5 Sports Nutrition Tips by The World’s Top Pros
Hey Angels and Alphas,
Many recreational athletes who are constantly trying to boost their fitness and performance are looking to the nutrition professionals in their sport of inspiration. Watching a professional athlete perform in competitions, reading their bios, and following them on social media goes way beyond entertainment and into gaining knowledge and following fundamental principles that help them succeed.
It can be extremely motivating for you, and provide you with vital insights into how to live, eat, sleep, and exercise so you can improve your own performance in the gym and outside of it.
Today, we’re here to explore some of those fundamental principles. Going by the following tips will help you achieve more results in less time, as well as make your journey toward weight loss, muscle gain, or sport-specific performance… much easier and more straightforward.
Let’s jump right in.
#1 KEEPING YOUR DIET AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE
The best athletes out there aren’t eating a complex diet. Their diet is fairly simple, consisting of whole foods with easy preparations. Think in terms of sweet potatoes and veggies, oatmeal and banana, roast chicken with veggies, and other simple meals. Put this into practice in your own life by adhering to a nutritious and well-designed meal plan using minimally processed ingredients.
Due to savvy product marketing, it’s very easy to assume that the best athletes are utilizing the trendiest, most pricy supplements and supermarket picks so they can have a better chance of improving their performance. But that’s far from reality. Top-level athletes usually undergo frequent drug testing and many supplements are not even tested for quality control which could result in false positives.
Professional athletes are also always on the go, and they need a diet they can rely on when traveling – meals they can prepare easily and consume anywhere. They also want consistency and sustainability, and this is often related to habitual eating: trying some new foods could even lead to gastric disturbances that could interfere with solid training so they’re usually well-thought-out.
#2 DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU
Recreational athletes will always be guilty of switching from one diet to another based on what the latest trends are or what they see their favorite professional doing.
Each and every individual responds differently to various nutrition and diets and you will ultimately need to tailor your diet to your specific needs. Professional athletes carefully implement a diet that works for their training, their metabolism, their schedule, and more. If you try to imitate anything, imitate that mindset – implement a diet that works for your body because that’s the only thing that matters.
#3 GET A ROUTINE AND STICK TO IT
Professional athletes don’t like surprises. They will always prefer to have a set routine for pretty much every aspect of their day. Leaving anything to chance could be a missed opportunity for improved performance. And this is no different when it comes to eating – most follow a pretty strict diet plan consisting of what to eat and when to eat it (so they can get the most out of their days.)
This allows the constant focus to stay on performance, eliminating the chances of stomach issues and reducing the amount of decision fatigue they need to handle. They will also want consistency in their results and that comes from habitual, routine eating. If you want to follow that principle, grab a daily planner and simply jot down your schedule, adding in meals and preferred eating times.
#4 MAKE YOUR NUTRITION A REAL PRIORITY
While an everyday athlete will be able to fit training into their busy schedule and leave nutrition to chance, professionals don’t. You will rarely catch a top performer making silly excuses that they don’t feel like eating, passed on their recovery nutrition, don’t have time to eat, or something along those lines.
They know that having properly implemented sports nutrition guidance can make or break their daily performance. You can follow suit by adopting this mindset – the mindset that healthy eating and good nutrient timing is a vital part of your performance.
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