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Diet has a huge impact on our performance while working out. Even small nutritional mistakes can set us back big time. Therefore, if you train hard and your performance appears to fall short on more than one occasion, the culprit might be what you are (or are not) eating. Here are four of the most common dietary mistakes and how to avoid them.
1. Not Drinking Enough Water
Dehydration can cause many performance-related issues, such as premature fatigue and
muscle cramps to poor focus and impaired strength and speed. Did you know that water has a
direct impact on the aging process? Dehydration, combined with inactivity and stress from daily
living, causes the connective tissues around our muscles and joints to become stiff and brittle
over time. Drinking sufficient water will improve our muscle tissue and flexibility. Just make sure
to drink throughout the day and NOT just during your workouts. As long as the urine has that
clear-pale lemonade color, you’re in good shape (no pun intended).
2. Not Taking in Enough Sodium
We’re told that sodium is potentially bad because it can cause high blood pressure. However,
unless you are sedentary or have high blood pressure issues it should not be a concern. Truth
be told, salt is actually the ally in the fight for proper hydration. Our bodies need sodium to
produce consistent muscle contractions, maintain blood volume and improve recovery. If you
have frequent cramping, your sweat tastes like salt or notice your workout clothes ringed in
white powder, it’s a sign you may need to up the sodium intake.
3. “Fueling” With Energy Drinks
You may be revved up for your workout after ingesting an energy drink. Don’t be fooled by this
feeling though. These drinks stimulate you because of the caffeine but won’t provide usable
energy in the form of calories to your working muscles. After about 30 minutes the caffeine
boost will begin to wear off and you may feel worse than when you started. Although some
energy drinks contain calories in the form of sugar, those calories might not be usable because
large quantities of sugar densely packed into small amounts of fluid can be very hard for the
stomach to digest. What happens then? Those calories sit in your stomach waiting to be stored
as fat instead of working for you.
4. Not Eating Before Exercise
You don’t want to be too full going into a workout or race. No one likes a feeling of food or drink
sloshing around in the stomach while exercising. However, not eating anything at all might be
worse. Working out on an empty stomach will not provide you the fuel to perform at your very
best. Even worse, it may cause your body to break down lean body mass as a source of
energy, defeating the reason to work out in the first place. Eat a small serving of food, such as
a bowl of cereal with a banana or half a bagel w/ peanut butter, one hour before activity.