Nutritional Guidelines for Athletic Performance

"Preface The idea and origination of this project came during a phone conversation with Dr. Ira Wolinsky, who read a previous book chapter that I had authored. After a couple more conversations and email exchanges, the idea for this book developed. The concept of the "Training Table" became the primary interest and direction of this book for various reasons. This practice known as the training table, which is defined as a "table" where athletes in a training program eat planned meals to help in their conditioning/training, leads ultimately to improved adaptation and enhanced performance. Even though many factors contribute to athletic performance, the role of proper nutrition cannot be emphasized enough. The importance of proper daily nutrition has several implications on overall health and proper homeostatic functioning of the body, but that can be said for any person, whether sedentary or an elite-level athlete. We do know that, when an individual goes from a sedentary to an active lifestyle, their daily nutrient needs change. If we extrapolate that to an elite athlete who is training a minimum of 15-20 hours per week, but in some cases as many as 40-60 hours per week, these nutrient requirements grow in proportion to this level of activity. Knowing this, it is vital for athletes, and for the individuals who train these athletes, to know the proper nutritional requirements that would be appropriate for their individual sport, body size, gender, goals, etc. This book addresses these needs for athletes on a comprehensive basis, from a training table perspective, and provides practical recommendations along the way to include the most signifi cant parts of a training table"--Provided by publisher.