Improved Diet, Improved Performance

Why is diet so important?

Traceurs and freerunners make efforts through training, conditioning, and practice to improve performance. A critical link in this process is proper nutrition.

Improper nutrition can not only hinder performance, but is a detriment to overall physical health. The macronutrients (water, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) can all have major implications if low or deficient.

Parkour raises numerous energy issues, such as body weight maintenance, proper nutrition before and after training.

So how do we need to eat for parkour?. Lets take a look at what parkour is on a physiological level.

Parkour is characterized by high-intensity anaerobic activity interspersed with sub-maximal aerobic work. Traceurs need to rapidly generate muscular force in a quick series of movements.

Aerobic endurance is required to assist with recovery between bursts of high-intensity activity and to support performance through several different movements.
 

In parkour the traceur must move his body as fast and as explosively as possible during play, carrying unnecessary weight is costly energy expenditure so staying lean is important.

Another problem with traceurs is that they tend too over train and under eat, leaving them listless, tired, sleep deprived and increasingly prone too injury. With this in mind the traceur will get the most out of each training session if they are adequately fueled and hydrated.

Starting With The Basics
Dr John Berardi outlines 7 simple habits for anyone to adhere to for a good diet.

I love these guide lines and they’ve served my athletes and myself well.

The Macronutrients
Making up the largest portion these in the right ratio are key to nutritional success

Protein
Most foods contain at least some protein. Good sources of protein include nuts and seeds, pulses, lean beef, chicken/turkey, oily fish, free-range eggs and some dairy products (milk, cheese and yogurt).
You need 1.4-2.0g per kg of Bodyweight daily to help build muscle!

Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates and creatine-phosphate (CP) are the main fuel source used by the body's cells to replenish adenosine triphosphate (ATP) stores during moderate to intense activities. Good sources of carbs are oats/cereals/grains, potatoes/yams, fresh vegetables and fruit.

Fats
Fats are a more abundant source of energy, requiring more oxygen to use up, certain dietary fats are needed for normal organ function, essential fatty padding, nervous system function and other essential uses, thus called essential fatty acids.

These come from fish oil capsules, oily fish such as mackerel, sardines, kippers etc also from nuts and some dairy produce.

The focus of the overall eating plan should be nutritious carbohydrate-rich foods such as brown pasta, brown rice, whole grain bread, fruit, and flavoured dairy products which will provide the muscles with their training fuel.

Moderate amounts of low-fat protein sources such as lean meat, lean poultry, fish, eggs and vegetarian sources should be added to these foods to balance the meal, as well as additional fruit and vegetables to provide vitamin and minerals.

THE SAMPLE DAY
This is an example day’s worth of food for an entire day, we are looking at multiple smaller meals during the course of a day.

Those who eat with their family in the evening, meal number five sits in there quite well for this purpose.

Remember this is just an example and not set in stone, some days you might be busy and have to give up one or two meals, that’s life.

A Sample Day
MEAL 1 7:00am	Bowl of cereal (eg muesli or oats) with low fat milk. Protein shake {3 scoops (30-45grams)of protein powder, 1 banana, low fat milk, blended} If you can't afford protein powder. Scrambled eggs with turkey sausages
MEAL 2 10:30am	Protein shake {3 scoops (30-45grams) of protein powder, 1 banana, low fat milk, blended} / Sandwich consisting for turkey/chicken and fresh salad
MEAL 3 1:00pm	Serve of solid protein, eg beef or chicken or fish, with vegetables or rice, piece of fruit, eg apple or orange, Large sandwich with the previous included
MEAL 4 4:00pm	Post work out on training day Protein shake {3 scoops (30-45grams) of protein powder, 1 banana, low fat milk, blended}
MEAL 5 6:00pm	Serve of solid protein, eg beef or chicken or fish, with vegetables or brown rice, fruit salad
MEAL 6 9:00pm	Protein shake {3 scoops (30-45grams) of protein powder, 1 banana, low fat milk, blended} / Cottage Cheese or selection of low fat cheese
MEAL 7	Optional Before Bed Protein shake {3 scoops (30-45grams) of protein powder, low fat milk, blended}
DRINK AT LEAST 2 LITRES OF WATER THROUGHOUT THE DAY

