Combine Nutrition by Justin Harris

Here is an interesting write up Justin did for a project that we worked on together.

Combine nutrition should be like any other nutrition plan for a day long activity.
A combine will last all day, and you need to be available to showcase your talents at any point in that day. The first step in proper combine nutrition takes place before the combine day ever takes place.

The body has a mild ability for super-compensation of glycogen stores in any given time. To take advantage of this phenomenon, an athlete can begin ingesting foods with high carbohydrate content about 72 hours before the date of the combine. This would include multiple meals of grains, breads, oats, and other foods rich in complex carbohydrates. By ingesting a greater amount of carbohydrates during that time, you can potentially super-saturate glycogen stores. Glycogen is how the muscle stores glucose for use as energy in various metabolic pathways in the body. Much of the energy pathways used in the combine will be glucose driven pathways, so this will provide much benefit.

The morning of the combine, it will be important to ingest slow digesting carbohydrates, complete protein sources, and essential fatty acids. The slowly digesting carbohydrates will ensure there are stable blood sugar levels throughout the day for energy purposes. Because all 20 amino acids must be present at the site of protein synthesis, the complete protein source will ensure there are all the necessary amino acids available for any amino needs during the day. The essential fatty acids will help fuel proper hormone production, ensure essential fatty acids stores in the muscles are present, as well as help slow digestion of the other nutrients providing stable blood sugar levels.

An example of this morning meal would be:
10 egg omelet: 10 egg whites, 2-4 whole eggs.
2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
1/4 cup raisins
1 teaspoon olive oil
0.5oz almonds

During the combine, it is important to maintain elevated and stable blood amino acid and blood sugar levels. Doing this with whole food creates the potential for stomach discomfort and distention.

I recommend the use of a drink mixture containing a high molecular weight carbohydrate. I prefer the use of Waxy Maize from www.trueprotein.com.

To understand why waxy maize is so important, we need to understand what a high molecular weight means. The higher the molecular weight of a carbohydrate, the lower its osmolality. The lower the molecular weight of a carbohydrate, the higher its osmolality. So, a carbohydrate’s molecular weight varies inversely to its osmolality. Knowing this, you can begin to appreciate the difference between HMW carbohydrates and dextrose. The molecular weight of the typical HMW carbohydrate that is marketed today has a molecular weight of 500,000-700,000; whereas, the molecular weight of dextrose is approximately 180. This statistic helps quantify the difference between the two carbohydrate sources. The osmolality of this particular HMW carbohydrate is 11 mOsm/kg in a 5% solution, which is considerably lower than the osmolality of blood at 300 mOsm/kg.

What this means is that the Waxy Maize will pass through the stomach into the small intestine extremely quickly. This prevents stomach discomfort as water doesn’t have time to pool in the stomach, which can happen with whole food and any lower osmolality carbohydrate. The small intestine is where the bulk of carbohydrate metabolism occurs. Because Waxy Maize reaches the small intestine quickly, glycogen stores can be quickly resaturated with no stomach discomfort.

To prevent any blood amino acid deficiencies, I recommend consuming amino acids with this mixture. I prefer very easily digested amino acids such as Gemma Protein Isolate, Whey protein isolate, and Egg white protein. These will all contain minimal to no lactose and contain very minimal amounts of fat or sugar. This will create an easily digested, easily absorbed protein solution that can be combined with the Waxy Maize.

This mixture can be sipped throughout the training day. A handful of almonds can be added at various times to provide the essential fatty acids needed by the body as well.

There are many food supplements that can be added to that mixture to enhance performance as well. As supplements are a complicated subject, and each person will have different effects from different products, I will just list a few that can help you.

Creatine Monohydrate: If taken in the weeks leading up to the combine, Creatine monohydrate can fully saturate creatine phosphate stores. Creatine phosphate stores are the primary energy pathway for short burst, explosive activities.

Beta-Alanine: Beta Alanine is the rate limiting amino acid in the Di-peptide Carnosine. Ingesting Beta-Alanine in the weeks leading up to the combine can elevate intramuscular Carnosine stores. Carnosine can help improve endurance.

BCAA’s: Branched chain amino acids are essential amino acids that can be used directly as energy by the body. They are a very effective amino acid source to provide energy in times of need, as well as having other anabolic benefits.

L-Leucine: L-Leucine is a BCAA that is shown to be a specific trigger for protein synthesis. There are many insulinogenic and anabolic pathways and activities L-Leucine provides. It is a very important amino acid for athletes.