The Performance Zone: Your Nutrition Action Plan for Greater Endurance & Sports Performance (Teen Health Series) Review
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There are many books about sports nutrition, but very few that focus specifically on nutrition during exercise. In fact, to my knowledge there were none until this one came along. The Performance Zone, written by exercise physiologist John Ivy, Ph.D., and biochemist Robert Portman, Ph.D., fills a major informational void by providing athletes in all sports with detailed guidelines for fueling their bodies during training and competition.
The authors define "the performance zone" as a time interval that begins 30 minutes before exercise and ends 15 minutes after exercise. "Science clearly shows that the right combination of fluid and nutrients consumed within the Performance Zone will help you improve your athletic performance far more than the latest high-tech equipment or training device," they write. Ivy and Portman poured through hundreds of published research studies to determine exactly what and how much athletes should consume within this time period and on what kind of schedule.
Before they get to the practical recommendations, which make up the bulk of the book, the authors provide some interesting background on what happens inside the body during exercise and how "nutritional intervention" can help athletes prepare their body for activity, achieve optimal performance during the workout or competition, and recover quickly and thoroughly afterward.
Not surprisingly, Ivy and Portman conclude that a well-formulated sports drink is far superior to water or any other "natural" food or drink for use immediately before and during exercise. In Chapter 6, they attack the myth that all sports drinks are the same, pointing to significant differences in the formulations of various popular brands and explaining what they feel - based on the available science - is the ideal formulation.
The most useful part of The Performance Zone, Chapter 6 also shows how a simple calculation can show athletes exactly how much sports drink to consume based on their individual weight and activity. Endurance athletes in particular will find this calculation helpful, I believe. Triathletes and other endurance athletes are always struggling to find the right balance of fluid and carbohydrate intake. Ivy and Portman make the simple point - which, amazingly, I had never before read or heard anywhere else - that water loss and carbohydrate burning almost always occur in a fixed proportion during exercise: about 4.5 ounces per 100 calories. Nuggets like this really take the guesswork out of creating the proper fueling schedule.
The subject of post-exercise nutrition receives a similar treatment. The authors weigh the advantages and disadvantages of various recovery nutrition strategies ranging from "real food" to powdered drink mixes. Another simple formula allows athletes to calculate exactly how much water, carbohydrate, and protein they should consume within the post-exercise segment of the performance zone.
Nutritional needs and challenges and fueling opportunities vary from sport to sport. Understanding this fact, Ivy and Portman include a chapter in which a cavalcade of well-known professional athletes and coaches provide tips specific to each of a dozen sports. Among the contributors are mountain biking world champion Alison Dunlap and running coach Jeff Galloway. Parents and coaches of young athletes will probably get a lot out of this chapter. The final chapter, which discusses the drawbacks and dangers of a wide range of nutritional supplements and performance enhancing drugs, should be required reading for this audience, and for young athletes themselves.
All in all, The Performance Zone is an excellent resource with great practical value for athletes in all sports. As the authors point out in the book's first chapter, most athletes simply are not doing what the latest science suggests they out to be doing in terms of fueling their bodies before, during, and immediately following exercise. The Performance Zone promises to correct this problem one athlete at a time.
The Performance Zone: Your Nutrition Action Plan for Greater Endurance & Sports Performance (Teen Health Series) Feature
Every athlete, coach, and parent of a young athlete knows that nutrition can enhance sports performance. But few know exactly how to make this happen. "The Performance Zone" solves this problem. This book synthesizes the most sound and up-to-date science to provide a nutrition action plan that enables athletes to raise their athletic performance. The authors provide simple, proven guidelines for fueling mjuscles during and after sports acitivity. Using these guidelines, athletes can increase their endurance and strength, reduce injuries and muscle soreness, bounce back faster after training and competition, and even be less susceptible to infections. Since each sport has slightly different nutritional needs, this book includes sports-specific nutrition tips from elite athletes, leading coaches, nutritionists, and exercise physiologists in the major individual and team sports.
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not well written, I didn't find these to be very usefull - C. El Refaei - Dubai
The content is very repetitive and extremely boring to read, sadly I learned nothing new, you can sum this book up in a few lines : after a work out it is best to consumer protein and carbohydrates drink, thats it, so after work out, don't take red bull, don't take a energy drink, take a protein shake and take a drink with carbohydrates; anyone that bought a protein powder knows the best time to take the protein shake is after the work out, anyone that already bought Cell-Tech knows the best time to take it right after the work out.
I was hoping this would be more informative, sadly it wasn't
Very informative, but too long winded - Kristy - Austin, TX
This book held a lot of valuable information. I think that everyone should read a book similar to this. The book discusses suggested pre, during, and post work-out nutrition. However, I felt the book could have been condensed into about 40 pages. The authors repeated themselves a lot and there were many sections I could skip over in the book. It seemed like they finished a book that was too short for their liking so they just added the same information they already presented into different sections.
Jun 04, 2010 06:25:58
