Improving Athletic Performance

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Improving Athletic Performance

Eating much high-carbohydrate food. A controversial practice of first

starving the body of carbohydrates, and then following a

high-carbohydrate diet just before an athletic event, in an attempt to

increase performance.

Endurance athletes, e.g. marathon runners, rely on their stores of

glycogen as a source of energy during competition. Carbohydrate

loading is a legal method of boosting the amount of glycogen in the

body prior to a competition.

Six days prior to a competition the process begins.

For the first three days the athlete consumes minimal carbohydrate and

exercises so as to deplete the body’s glycogen stores. In the last

three days the athlete consumes primarily carbohydrate and reduces the

training load.

At the end of day three the body will think that there is a problem

with its glycogen stores and that it should store more glycogen than

normal. In the last three days, when the athlete consumes

carbohydrate, the body will replenish the glycogen stores and

hopefully top them up with a little bit extra.

The recommended amount of carbohydrate is between 6-10g of

carbohydrate per kg of body mass. Technically by following these

guidelines body mass will increase because of the high sugar content

of the food which will also be being consumed.

Carbohydrate does not help the muscles to work harder or faster, it

only helps the muscles to work for longer and the process of

carbohydrate loading is therefore only beneficial for an endurance

athlete who is following the carbohydrate loading process.

Some potential side effects are:

* Muscle stiffness

...

... middle of paper ...

...hin red blood cells that makes them more

efficient at unloading oxygen to the tissues.

5. An increase in the number of mitochondria and oxidative enzymes

Problems at working at high altitudes include the lack of oxygen.

Until you have fully adapted, it will reduce your ability to work

hard.

Moving from low altitude to high altitude and the low concentration of

oxygen in a person’s blood immediately stimulates breathing depth and

rate to increase up to 65%. If they remain at high altitude for

several days their ventilation rate may increase up to 500%.

References

Websites

http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/carbload.htm

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861686370/blood_doping.html

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/hp/creatine.html

Texts

Jones M, Jones G, Human Biology for A2 (2005)

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