As an athlete, carbohydrates should form the backbone of your diet. 55-60% of what you eat in a given day should come from these fuel rich foods. Let’s look at an athlete’s best sources of carbohydrates and why they are so important.

What foods are we talking about?

All of the basics: pasta, rice, bread, cereal, oats, potatoes, granola bars, crackers, fruit, sport drinks, sport bars

And some that are less obvious: squash and other starchy veggies (corn, peas), polenta (cornmeal), beans, dairy products

Why:

Carbohydrates do more than just taste good, they are a very important and REQUIRED source of fuel for the body.

When carbohydrates are digested, they get broken down into individual glucose molecules and stored. Carbohydrates are stored as glycogen in two primary locations: muscles and liver. Muscle stores of carbohydrates fuel our bodies during intense activity. Because these energy stores are close to the working muscles, they act as a very quick fuel source. Be careful, they can be depleted, so fueling before exercise and refueling with carbohydrates after training is imperative.

The carbohydrates stored in the liver supply the blood with adequate glucose and provide the brain with its fuel. Have you ever skipped breakfast and felt that you could not concentrate during your morning classes? The brain NEEDS carbohydrates in order to function efficiently and effectively.

Tips:

• Carbohydrates should make up the bulk of your diet – throughout the day and at each meal.
• Choose whole grains, fresh fruits & vegetables to get the most nutrients.
• Be sure to have a carbohydrate rich meal 2-4 hours before practice or competition.
• Use sport drinks before, during, & after hard training sessions and meets. These are quick, easily digestible forms of carbohydrates that are helpful for athletes.
• Be sure to have a carbohydrate rich snack after training/competition to replenish lost stores. Carbohydrate stores are best replenished within 2-4 hours of exercise.

This just in from Todd Robinett (the guy next to Eric in the photo above):

On Sunday, March 9th, I arrived in Auburn around 12:30pm and met Eric for lunch, then spent the rest of the day relaxing with his friends and family. My focus was to make sure Eric ate a good meal, was relaxed and had plenty of rest. That night Eric and I sat down and talked briefly about his Pro Day and what needed to be done, such as what time to wake up, eat breakfast, warm-up, etc. As his coach and friend, I felt like I should give him a little pep talk, but then I realized there wasn’t anything I needed to say. In fact, I think the only thing I said was, “you know you’re ready,” followed by “it’s Showtime.” To be honest, the confidence I saw in Eric and his trust in the Lord actually helped me relax.

Throughout all of Eric’s training at All-Star Sports, he had a fire in his eyes of determination, toughness and confidence. He pushed everything to the limit, and he knew that he worked harder than anyone else in the country. One example of his hard work is an exercise he did called walking push-ups, which he did once a week at the end of an upper body weight lifting workout. The first day of lifting Eric could barely do 6 push-ups at each of the three stops he had to make (meaning he did a total of 18 push-ups through the whole exercise). I told Eric the record was 30 push-ups at each stop, making it a total of 90 push-ups, which is very tough to do after you’ve already done a whole upper body workout. In week six, Eric came up to me and said, “I’m breaking the record today T” (short for Todd), and proceeded to do 32 push-ups at each stop, for a total of 96 push-ups.

The morning of his Pro Day, we woke up and I think all that was said was, “it’s time,” followed by a look of confidence and excitement. Then we double-checked our bags to make sure we had everything. I can’t speak for Eric, but I know my stomach was twisted in a knot—I did my best to stay relaxed. On our way to the field we talked about everything but the Pro Day, in fact most of our conversation was about some fun times we had at All-Star Sports with some of the other athletes.

When we got to the field I started to get a little more excited for Eric because I knew he had been waiting a long time for this opportunity. It was finally time for him to show off all that hard work. He looked strong through all the events and I heard a lot of comments from people talking about his physical appearance. It was nice to know other people recognized his hard work in preparing for this day. I was very proud of Eric’s performance, and I know good things will happen for him in the future.

