Involving protein in your swimming training

Protein is a tool that all athletes use when training and preparing for competition and throughout their regime on a daily basis. Its regenerating values and muscle building abilities make it ideal for your body during its stressful training period and your hardest workout times.

The need to refuel your body and reset the muscle building process is essential as your training doesn’t slow down and neither should your protein intake and the feeding of your muscles.

So what then does this feeding and training regime look like for a specific sport and how does it affect your body?

This week we’ll discuss the ways that a swimmer would aim to introduce protein into their diet and how their intake will affect their training efforts. We’ll also look at how best to maintain the required protein levels in the specified sport and training of swimming in competition and also as a lifestyle choice. Swimmers on average train for around four hours a day as the requirement for them to hold a larger than normal cardiovascular base is essential for the time it comes for competition.

Olympic hero Michael Phelps for example trains for six hours a day and for six days a week without fail. This staggering amount of physical training time only means that your diet process should be very high on your list also.

Firstly recovery is an essential thing for swimmers to be on top of as many train each day and for long hours as to stay on top of their endurance levels. Taking in a sufficient amount of protein to is essential to avoid lengthier recovery times, muscle weakness and soreness. If you do not address this protein intake whilst training you can become very prone to these conditions worsening and you could potentially even contract sports anemia which results from a low iron store and leaves you exhausted.

Whey protein is an excellent choice for swimmers as the research done on resistance training like swimming has shown that it is an excellent choice for sports such as swimming. The quick release of protein and the supporting amino acids help the muscles to quickly and effectively start the rebuilding process after your hard training sessions throughout the day.

Alongside the need for the quick acting whey protein to act after training sessions it is also key to keep up the amount of times your body is taking in good quality proteins. With the amount of time some trainers take in within swimming training it is key for the intake to be a fast one and less time consuming. Items such as protein bars and cookies can help towards the need for a quick fix of protein as you go on your busy day with training and work or learning. They fit around your schedule and don’t take any time off your already packed day of progressing yourself and your competition training.

With the need for carbs and body fat to be low within swimming it is maybe a good idea to steer clear of all in one proteins as the carbohydrates you do not use will be stored and may not do anything for your muscle structure for swimming in the long run. Try to aim for good high quality whey protein with a high amino acid intake also to keep your body on a state of constant repair during your long and hard training regime.

So with the long hours and the extreme conditions your body will find itself in it is vital for you to focus on getting the best possible repair process up and running with your dietary needs. Think quality proteins at an increased interval through the day. Smaller portions with high protein amounts will aid your recovery and if you add a high amino acid complex into that you’ll give your body the best chance to repair those tired and sore muscles, ready for your next swim session.

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