It’s All About Nutrition, Nutrition, Nutrition
Autumn and winter often heralds a different approach to training. For many athletes competitions have eased off while for others the dark nights and bad weather mean that road or cross-country training is difficult, dangerous and often inadvisable.
To help athletes who take to the gym to get through the winter months CNP Professional, a leading supplier of sports nutrition supplements, has put together some training tips:
· Take stock of your progress and decide where you want to be this time next year.
· Nutrition is paramount. Make sure you keep to a good diet with good quality sports supplements to keep the immune system strong and ward off routine winter illnesses.
· Gym work can be interesting. Alter your routine. Get your trainer to suggest new exercises. Concentrate on doing the exercises well.
· Indulge in a bit of surfing. Not the wet kind though. Go online and draw up a wish list for new kit and equipment. Treat yourself.
· Try out a new sport if there are any taster sessions going in your area.
“When people switch to gym-based training their nutritional requirements may alter as the workload is different to what they are used to,” says Kerry Kayes, former champion body-builder and founder of CNP Professional. Kerry has helped many athletes including boxers, strongmen, racing drivers and mixed martial arts fighters get to peak fitness.
“In the gym people are often using muscles they don’t use in their regular training so they must be careful not to get new injuries or aggravate existing ones. But it’s not just about exercising caution on the equipment – correct nutrition has a crucial role to play in training,” he explains. “I always look carefully at an athlete’s diet and make sure they are getting enough protein for muscle repair and recovery.”
Kerry recommends four of CNP’s sports supplements, Pro MR, Pro Peptide, Pro Recover and Pro Vital, as being especially helpful during winter training to ensure the body is getting just what it needs so it is ready for competitions again in the spring.
Pro MR is a high protein, low fat meal replacement shake that contains only 270 calories. The proteins themselves are specially formulated to be easy to digest, filling – due to their combination of fast and slow digesting protein – and satisfying. Probiotic organisms have been included to help maintain and promote a healthier digestive system, while complex carbohydrates and a balanced vitamin and mineral profile ensure the optimum nutritional value.
Pro Peptide uses the same protein as Pro MR but without the carbohydrates and is designed to be taken with cereal in the morning to make breakfast a balanced meal. Pro Peptide is a low-fat, advanced blend of bioactive fast and slow proteins that can be converted by the body into muscle. Also included in Pro Peptide are probiotic organisms (‘friendly’ bacteria), which assist in protein metabolism and maintain a healthier digestive system.
For tired muscles CNP has developed Pro Recover, a post-workout recovery drink designed to give the body the nutrients it needs to recover from intense exercise. It contains a blend of high glycemic (fast-acting) carbohydrates and fast-acting proteins to aid muscle repair and promote strengthening. Pro Recover is a particularly important component of a winter training programme to protect muscles against injury and assist recovery.
Pro Vital is an essential vitamin and mineral mix that supplies important micronutrients for optimal health and to improve the body’s metabolic rate, i.e. the rate at which it burns off those extra winter calories.
“And finally, remember it’s ok to indulge over the festive period but not for the whole of December,” warns Kerry. “It’s all too easy to pile on the pounds, and if you do you’ll have to put in hours of hard exercise to get back to pre-Christmas levels. As a rule of thumb – if your lycra starts getting tight then you’d probably better get back into the training regime!”
All four products are available from CNP’s website www.cnpprofessional.co.uk at discounted prices.
CNP Professional is one of the UK’s leading sports nutrition specialist companies. For more information visit www.cnpprofessional.co.uk, or call +44 (0) 161 320 1212 for sports nutrition advice and +44 (0) 161 320 8145 for sales.
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Notes for editors
CNP Professional is a leading supplier of sports nutrition supplements including protein shakes, protein bars, creatine supplements, meal replacements, mass gainers, weight loss supplements and post work out shakes, all designed for the ultimate in sports nutrition.
Kerry Kayes, the founder of CNP Professional, is a former national bodybuilding champion. He has been involved in sports nutrition for many years and his dietary expertise has established him as ‘the man in the know’ to a wide variety of sportspeople worldwide such as the Ericsson Round the World Yacht Team, boxer Ricky Hatton, dart’s champion Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor, international strongman Glen Ross and Sean Long of Hull FC.
CNP Professional supplements are carefully formulated to ensure that the body is able to make best use of the nutrients. Unlike many nutritional supplements, CNP Professional’s products are easy to drink.
There are several articles explaining protein nutrition supplements on the CNP website – go to the home page and click on ‘nutrition’ under the articles section.