Cycling and Nutiriton

Cycling and Nutrition

Endurance is the ability to maintain some power beyond a few minutes until a few hours, and endurance sport is characterized by high expenditure energy where an increased need for carbohydrates. Feeding the athlete must meet the nutritional needs arising from physiological adaptations to exercise.

Road cycling is an endurance sport with a duration of effort that may exceed 3 hours per day.

Energy expenditure of a cyclist is not expressed as simply as other sports, many factors can modulate it, including the possible presence of a peloton, a headwind, distance traveled, the profile of the race or the style. According to these factors we can estimate the increase of calories for a cyclist between 350 and 600 kcal / hr.

At constant weight, the extra calories that must be added to the basal contribution is administered by keeping a good nutritional balance, it is evaluated for competitive cycling by 3500 kcal / day.

Cycling and fat:

Recommended fat intake is between 15 and 25% of total energy which are ¾ as unsaturated fatty acids.

Dietary lipids consist of fatty acids that are found in three forms: saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated.

The fat intake should be divided into:

• 8% saturated fatty acid.

• 14 to 16% mono unsaturated acid.

• 6 to 8% polyunsaturated fatty acid.

Cycling and Proteins:

The proteins are of 2 types:

• Complete: eggs, milk, meat, fish ...

• Plants often incomplete but complementary when mixed grains and legumes.

A contribution of between 1 and 2 g / kg of body weight per day should be sufficient to cover

needs a high-level cyclist.

Protein intake should be with a good biological values and contain the essential amino acids and essential that cannot be synthesized by the human body.

These proteins are of two initial sources, animal and plant with a higher ratio

or equal to 1.

Proteins are basic constituents of all living cells, that are the most important constituents of...