Expert Series: Kristen Ziesmer on Nutrition

An endurance athlete is somebody that is obviously participating in endurance sports, which is a submaximal work. So think of running, swimming, cycling, and they’re doing that submaximal work for a longer period of time. They’re also going to be leaner and have a little bit less muscle mass as opposed to a power athlete. So somebody that might be an Olympic lifter or a sprinter, for example, they’re going to have a lot more upper and lower body muscle mass and they’re going to have a higher ratio of fast twitch muscle fibers, whereas an endurance athlete is going to have more slow twitch muscle fibers.

Everybody’s body is going to be set up a little bit differently, and that’s genetics. So some people are going to be more genetically predisposed to having more of those slow twitch muscle fibers and some are going to have more of those fast twitch muscle fibers, which is what makes the athletes good at their particular sport. So it doesn’t matter what age you are. Obviously, if you’re younger or you’re older and you have more slow twitch muscle fibers, you’re going to be more cut out for endurance work.

Endurance athletes and power athletes do need to approach their diet differently, but it also depends on the individual athlete. So it depends on things like their age, how far into their sport they are, what level they are at, what their individual goals are, that type of thing. But of course, a power athlete is going to have more muscle mass on them, so they might require a little bit more protein to keep that muscle mass there. And then if they’re an endurance athlete, then they generally are going to require a little bit more carbohydrates than a power athlete. But it’s not a huge difference. It really boils down to the individual athlete. And that’s why consulting with a sports dietician is so important because then they can figure out those individual characteristics and plan your diet around that.

Timing is really important of your meals. A lot of people just think, “Oh, I can just have one giant meal at the end of the day,” and that’s not the case because your body can really only utilize so much of your nutrients at one time. So protein, for example, most people can only utilize upwards of 35 grams of protein at a time. So you really want to maximize your efforts by eating small amounts frequently throughout the day. So I usually tell people to eat every three hours throughout the day. If you’re trying to gain muscle mass, then eating every two hours is actually ideal, but you definitely want to make sure that you are eating before a training session. So ideally somewhere around an hour before. You could make it closer if your stomach doesn’t get upset, but an hour is a nice window because it gives you some time to digest your food.

And then you want to eat also after your training session. So ideally within 30 minutes. And the reason for that is because that enhances your muscle protein synthesis, so basically, your muscle gain after a workout. So like I said, every three hours ideally throughout the day and then an hour before a training session and then 30 minutes after a training session.