Nutrition Tips and Guidelines

From the USA Swimming Web Site

Something every swimmer should know before learning about good nutrition is this:  Food does NOT make you swim fast. That’s right. Food does not make you swim fast. What DOES make you swim fast? Training. Training makes you swim fast. Better yet, QUALITY training makes you swim fast. And part of quality training is good nutrition!

Believe it or not, you don’t get fast during practice. Practice is where you might see your times improving, but your adaptation to training (i.e. getting faster) actually occurs while your body is at rest. Workout is the stimulus that causes this to happen.

Workouts are hard. Yes they are. They’re supposed to be. They’re designed to tell the body, “This is hard work for me…you better do something to enable me to do it again later.” And the body actually responds by becoming more efficient – aerobically and anaerobically. During its time off, the body WILL adapt. But only if you give it the proper fuels.

Learning about good nutrition can be simple. Conduct your “Nutrition Course” over the season with eight easy-to-read (and learn) educational and practical tips.

Additional Nutritional Articles

• Examples of Good Swimmer Meals - What foods are the best when you are on the road.
• How can young athletes increase or improve their performance? - Article about supplements and do they help young athletes.