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By David Barr
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If you had to guess, what would
you say is the most prominent dietary feature of the greatest
Olympic Champion in history?
Raise your hand if you said
"cheese sandwiches", because that's what it appears
to be.
According to an article published
on BBC news last week Phelps' diet consists of 10000 Calories
worth of pasta and cheese sandwiches. No kidding. There are
also mysterious "energy drinks" consumed with meals
2 and 3 -the latter being the final meal of his day.
So what can we learn from this?
People
lie like a rug.
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The Real Diet? Get Real.
While Phelps' actual diet may bear
some resemblance to that which is reported, there's no way an athlete
of his caliber eats like an average non-athlete. Granted the Caloric
intake is enormous, but is that the main factor necessary for winning
100 Gold medals (or however many it is at this point)?
Top Olympic athletes in the US have
TEAMS of people working on every aspect of performance, and as you'd
expect, diet is a major consideration. Caloric intake is but one
of a thousand issues that need to be worked out for each athlete,
and even then it's but a temporary plan. Diet changes along with
the preference of the athlete as well as their current training
regimen. For example harder more frequent training requires more
Calories and specific nutrients -which you likely already know from
experience.
The Expert Analysis
As part of the article there was an
analysis by a nutritionist. There was talk of the importance of
carbs and the whopping 10K Cal intake -complete with a warning that
readers should not attempt to replicate that number. Seriously.
Who knows, maybe in today's society such a warning is necessary.
One point that struck me as bizarre
came during the discussion of races and meal timing. It was concluded
that white pasta and bread were good fuel for Phelps because he
needs so many carbs in a hurry. This is particularly important when
he only has an hour between races.
Huh?
So the idea is that he jumps out of
the pool, dries off, and then quickly scarfs down a cheese sandwich
before the next race?
Anal-lysis
I understand that this was a fluff
piece done for a lay audience so it'd be a little too neurotic go
though the diet in detail, but people believe this stuff. I don't
know if the idea was to throw potential competitors off or what,
but there needs to be some kind of reality in what's written.
The Real Diet
There would be too many improvements
in the published diet to discuss specifics, but a few should be
obvious:
1) More protein (preferably whey)
2) More fruits and vegetables
3) More good fats
Hell, is there anyone on the planet
that couldn't benefit from this advice?
Conclusion
I'd love to get a hold of Phelps and
his nutritionists. Working at the cutting edge is my job, and bringing
that edge to my clients is my passion. With a major diet shake up
and advanced supplementation (don't even get me started on that),
including neural conditioning and recovery, there's no telling what
could happen. For now I'll just sit back and revel in the history
that has just been made by this spectacular athlete.
Raise your expectations. Raise The
Barr!
About The Author
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