Author: IHE

Clients want to feel great and get the most out of their training. All too often we can be overly focused on what they do after training, and yes that’s important, but for the best results we need to take a 24/7 approach to fitness and wellbeing.

Emma Lane, naturopath and FitPro LIVE presenter shares her unique approach to optimising training response.

Whether you are working with a high-performance athlete or a regular client who just wants to look and feel their best, the approach for optimising training outcomes follows the same rules:

1. Correct hydration and mineral levels
2. Repair muscle and replace glycogen stores
3. Night-time repair
4. Manage stress and regulate hormones
5. Reduce or counterbalance inflammation
6. Support the immune system
7. Balance blood sugar levels
8. Optimise digestion

1 Correct hydration and mineral levels

Staying hydrated throughout the day is key. During and after training it is important to replace electrolytes and take in extra water to replace fluid lost through sweating during exercise, on a hot day or if you are using saunas etc.

Remember: filtered or bottled mineral water is best. Take your body weight in kilogrammes and multiply by 0.033 to find out how many litres you need to drink every day.

Try: adding a pinch of Celtic sea salt to water. It contains the full spectrum of naturally occurring essential minerals and a small pinch in water won’t taste salty.

2 Repair muscle and replace glycogen stores

You need to repair tissue to get stronger and to create the best recovery you need good quality proteins and carbohydrates. According to an article in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (JISSN), you need to ingest 0.2 to 0.4 grammes of protein for each kilogramme of your body weight and around 0.8 grammes of carbohydrates per kilogramme of your body weight to replenish the glycogen stores.

Remember: post-training snacks should be taken no later than 30 minutes after the session as the body’s cells are most responsive to glycogen replenishment. Look to balance the right fats and carbohydrates with good quality protein. Always choose the highest quality possible, for example grass-fed meats and organic carbohydrates.

Try: branch chain amino acids like MR100% and Muscle Synthesis, they are easy to take and very beneficial pre and post workouts. Good quality gelatine, taken regularly through the day, gives a number of benefits. It has been shown to be anti-inflammatory and contains a wide spectrum of amino acids including glycine and arginine which are abundant in the skin and connective tissue and assist muscle and joint recovery.

3. Night-time repair

You’ve heard of beauty sleep but really we should be more focused on the impact sleep has on our physical and mental health. The body produces growth hormones when we sleep so it is essential for tissue repair when training.

Sleep ensures the regeneration of new tissue and cells. Getting the right quality and amount of sleep is essential for optimal healing.

Remember: the physical repair takes place between 10pm and 2am, whilst psychological repair happens between 2am and 6am.

Try: cut down on all caffeine products and do not consume any after 3pm. Caffeinated beverages and foods (coffee, tea, cola, chocolate) can cause difficulty falling asleep, awakenings during the night and a shallow sleep. Avoid alcohol, especially in the evening. Although alcohol can help some tense people fall asleep more easily, it also causes awakenings later in the night.

4. Manage stress and regulate hormones

Stress produces the hormone cortisol which causes breakdown of tissues and inflammation, which has a negative effect on training responses. If you are sympathetically dominated, in other words stuck in “fight or flight mode”, then this will affect your update of nutrients, however good they are. So your body will not get what it needs on a cellular level.

Remember: too much cortisol causes muscle loss, weakens the immune system, interferes with thyroid and growth hormones, and negatively impacts sleep, all of which promote weight gain.

Try: encouraging your clients to get enough “me time” in their day and take up practices that counterbalance stress and stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system.

5. Reduce or counter-balance inflammation

The stress response along with commercially prepared meats, hydrogenated and trans fats and fried foods all cause inflammation. Training damages tissue and therefore also creates inflammation. Inflammation is part of the body’s immune response. Initially it is beneficial when, for example, your shoulder sustains an injury and the tissues need care and protection. However, chronic inflammation can be very problematic, leading to more serious health issues.

In the short term inflammation will:
• Disrupt mineral balance
• Increase blood sugar
• Cause increased intestinal permeability
• Weaken the immune defences
• Interfere with the absorption of protein, which the cells and tissues need to function properly.

In the long term chronic inflammation will lead to more serious health issues.

Remember: sugar is highly inflammatory. This is because sugar raises insulin levels in the body that in turn triggers an immune response. Remind your clients that many healthy cereal bars and so-called sports drinks contain high levels of sugar. Fried foods are high in advanced glycation end products (AGEs) that are known to be inflammatory.

Try: adding more ginger, turmeric, onions, garlic and rosemary into your dishes and eat plenty of foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids like oily fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines or flax seeds and walnuts. Supplementing with CoQ10 reduces inflammation and oxidative stress in the body, especially when combined with natural vitamin E.

6. Support the immune system

Exercise boosts the immune function until a certain level of exertion is reached and then it depletes immune function, making you vulnerable to illness. Hundreds of papers have been written about this and, put simply, the body sees intense exercise as a physical stressor.

Remember: cells in the gut secrete Cytokines, small protein molecules that modulate the immune system. A healthy digestive system will boost immune function.

Try: supplementing with a high quality mixed strain probiotic such as Custom Probiotics Adult CP1 capsules has been shown to strengthen innate immunity and assist in creating a balanced immune response.

7. Balance blood sugar levels

When blood sugar levels are imbalanced the cells slowly become resistant to the effects of insulin, therefore the body produces more and more to try and keep the blood sugar levels balanced.

The higher your insulin levels are the more resistant to insulin you become, and as the problem progresses the body starts to lose muscle, gain fat and become inflamed. Not only will it inhibit training recovery, but it also speeds up the disease and ageing process.

Remember: blood sugar imbalance is one of the contributing factors behind today’s most prevalent preventable diseases. We are facing a global diabetes and obesity epidemic and blood sugar balance is one of the factors behind this disease.

Try: eating on a regular basis and always balance the right fats and carbohydrates with good quality protein.

8. Optimise digestion

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you train and recover or what you eat if you are not digesting your food properly. Poor digestion means poor uptake of nutrients – however well you eat. Be aware of food intolerances which will have an impact on health and cause symptoms like bloating, discomfort, diarrhoea and aching muscles.

Remember: symptoms like indigestion or heartburn can sometimes means stomach acid is low and food is not being digested properly. Stress and age can impact on HCL acid levels in the stomach which can result in poor nutrient absorption.

Try: supplementing with digestive enzymes like Enzymedica Digest Gold. Encourage clients to eat slowly, chew their food properly and eat mindfully. All too often we eat on the run or at our desks which affects how we digest our food.

Do you want to be a part of this wellbeing evolution?
Come along to Integrative Health Education’s three-day Destination Wellbeing® – Health Evolution course. 21 hours CPD.