TOP TEN SUPER FOODS FOR ENDURANCE ATHLETES
By Alana Brager • For Active.com
It’s no mystery that the night before a big marathon, triathlon, race or long morning run, consists of heading to your local Italian restaurant and loading up on bread and pasta.
From crazy fad diets to carbo-loading, it’s easy to see why there are many misconceptions about the best fuel for your body before a day of incredible exertion. There are certain foods that should be on your weekly grocery list, as well as fueling foods for your body on a daily basis.
The long grueling workouts that many endurance athletes partake in, can take a toll on your body and mind, but being aware of which foods to consume in order to help your body recover faster, is crucial. Vegetables and fruits that are rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants are what we all expect athletes to consume. However, lean proteins, healthy fats and carbohydrates provide your body with fuel.
Here are the top 10 super foods for endurance athletes that should be staples in your diet.
Oatmeal
Oatmeal has a high soluble fiber content, is high in complex carbohydrates, is a good source of protein and has a low glycemic index, which provides a sustained release of energy into the bloodstream—imperative for runners. Oatmeal offers your body a regular dose of Vitamin B and is rich in minerals and antioxidants. It’s credited for maintaining the good level of cholesterol in the body and is known as one of the most nourishing foods for the body, especially for athletes.
Cherries
Cherries are one of the most antioxidant-rich fruit and provide a wide range of health benefits, as well as performance and recovery benefits for athletes. Research has shown that runners who consumed tart cherry juice, twice a day for seven days a week, had strikingly less muscle pain following a long distance run. The post-exercise benefits are astonishing because of the fruit’s natural anti-inflammatory components. A recent study from the University of Michigan revealed that a cherry enriched diet lowered total weight, body fat and inflammation, all associated with heart disease.
Kale
Kale is a member of the cabbage family and contains high levels of vitamins: A, K, B6, calcium and iron. It’s an antioxidant-rich vegetable that helps regulate the body’s inflammatory process. Kale also contains carotenoids and flavonoids, two powerful antioxidants that protect cells from free radicals that cause oxidative stress, as well as a high fiber content that helps lower cholesterol.
Milk
With all the different types of milk out there today, soy, almond, rice and even hemp, it seems that good old fashioned milk is still number one when it comes to athletes. Milk is loaded with carbohydrates and protein, which makes it an ideal post exercise muscle recovery beverage for endurance athletes. When carbohydrates and proteins are consumed together, muscle tissues are repaired at a faster rate than if consumed separately.
Bananas
Bananas are one of the best pre- and post- workout snacks. It’s no surprise that they seem to be included in every post-race goodie bag. Loaded with potassium and vitamin B6, bananas help maintain low blood sugar, regulate digestion and re-stock your body with lost electrolytes after any sort of physical exertion. Vitamin B6 in bananas acts as an anti-inflammatory agent that helps ward of cardiovascular disease.
Chia Seeds
Chia seeds are a nutrient dense super food that contains a high amount of fiber, three times the amount of antioxidants than blueberries, and are loaded with calcium, iron and protein. They also contain a high amount of omega-3 fatty acids and hydrophilic properties, which means that the seeds have the ability to absorb more than twelve times their weight in water, thus allowing prolonged hydration. The seeds help in retaining moisture and regulate the body’s absorption of nutrients.
Walnuts
Walnuts are a plant-based protein, rich in fiber, B-vitamins and antioxidants, such as vitamin E. They contain the most Omega-3 fatty acids than any other nut and the anti-inflammatory nutrients are great for bone health. Walnuts have also been shown to lower LDL cholesterol, are beneficial for a healthy heart and make a great healthy and energizing snack on-the-go.
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are a starchy vegetable, rich in vitamins A and C, which are both powerful antioxidants that work in removing free radicals from your body. They help lower blood pressure and are a powerful food for athletes because of its high vitamin and mineral content. The potassium, iron, manganese and copper are all minerals that many athletes lack; manganese and copper being crucial in healthy muscle function.
Wild Salmon
Salmon is one of the most nutrient dense proteins, full of essential Omega-3 fatty acids, as well as vitamins B12 and B6. Salmon can help reduce inflammation in our bodies through it’s high content of Omega-3′s, which is valuable for athletes. Salmon is known to be the king of fish because of it’s high quality protein. A weekly consumption of this power food has been shown to decrease the risk of numerous cardiovascular problems, such as heart attack, stroke and high blood pressure. The antioxidant in salmon, selenium, has been shown to be beneficial in cardiovascular protection.
