Ultimate Tournament Nutrition

Hi all

This question may not be entirely appropriate for the site, but I have been lurking here for a while and have a lot of respect for what you guys have to say, so here goes.

When I’m not lifting weights, I play ultimate frisbee. Tournaments last a weekend, usually with 3x1.5hour games per day. This often makes it hard to take on enough solid food. The pattern of exercise is sprinting and recovering, rather than steady cardio, so I use the same shake I use peri and post lifting, namely 40g whey protein and 40g dextrose, during the day (usually one per game - plus lots of water).

This weekend, I was chatting to a team-mate who is a physio. He suggested that this was wrong. His reason was that it would cause rapid rises in my blood sugar levels and hence play havoc with my energy levels. My understanding was that the simple sugars would replenish glycogen stores and (provided I didn’t chug a whole load before I started playing - ie. when I wouldn’t be glycogen depleted) the insulin response would actually help shuttle the protein into the muscles, and assist recovery.

(If you are still with me - thanks). My question is - Am I incorrect in thinking that the kind of peri and post workout shakes that are suggested for lifting weights would be the correct thing to use in sports (like ultimate) requiring periods of intense sprinting and (usually active) recovery.

Thank you for you time.

Well since sprinting is anaerobic exercise like lifting and feeds off glycogen levels, it seems like this is true.

Mainly you can figure this one out for yourself though. Do you feel a crash throughout the end of the games or no? If you aren’t then keep doing what you are doing.

Why fix something that isn’t broken?