Diet and Sleep are two of the most underrated elements to being a great athlete. Talking about diet first, depending on your height and weight eating the necessary number of healthy calories everyday is key to having enough energy to perform to the best of your ability. I say healthy calories because just any calories doesn’t give your body what it needs. With the workouts and practicing of your sport its important to give your body the key nutrients, and protein it needs to recover and to continue to build muscle. Meal prepping and planning out all your meals for the week, is a great and easy way to stay consistent with a healthy diet.
Sleep is also more important than people realize. Its important to go to bed before midnight and get at least 8 hours of sleep every night. When you are sleeping, this is when your body does most of its recovering. When you go to bed after midnight, your body enters a different sleep cycle. Experts say that if you go to bed after midnight you actually need 10 hours of sleep, because in simple terms, your body subtracts 2 hours of sleep. 8 hours becomes 6 and so on. Naps during the day are okay and encouraged, but 20-30 min is the perfect amount of time to gain more energy. Anything under will not allow your body to fall into an actual sleep, and anything over your body will wake up more tired.
Diet and sleep are where your body recovers and that’s where the results come from. A good workout plan and practice is pointless without a good diet and sleep schedule. As both help you recover this is also a way of preparing your body for your practices and games where you want to perform at your best all the time!
Sports Performance Training 