http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH3FlMer5YY
Ever wondered what you need to eat to be a Winter Olympics athlete? Wonder no more…
Getting your nutrition right is the key to success on the field and in the gym, as well as on the ice rink or the ski slope, as this video from the guys at AsapSCIENCE proves.
They break down what it is that Olympic athletes have to eat on a daily basis, and what are some of the best sources of food to get the proteins, carbs, fats and nutrients that they need as athletes across the various disciplines.
As with all sports, there are different requirements for different events, so while speed skaters and bobsledders need to have a lot of muscle and plenty of mass, ski jumpers need to be lighter and more athletic, so they have different needs in the gym as well as in the kitchen.
One of the most high-profile athletes at the games is Lolo Jones, and for her part she has worked hard on the nutritional side of things to make the transition from the Summer Olympics to the Winter Games, and in an interview with USA Today she revealed that her new diet included two 1,365-calorie protein shakes as well as late-night trips to McDonald’s for bacon double cheeseburgers. While the latter might not be the healthiest option, it has helped Jones go from 130-odd pounds up to just a few shy of 160, her target weight.
She stated in the same interview that she’s still hoping to compete in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, which is why she didn’t go all the way to 170, adding “they said if I got to 170, I would be done with track”, but that eating more and gaining muscle was a nice change from a diet for a sport where “you eat an M&M and you think your career is over”. Our career is well and truly over, so.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
