Is your athlete’s battery correctly charged for good efficiency?

Much like their beloved smartphone or pill, your athlete has an inside battery—a storage system of vitality that is shortly launched into their muscle mass to assist them dash, bounce, elevate, and push exhausting in a race or competitors. But like a smartphone’s battery, that storage system can solely work for therefore lengthy earlier than needing to be recharged.

Here, TrueSport Expert Stephanie Miezin, MS, RD, CSSD, the Director of Nutrition for the NWSL staff, KC Current, is explaining how your athlete makes use of their vitality shops, and the way they will optimize their consumption to gas peak efficiency.

What is glycogen?
“There is this invisible battery in the muscles, and if your athlete gets to a certain depletion point, they’ll start to fade,” says Miezin. That invisible battery is their glycogen retailer—gas saved of their muscle mass that is metered out throughout exercise. The extra intense the exercise, the quicker the glycogen is depleted. The longer the period, the extra it depletes. But how can your athlete stop this from taking place? It begins with growing an understanding of how glycogen works.

“For the vast majority of athletes, glycogen is relevant and important. It’s one of the most influential factors in performance,” says Miezin. “This invisible, highly influential thing is behind the scenes for all types of athletes, from endurance to high intensity to team sport athletes. Maximizing glycogen stores could make the difference between winning a game and losing in the final minutes of play.”

“Glycogen is long branch chains of glucose molecules and it’s how we store carbohydrates in the body,” explains Miezin. “We store it primarily in muscles, and lesser amounts are stored in the liver.” The small quantity of glycogen within the liver is primarily used to replenish blood glucose. Once your blood glucose—blood sugar—begins to get low, your liver will begin to output some glucose from that saved glycogen. The liver breaks the glycogen down to be able to create glucose molecules in order that the physique can keep a tightly-regulated blood glucose focus that is vital for mind operate, well being, and total vitality. The glycogen that is saved in your muscle mass is used in another way: It’s a neighborhood, instant supply of vitality on your working muscle mass throughout train.

Why does glycogen matter?
“The higher intensity the exercise or the longer the duration, the more the body is using that stored glycogen for energy,” she explains. “If you’re sprinting or doing a long run, you’re using glycogen, but at different rates. For high intensity exercise, it’s depleted faster but for a shorter time. For low intensity exercise, it depletes slower, but if you’re training for a longer duration, those glycogen stores can still get low.”

This is the place the battery analogy is available in: Ideally, when your athlete begins an exercise, they’re beginning at a 100% cost. “You charge your phone at night so it’s ready for the next day,” says Miezin. “That’s what happens when you have meals rich in carbohydrates leading up to activity: Your glycogen stores are topped off so that your battery is full when you start your activity.”

If their battery is not absolutely charged when the athlete begins an exercise, they will be restricted. “An athlete with a battery that isn’t charged is going to have to stop sooner than someone else who has a fully charged battery,” Miezin says. “When an athlete is in low battery mode, that is once they’re in hassle. They’ll begin to considerably decelerate, or enter what endurance athletes call ‘the bonk.‘”

There is a backup generator, after all. Athletes do not simply cease mid-race and go to sleep as a result of their glycogen will get too low. “The body is incredible, and we have these different engines and different types of fuel that feed each engine to create power,” Miezin says. “But carbohydrates in the form of glycogen are the most powerful and the fastest burning. If we run out of that, or if our depletion gets to a certain level, then we have to start switching over to the other fuel source and engine, and that’s where fuel from fats comes in. Those are important, but they just burn slower and lower. And so an athlete is going to feel that in their performance.”

If an athlete’s glycogen shops are dropping, they’re going to begin to really feel their psychological and/or bodily vitality beginning to fade. If their battery is refilled correctly—with appropriate carbohydrates before, during, and after exercise—they’re going to have extra regular vitality, and certain will not be as sore or drained post-exercise. And a completely charged session tends to result in one other absolutely charged session: It’s simpler to recuperate from one exercise to the subsequent when fueling appropriately. (Think of it as charging a cellphone battery that is at 50 % versus one which’s at 5 %. The 50 % drained battery takes much less time to recharge.)

How to recharge the battery
“There’s not an easy, straightforward answer about the best way to recharge depleted glycogen stores after exercise,” says Miezin. “It depends on how much the athlete depleted their battery. For example, researchers found that in certain soccer situations, post-game it can take two to three days of adequate carbohydrate eating throughout the day to replenish what players lost in glycogen in that one soccer game. It’s not just one big meal after the game that recharges the athlete. Players need to replenish and refuel for multiple days. By comparison, a sprinter who is doing high intensity but much shorter durations won’t have depleted their glycogen to the same extent as the soccer player, and won’t necessarily need the same amount of carbohydrates to fully replenish that battery. Regardless of the sport, it’s always a good idea to focus on higher carb meals and snacks in the 24 hours after training or competition to refuel and recharge as much as possible.”

For caregivers, the very best strategy is to make sure that lively younger athletes are utilizing the Athlete Plate model at most meals, prioritizing greater carbohydrate meals and meals in and round train, and by no means limiting carbohydrates at any meal as a result of carbohydrates are the one approach to refill glycogen shops.

Everyone’s battery is totally different
“It is so complicated, and we’re still learning more about glycogen and how exactly it works,” says Miezin. “We know glycogen stores and the utilization are affected by the individual, type of activity, duration, and many other factors. There’s a lot we still have to learn. So, it’s less about understanding exactly how drained your athlete’s battery is and more about making sure they have the tools that they need to recharge on and off the field.”

Finally, it is essential to keep in mind that athletes’ batteries drain at totally different charges—your athlete could also be consuming the very same snacks and meals as their teammate however struggling whereas their teammate feels absolutely recharged. Miezin recommends serving to your athlete preserve a journal of meals/snacks earlier than, throughout, and after train to allow them to monitor that towards vitality patterns. Do sure snacks or meals assist your athlete really feel extra energized throughout train? Becoming conscious of how gas and hydration impression feeling and efficiency generally is a highly effective motivator to enhance fueling habits.

Takeaway
Glycogen shops are the athlete’s battery. Glycogen feeds the muscle mass which might be getting used throughout train, and it drains primarily based on depth and period of train. Because glycogen is the physique’s saved type of carbohydrates, it is essential that athletes refill these shops by prioritizing carbohydrates at meals earlier than and after train, and by utilizing carbohydrates as gas throughout train as wanted.

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