Whey
Whey protein isolate is the purest form of whey protein and is a complete protein that contains all of the essential amino acids. It’s absorbed quickly and efficiently into the body, making it an athletes dream. It doesn’t contain any fat or cholesterol. The protein and array of amino acids are essential in muscle re-building, especially after a strenuous workout or race. For athletes, it’s a great fast recovery method because it helps prevent muscle breakdown and is the fastest digesting protein.
FASTBALL FACT AND FICTION
Every pitcher wants to throw harder. Professional scouts and/or college recruiters will tell you that 90mph is a magical number when they’re looking for fastball talent.
Here at the National Pitching Association we performed a scientific study to better understand what contributes to the velocity of a fastball. These findings may just challenge the way you think of fastball velocity, and help young hurlers master their fastball potential.
What is Velocity?
There are three ways to look at the velocity of a pitch.
- Real velocity or the actual MPH read on a radar gun.
- Perceived velocity or the way a pitched baseball is read by a hitter because of real velocity and deception.
- Effective velocity or how a previous pitchs speed and location affects a hitter’s read on the next pitchs speed and location.
Obviously, since we wanted to determine what generates velocity in a delivery, we had to come up with valid and defendable testing protocols. We chose to isolate and measure the contribution of hip/shoulder rotation to real velocity by quantifying pitch speed from our NPA two-knee drill position, which has the pitcher down on both knees facing the target at approximately a 45-degree angle. Putting a pitcher on two knees allows us to:
- Minimize and/or eliminate any directional weight shift.
- Isolate and measure the impact of hip/shoulder separation and rotation for correlation with maximum ball velocity on each throw.
Where Pitchers Get Their Momentum
Once we quantified a pitcher’s maximum velocity on his knees we moved him to a mound. Pitchers move farther and faster directionally, when they stride down a hill. By charting his maximum velocity pitching on the mound and comparing the maximum velocities generated in each test we could calculate the percentage that rotation and the percentage that direction contributed to his maximum real velocity.
Our biggest surprise came with the revelation that the larger percentage of total velocity comes from a pitcher’s rotational momentum (hips and shoulders) and not his directional momentum (legs)!
Lets take a look at how the different body parts work in the pitching delivery and what the study showed about their contribution to the velocity of the ball.
Importance of Legs
Legs are the foundation through which kinetic energy is initiated–the mechanism by which the total body mass is delivered down the mound. This is achieved through what we call weight transfer. This weight transfer turns potential energy into kinetic energy and helps determine the efficiency of both the timing and force thus affecting the amount of energy getting through the body to the baseball. Proper weight transfer sets up the efficient interaction and timing of rotational and directional momentum.
Ball velocity is optimized when:
- Posture is maintained.
- The back leg stabilizes while the back knee flexes, firms up and loads (isometrically) during front leg lift.
- There is an aggressive first forward movement with butt and center of gravity leading head/spine into front foot contact.
- During this one second of weight transfer, a pitchers lift leg should stay off the ground as long as possible to create a longer stride.
- Head/spine stay on a natural line into a natural landing (foot strike) position.
- Landing leg stabilizes, landing knee flexes, firms up and loads (isometrically) to translate kinetic energy up through body and out onto baseball at release point.
The Role of the Hips and Shoulders
Our research has indicated 80 percent of ball velocity is generated by rotational momentum when:
- Hips and shoulders separate between 40- 60-degrees around an upright spine.
- Hips and shoulders maintain their angle of separation as long as strength and flexibility will allow while total body tracks forward into landing foot.
- Throwing shoulder/glove shoulder delay rotation until hips have slowed/stopped their rotation.
- Scapular loading is allowed to be an unconscious accommodation that helps the throwing shoulder to stabilize and compensate for the weight of the throwing arm/ baseball as they change direction and snap from external rotation into release point.
What the Spine/Torso Do
Our research has indicated 20 percent of ball velocity is generated by directional momentum when:
- Total body tracks head and spine on line in the exact direction created by shifting weight from posting foot to landing foot.
- Low back/spine hyperextend to keep torso upright and stacked as shoulders square up and track into a flexed and firm front leg.
- Glove swivels and stabilizes over front foot as throwing arm lays back in external rotation.
- Low back/spine goes into flexion just before throwing forearm snaps straight into release point.
Again, the spine/torso (squat thrusts) of a golfer swinging a club does the same thing as the spine/torso (stack and track) of a pitcher throwing a baseball.
With the availability of the velocity study data comes the obvious question: Can we become more mechanically efficient so we can make the most of our genetic potential to throw the ball faster? The answer is, clearly, yes!
WHY HOCKEY PLAYERS SUFFER GROIN INJURIES
Hockey players using Pilates to fight injury
From Hockey players using Pilates to fight injury at CBC sports.
