Sports Nutrition Brisbane Essentials: 4 Things Every Athlete Must Know

When it comes to sports nutrition and helping you perform at your peak, the RRP Physiotherapy team in Brisbane are your go-to health practitioners.

In this blog, we have put together a list of the 4 things we believe every Brisbane athlete must know.

We also share:

• The many ways athletes can benefit from seeing a dietitian, plus,
• The areas our dietitian focuses on – depending on your sport.

Benefits of Seeing Sports Dietitian Brisbane

Fuelling your body is an important part of working towards performing at your best on competition day.

The reality is athletes have very different nutritional needs compared to the general population because of their active lifestyle and performance goals.

So, if you’re wanting to get the most out of your body, you’ll benefit from practical nutrition advice from a sports dietitian that’s tailored to your individual needs.

RRP’s resident dietitian can help athletes with:

• Improving performance,
• Injury prevention,
• Overcoming existing health problems,
• Reaching certain fitness and/or body composition goals,
• Ensuring macro and micronutrient needs are met,
• Gastrointestinal issues (endurance athletes in particular),
• Recovery challenges,
• Hydration, and
• Supplementation (if needed).

Sports Nutrition Brisbane Essentials: 4 Things Every Athlete Must Know

Here are four nutritional areas we feel athletes should have a good understanding of:

1. The role of carbohydrate for fuelling and recovery

The primary role of carbohydrate in physical activity is to provide energy. Without an adequate amount, performance and recovery will be impaired.

The amount required will depend on the frequency, type, duration and intensity of the activity being performed.

Competitive sporting athletes will generally require more carbohydrate than the average gym user.

2. Using protein for fuelling and recovery

Adequate protein intake, not only post physical activity, but also throughout the day, is essential to promote muscle adaptation during recovery from exercise in a few different ways:

• In aiding the repair of exercise induced damage to muscle fibres,
• In promoting training induced adaptations in muscle fibres,
• In facilitating the replenishment of energy stores,

3. How fluids for fuelling and recovery

Water has numerous roles in the body and is required to maintain blood volume and regulate body temperature.

During exercise, the body cools itself by sweating, but this will ultimately result in fluid loss, which if not replaced can lead to dehydration.

Drinking fluid during exercise is necessary to replace the fluids lost through sweat. The amount required will depend on the amount lost.

4. Awareness of the appropriate integration of supplements when needed

The use of supplements and sports foods by athletes involves a balance between the potential benefits and the potential risks. My philosophy on supplements is that they are there to ‘supplement’ a healthy diet and training regime, they should add that extra few percent, if needed.

My general recommendations (which have all been extensively studied) include Creatine Monohydrate, caffeine, electrolyte supplements (if needed), protein powder (if the athlete cannot meet their requirements through food), and other supplements, if the athlete has been diagnosed as deficient (e.g. iron).

Athletes We Can Help

Here are some examples of the athletes we help on a daily basis here at RRP Physiotherapy – and common things we help them navigate.

1. Weightlifting and strength-based clients
   • Focus on fuelling throughout the day and particularly around sessions (carbohydrate and protein).
2. Endurance based athletes
   • Focus on fuelling throughout the day and particularly around/during (if more than 90 mins) sessions (carbohydrate, protein, hydration).
   • Navigating around potential gastrointestinal upset.
3. Short burst cardio athletes
   • Focus on fuelling throughout the day and particularly around training (protein, carbohydrate, hydration).
4. Weight making category sports (MMA etc)
   • Fuelling up in the lead up to and before events.
   • Water depletion techniques if needed.
5. Bodybuilders
   • Focus on nutrition leading up to and after competition.
   • Focus also placed on competition day nutrition to ensure athletes aren’t holding water etc.
6. Aesthetic based sports (gymnastics, diving etc)
   • As these athletes generally have longer training sessions, we focus on fuelling throughout the day and before, after and during sessions. We want to ensure the athletes maintain required physique while performing at their best.
7. Team based sports
   • A combination of the above.