Nutrition and High Intensity Training

I work with many clients who state weight loss is not their goal and in fact they are trying their best to maintain their weight. Many of these individuals engage in high-intensity training as their choice for exercise. This type of training, also known as HIT, places incredible demands on the muscles and it is a great way to stay in shape – a shape other than round.

I like to do high-intensity training because I find it quite challenging and it actually feels good – after my heart rate reaches a level where I am no longer hallucinating! All kidding aside, a good nutrition plan is an essential component to productive training. I try to concentrate on five key areas:

1.         Stay hydrated. Begin drinking fluids as soon as you wake up each day, and continue throughout your day. Your muscles are 75 percent water so be sure to keep a refillable water bottle with you all day long. This will serve as a good reminder to drink. Avoid energy drinks if possible. These contain high-levels of caffeine and can interfere with rest and put a stress on the heart while exercising.

2.         Build the diet with carbohydrate-rich foods. During high-intensity training your body burns fuel from glycogen. Glycogen is added to the muscle, and maintained, through regular consumption of carbohydrate-rich foods. Think of carbohydrates as the gasoline for your working muscles. Some good examples include whole wheat breads, rice, cereal, pasta and fruits.

3.         Be smart with nutrition recovery. After strenuous exercise, you need to replenish your muscles with fuel. Try to have a carbohydrate-rich meal or snack after activity. Including some protein at this time can also help with muscle repair. Meat sandwiches, fruit smoothies, or low fat chocolate milk are good ideas for recovery snacks. Do not go overboard though – the calories still count.

4.         Limit the junk food. Think of your body like a finely tuned automobile. Give the car the wrong type of fuel and performance suffers. Fried foods and chips are just a few examples of foods to limit – and also examples of foods that can SLOW you down. Rule of thumb: If it would make a terrible drink flavor, like ranch, sour cream and onion, or bacon and cheddar – then it is probably not a good snack.

5.         Eat regularly and plan ahead. Heavy training burns many calories so it may be necessary to keep your gym bag packed with portable snacks like trail mix, peanuts, or granola bars to keep your energy levels up.

Keep the phone handy too. You may want to call mom after your first HIT session.

- Jon Vredenburg, MBA, RD, CSSD, LD/N