While using a pool mirror can help your swimming go from good to great, there\u2019s another key aspect to your success as an athlete: good nutrition. It\u2019s true, you really are what you eat!<\/p>\n
If you keep up with Olympic swimmers, this should come as no surprise; in 2008, Michael Phelps famously declared he had a \u201c12,000 calorie-a-day diet.”<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Maybe you\u2019re not a Michael Phelps, but it\u2019s definitely true that swimmers have massive appetites.<\/p>\n At SwimMirror, eating healthy is a good habit<\/u><\/strong><\/a> we can definitely get behind. We\u2019ve got a few tips to help improve your nutrition so that you can start swimming better and faster than ever before. Ready, set\u2026 eat!<\/p>\n We know, we know: it\u2019s tempting as a swimmer to hold off on eating until after your early morning practice or a competition.<\/p>\n It\u2019s true that if you eat too<\/em> much<\/em> or too soon <\/em>before swimming, you can risk an upset stomach, or worse. It\u2019s also true, though, that swimming on a completely empty stomach can leave you fatigued and drained of energy.<\/p>\n Nancy Clark, M.S, R.D., the author of Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook<\/em>, says that pre-exercise \u201cfuel\u201d has several important functions:<\/p>\n Try to eat 3-4 hours<\/strong> before you hop in the pool. If you can\u2019t make the time for a whole meal, remember that a light breakfast (like toast or fruit) can be a quick and easy way to keep fatigue at bay!<\/p>\n Not all snacks are good pre-swim snacks, though. Foods high in fat are harder to digest, which is why the fitness website LiveStrong<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0recommends easily digestible, low fat<\/strong> snacks, such as fruit\u2014which has the added bonus of helping you hydrate!<\/p>\n Bananas, strawberries, oranges, apples and grapes are options that are low in calories and won\u2019t fill you with refined sugars.<\/p>\n Other great snack choices include:<\/p>\n Remember<\/em>: You know your body best. If something listed above upsets your stomach, you should avoid it, even if your favorite Olympian swimmer eats it every day! Which ties into our next point\u2026<\/p>\n Be sure you avoid pre-race foods and drinks that will be hard on your body. SwimSwam<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>suggests you avoid foods with:<\/p>\n The last thing you want is to be bogged down in the water, after all!<\/p>\n Another tip is to avoid any upsetting foods in the 48 hours before a big race. It can make a real difference in your performance. But before you go\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pre-swim nutrition is important, but you don\u2019t forget about the recovery that comes after.<\/p>\n Did you know<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>that if you eat a meal within 30 minutes after working out, your body can start its recovery process even faster? This can make you way better prepared for your next workout!<\/p>\n Carbohydrates are the best for \u201cfueling\u201d your muscles. This is because they help you recover your muscle glycogen levels. So, make sure you make room in your diet for rice, vegetables, fruit and other complex carbohydrates (and don\u2019t neglect your protein, either!).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Want to take your swim performance to the next level?<\/strong><\/p>\n While you\u2019re taking care of yourself out of the water, don\u2019t forget that using an underwater mirror can give you an extra boost in your swim performance! Check out SwimMirror<\/strong>, the essential swim training tool that gives you instant feedback on your swim strokes in real-time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [maxbutton id=”1″ ]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Get Our Top 3 Tips for How to Eat Healthy Before You Swim! While using a pool mirror can help your swimming go from good to great, there\u2019s another key aspect to your success as an athlete: good nutrition. It\u2019s true, you really are what you eat! If you keep up with Olympic swimmers, thisRead more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,37],"tags":[35,40,39,38,9,10,11,36,5,41],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-swim-training","category-swimming-habits","tag-efficient-swimmers","tag-pool-mirror","tag-swim-health","tag-swim-nutrition","tag-swim-stroke","tag-swim-technique","tag-swim-training","tag-swimming-habits","tag-swimmirror","tag-underwater-mirror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swimmirror.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swimmirror.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swimmirror.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swimmirror.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swimmirror.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/swimmirror.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":485,"href":"https:\/\/swimmirror.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions\/485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swimmirror.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swimmirror.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swimmirror.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swimmirror.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1) Don\u2019t Skip Breakfast, Swimmers!<\/h3>\n
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2) Eat the Right<\/em> Food Before Swimming<\/h3>\n
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3) Swim Clear of Hard-to-Digest Foods!<\/h3>\n
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Wait! Don\u2019t Forget Your Recovery Strategies!<\/b><\/h4>\n