Excerpts from Nutrition for Swimmers by Dr. Ernest Maglischo
A swimmer’s potential is established by heredity and realized through proper
training. Good nutrition is the element that can make that realization possible
or prevent it from taking place. The foods we eat supply the fuel that keeps
our body’s engine running during exercise. Like an automobile, your body
must have enough fuel to take it where it wants to go. It is not enough to
simply have a full tank of fuel, however. The fuel must contain the best
possible combination of ingredients so the engine runs as efficiently as
possible and does not break down before the trip has been completed. In
other words, athletes require enough fuel to keep their bodies functioning and
that fuel must be of a high quality so their bodies will perform well. For these
reasons, good nutrition supersedes training because it is essential for
proper training to take place.
[editorial add; source Merriam-webster.com]
su·per·sede
[soo-per-seed] –verb (used with object), -sed·ed, -sed·ing.
1. to replace in power, authority, effectiveness, acceptance,use, etc., as by another person
or thing.
2. to set aside or cause to be set aside as void, useless, orobsolete, usually in favor of
something mentioned; makeobsolete: They superseded the old statute with a new one.
3. to succeed to the position, function, office, etc., of;supplant.
[/editorial add]
Most swimmers eat diets that are characteristic of their cultures even though
their dietary requirements are usually quite different from the average person
in that culture. Unfortunately, the typical diet in most cultures has a fat
content that is too high and a carbohydrate content that is too low to meet the
energy needs of swimmers in training. Additionally, increasingly more of the
food athletes eat is being supplied by fast food chains. This is unfortunate
because the methods of preparation used by these chains cause sizable
portions of the vitamins and minerals in their foods to be lost.
...
Athletes often dismiss the importance of eating nutritious foods, thinking they
can make up for poor food choices by taking a variety of supplements. I am
always confounded by swimmers who eat donuts and coffee rather than
cereal and juice for breakfast and then “pop” high protein tablets and vitamin
pills. I’m equally astonished by the number who believe the false
advertisements for “super foods” that claim to enhance performance. Some
athletes even think they can substitute these foods for training. They soon find
they were wrong. Claims for super-foods are being made faster than they can
be investigated in today’s society and this leaves us easy prey to charlatans
who promote substances whose benefits are questionable at best.
...
Another topic of great importance concerns ideal weights for competition.
Many coaches are overly concerned about the effects of body weight on
swimming performances. Body fat and weight control are not really problems
for hard-training athletes. In fact, coaches and parents who raise these issues
may be doing their athletes a serious disservice.
[editorial comment: If you are working hard and eating right, your body is
where it should be! Obsessing over creating a calorie deficit is
detrimental to your health!]
...
The number of calories we need each day to stay alive, even if we never got
out of bed, is known as our Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). It differs from person
to person depending on their size and composition of their bodies. Large
athletes and athletes whose bodies have more muscle require a larger
number of calories for maintenance than the bodies of smaller athletes, or
those whose bodies have greater amounts of fat tissue. Average basal
metabolic values for teenage and young adult males and females are 2100
and 1800 calories per day respectively. Children actually burn more calories
than adults in a basal state but their bodies are smaller so, their BMR’s are
less. They are in the range of 1600 to 1700 calories per day with no
differences between boys and girls.
...
Daily activities such as running, walking, cycling, swim training, and even
eating require energy. Therefore, they will increase the daily Caloric
expenditure above the BMR. The amount of increase depends on the intensity
and duration of those activities. For most persons, the increased energy
requirement from normal activity is in the neighborhood of 800 to 1000
calories per day. On the other hand, the energy cost of training will be
considerably higher than this. For example, the energy required for swim
training has been calculated at between 6 and 10 calories per minute. So,
competitive swimmers can add another 300 to 500 calories per hour to this
total.
...
[Editorial summary: What this boils down to is that you are serious swimmers,
whether you know it or not. You are signed up for "OLYMPIC TRAINING". It
is not some cool naming convention to just get you out of class. The name is
indicative of the level of activity necessary to reach certain levels in sport. To
do this, you need fuel-- you need the right amount and you need the right
type. (quick anecdote about criminal trying to steal a diesel car, putting regular
gasoline in it...)
You need to start treating your body as an elite athlete-- all this training, all the
stress, all the early mornings, all the yardage, all the aches and pains can be
undone, or at the very least derailed by poor nutrition.]