Book Review: Advanced Sports Nutrition, 2nd Edition
I recently had the chance to read the new, updated edition of Advanced Sports Nutrition, 2nd Ed. by Dr. Dan Benardot, the Director of the Laboratory for Elite Athlete Performance at Georgia State University. Dr. Benardot has worked with a number of medal-winning U.S. Olympic teams to help them to prepare for and compete in the Olympic Games.
Competing in marathons, ultra-marathons, triathlons, and other endurance events that take many hours to complete are not just about running, swimming, and biking, but also about eating and drinking, on and off the course.
What you eat and drink and when you do it has a huge impact on the effectiveness of your workouts and the speed of your recovery from them. It also can make the difference between performing well in a race and struggling to finish after hitting “the wall”.
There are several excellent books available on nutrition for runners and marathoners. I own Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook and Nancy Clark’s Food Guide For Marathoners: Tips for Everyday Champions. They are both great resources.
Dr. Dan Benardot’s book Advanced Sports Nutrition, 2nd Ed provides very detailed information on optimizing nutrition and hydration for participants in a wide variety of sports, from running to wrestling to gymnastics. He provides specific recommendations for the amounts of carbohydrates, protein, and fat that different types of athletes should consume and when they should eat them to maximize their performance in training and competition.
One of the most valuable concepts in the book is the Energy-balance graph. Dr. Benardot graphs the energy gained from food and the energy burned in exercise to help maintain enough energy for critical workouts and recovery, without eating too much at the wrong times, which results in fat storage. He has NutriTiming programs and iPhone apps available that help you to develop your own Energy-balance graphs.
Advanced Sports Nutrition also provides detailed examples of eating plans for athletes of difference sizes in different sports, from a 100 lb female figure skater to a 230 lb male football lineman. It’s a great reference for serious athletes in all sports.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of Advanced Sports Nutrition for review.
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