Nutrition and Supplementation for Endurance Athletes Seminar

On Saturday, January 26th I had a seminar for Endurance Athletes.  There were over 35 Life Time Fitness/St. Louis Park members who attended.  The topics included macro nutrients (Protein, Fat and Carbs), different nutrition plans for athletes, and supplements for endurance athletes.

If you were unable to attend, here are some of the takeaways from the seminar:

1. Animal protein sources get a bad rap.  However there is a big difference between Grass Fed or Cage Free versus hormone injected animals from feedlots.
2. In most cases there are three types of nutrition plans that endurance athletes should follow.  They are High Carb/Low Fat, Iso-Caloric (33% of calories come from protein, fat and carbs) and High Fat/Low Carb.
3. The High Carb/Low Fat nutrition plans followed by most endurance athletes is a "Dying Breed of Nutrition Plans."  This is because more and more people are becoming insulin resistant.
4. A very lean endurance athlete will have around 1,600 calories from stored carbohydrate that they can use.  This energy would be used up within hours of higher intensity heart rate training.  However, the same athlete has over 80,000 calories of stored fat for usage.  Wouldn't it make more sense to try to tap into the fat storage for energy?
5. An important point regarding body fat most people forget is when people gain more  body fat they produce more bad estrogen (Estrone).  Increased Estrone can raise the chances of getting gender specific cancer (Prostate in men and Breast in women).
6.  In addition to increased cancer, increased body fat results in more mechanical drag (Slows the athlete down) as well as greater impact on the joints resulting in more wear and tear causing increased injury potential over time.  This is why I am a stickler for getting people lean.
7. If athletes get good at the basics of supplements and take a good Multi-Vitamin, Omega-3, Vitamin D and Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) they will have a stronger immune system resulting in less lost training time from illness.
8. Lowering carb intake and increasing fat intake is a great way to increase the Aerobic Base resulting in faster run, bike or swim times as well as teaching your body how to rely more on using stored body fat for energy.
9. By following #8 I personally raised my Aerobic Base 78 beats with minimal aerobic training.
10. The Generation UCAN product may change the rules of sports nutrition.  This is a carbohydrate that doesn't cause an insulin response.  This results in fat being burned at all times compared to most carb drinks that turn fat burning off and sugar burning on.  The results from athletes who have tried it have been excellent.  Reports include increased energy during workouts/less hunger after workouts.  In addition Lance Leo is finding he and athletes he has tested stay in an optimal fat burning state during many different workout durations.