After everything was over I felt like a weight was lifted off me, which means Eric probably felt an even bigger weight lifted off his shoulders. Eric did all the work and had all the pressure on him, and he handled it like a professional. Like I told Eric, “I’m not sure why I’m so exhausted when you did all the work.” In fact, when we got back to his house, I fell asleep on the couch before I drove to the airport. The whole experience was a positive one and all of us at All-Star Sports look forward to watching Eric play on Sundays!

Below are Eric’s Pre-Test/Post-Test numbers:

• 10-yard dash — 1.71/1.55
• 20-yard dash — 2.82/2.69
• 40-yard dash — 4.94/4.56
• Short Shuttle — 4.19/4.04
• L – Drill — 7.00/6.73
• Vertical Jump — 34 inches/37 inches
• Broad Jump — 9’ 7”/10’ 3”
• 225# Bench — 6/15

Right now, Eric is continuing to train, because as soon as the draft is over he’ll probably have to go to some rookie mini camps with which ever team picks him up. Also, any team could ask Eric to workout for them before the draft, so he has to keep his conditioning up and be prepared for anything. Aside from individual workouts Eric may also have phone interviews with teams that are interested in signing him. The next four weeks could be very busy for Eric depending on the number of teams that are interested in drafting him.

To put it simply Eric is staying focused on training and waiting patiently for individual workouts or interviews with NFL teams before the draft.

Thanks for reading and rooting for Eric on NFL Draft day!

Brian Schaefering started his collegiate football career at Illinois, and finished up this year at NAIA powerhouse Lindenwood. With his sights set on a career in the NFL, the 6′6″ defensive tackle has been prepping for pro day at Missouri tomorrow. Working out at Acceleration, a proud member of the Athletic Republic, in Chesterfield, Missouri, Brian and his training partners have received media attention from the St Louis Post Dispatch and television coverage from KSDK.

You can watch the video of Brian running 21 mph on Athletic Repubic’s Super Treadmill here, and read the Post Dispatch story here.

Good luck to Brian and his training partners Mark Anelli and J.R. Niklos!

Athletic Republic is joining the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports to encourage students of all ages to join the National President’s Challenge—a six week physical activity program designed to get America up and moving. Athletic Republic facilities across the country will be reaching out to schools in their communities to encourage students to join the Challenge.

According to Athletic Republic CEO Charlie Graves:

Athletic Republic’s primary clientele are student athletes aged 8-18, but it is their classmates who we hope to inspire through our support of the National President’s Challenge. Our goal for the 2008 Challenge is to inspire the students in Athletic Republic’s group to log 500,000 minutes of physical activity per week throughout the National President’s Challenge. That would equal 3 million minutes, or 50,000 hours of logged activity over the six-week Challenge.

The National President’s Challenge will kick-off on March 20 and end May 15. Participants can register for the Challenge between March 1 and April 3 for free at www.presidentschallenge.org. Participants can join as an individual or create a group with friends, family, co-workers and students.

Anyone who wants to join the Athletic Republic group should enter 68944 as your group ID number, and list Athletic Republic as your group.

The short answer to the question posed above is, no, not necessarily.

Fat is an essential macronutrient (source of dietary calories and therefore energy) that has the misfortune of sharing the name of an undesirable physical characteristic. For he past several decades, researchers and scientists have thought that dietary fat was BAD and that it needed to be limited if not removed from our diets. We are finding now; however, that fat is actually good for us. It is an essential component of our diet and not something to be feared. Having said that, running out for a fast food burger and a large order of fries is not quite the type of fat I had in mind. Per gram, fat does contain more that twice the amount of calories of either carbohydrates or protein, so too much will displace the important other calories you need from carbohydrates and protein and could add undesirable weight gain, but then again, too much of any food will tip the scale. Recognizing the beneficial qualities of fat, its myriad functions, and healthy sources of fat is important, so from the point of view of an athlete and with athletic performance in mind, let’s talk about what foods provide beneficial fats and when we should eat them. Quality, quantity, and timing are always the key elements in sport nutrition.