Cassie Campbell gets Stephanie Davis’ thoughts on the benefit Pilates for Hockey Players. Stephanie Davis has worked with Calgary-based hockey players such Martin Gelinas, Rhett Warrener, Braydon Coburn, Devan Dubnyk and Jason LaBarbera. Most recently she helped Theoren Fleury attempt his comeback to the NHL.
Here are some of Davis’ theories on why hockey players suffer groin injuries:
We have weak feet:
Due to the stiff hockey skates we wear, there is no need for our feet to be strong. However, without strong feet we do not have a proper balance point. This in turn makes everything unbalanced from the bottom up. I found this evident when I first tried speed skates. With no support I really felt that I was going to break my ankles! I did one loop and that was that!
We have a weaker lower core:
We have weak stabilizing muscles near the pelvis area. This is almost like comparing our body to a car that has a loose wheel. If one wheel is loose then the others can’t do their job. If the core is not doing its job, other parts will over work, like our hip flexors, or groin.
We lack flexibility:
The reason why more players have started taking up Pilates and yoga is because they realize the need to have more balance when it comes to overall strength and flexibility. Stretching the myofascial (which is painful to me) is like giving the joints WD40 so they are free to move. One side might not have the same range as the other, but balancing this out is the key. When the leg goes out in a hockey stride, it might not move as freely as it should or it will with strain due to lack of flexibility. Over time, this general hockey movement becomes strenuous because the leg doesn’t come back to the centre of the body. This causes an imbalance just from skating and adds more load to different areas, like the groin. In order to optimize power, an athlete not only needs to build strength by lifting weights, but they need to have a better balance between strength and flexibility
Our quads are too strong:
Every motion we do is based on quad strength. However, there needs to be a balance. All the anterior leg muscles (i.e. quad, hip flexors) tend to be stronger then the posterior muscles (hamstring, glutes) causing a very big imbalance.
More at: Hockey players using Pilates to fight injury at CBC sports.
HOW TO THROW A FOUR SEAM FASTBALL
Provided by Dan Keller Lifeletics • For Active.com
At the Lifeletics Summer Academies, most of my coaching time is spent in throwing or pitching stations. I’ve found that a surprising amount of young players do not understand how to properly grip the baseball.
Which Grip Do You Use?
There are two basic baseball grips, the 4-seam grip and the 2-seam grip. While pitchers use both of these grips for their fastballs, position players most commonly use the four-seam grip.
Normally, the four-seam grip moves less than the two-seam, and therefore has slightly more velocity. It is the easiest grip for an athlete to control, with the best chance for consistent accuracy.
Following is a full description of the proper four-seam grip to teach young baseball players.
Understanding the Four-Seam Grip
The four-seam fastball grip is formed using the index and middle fingers, the thumb and the inside of the bent ring finger. Gripped across two of the wide seams (“the horseshoe” or “the smile”), the pads of the index and middle finger rest on top of the stitches, approximately a half-inch apart.
Placement of the Thumb
The thumb is tucked below the ball, resting on or near a bottom seam, and the ring finger and pinkie are curled on the side of the ball.
As the size of a pitcher’s hand increases, there should be enough space between the palm and the baseball to move a finger in and out of the space (between the thumb and the index finger).
Four-seam rotation should have all four seams rotating directly away from the target (backspin).
Keeping the Thumb Off the Side
The proper four-seam grip has the thumb directly below the baseball, forming a triangle between the two fingers above the ball. This allows the ball to evenly roll off of the index and middle fingers upon release. Young athletes tend to leave their thumbs up on the side of the baseball, closer to their index finger.
Typically, this is a habit learned when their hands were not big enough to comfortably keep the thumb underneath. Encourage athletes to keep the thumb underneath the baseball so that the hand and arm rotate correctly.
Making Accurate Throws
Accuracy is a direct result of knowing and understanding one’s own movement tendencies on the flight of a thrown baseball. These tendencies are caused by different arm angles and release points. Gripping the ball correctly and consistently can accelerate an athlete’s ability to develop accuracy.
For example, an athlete like Nomar Garciaparra used to throw from a very low arm slot. Nearing a sidearm throw, Garciaparra’s ball flight had considerable movement from left to right (as well as top to bottom).
A four-seam grip will help to maintain a consistent pattern of movement, while the repetitions using that grip will eventually result in an athlete that understands his movement tendencies and therefore can aggressively throw with accuracy.
This article was an excerpt from Lifeletics Instructional Manual, “Coaching the Beginning Pitcher.” Head over to the Lifeletics website to purchase your copy.
BROTHER RICE WINS HOCKEY OPENER
After working hard in the off-season, Brother Rice hockey opened up in convincing fashion with the 7-3 dismantling of De Le Salle. Way to go Warriors!
