Sports nutrition for youth swimmers can be consequential for athletes to enhance sports performance and maximise personal potential. However, there are a lot of questions regarding adequate nutrition.
What do athletes actually need?
How does food affect performance?
How can I use nutrition to benefit performance?
People are less aware of the overall benefits correct nutrition can have for a developing athlete. This is not just regarding sporting capacity and performance, even though they are critical factors of correct nutrition [1]. By meeting their correct dietary intake, the aims are to promote physiological adaptations, enhancing growth, recovery of muscles and overall health (including immunity) [2].
Young athletes who train regularly and compete to a high level demand a greater nutritional intake. This is to replenish and feed the working muscles, maintaining growth and development [3].
Swimmers train forty/forty-eight weeks each year including pool and dry land training, typically reaching a total of twenty hours per week. Adequate energy must be consumed to support the volume and intensity of the training sessions, as individual swim sessions can last up to three hours, with over 10,000M covered in one session [4].
Competition is both aerobic and anaerobic performance; however training is majority aerobic [5]. Dry land training involves circuits of callisthenics and swimming-specific training, body weight exercises consisting of resistance training and circuits, used to overload the muscles [6&7].
Growth and development of swimmers is a predicting variable of peak performance, affected by metabolic capacities and skill acquisition [8]. Swim coaches face challenges when creating specific training programmes as individual needs are dictated by gender, distance, and stroke, balanced with nutritional needs [9].
Adopting the correct application of nutrition significantly influences and optimises athletic performance during training and competition [10].
Macronutrient recommendations
Swimmer macronutrients are based on weight of the individual and exercise expenditure. Recommended carbohydrates levels for swimmers are 4.4g/kg body mass, corresponding to 46% of total energy intake, 42% of energy from fats and a total of 18% from protein relating to 2.1g/kg of body mass [11].
Nutrition is different for each individual, but just as essential to meet the demands of training and competition. This includes the right mixture of carbohydrates, fats and protein for optimal fuel use, increasing maximum muscle performance, strength, power and endurance to benefit performance [12&13].
During training and competition, swimmers need to ensure they develop a diet plan incorporating foods that will not decrease their performance [14]. This is to make sure athletes are able to achieve their full potential, compete to their best ability and win the race.
So, it is clear to see how sports nutrition is a critical factor for both athlete development and performance. There are a large amount of variables to consider and these at times can be very time consuming for parents, coaches and young athletes.
NUTRI-TEEN Food Powder Shakes for Swimmers?
Youth Sport Nutrition created the world’s first food powder shake tailored specifically to active youths. Not only is it a great source of protein, but each shake also contains a specific blend of fats, carbs and 16 essential micronutrients to ensure athletes get everything their body needs to perform and its best.NUTRI-TEEN Shakes are specifically designed to cater to the nutritional needs of active youths, this food powder can help fill in any dietary gaps, providing the high-quality protein that's crucial for muscle recovery and growth.
Available in several kid-approved flavours, these food powder shakes offer a quick, easy, and tasty way to boost your child's protein intake. What setsNUTRI-TEEN shakesapart is their focus on supporting youths during their vital growth and development phases, as well as facilitating recovery.
Please remember, these food powder shakes are not meant to replace a balanced diet of whole foods. Instead, they're designed to complement it, particularly when your child's dietary needs are heightened due to intense training sessions. If ensuring adequate protein through food alone is proving difficult, consider adding YSNNUTRI-TEEN shakesto your young athlete's nutritional plan for that added support.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to provide general information about nutrition for youth athletes and is not meant to replace professional dietary advice or individual nutritional counselling. Every child's nutritional needs can vary due to factors such as age, size, physical activity level, and medical conditions. We strongly recommend consulting with a registered dietitian or a healthcare provider before making changes to your child's diet, such as adding food powders. YSN and the author of this article do not take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, dietary modification, action, or application of medication which results from reading or following the information contained in this article.
References
1 Spronk, I., Heaney, S. E., Prvan, T., & O'Connor, H. T. (2015) Relationship Between General Nutrition Knowledge and Dietary Quality in Elite Athletes. International Journal Of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism, 25(3), pp.243-251.
2 Gibala, M. J., & Spriet, L. L. (2004) Nutritional strategies to influence adaptations to training. Journal Of Sports Sciences, 22(1), pp.127-141.
3 - Bryant, C., Porcari, J. and Comana, F. (2015). Exercise physiology. 1st ed: Philadelphia
4 (Stellingwerff, Maughan and Burke, 2011).
5 - Kilen, A., Larsson, T. H., Jørgensen, M., Johansen, L., Jørgensen, S., & Nordsborg, N. B. (2014) Effects of 12 Weeks High-Intensity & Reduced-Volume Training in Elite Athletes. Plos ONE, 9(4), pp.1-8
6 - Anderson, M., Hopkins, W., Roberts, A., & Pyne, D. (2008) Ability of test measures to predict competitive performance in elite swimmers. Journal Of Sports Sciences, 26(2), pp.123-130.
7 - Bertoleti Junior, E., Aidar, F. J., de Souza, R. F., de Matos, D. G., Camara, M. B., Gomes, A. B., & ... Garrido, N. D. (2016) Swimming Performance Evaluation in Athletes Submitted to Different Types of Strength Training. Journal Of Exercise Physiology Online, 19(6), pp.1-9.
8 - Lätt, E., Jürimäe, J., Mäestu, J., Purge, P., Rämson, R., Haljaste, K., & ... Jürimäe, T. (2010) Physiological, biomechanical and anthropometrical predictors of sprint swimming performance in adolescent swimmers. Journal Of Sports Science & Medicine, 9(3), pp.398-404.
9 - Pyne, D. B., & Sharp, R. L. (2014) Physical and Energy Requirements of Competitive Swimming Events. International Journal Of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism, 24(4), pp.351-359.
10 - Farajian, P., Kavouras, S. A., Yannakoulia, M., & Sidossis, L. S. (2004) Dietary Intake and Nutritional Practices of Elite Greek Aquatic Athletes. International Journal Of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism, 14(5), pp.574-585.
11 - Kabasakalis, A., Kalitsis, K., Tsalis, G., & Mougios, V. (2007) Imbalanced Nutrition of Top-Level Swimmers. International Journal Of Sports Medicine, 28(9), pp.780-786.
12 - Richmond, T., Buell, J., Pfeil, S., & Crowderd, M. W. (2015) Evidence-based recommendations for maximizing competitive swimming performance. Journal Of Swimming Research, 23 pp.1-14.
13 - Putman, C., Xu, X., Gillies, E., MacLean, I. and Bell, G. (2004) Effects of strength, endurance and combined training on myosin heavy chain content and fibre-type distribution in humans. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 92, pp.4-15.
14 - Rochester, S. (2009) Sports Dietitian Australia. [online] Available at: https://www.sportsdietitians.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Swimming.pdf [Accessed 7 Dec. 2016].
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