How can fat be good for athletes?
- Fat is a source of energy during low-moderate intensity exercise (Think of going for a brisk walk or jogging around the field in a soccer match when you don’t have the ball, or going out for an easier day of cycling. Your body is using its fat, stored in muscles and other tissues to provide the energy needed for these activities).
- Fat is an essential component of our cell walls and neurons.
- Fat can help reduce inflammation
- Fat acts as a source of internal padding and protection for our vital organs

So where should we get this fat?
The type of fat that we want to have in our diets should come from whole food sources instead of processed food. Nuts, seeds, avocados, whole grains, plant oils, soy products, and lean meat all have great sources of fat that we WANT to have in our diets. Processed, manufactured foods like fast food, and packaged snack foods also contain fat, though as athletes these are foods that we like to keep to a minimum and only consume occasionally. Think of the whole package. A nut is going to provide a lot of other beneficial nutrients in addition to being a good source of fat, whereas a French fry doesn’t provide much nutritional bang for your buck!

When should we eat fat?
The sources of fat that I am advocating, whole foods, should be a part of your daily diet. Limiting fatty food directly before and after competition (focus more on lots of carbohydrates and a little protein) may help the preparation and recovery processes; however, a consistent diet rich in whole grains, vegetable oils, fruits and vegetables will provide you with the fat necessary to keep your neurons healthy, provide energy, keep your cells healthy, and calm inflammation.

Cooking Tips:
- Cook with olive oil or canola oil
- Bake with canola oil
- Sauté or roast vegetables with olive oil
- Make your own salad dressing – vinegar and/or lemon juice, & olive oil
- Make your own trail mix as a snack
- Think whole grains – lots of good vitamins/mineral and important fats
- Have a tuna fish sandwich once or twice a week
- Try canned or foil packed salmon – it is wild and a great source of healthy fats

So, who am I to tell you what you should be eating and how nutrition can play a role in improving sport performance? Here is a bit of background:

My name is Kristi Spence, and my initial interest in the relationship between nutrition and sport performance stems back to when I was in college. I ran on the cross country and track teams for Princeton University in New Jersey, and it was there that I first realized how little, if anything, I knew about how my food choices (quality, quantity, and timing) influenced my performance. It wasn’t until several years later, after I had finished competing in college and started running marathons competitively that I decided to make this field a career path. But I couldn’t give up running. My husband and I moved to Utah in 2004 because of the distance running coaching available here and the great training environment. I received my masters degree in nutrition from the University of Utah in 2007, and will be competing at the Olympic Trials in the marathon this coming April.

Nutrition scientists and exercise physiologists are constantly tweaking sport nutrition recommendations as our understanding of the field broadens, technology develops, and new study results become available. We do, however, have a good idea of what types of foods, the amounts of those types of foods, and how timing our intake of certain foods can help limit muscle damage, lessen recovery time, and improve performance. Nutrition messages in the media can be confusing and we often read articles that present contradictory points of view about certain foods or supplements. The goal of Athletic Republic’s nutrition blog is to clear up some of that confusion, to answer your specific questions, and provide a consistent nutrition message aimed at helping you reach your full athletic potential.

To get started I would like to address some common nutrition questions that tend to crop up among athletes. Please feel free to post responses, share information from personal experiences, or ask follow-up questions. We will update the topic weekly. If you have a question that you would like to be addressed in detail, email me, and we will work it into the blog.

Our first topic will address the issue of fat… Does eating fat make you fat? What can fat in the diet do for athletes?

Stay tuned.

North Dakota’s State Board of Higher Education recently approved a degree program in exercise science at Dickinson State University. The new program was described in a press release posted on DSU’s Web site:

DSU entered into an agreement with Athletic Republic in January and will provide more than 2,000 hours of applied research work. The university will conduct three studies using specialized equipment and computer software supplied by Athletic Republic. In return for this $68,000 in-kind donation, DSU will supply the student athletes and the man hours to conduct the studies. The first study involves validating Athletic Republic’s new athletic performance composite testing system in their online database, which gives individual athletes feedback on their current level of fitness. The second study compares three different modes of exercise programs to be used by student athletes to see which generates the best results. During the third study, DSU researchers will develop strength training program content and produce supporting video examples for future Athletic Republic online products. Pete Leno, assistant football coach and director of the Ben C. Frank Human Performance Center where the research is conducted, will oversee the project.

