Badminton Performance & Nutrition

I am fanatical about performance in badminton players. I see the components of performance as:

  • technical skill – what the hands and body can achieve
  • movement skill – a key element as every player needs good movement
  • conditioning – this is the physical training required to allow your body to operate in peak condition.
  • tactical – understand how to outplay an opponent through intent.
  • nutrition – the fuel required in order for your body to perform at its best.

Out of all of these components, the one element that is most ignored or abused is nutrition. The excuses are many and varied from “I haven’t time to prepare the right foods” to “I don’t know what to eat,” Another good one is “I am fussy about what I eat.”

These are only valid reasons because you choose to make them so. In essence, if your life depended on it then you would make the change instantly and develop new habits. So, in reality, you haven’t assigned a big enough reason to why your should change your diet.

The word diet does not mean losing weight, but is now virtually associated with that meaning. Eating the right foods helps you build lean muscle which is actually heavier than fat. So, it is possible to gain weight and tone up.

Recently, I friend, who spends a lot of time researching foods, recommended a video to watch. I found it really useful as it breaks down what happens to your body when you perform exercise and the impact it could be having on your athletic performance. It’s very interesting – I recommend you watch it too, to help you understand why nutrition is so important.

The presenter is an MD (doctor) and used to undertake iron man contests. The information he presents is based on research spanning over several years, not conjecture. Also, for those of you that do not know what an iron man contest is, this is Wikipedia’s definition:

An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride and a marathon 26.2-mile (42.2 km) run, raced in that order and without a break. It is widely considered one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world.

Most Ironman events have a strict time limit of 17 hours to complete the race. The race typically starts at 7:00 a.m.; the mandatory swim cut off for the 2.4-mile (3.9 km) swim is 9:20 a.m. (2 hours 20 minutes), the mandatory bike cut off time is 5:30 p.m. (8 hours 10 minutes), and the mandatory marathon cut off is midnight (6 hours 30 minutes). Any participant who manages to complete the triathlon within these timings becomes an Ironman

Here’s the video:

If you have any questions, or would like to discuss the products shared further, including when, how to take them, where to get them from etc (I take them myself on a daily basis), then please: