Nutrition is an essential part of the training equation. Macronutrients, from protein, carbohydrates, and fats, supply energy to your muscles and fuels their adaptation to exercise. Neglect nutrition and you simply won’t perform as well or make the anticipated gains. No doubt, what you eat impacts performance, but what about your risk of injury? Can you lower your risk for a training injury with good nutrition?
It’s not clear what role eating a healthy diet plays in injury prevention since so few studies have looked at this issue. On the other hand, if you’re not consuming enough carbohydrates when doing high-intensity training resistance training or a HIIT routine, your muscles will fatigue faster due to low glycogen stores. When you fatigue, your form becomes sloppy and your risk for injury goes up. Training in a low glycogen state also affects endurance, so you exhaust more quickly and are at higher risk for injury. So, fuel up with carbs prior to a workout to maximize the benefits you get and to avoid injury.
What about Protein?
You also need adequate protein for muscle growth and recovery and for reducing muscle breakdown when your glycogen stores fall. Depending upon the frequency and intensity of training, an athlete needs between 1.2 and 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Protein and carbohydrates are the ideal combo. Carbs are “protein sparing,” meaning when you consume enough carbohydrates to supply your muscles with adequate glycogen, your body doesn’t have to turn to protein as a reserve fuel source, but when you’re energy depleted, your risk of injury goes up. Make sure you’re supplying your body with the calories and macronutrients, including protein, you need for maximum performance and injury prevention.
Other Nutrients That May Impact Injury Risk
If there’s one thing cells need, it’s oxygen. When you breathe in, red blood cells containing hemoglobin bind to oxygen and carry it to every tissue in your body. Without enough iron, the hemoglobin on red blood cells can’t carry as much oxygen to all the tissues of your body.
Iron deficiency, if sustained, leads to iron deficiency anemia, a condition characterized by fatigue and decreased exercise endurance. It’s easy to see how being weak and anemic increases your risk for injury, but having low iron status, even in the absence of anemia, places you at higher risk for injury. Cells in your body store iron in the form of a protein called ferritin. When a cell needs iron, it can call upon these iron stores. You can measure the amount of ferritin, or storage iron you have, through a blood test. If your blood ferritin level is low, it means your cells are iron depleted.
Research in runners showed those who had a low ferritin level were at 3-times greater risk of injury. The reason? When cells don’t have enough iron, it changes how they metabolize glucose, leading to the build-up of lactate and other waste products as well as fatigue and reduced muscle performance.
How do iron stores fall too low? Iron deficiency anemia and low iron are most common in women prior to menopause due to iron lost through menstrual bleeding. If you do a lot of running or high-impact exercise, the force of your feet striking the ground causes the destruction of red blood cells, which increases the need for iron. If you take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications or aspirin, you can lose small quantities of iron via your intestinal tract too. You also lose a small amount of iron when you sweat.
Should you take an iron supplement as a precaution? Definitely not. Too much iron can cause problems too. Some people have difficulty metabolizing iron and store excess iron in their liver, not a healthy situation since excess iron can injure cells and tissues by creating oxidative stress. A better approach is to get an iron panel (blood test) checked every 6 months if you train hard to make sure your iron stores are sufficient. Only if your stores are low or you’re anemic should you take an iron supplement. Good dietary sources of iron include red meat, beans, lentils, nuts, whole grain bread, leafy vegetables, and iron-fortified foods.
Protection Against Muscle Injury
When you exercise your muscles intensely, muscle cells produce free radicals that cause muscle damage. Theoretically, antioxidant vitamins, including vitamins A, C, and E, could reduce the amount of muscle damage your muscles experience during intense exercise. Unfortunately, some studies show consuming large amounts of antioxidants, especially in supplement form, prior to exercise might interfere with training adaptations by blocking free radical production. It seems small amounts of oxidative stress actually help your muscles adapt to the stress of training. According to a study published in Life Extension News, small quantities of free radicals produced during exercise act as a signal to turn on pathways involved in adaptation. So, taking antioxidant supplements prior to exercise may interfere with the gains you’re trying to achieve. Timing seems to be important. This study recommends not consuming large amounts of antioxidant there hours before or two hours after exercise.
The Bottom Line
You already know that what you eat matters in terms of performance, but fueling up properly may also lower your risk for injury AND help your performance. If you’re trying to cut back carbs to lose weight, reduce your carbs on days where you AREN’T doing an intense workout. More importantly, get the majority of your carbs from fiber-rich, whole food sources. The harder you train, the more you need to focus on good nutrition.
References:
The Sports Injury Doctor. “Nutrition – diet & injury prevention: how what you eat can stop you getting hurt”
MedLine Plus. “Ferritin Blood Test”
J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2014 Feb 19;11(1):4. doi: 10.1186/1550-2783-11-4.
Sports Med. 2011 Dec 1;41(12):1043-69. doi: 10.2165/11594400-000000000-00000.
Life Extension NewsTM. Volume 17 No. 2. February 2014.
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