Friday, July 19, 2013

Figure Skaters….What do you eat?


So now we all know that figure skater can do some amazing things on ice: Loops, Axels and Solchows. In fact that was Ilya Kulik and Katerina Goreava, who have made the International Skating Center home in the past and present. But the real question is what do figure skaters eat to be so fit to be able to do such amazing tricks? Well that is why I am here. I am going to answer that with a comprehensive look at what typical figure skaters daily meal plan looks like!

Let us start with that most important meal of the day, breakfast. Breakfast also happens to be my favorite meal too but we will not get into that! It is recommended that if you want to be a serious figure skater that you need to have fiber in your meal plan throughout the day. So what better way to have fiber in the morning than with fruit? Fruit is packed with fiber and comes in a ton of varieties including juices. What if you’re not really a fruit kind of person though? Well that is okay because many types of cereal also has fiber in it. Calcium is also important in the morning, so grab your cereal and poor it into a nice bowl of milk.

Here at the International Skating Center of Connecticut our competitive figure skaters tend to skate at least one morning session of our Open Freestyle sessions. After a good hard morning skate it is essential to keep those energy levels high and again have a piece of fruit or some bread to serve as a snack between breakfast and lunch.

So now that the clock has finally struck 12:00 and my stomach is growling it must be time for lunch! So let us ditch the fruit idea for a little while here and try making a sandwich. Of course start with your two pieces of bread (pick your favorite kind) and then put on your usual lettuce and tomato to get some vegetables in your body. Now here is the important part, the meat on the sandwich is recommended to be turkey because it gives the skater added energy and protein. The added energy from the turkey is needed to once again skate another thirty minutes to one hour session on ice in the early afternoon.

After that mid-afternoon Free Style session is over it is once again time to have a snack. You can copy the same procedure as the morning snack or even substitute a yogurt with fruit in it for a little variety in your day.

So now that you’re home and ready for dinner it is important to take care of your body. The best way to do that is to have a lean protein, such as chicken, fish or steak and many recommend a potato. First, the meat will allow you to repair all your muscles that you worked throughout the whole day and give your body another boost of protein. Second, potatoes are recommended to help store energy for the following day. Since, most of our regular customers skate multiple times a day, usually a morning, early afternoon and late afternoon session it is important to continually replenish energy levels throughout the day.

Now I know it seems like I have gone over only a single day but a lot of items can be substituted day in and day out to add a little variety. An example would be to have a bagel instead of bread at breakfast or to have peanut butter to boost protein and energy levels.

If you have your own recommendations as to what you personally do or perhaps some substitutes for our readers please post them here!

 



 

No comments:

Post a Comment