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MAXIMAL: A Training Program for Student-Athletes |
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As former NFL football player, I understand the importance of delivering a maximum performance every game. As a Certified Personal Trainer, I also understand that it takes time and commitment to excellence to do this. My personally designed athletic training programs have helped coaches safely train their athletes for success and create a team of MAXIMAL performers. Being a MAXIMAL athlete involves proper nutrition, physical training and recovery. MAXIMAL athletes perform at their full potential, both physically and mentally, every time. and create their own luck by working hard and eating right. |
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Nutrition : The First Step To Becoming a MAXIMAL Athlete |
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Why Fruits and Vegetables? What does "plenty" mean? More than most Americans consume. If you don't count potatoes - which should be considered a starch rather than a vegetable - the average American gets a total of just three servings of fruits and vegetables a day. The latest dietary guidelines call for five to thirteen servings of fruits and vegetables a day, depending on one's caloric intake. For a person who needs 2,000 calories a day to maintain weight and health, this translates into nine servings, or 4½ cups per day. Over the past 30 years or so, researchers have developed a solid base of science to back up what generations of mothers preached (but didn't always practice themselves). Early on, fruits and vegetables were acclaimed as cancer-fighting foods. In fact, the ubiquitous 5-A-Day message (now quietly changing to Eat 5 to 9 A Day) seen in produce aisles, magazine ads, and schools is supported in part by the National Cancer Institute. The latest research, though, suggests that the biggest payoff from eating fruits and vegetables is for the heart. Vegetables Be sure to scrub vegetables before cooking them. It's best to steam or microwave vegetables, or eat them raw. Occasional stir-frying is OK. Boiling vegetables is also acceptable, but some of the vitamins and minerals will be lost to the cooking water.
Fruits
Why Water?
Some helpful hints for meeting fluid needs:
Water - It's a miracle First, by not drinking enough water, you can actually cause your body to retain fluid. Four or five cups of coffee in the morning, a glass of wine at lunch, another cup of coffee or a soft drink in the afternoon, a cocktail before dinner and a couple of cups of coffee after dinner isn't what I'm talking about. People who drink like this say they are always thirsty. Their body is being deprived of the water needed to keep itself healthy and it reacts by retaining almost every drop of the tiny bit it is allowed by your stopping at the water cooler once or twice each day. The body often gets puffy and swollen as a result. The extra weight you think of as fat may not be fat at all. Wine, gin, coffee, tea, fruit juices, and soft drinks are all fluids, but they don't have the same chemical properties as ordinary water. Alcohol and soda pop contains too much sugar, so to a lesser extent do fruit juices. The caffeine in coffee and tea is bad for your heart and blood pressure. Even diet soda contains sodium which contributes to water retention. Cut down on coffee, drink sugarless drinks if you like them, but most importantly, drink 10-12 eight ounce glasses of water daily. Restricting your water can promote fat deposits. Your body uses water as the major component of blood to transport nutrients and wastes. A lack of water in the system can cause fats and other toxins, that are normally disposed of, to remain in your body - including that dimpled fat commonly referred to as cellulite. Your kidneys have a difficult time processing contaminated water so your liver has to detoxify it. This means your liver can't do its main task, which is to process your blood and help break down fat. Thus, as you store water, the fat you eat can be stored in fat cells instead of being broken down in the liver. You become bloated, waterlogged, and obese. Dieters and non-dieters alike must establish a "fluid balance" where water going into the body approximately equals the amount being excreted. When you reach this balance point, you will see what an incredible difference water can make in your weight control program. Pounds and inches begin to disappear. Trying to solve the problem of fluid retention by drinking less water only aggravates matters, because it (retention) occurs even when you drink no water. If you don't drink more water after salty food, your body pulls water from your intestines and bowel to dilute the extra sodium. If you drink more water, you force stored water out of your body through the kidneys. What about diuretics? Diuretics force stored water out of your body. The problem is that your body perceives this as a lack of necessary water and stores whatever is available. So unless you are drinking enough water, diuretics won't usually solve the problem of retention. Diuretics can also cause constipation by draining water from the colon in order to distribute it around your body, because not enough water is available. Thus, without enough water in the colon, your stools can become dry and hard.
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Copyright 2007. Jerry Dorsey. All rights reserved worldwide.
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