The Recreational Athlete an Introduction

What to consider

The term recreational athlete covers a broad spectrum in terms of definition and inclusion. For this reason the use of recreational athlete in these blogs is used to include any individual exercising more than twice a week whether for enjoyment or competitively. No matter where you are on the recreational athlete scale nutrition is key!

In order to think about the role of nutrition we need to consider the form of exercise or sport we are taking part in. This will allow us to tailor our needs accordingly. For example, an individual who runs 3 times a week will have different nutritional needs to an individual who plays football; training twice a week and playing a match at the weekend.

The next step is to think about what we want to get from our choice of exercise/sport. Is our main aim to improve performance? Maybe we just enjoy this form of exercise? Or maybe we are trying to improve our health? This information is important so that we can use nutrition and get our desired outcome. Then we need to consider our current exercise levels. A misconception of when many individuals first start exercising is that we suddenly need to increase our calorie intake. The focus of increased calories seems to be in the form of protein.

However, we need to make sure that any increase or changes to our food intake is appropriate. It takes time to build up fitness levels and condition our bodies to our choice of exercise. The same applies to nutrition in that any changes should be gradual. In addition, we need to think about our timing of pre and post exercise food intake. Although this applies more to individuals aiming to increase performance; it should be considered by all.

This first blog for sports nutrition is to get us to start thinking about what we want to achieve and what role nutrition could play. In the coming weeks we’ll look into importance, specific nutrients, timing of nutrition, hydration and more.

If there are any specific areas you would like to see covered just let us know. We are contactable @nutritionandcake or nutritionandcake@gmail.com.