Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Carbohydrates

You know that feeling you get after your first conditioning workout? The feeling of wooziness in your stomach, the tiredness of your soul, the pain in your muscles and most humbling, the sad fact that you have to do it all again tomorrow? I am feeling it all but its great to be back in the swing of things. Something interesting you find as you develop as a discus thrower is that getting in shape gets easier as you mature. Although I took the last month off I still feel as though I still have a solid foundation to start upon. The month off gave my muscles the time they needed to heal after 10 hard months of training. The next step is for me to change my diet slowly. Because I have been off, the combination of junk food and sweet drinks has become a vacation of sorts for me but it is time to get back to work. I now need to include more complex carbohydrates in my diet, some examples are listed below:
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These complex carbohydrates will be very important in giving me enough energy to get through my conditioning phase. The reason why I singled out complex carbohydrates is because of their ability to give your body a steady boost of energy instead of simple carbohydrates which are notorious for releasing too much energy too soon just to result in a crash. Some examples of these are listed below:
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Although simple carbohydrates are good if you need a quick boost right before a workout, you should not consume a lot of it hours before a workout and expect to feel energetic. This is why complex carbohydrates are wonderful, they are slowly released and your blood sugar is not dramatically peaking and consequently crashing. Therefore from now onwards I say no to a diet that consists of mainly simple carbohydrates. I am sure my body will thank me tomorrow.
Here is a Great addition by Matt Marcoccia:
"nice post on the carbs but not many people know about the difference simple and complex carbs and how each works for you. But what some people know even less about is how much simple carbs can play a role in giving a person great gains. If your not aware but after work out the body is low on insulin and needs this to rebuild as fast as it can. But after working out the body is almost depleted of all forms of sugar this is where simple sugars come into play. After a workout eating 3 dozen jelly beans or gummy bears gives the body the sugar it need to rebuild faster. It also allows athlete to fill their craving for sweets but not in large amounts of course. I hope this help you out in your training." Thanks Matt.
Leave me a comment and let me know what you think! or email me at 0a4w@virginia.edu

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