We all struggle with New Years’s resolutions and adhering to them. But if you have the ever-trending topic of improving your nutrition on your list as well, there might be a few easy hacks that do not require any big preparation. Plus, they might just give you this extra edge on court next match. Are you ready to jumpstart into the new year?
1. Track your food to understand what is going on
In my coaching career I was constantly asked “How do I improve my nutrition for optimum performance?” and my answer was mostly the same. Because it really depends on where you are now with your nutrition and what you currently struggle with. Let’s say you eat a bag of candy every day – I won’t have to go in to too much detail about micronutrients and different greens at first, we can just easily improve the simple things. And even if you think you have your gameplan figured out at the dining table, you might be under- or overeating on calories, carbs or in general, which will cost you in every aspect of your performance.
So, first things first, you want to understand what is going on with your nutrition and how it affects your body. There are plenty of tracking apps online, but the best one for most countries is probably MyFitnessPal. You can track your calorie intake, activities and even link it to your fitness watch if you are using one. That way, you don’t only get a rough understanding of how many calories you need, but also what are the contributors to your daily intake and can make notes on how you are feeling depending on your lifestyle. Only if we know, we know.
2. Go for the easy fixes and ditch the fancy promises
Everywhere around you on social media you get bombarded with an array of offers, from diet plans to supplements and secret juices, that will make you lose weight and feel amazing. In the end, some of these will help, others won’t. But they all play by the same guiding principles, whole foods and calorie intake are king when it comes to nutrition. I might repeat myself from other nutrition blog articles on here, and I will most likely continue to do so, because these two things will always have to be in check for you to succeed.
Whole foods intake means that most of your calories should be from fresh, non-processed options that you are preparing or eating raw. Of course, you can have some condiments with your food and don’t need to make your sauces yourself, but any self-made healthy option is a great help to your diet. And your calorie balance will always determine whether you are gaining or losing weight, whether you are performing at the highest level and how you are feeling. If you want to lose weight, you should be in a consistent calorie deficit. If you want to build muscle mass, you should consume more calories than you are burning. And finally, for optimum performance and body composition you should be around your daily burnt calories. And guess what – you can calculate those also in one of the above-mentioned tracking tools. All without having to drink only juice for the next week!
3. Cut your biggest enemy and replace it with a healthy option
Most of us are creatures of habit – we have strengths and weaknesses that we are used to and come back to our routines. You might notice this when you are back to your ball toss or backhand motion, but it will also apply for eating. In your tracking you will easily identify the one thing that is keeping you from improving the diet, be it the glass of beer you enjoy every day or the bar of chocolate. Let’s not carry this into the new year and leave it behind, so that we can get to a better place this trip around the sun.
And if you have identified the culprit in your nutrition, you can also find a good alternative while you are at it. Here are a few examples that I have worked on with clients, that has made a massive impact on lifestyles, body composition and performance:
- White bread replaced with full grain, sprouted or protein bread
- Fatty sausages and cuts of pork replaced with plant-based or lean protein sources (fish, chicken, tofu etc)
- Full-sugar soda replaced with water flavored with lemon, mint and cucumber
4. Fuel for your matches accordingly
We all remember the French Open Alcaraz-Djokovic match, where the young Spaniard seemed to be on the brink of beating the all-time great but then began cramping badly. In retrospective, his food and drink choices during this match might have cost him a Grand Slam title. While we are not playing for these accolades, we still want to win our club or tournament matches and our bodies work the same way. So, the easy fix for your new tennis year is to really emphasize the nutrition on game day and here is my rough plan for this event:
- Have a full meal high in carbohydrates about 2-3 hours prior to your match (e.g. a bowl of pasta with some protein), slow carbs have advantages over fast ones here.
- Make sure you are properly hydrated going into the match (you are hydrated if your pee is light yellow or less)
- Fuel yourself with sports drinks (water + electrolytes) and some carbs during your match. You want quick carbs here, such as fruit, energy bars etc.
- After your match, make sure to drink enough water and have a full meal high in protein and complex carbs (e.g. lean meat/fish with sweet potato and vegetables)
