Transcript

Sophie Troiano

Nutrition's important in fencing in order to optimise performance. You've got to have your body in the best condition possible in order to compete optimally; you have to supply it with all its calorific requirements.

The main principles of fencing are endurance, speed, agility and well explosiveness really. Diet is very important for this so, you have to eat a diet high in carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates, and high protein, particularly after training it's important to rebuild possibly damaged muscle.

As an amateur myself no-one specifically tells me what I can and cannot eat however we are given guidelines by nutritionists especially when we go to training courses and they try and help us make the correct food choices.

In terms of implementing my diet into everyday eating habits it is not that straightforward being a student. You have to try and eat well at breakfast, particularly; you start with a good mixture of cereals, bread and try and take a relatively high intake of protein such as chicken and fish.

Training is usually in the afternoons for me personally so I try and eat maybe a banana or a sandwich about an hour before training. In terms of competition, the night before is very important in terms of eating a large amount of complex carbs such as pasta, rice and in the morning of the competition again eating something with a mixture of complex and simple carbohydrates such as honey on toast, cereal, fruit, this kind of thing.

Foods to avoid are things which are high in fat and low in carbohydrate or other nutritional value, things such as cakes, chocolate obviously you can eat these in moderation but they shouldn't form a large part of your diet.

It's important on a competition day to eat consistently throughout the day to keep energy levels up. In terms of eating before training, as long as you eat 20 minutes to an hour before you intend on commencing that's what's really important…. and often drinking sugary lucozade drinks throughout training can be beneficial. Not only for hydration but to ensure that your blood sugar levels are kept high enough in order to allow you to perform optimally. De-hydration can lead to a very poor performance so keeping optimally hydrated throughout the day as well as during training and competition is very important. Often carrying a large bottle of water with you is the best way to ensure you drink throughout the day.