Athletic Republic President and founder, John Frappier has worked with Pete Leno for years. In fact Pete was one of the first athletes John trained–in preparation for two Canadian Football League combines. John offered these observations about this latest collaboration with Pete Leno and DSU:

We are all brought up by our parents with the intention of going to college. Higher education is viewed as a way to better our lives and become successful in whatever endeavor we choose.

With its new exercise science program, Dickinson State University has stepped forward to offer a degree with tremendous practical application. As an individual who went through the hoops of undergrad and graduate school, then stepped outside the box to form my own business, I built a company that needs trained exercise scientists with relevant college degrees. The DSU program really fills that niche.

Athletic Republic is always looking for qualified applicants, at both existing and new facilities. Career opportunities come from preparation, and DSU is offering their students the preparation they’ll need to succeed. We are proud to be a part of that. And, I’m pleased that my longstanding collaboration with Pete Leno continues.

Over the past several weeks, we’ve been fortunate to offer two different perspectives on Eric Brock’s training for Auburn University’s Pro Day: Eric’s and his trainer’s. In this post we get Todd Robinett’s point of view on just how ready Eric is:

Because of Eric’s hard work and dedication he is more than ready to perform at Auburn’s Pro Day. After spending countless hours over the last 7 weeks training, Eric has increased his strength and power, dropped his body fat % and learned all the techniques needed for the Pro Day Drills. In the Short Shuttle and L-Drill, Eric improved in his ability to get in and out of cuts with good control and power, by learning to sit through his hips and distribute his weight properly. In the 40-yard dash he spent a lot of time on his starts, but he also improved the last 20 yards by increasing his stride length and frequency so he will have a strong finish.

All of us at All-Star Sports believe in Eric and have confidence that he is ready to move on to the next level.

It’s also important for everyone to know that Eric has made an impact on a lot of people while he was with us, and has set a standard of excellence for future athletes. Many of our young athletes have seen Eric train and they all look up to him and wish him the best. Beyond his training, Eric has shown us all the type of man he is and has definitely left a positive mark on many kids here at All-Star Sports. I’m excited for Eric to have the opportunity to show off the skills that he’s been working on over the last 7 weeks.

 

Go Eric!

It’s been a while since we’ve checked in on Eric Brock. With his pro day coming up on Monday at Auburn, here’s what he’s got to say about his state of mind … and body:

I’m very excited by the opportunity given to me at my pro day. I feel like All-Star Sports has provided the resources to allow me to have a great pro day. Its almost like I am getting ready for a big game. I know what’s at stake and I’m willing to give it my all. Like I always say: when its time to train I will train, but when it’s time for results there isn’t anymore time to train–it’s showtime!

Good luck, Eric!

Play is the New York Times Sports Magazine, and it’s published three or four times per year. In the March Issue, inserted into yesterday’s Sunday NY Times, the “Master Class” column featured Chelsea Piers BlueStreak and Athletic Republic in a story titled Be Nimble, Be Quick…

The backstory is that the author, Josh Dean, is a 30-something soccer player who realizes he has lost a step on the pitch. He turns to the trainers at Chelsea Piers BlueStreak for help and discovers first-hand the genius behind Athletic Republic’s Acceleration Training protocols and equipment.

Dean trained at BlueStreak for three months,

working out alongside college athletes, out-of-shape financial types, decently fit office drones like myself and a seemingly endless stream of high scholl kids with generous parents…

I was noticing results on the soccer field. I was making better touches during my evening games, feeling a step quicker and even reaching some balls I wouldn’t have bothered to chase before starting BlueStreak.

In other words: Dean learned how performance sports training at an Athletic Republic facility works–through science-based training protocols that deliver real, measurable results. In doing so, an adult recreational athlete learned the value of a program that is typically thought of as being tailored to kids and aspiring collegiate and professional athletes.

Bottom line: Athletic Republic’s Acceleration Training programs are designed for athletes of all ages and abilities.