Eating On The Move, A Practitioners Downfall During those day long session we risk compromising our hard work with poor nutritional habits, small light mainly carb based meals are the order of the day especially if time is short. During a thread where Brad asked for advice on a day long gymnastics event. The advice here is useful for those who cant take an hour or two off to eat a proper meal. Getting in some form of fat and protein during a day long training session would be better than just consuming carbs all day (note that the gymnasts didn’t have that luxury). The other issue is that no one wants to carry around backpacks with food because this can be cumbersome. So sandwich shops and the like are a boon to the traceur on the go. Picking complex carbs is important because eating a lot of high sugar foods will lead to insulin spikes and drops (that sluggish feeling you get after eating too much of mums roast). Ergogenics/Supplements For those of you that have the money and the rest of your diet sorted supplements are useful for getting that last 5% performance improvement. After you have got your nutrition and workout in order, only then is it time to consider supplementation. For example, taking a fat loss supplement won't help you lose fat if you are consuming more calories than you are using in a day. Similarly, if you don't consume enough food, supplements designed to aid muscle growth will have very little effect. Supplements cannot do the work for you. They are not a replacement for discipline and desire. They are something you use in addition to your other strategies in order to speed your progress. Without going into too much detail here are the best two supplements, there are others but I could write a separate article on that alone. The main players: Creatine Creatine supplementation improves repetitive, short-term performance. Contrary to nonsense I hear its not a steroid or a drug. Research has indicated that creatine supplementation may produce a slight muscle-building effect, or - more specifically - an expansion in the size of type II ('fast twitch') muscle fibres. But it wont make you huge aside from gaining a little water weight. Sticking to monohydrate is the best bet, because serum’s and the like degrade quickly in their containers. Fish oils Possibly the most important supplement you could ever take. Improve Your Diet, Improve Your Performance This guide is in no way exhaustive, there is a vast array of information out there on these subjects, what I have given you is a guide. Hopefully setting you up for good diet practice in the beginning.

13 Reasons To Take Fish Oil 1 Cell membrane health: EPA and DHA insure that cell membranes remain healthy. This means that the membranes are flexible and contain larger numbers of insulin receptors that are more receptive and responsive to circulating insulin. This results in decreased fat storage in the adipocytes (fat cells) 2 Fish oils turn on the lipolytic genes (fat burning genes) 3 Fish oils turn off the lipogenic genes (fat storage genes) 4 Fish oils diminish C-reactive proteins, a newly identified risk factor associated with various inflammatory diseases, including atherosclerosis, angina, coronary heart disease, heart attack, stroke, congestive heart failure, and diabetes. The DHA fraction of the fish oil seems to be one most responsible for that protective effect. DHA also has the best ability to reduce blood pressure 5 Increase utilization of fat stores from the adipocytes 6 Preferential utilization for energy production once stored in the adipocytes 7 Reduced inflammation from physical training 8 Pain management from the reduced inflammation 9 EPA regulates blood supply to the brain which is essential in maintaining focus in weight training sessions. DHA is important in brain membranes, memory, and cognitive function 10 Fish oils increase serotonin levels (the happy neurotransmitter). Therefore, fish oils will decrease incidence of depression, anxiety, panic attack, and reduce carbohydrate cravings 11 Fish oils will improve your cardiovascular risk profile by lowering VLDL, triglycerides, homocysteine, fibrinogen, and increasing HDL levels. Combining fish oils with plant sterols will improve lipid levels even more than either alone 12 Fish oils can also decrease blood pressure by several mechanisms. These include increases in the vasodilatory compound, nitric oxide, reducing vascular inflammation, blocking the constrictive elements in the vascular wall such as the calcium channels reducing blood viscosity, and inhibiting a blood vessel constrictor (thromboxane). Lipoprotein (a) is another CVD predictor that can be lowered by fish oils (a 19% reduction was seen with natural, stable fish oils and just 4% with a highly purified fish oil) 13 Fish oils are a great stress fighter. Supplementation with n-3 fatty acids inhibits the adrenal activation of steroids, aldosterone, epinephrine, and norepinephrine (catecholamines) elicited by a mental stress, apparently through effects exerted at the level of the central nervous system. Therefore, for the same amount of stress, one will produce fewer stress hormones if consuming fish oils on a regular basis. Disclaimer All of the information contained within these articles on the Urbanfreeflow.com website are provided for informational and educational purposes. This includes any videos, fitness programs, fitness workouts and general articles. In no event shall Urban Freeflow or any individual or company involved with the development of these articles be liable for special, indirect, incidental or consequential damages of any nature, including but not limited to personal injury, loss of anticipated profits or claims from third parties. If you are unsure about your fitness levels, please consult with a doctor before you carry out any exercises demonstrated here.

Copyright © the Urban Freeflow Network. All rights reserved.
'Urban Freeflow' and the 'Glyph' logo are registered trademarks of Urban Free Flow Ltd