NUTRITION ADVICE FOR A SWIMTEAM SWIMMER

beep

This is such an awesome community, and so full of "fitness gurus", of which I am definitely NOT, I would like to ask your nutrition advice for my son. Actually I have two swimteamers, but my 13-year old son is a very motivated, going for the gold, swimmer.

He has not totally gone through puberty yet, I suspect because of the lack of body fat (0). What to feed him on swimteam days. The schedule is grueling and they are there all day. His best stroke is butterfly, and then back stroke, and he competes in the IM.

As a family, years ago when I started having these wonderful little ones, I changed our eating habits so they would be used to it; so we already eat complex carbs, no white bread (only when they can sneak it) except for the occasional hotdog and burger (I like ww buns, but they do not); plenty of fruit, fresh veges and lean meats. No casseroles. Those are our eating habits.

So, what to feed a swimmer before and during meets...... He absolutely will not eat candy or donuts during meets and frequently oversees the rest of the kids in his team to make sure they're not eating candy because of the drop off in energy..

Thanks!

beep

This is such an awesome community, and so full of "fitness gurus", of which I am definitely NOT, I would like to ask your nutrition advice for my son. Actually I have two swimteamers, but my 13-year old son is a very motivated, going for the gold, swimmer.

He has not totally gone through puberty yet, I suspect because of the lack of body fat (0). What to feed him on swimteam days. The schedule is grueling and they are there all day. His best stroke is butterfly, and then back stroke, and he competes in the IM.

As a family, years ago when I started having these wonderful little ones, I changed our eating habits so they would be used to it; so we already eat complex carbs, no white bread (only when they can sneak it) except for the occasional hotdog and burger (I like ww buns, but they do not); plenty of fruit, fresh veges and lean meats. No casseroles. Those are our eating habits.

So, what to feed a swimmer before and during meets...... He absolutely will not eat candy or donuts during meets and frequently oversees the rest of the kids in his team to make sure they're not eating candy because of the drop off in energy..

Thanks!

edyta

I'm not an expert but I've heard a dietitian advising "U can dance" dancers to eat cooked instead of raw food (ex. vegies) just before the show because they are easier to digest (so body saves some extra energy for performance) and provide energy quicker.

I'd like to hear some of our fitness experts' opinions :flowerforyou:

amandadanda

I am also a swimmer and understand the food issues facing your son. I have a huge costco bag of protein mix that I stir in with a cup of milk everyday. Not only is it extremely filling, but also has 27g of protein that help rebuild the muscles I break down after my four hour swim days (BLUCK!) I also like fruit smoothies from home with a little milk ,low sugar orange juice and frozen fruit (don't add sugar, fruit has enough naturally and although it's not as tasty for some people, adding extra is slightly taking away the true healthy smoothie). I also take 3 different vitamin suuplements omega-3(vascular health) a flinstones vitamin(for over all) and a b-12(red blood cell formation). Another additional thing that will inhance his swimming is dryland. Never replace swim hours with dryland, the he would be taking vauable time out of the pool. i run 3 times a week and weightlift every other day. I hadn't seen much improvement on my times for the past few seasons. This last short course however I added running, biking, and lifting to my pool hours. The results were amazing- 35 seconds of my 1650,17 off my 500, etc. However, he may be to young to to do seirous weight lifting so always talk to the coach.

I have heard from multiple coaches to eat a good complex meal the night before( when athletes age into their late teens and so on I know some individuals say to increase the carb intake a week before a big meet-good carbs of course). But since he is younger one night will due perfectly fine) The morning of he should have a little carbs like a slice of toast and some fruit and plenty of water. Throughout the meet fruit and veggies are excellent choices since its lighter, but mind it still has fiber which is hard on the stomach to digest so overdoing this could create chaos. I try to have some carbs of course throughout the day, but I minimize it drastically. I may eat a handful of cereal if I am really hungry and have half a sami for lunch. Dairy is not recommended on race days and neither is protein (those you need to make sure he is getting enough of during the week).

Swimming burns superamount of calories and if he is doubling practices you need to bare in mind to get his calories in.

If your other swimmer is a girl, remember that their bodies don't have the super metabolic rates that boys can enjoy. Therefore they do need a fair amount of calories, but not as many. I stayed stick thin through junior high, but slowly saw weight creeping up on me. Now I have to reverse the cycle and ajust my eating habits hard core. I suppose I should have listened to my mom when she said I couldn't eat like that forever! Oh well just another challenge to overcome right?

beep

Thank you, Amanda, that was really helpful!

yellow_pepper

I was an age group swimmer from age 9-16, and I remember those good old days when I could eat whatever I wanted! (It was after I quit that I gained 20 pounds before I graduated from high school.)

At meets, I think it's important to eat a blend of low-fiber carbohydrates, just as Amanda suggested. Food that is easy to digest: PowerBar was pretty new when I was just starting out, and always a favorite of my coaches. Same with Gatorade. Both are excellent for SERIOUS ATHLETES, especially on meet days. As for breakfasts, same as Amanda suggests: toast, or a bagel with peanut butter or light cream cheese, or oatmeal. Bananas are great, but only say one or two a day. So are cereals that have protein but NOT HIGH FIBER. On that note, keep away from dried fruit - I remember a friend of mine munching on apricots at a meet before her 500 Freestyle - she got sick just before the event, she still swam it, but she blew it and really beat herself up about it afterward.

Pasta is great the night before - but not so much that it's going to weigh him down the next day ... And protein-rich dinners are good for after practices, to repair the muscles. Try not to let your swimmers get in the habit of coming home and going through a half-gallon of ice cream or a whole box of cereal before dinner (the way I did) - that kind of behavior will make them gain weight very fast if they ever decide to switch gears to a different (less intense) activity.

Being an athlete requires you to eat a LOT of calories every day, but getting into eating contests and showing off how many desserts I could eat without gaining an ounce (the way I did) is to be avoided. My extremely athletic father encouraged this behavior in me when I was 11-14 or so, and at the time we both thought it was funny, but old habits die hard, as we all know.

beep

Thank you YP, also great advice.