If you want to be able to skate as long as possible, eat quality foods and fuel your body with the nutrients in fruits, veggies and quality protein sources.
– Nick Dompierre
pre-session nutrition.
What and when you eat before your sessions can either have a positive effect on your skating or end up making you skate worse, this article will tell you everything you need to know about what to eat before your sessions.
Your body gets its energy to keep you skating from 3 different sources: fats, carbohydrates and proteins, and everyday you’re burning through these different stores and recharging them with the stuff you eat. Each energy system is used at different times depending on what you’re doing and some have more of an impact on your skating than others. For example, fats are used for low intensity, long duration movements like when you're cruising around and in between tricks, along with when you're just chilling. However, even a skinny person has enough energy stored in fat to power them for 100s of km of pushing, so running out of this energy supply whilst you skate isn’t an issue and you’ll always have enough to get you through your sessions.
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carbohydrate.
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Your carbohydrate tank on the other hand has a very limited energy supply; the average person only has enough energy stored in carbohydrates to power them for about 60 - 90 minutes of intense exercise.
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Carbohydrates are the energy source your body uses for fast and powerful movements like popping your tricks or running back up some stairs, so once you start running out of this supply it really starts to affect your skating.
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As your carbohydrate store continues going down you’ll start feeling more fatigued, you’ll lose power, and you’ll start skating worse in general.
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Starting off your session with your carbohydrate tank as fully stocked as possible will keep you feeling energised for longer and skating at a better level for longer as you'll have more fuel to burn.
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protein.
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For sessions longer than 90 minutes your body also uses a small amount of protein for energy, along with using it to repair your muscles and other stuff. Getting in some protein with your pre-session meal will give your body another source of protein than your muscles. If you don't get enough protein on a regular basis, you'll lose muscle, shrivel up like a worm, and end up popping your tricks like you did when you were 12.
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Starting your sessions with a fully stocked carbohydrate tank will also decrease how much protein your body burns.
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Protein will help maintain your energy levels, speed up how fast you recover after your sessions, and help you stay more hydrated whilst you skate.
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timing.
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If you've got 2 - 4 hours before your session, eat a high carb meal with some protein in there. A small amount of fat won't hurt but don't eat a meal swaying towards primarily fat. 2 - 4 hours will give your body enough time to digest the food and make the energy accessible.
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If you don’t have much time before your session cramming in a lot of food isn’t a good idea as your body won’t have time to digest it, won’t be able to access the energy, and skating on a full stomach just makes you feel like a slug.
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If you’ve only got about 30 - 60 minutes before your sessions, you can try eating something light and high in carbohydrates. Some people feel more energised eating straight before they skate, but others, like myself, feel tired and sluggy. So try it and if it works for you do it, if it doesn’t, don’t. And that goes for everything in life my friend, so you think you’re just learning about nutrition but there’s some valuable wisdom to be learnt here on The Daily Push too.
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If you weren't able to eat anything before your session, a better solution can be focusing on what you eat whilst you skate, which is something we’ll be covering in the next video/article.
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moist factor.
Starting your sessions hydrated is also super important and dehydration will destroy your session and energy levels more so than a birthday party of scooter kids pulling up to the skatepark.
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As long as you haven’t skated or done any other exercise earlier in the day and you drink enough in general then you should already be well hydrated.
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On top of this drink about 500ml 4 hours before you skate, specifically the recommendation is 5-7ml per kg of bodyweight… I don’t know if anyone wants the specifics but now you’ve got them.
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Along with this, as you’re getting closer to actually going for a skate if you’re not pissing or it’s coming out darker than a pale colour, drink another 2-300ml.
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photo: @rofilesshots
food examples.
I'm going to do a whole section on general nutrition but for now I'm just going to list some different food examples that are good to monch on before your session.
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I know they're usually much more expensive but if possible buy as much organic food as you can, always go for as little processed food as possible, and try and make sure the majority of your plate consists of plant-based foods.
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2 - 4 hours before the session
30 - 60 mins before the session
foods high in carbohydrates
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Oats
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Quinoa
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Potato
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Sweet potato
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Grains
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foods high in protein
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Tofu
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Fish
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Lean meat
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Eggs
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Quinoa
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Nuts & seeds
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Legumes - kidney beans, chickpeas, etc
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Protein powder