BROTHER RICE WINS REGIONAL 16-6 AGAINST SOUTHFIELD
Brother rice defeated Southfield today to win their regional and advance to the semifinals against Martin Luther King High School. The game will be played next Saturday at 1pm. The site will be a neutral site and is TBA. Way to go BROTHER RICE!!!
NEW PHONE NUMBER
2SP has recently had a land line installed to help with the increasing number of new appointments. We ask you to start calling this number for any appointments or questions with billing. This will ensure that no appointment will get overlooked. We thank you all for your business!
NEW NUMBER: 248.397.8945
GET OFF THE FLAT GROUND TO HELP PREVENT INJURIES
Coach Matt Russ
For Active.com
The shoes we run in today are great for reducing impact. There are a myriad of devices, gels, air channels, etc., designed to lessen the compressive loads on the joints.
One drawback, however, is that if you do most of your running on even, paved surfaces the lower leg muscles and joints don’t have to work as hard to stabilize. Joint stability and integrity are crucial for injury prevention. That’s where trail running comes in.
Running over uneven and varied surfaces makes the muscles of the lower leg work especially hard; think specific strength training for the lower leg muscles. I recently noticed how sore my lower legs were after a competing in an off-road multi-sport event. The tendons, ligaments and muscles all get stronger in response to this type of stress.
Best Time Is in Base
There are a few considerations when integrating trail running into your training plan. Unless you run in off-road events, the best time to incorporate trail running into your plan is in base.
As with any new type of training stress, it’s important to implement it gradually. You may want to start off with one workout per week of limited mileage, and steadily increase the duration.
Off-road surfaces vary from crushed gravel, sand, grass, single-track hiking trails, to rough back-country trails. The more varied the terrain, the more your lower legs and body will be stressed. On extremely rough and elevated terrain, hiking may be just as effective (and safer) than running. You’ll likely enter your aerobic base zones in this type of terrain without having to run.
Use Trail Shoes
Trail shoes offer more support and traction, but much less cushioning. Trail shoes vary from running shoes with a more aggressive tread, all the way up to hiking shoes which may not applicable for running.
Make sure you consult with a salesperson to get the right shoe for your type of training. I don’t recommend doing any road running in a trail shoe, but you can take your running shoes off road if the surface is relatively stable, such as crushed gravel.
Trail running works both the lower legs and all the muscles associated with running, including lateral knee stability, and will help develop coordination. You can continue to incorporate trail running throughout the season for strength maintenance. Trail running adds variety to your training, with better scenery!
Matt Russ (has coached and trained athletes around the country and internationally. He currently holds licenses by USAT, USATF, and is an Expert level USAC coach. Matt has coached athletes for CTS (Carmichael Training Systems), is an Ultrafit Associate.
SHOULD LITTLE LEAGUE PITCHERS THROW CURVES?
Other than the fact that teaching little kids to throw curve balls can destroy their arms, this article points out another great reason on why coaches should wait to teach their players the all mighty curve ball:
By Matt Daily
While things obviously change over time, much still remains the same with Little League Baseball. I was speaking earlier today with another coaching colleague, and the topic of the Little League World Series came up in our conversation. We collectively noted the abundant presence of the curveball in Little League.
In several of the games that I have seen on television the past few years, a great deal of pitchers have relied on the curveball as their second pitch–often struggling to throw the pitch consistently as a strike. At the collegiate level, the change up, when thrown correctly, is much more devastating to hitters then a curveball. Why so?
Baseball Hitter Techniques
As a hitter, visually, we seek to pick up the spin or trajectory of the baseball as soon as possible. As players become more advanced, the velocity of the baseball changes, thus making the reaction time to the hitting the baseball significantly different. Coupled with having less reaction time to hit a baseball, pitchers in college are more advanced in their ability to throw multiple pitches for strikes. So how are hitters able to become successful despite these disadvantages?
As college coaches, we teach our hitters pitch- recognition. Skilled hitters are frequently able to differentiate between a fastball, slider, breaking ball, change up, etc. The change-up is difficult to hit simply because it is difficult to recognize. If thrown correctly, it should mimic the same arm motion and arm speed as a fastball.
Curveballs and Their Effectiveness
The hitter often is not able to tell the difference between a fastball and a change up because both pitches typically share the same path to the hitting zone. The curveball, on the other hand, often will change its trajectory in a dramatic fashion. If a hitter can recognize the pitch early from its release point from the pitcher, he often is able to adjust accordingly.
Yet, athletes and coaches alike love to teach the breaking ball at an early age, even though it may not be the most effective pitch to throw. The wear on a young pitcher’s arm is more drastic when throwing breaking balls then when throwing change ups.
Hopefully this trend changes in the future.