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How to Achieve the Stamina and Energy Levels of a Sports Star – Simple Little Known Secrets You Can Implement Immediately – Part 1
By hanun | July 26, 2009
Apart from being a perfectionist in your chosen sport, you also need to have a huge reserve of energy and stamina, if you wish to become a sports star. Most of the trainers that you hire can help you achieve perfection in the sport by teaching you the ropes, tricks, tips, strategies and methods required to reach this level. However, when it comes to stamina and energy levels, most of their advice is either just picked around from books, websites, or is simply assumed. This article will shatter the most common myths and empower you with the “real knowledge”, required to gain massive energy levels.
To begin with, you need to understand why energy abundance is extremely necessary. Not only does it allow you to work harder at your target goal, but your brain is also “clearer”, to help you concentrate on it. Higher energy levels also give you more confidence to handle the task at hand, by being bolder than normal. Before I reveal my “real” energy sources, I have to warn you – I am not referring to health supplements or any other quick fixes. If you’re expecting these, you might as well, leave. But if you’re looking for true, long term ways to boost your energy levels, read on.
The most important activity that goes on in our body is metabolism. It is our metabolism that determines which substances it will find nutritious and which it will find poisonous. Our body is essentially made up of 3 classes of molecules – amino acids, carbohydrates and lipids (also commonly known as fats). As these molecules are vital for life, metabolism either uses these molecules in the construction of cells and tissues, or breaks them into sources of energy. This means that as long as your metabolism is regulated and controlled, you will maintain optimum health and energy. There are several ways to do this:
Hydration: The first thing you need to do to keep your metabolism in control, is to keep your body hydrated by regulating your water intake. Do you know how much water should you drink every day? Most of us have heard the popular “8 glasses a day” advice. Unfortunately, there is no scientific theory to support this measure. How much water should you drink every day depends on a lot of factors, like your body weight, your environmental conditions, your daily exercise regime, your body fat and body muscle ratio, etc. If you wish to know how much water you should drink daily, you can refer to the online calculator at: http://www.csgnetwork.com/humanh2owater.html
How often should you take water? Most people believe that you should drink water “whenever you’re thirsty”. This is utterly wrong! You should actually drink at least half a glass of water “every 48 minutes” to keep yourself hydrated! Surprised? You’re in for more!
While it’s a good idea to drink a little more water than the recommended intake for you, drinking “too much water” can actually harm you! Water overdose can cause an “electrolyte imbalance” in your body. The more water you drink, the more you need to replace your electrolytes. So how do you manage this? Don’t worry, you don’t need any expensive sports drink to do that. I’ve learnt that the simplest and the cheapest way in the world to balance your electrolytes is to add a tiny pinch of sea salt to every gallon of water, and you’ll have all the electrolytes your body needs to replace!
Some more important things to learn about water:
Insufficient water intake causes dehydration which makes you feel tired and distressed. It can also result in headaches, constipation, chronic fatigue, dizziness, impotence, hair loss and more.
I can guarantee that if you do nothing else but regularize your water intake, you will have more energy than you’ve ever had before, keeping the rest of your routine constant!
Another way to regulate metabolism is to regulate food intake. What I mean is – you should eat smaller meals more frequently, instead of 3 large meals a day, which, unfortunately, is a routine followed by most humans. This is because beyond a certain quantity (and quality) of food, our body consumes comparatively more energy to digest the larger quantity of food. Additionally, our stomach doesn’t require a large break between each digestive sessions – 3 hours is enough for it to begin anew. Since we’re talking about food intake, I would also like to add that if you take more time to chew your food (about 25-30 times each bite), you’ll save a lot of energy for your stomach to digest it.
Another important but little known source of energy is sunlight. You should ideally take a sun bath for 30 minutes early in the morning. Recently I met a Jain lady who was about to complete a month of fasting. I met her on the 23rd day and she was finding it difficult to continue. No wonder, she had been without food for over 3 weeks! I recommended her to do this and she felt much better, had more energy, and the pain she was having in her arms and legs also reduced drastically! Sunlight also increases the production of Vitamin D.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article. I will be writing more on this topic shortly; you can visit http://www.bharatbhasha.com/author.php/Nirjara%20Rustom to find if they’re already there.
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