We live in an age of specialization and sports nutrition science is no exception. 

When we saw PT Usha , Ussain Bolt or any Olympics athlete performing, we are in awe for their strength and achievements. We also know that sticking to the basics rooted in sports and nutrition has helped these athletes keep up the energy for the rigorous trainings they go through everyday.

Let’s do quick time travel back to 1980s when the field of sports nutrition really started to emerge! The 70s and 80s were the years when scientist and researchers started to see real benefits of sports nutrition on performance. They discovered that endurance athletes benefited from consuming more carbs and strength trainings to have more protein intake. As this field evolved, they discovered that optimal nutrition is required in Pre-workouts/trainings, during workout and Post workout session. 

Let us understand the overall role of each macronutrient. Each macronutrient (protein, carbohydrates and fats) has specific role. However, for athletes, the ratio in which you consume these will vary depending on the person as well as type of exercise. For that, you need to sit with the nutritionist from our Healthier team to guide you for your situation.

The carbohydrates provide fuel in form of glucose which is stored in liver and muscles as glycogen. For short workout, these glycogen stores are enough. 

The protein helps in muscle growth, improve recovery, increase strength and muscle performance. 

The fats help during longer exercises. Though fat is not helpful when it is consumed immediately before a workout as fat takes time to burn into energy. Though incorporating little fat across time helps in athletic performance.

When you see what you or most of us eat and observe what the macronutrients do, you will feel we eat enough of carbohydrates and have fat stores in our body. What we need is additional protein which can help develop muscles and keep them. Supplements are useful in sports nutrition as they address a focused need, enhance performance, improve strength, reduce fatigue, and increase lean body mass. 

Most of us see big boxes of protein with words like Whey and hulk like image on it are clueless which one is best fit for you? 
Learn what is needed for your body and your goal from our team and that decision becomes easy.
Regular people like us who go to gym to build strength to athletes (doing endurance/non endurance events or doing strength training) all will have different needs for protein.

Look for composition which is kept close to nature and not fortified with synthetic ingredients. Whey in protein helps in muscle recovery. It gets absorbed within an hour and is needed post workout. 
The protein has many amino acids, like the branch chain amino acids(BCAAs)- leucine, isoleucine and valine. This helps decrease muscle damage and increase muscle protein synthesis. Glutamine helps recovery of muscles, guts and immunity. A prebiotic environment creation (from fructo-oligosacharides) is necessary when taking protein so we do not feel bloated. Casein helps in longer recovery and giving a feeling of satiety. 

Fuelling your body with the right nutrients prior to exercise will give you the energy and strength you need to perform better. 40 to 50 minutes prior your workout and 20 minutes after, have a protein smoothie made of recommended protein powder, banana and berries. 

Most of us are like bag of cotton and sticks. Let me explain more.
Let us look at one kilogram of cotton and one kilogram of iron brick. 
Which one looks bulkier? 
When you put a brick on top of both, which one will collapse.
 

Now visualise yourself made of cotton(fat) and sticks(poor bone density as we grow older each day working in an A/C environment). More weight we put on, our bones hurt/get fractured, knee pain starts, heels pain, back pains as we don’t have strong structure to support us. 
 

Now imagine our body has structure like that of iron brick(muscles), we will be able to move around without pain, bones will not break. They will get additional support of muscles. We will not face all the pains and ache we face today. 
 

So contact us and have a goal to burn fat and develop muscles. Our weight could be same, but we will be healthier!!