Sports Nutrition

By Daniel Depo

The subject of sports nutrition has become unquestionably important nowadays now that the whole concept of sports has become evolved and has been receiving immense media attention. Athletes and spectators alike are now comprehending the weight of the status that professional sportsmen now carries.

This realization has pushed lots of initiatives to produce the latest and most effective in sports nutrition and training, not excluding those for extreme sports. During the old days, athletes have relied steadily on the carefree formula of fastfood fare and energy drinks.

Now that competition is growing more and more intense each day, athletes are now acquiring the expertise of sports science experts to make sure that they can maximize their physical and mental potentials to its outmost limits.

To have a better understanding of the efficacy and significance of extreme sports nutrition, one can look at the training regimen in motorcycle sports, one of the most popular extreme sports around.

A motorcycle rider takes in a lot of punishment in his body. Because of this, a rider must consider his overall physical fitness as much as his technical skills in competitions. He needs to establish hydration and stamina in his physique in order to keep up with the rigors of the motorcycle events.

It is not really easy to survive, let alone win, in a 20-30 minute contest under the most brutal of conditions such as extreme heat. It IS one of the most difficult factors that should be overcome in any kind of sport.

If one would monitor the vital signs the athletes during these contests, one could easily see that their heart-rates are performing at the most maximum level.

Sports nutrition is a major concern for motorcycling, since this sport involves competing in adverse surroundings under very extreme temperatures. Thermoregulation and hydration naturally are vital concerns.

Riders are faced with almost no time to hydrate themselves because an typical motocycle event lasts about only 20-45 minutes. It is very important then that motorcycle riders monitor their consumption of fluids closely days before the competition, paying close attention to those days when practices are held up to the qualifying rounds during the weekend before the main event.

Days before the competition itself, riders must take fluid, especially water, consistently in order to achieve and maintain a steady hydration level prior to the main event.

Aside from water, sports drinks must come in handy and must be ready in stock all thoroughout the race weekend. Sports drinks with electrolytes like sodium and with carbohydrates are particularly recommended. Carnohydrates will aid greatly in putting off the occurence of a rider's fatigue.

The amount of sodium present in the drinks is a very important element for the regimen. Sports drinks will high amounts of sodium can give back the sodium that will be lost with the rider's sweat during the competition. Also, the sodium will enhance the thirst of the body in order to make the cyclist drink more water during the course of the competition.

Motorcycle riders involved in heavy competition to strive to consume 20-40 ounces of liquid every hour during his time at the racetrack and must continue drinking about 20 ounces per hour after the track session. To effectively monitor hydration levels of a rider, he can weigh himself on the scales every morning and do so again after every session.

Two percent of the total body weight, and not more than that, should be eliminated, and it muse be replaced with 150 percent of the water reduced on that day in order to achieve maximum performance for tommorow's session.

The human body is composed of up to sixty percent with water. A slight decrease in fluids can already have an effect on an athlete's performance, specifically on the force capability of the muscles.

When the stamina and hydration levels is very well taken-care off, one can pruduce a powerful motocross champion who can manipulate and maneuver his bike at very high levels at the most stressful of situations.

So its extremely important that people, especially athletes, should not overlook the importance of drinking water and other fluids. This is very vital when it comes to competitions. It can be the factor that can make or break a rider's road to victory.