Recovery – The Importance Of Protein

Protein! The most important macronutrient when it comes to sports performance. As a brief introduction to protein, let’s start with the basics of diet.

There are 3 macronutrients you can consume: protein, carbohydrates, and dietary fats.

Proteins act as building blocks. They can repair and reinforce damaged tissue. This is referred to as Protein Synthesis, and is key to recovery for athletes who spend a lot of time at practice. Carbohydrates are the preferred fuel of the body; this macronutrient is easily broken down and used as energy. Last is fat. Fat is another fuel source that is also important. Not only does it work as slow-acting energy (you’ll feel full longer when eating fats) but it also helps you absorb some very important vitamins, so it’s important not to cut these out of your diet as an athlete looking to gain an advantage. All of these macronutrients count as calories, which we need to survive. Basic notes to remember: 1g of protein is 4 calories, 1g of carbs or fat is 8 calories.

Now that we have a relative grasp of the basics, it’s time for the simple part. When we train, we break down muscle tissue causing micro tears that need to be repaired. Since protein acts as building blocks that can reinforce the damaged muscle tissue, we need to make sure our athletes eat plenty of it. Let me say it like this, lots of athletes work out hard, they put in tons of effort, they go home exhausted and hope they’ll be stronger next week. But because their protein intake throughout the week is too low, their bodies make minimal adaptations. This is one of the most painful things to see as a coach – a hard working athlete not getting the benefits they deserve because of their diet.

So here are some guidelines you can follow to ensure you or your athlete don’t run into this problem. First, weigh in. After you find your weight in pounds, multiply that number by .7. That is how many grams of protein you need per day to ensure optimal levels for recovery. Here’s an example. If you weigh 100 Ib, you need to eat 70 grams of protein per day for optimal levels. .6g protein per Ib should be seen as the minimum before we start to see some major drop offs in the value of your intake. And as annoying as this sounds, this intake needs to be daily. It’s fine during off times, illness, or vacations to not worry about tracking your protein, but while they are training or in season, tracking will give your athlete an advantage over the competition that don’t have a high enough intake. Making high protein intake a major priority!

To learn some good ideas about which proteins to add to your diet or other advantageous ways to improve recovery, check out the rest of the lessons in our Recovery course. Thanks for stopping by.