Building fitness through nutrition: how do you do it?

Nutrition plays a big role in every sports goal. That includes improving your fitness, because what you eat has a huge effect on your performance! If you want to get fitter, your diet needs to be on point. You'll notice right away that you've never felt so energetic. Want to build up your fitness? Then this article is for you!

IMPROVE YOUR CARDIOVASCULAR FITNESS

If your focus is on building fitness, you want to improve your cardiovascular fitness through training. This means you can train for longer and at a faster pace, and also recover faster afterwards. You train your heart so that it can contract more powerfully, which lets it pump more blood around your body. The result? Better fitness and endurance.

Cardio is a form of fitness that is also called aerobic. We'll explain this cardiovascular form of training by comparing it with the anaerobic form. Aerobic stands for oxygen. The complete opposite is anaerobic training, where there is a lack of oxygen in the body, or even none at all. This happens during heavy, intensive training such as HIIT or strength training. Over time, your muscles will become acidic because they get too little oxygen.

Aerobic training is perfect for maintaining fitness, improving fitness and burning fat. The training is based on oxygen, and your muscles won't become acidic quickly. Examples are jogging, cycling or rowing.

Various studies show that you can do several forms of aerobic training to improve cardiovascular function. So pick something you enjoy and stick with it! The American College of Sports has a number of recommendations for the intensity, duration and frequency of aerobic training:

Intensity: If you want to improve your fitness/endurance, it's best to train at 50 to 90% of your maximum heart rate. You can work this out with a simple sum: 220 - age x number of % = the ideal intensity for cardiovascular fitness. Just starting out with training? Stick to 50% of your maximum heart rate. Already more advanced? Aim for 80 to 90%.

Duration: For healthy adults, an aerobic training session of 20 to 60 minutes is recommended.

Frequency: Do you often train at a high intensity? Then three training sessions per week are enough. If you prefer to train more often but at a lower intensity, you could train 5 times a week.

Outside your training sessions, the focus should be on rest/recovery and on what you eat, so that your body gets the fuel it needs to carry out the activity in the first place.

GET FITTER THROUGH NUTRITION

"You are what you eat", as they sometimes say. Make sure you eat healthily, regularly and at the right time. All these factors affect your sports performance. So now we'll look more closely at what you can best eat during the day, before and after training to build fitness.

The most important source of energy in the run-up to aerobic training is carbs. A diet in which a large part of the calories comes from carbs can prevent or reduce glycogen depletion. Glycogen is your body's internal carb store, which is used to supply energy. When the store is depleted, it can lead to a feeling of fatigue, reduced concentration and less work capacity. Eat slow carbs throughout the day, because they release energy gradually. Examples are brown rice, wholegrain products, vegetables, legumes, oats and quinoa. For endurance athletes who train 1 to 3 hours a day, it's recommended to eat 6 to 10 grams of carbs per kilo of body weight per day.

The closer you get to your training, the more you can influence effects such as sparing glycogen, staying properly hydrated, reduced protein breakdown and increased muscle protein synthesis through nutrition. You eat a pre workout meal 60 minutes before your training, and it is also essential for building fitness.

Instead of slow carbs, fast carbs are now appropriate. This is because fast carbs are (quickly) easy to digest. Fast carbs go straight into your bloodstream and serve right away as an alternative source of energy to your stored carbs. Do try to limit how much you eat, otherwise you may get stomach ache. A banana, dried fruit, an energy bar or hummus with raw vegetables are good examples of an ultimate pre workout snack.

Protein also helps you perform at your best. It helps counteract muscle breakdown and optimise recovery. A meal/source containing 20 to 40 grams of protein is ideal for your training. Also make sure you are properly hydrated. A lack of fluid can have a negative effect on your training. You can easily check whether you're properly hydrated by looking at the colour of your urine. If it's pale to straw yellow, you're doing well!

After training, the right nutrition can help your muscles recover. Within two hours of aerobic training, you should have a post workout meal. This makes sure your glycogen levels are replenished. A perfect post workout meal consists of roughly 60 grams of carbs and 30 grams of protein. Of course, we also have meals for building fitness for when you get home after a good aerobic training session. They are perfectly tailored and fit right into your sports routine. You can keep the sports meals in your freezer for up to 3 months. Make sure you have a good supply by choosing a meal package for building fitness!

A FEW EXTRA TIPS FOR SUCCESSFULLY BUILDING FITNESS

• BE KIND TO YOUR DIGESTION, EAT REGULARLY (EVERY 2 TO 3 HOURS)

• DON'T SKIP MEALS, BECAUSE YOU NEED FOOD

• MAKE SURE YOU GET ENOUGH VITAMINS, BECAUSE THAT'S HOW YOU KEEP FEELING FIT

• EAT SLOW CARBS THROUGHOUT THE DAY, AND A SMALL AMOUNT OF FAST CARBS BEFORE YOUR TRAINING