In today’s world, a lot of our activity tends to be crammed into our weekends. Though we may not be “weekend warriors” per say, we may try to be extremely active on the weekends by participating in recreational sports or completing 3 day’s worth of house projects in one Saturday.
Either way, it can be grueling and exhausting. We can be in the middle of our activity or project and find ourselves completely out of energy and unable to finish.
I was recently asked by a co-worker about this very topic. His National Guard unit had intense physical training scheduled for a weekend. Obviously, the training was not going to be a walk in the park. Agility exercise (obstacle courses) and several minutes of running were involved.
So, how might a person eat to prepare for a weekend such as this?
Put plenty of fuel in the tank.
This requires consuming large amounts of complex carbohydrates such as pasta, whole grains, rice, and vegetables the immediate day or two prior to the event. Also, you need to drink plenty of water.
One of the worst things to do is to not eat a whole lot the day before the activity. If you don’t eat, your body has no fuel in which to use. If this occurs, you will literally be “out of gas” and unable to continue the activity.
Don’t worry about the extra calories you consumed. Because of the very unusually high amount of activity in which you are participating, you will utilize (burn) your body’s fuel stores.
Only do this when activity is much more demanding than the norm.
It is important to note that this concept I just described is ONLY to be used in these rare circumstances in which your expected/planned activity is much more demanding than your norm. During the actual activity, it is a good idea to snack frequently on small amounts of food such as fruit, nuts and whole grains while continuing to drink water.
So there you have it. Try eating in this manner before a high intensity event. Here’s to more energy and improved performance.
