Targeted nutritional efficiency
Slimming
Certain disciplines have the aim and/or principle of slimming or defining the body and "draining it", for aesthetic and/or performance reasons. The diet then has to be particularly low in fats and simple carbohydrates. Active substances can also be used to accelerate the wasting of fatty deposits (eg. caffeine). Finally, specific muscle exercises are used and protein intake must he modified to ensure good muscle function.
Warning, any diet that is particularly rich in protein must be accompanied by higher hydration than normal, because the elimination of protein residues requires a lot of work by the kidneys.
Strengthening
Other disciplines have the aim of toning the muscles, either to increase mass or for targeted performance in certain types of exercise, without necessarily needing to increase mass.Specific targeted training is therefore implemented, accompanied by low fat and high protein intake with, on the contrary, a high protein intake and therefore greatly increased hydration.
Proteins
For all sports requiring a loss of body fat and/or an increase in muscle volume, proteins play a major role in creating muscular mass, but also in compensating for muscle loss and repairing damaged muscles after exercise.Generally speaking, the daily diet is enough to deal with an increase in protein needs (normal intake of 1 g of protein /kg body weight /day, which can be increased to 1.5 g or 2 g of protein /kg body weight /day for long duration sports). But for some sports such as body-building, power sports, etc. that can require 2-2.5 g of protein/kg/day, protein supplements can be considered.
Increasing protein consumption to gain muscular mass must in any case last a maximum of 6 months and must not exceed 3 g of protein/kg/day (to avoid liver and kidney problems). To be effective, this increase in protein consumption must obviously be associated with specific training, without resorting to anabolic products.
For information, foods with the most protein are meat and its equivalents (fish, eggs, etc.), dairy products, dried vegetables and soya.
Strength and weight category sports
A few words of warning about these sports :- Muscular training sessions must not be too violent, because they can be the cause of muscular damage and lesions which are counter-productive.
- In sports with weight categories, maintenance of peak weight must be monitored throughout the year and not just in the run up to periods of competition, because it is dangerous to lose weight at the last minute using any means possible.
This is particularly true for women, where a very strict diet can cause menstrual problems and even lead to anorexia.
For example, fasting generates a lot of waste products in the body and can cause sudden falls in attentiveness.
Methods that result in significant perspiration for loss of water and so weight on an ad hoc basis, such as a sauna or wearing waterproof clothes, are dangerous because they lead to significant dehydration that is subsequently hard to compensate. It is actually very easy to dehydrate the body, but it's much harder and takes much longer to hydrate it correctly; good continuous hydration is necessary to progressively hydrate all the cells of the body. Drinking a lot after a weighing to rehydrate yourself if you have sweated just before the weighing does not hydrate the cells because the water only accumulates in the stomach and on the contrary causes discomfort and therefore reduced physical ability during subsequent exercise.
Be careful not to use such methods, which will spoil all the benefits of the good habits you have learned.