a wide range of foods like pasta, potatoes, different kinds of meat, dairy products, nuts, and avocados. Of course, you also need many of the vitamins found in vegetables, so you definitely shouldn’t forget them.
If you start feeling constantly tired and exhausted over a longer period, it’s most likely because you’re not meeting your nutritional needs. So it requires you to pay extra attention to what your body is asking for.
Make Sure to Get Plenty of…
… Everything, actually! It’s one of the very best nutrition tips for swimmers. When you train a lot, you shouldn’t be afraid that your speedo will suddenly start feeling too tight, because your body truly needs all the good food it can possibly contain. For some, it can be difficult to consume everything that’s needed, and supplements can be useful to add.
Supplements are available in many different varieties, and you should, of course, only take those that are relevant to you. They can, however, ensure that your physique develops as it should, and that you swim faster in the long term when you’re in the water.
It’s important to note, though, that supplements should not replace regular food. It is the absolute foundation, and supplements can then be used to complement. Generally, it can be said that they should make up the last 10 percent of the diet, but no more than that. This way, you achieve the greatest effect, and you won’t be malnourished, which is, of course, very important – whether you’re a competitive swimmer or not.