Home | Training | Articles | DIET | Alan | Exercise | Links Diet and Nutrition The qualifications of your Personal Trainer should be exceptional and specific in this complex and often controversial science. Once you begin to exercise, your physiology adapts accordingly and you will notice changes within you. It is not enough to consult a standard dietician, as these professionals invariably deal with unexercised people who will benefit from standard nutritional guidelines like the Food Pyramid structures and standard RDA’s (Recommended Daily Amount) in vitamin and mineral intake. When you exercise regularly a dramatic metamorphosis occurs. In some cases, antioxidant vitamin supplementation (e.g. extra vitamin C and vitamin E) may well be beneficial in overcoming the exhaustion you feel at the onset of your journey to fitness. Anti-oxidants combat the ‘lipid peroxidation’ (more commonly known as ‘free-radical activity’) that occurs at this time, and help to prevent this cellular destruction within you. Lipid peroxidation is literally the fats in your cells turning rancid. When this occurs, the role of vitamin C and E is that of a fighting symbiosis. Vitamin E attacks and neutralises free radicals, whilst part of the role of vitamin C (as well as being a free radical scavenger in its own right) is to repair and re-energise the waste products that E has created amidst the biological conflict taking place. Post exercise conditions must be noted individually, and with great precision, to ensure maximum benefits are generated by your health and lifestyle improvements. Too much vitamin C of the Ascorbic acid variety can cause diarrhoea and gastric distress. This, however, is not always the case with the Ester C Ascorbate. Excessively large dosages of vitamin E, or D-Alpha Tocopherol, which is known as a fat-soluble vitamin, can cause weakness with fatigue and exacerbation of hypertension (high blood pressure). Your age plays a dramatic role in what is known as bioavailability. This is the term used for how much of what you consume you can actually absorb. The older you are, the less you are able to extract from your food as it passes through your system. At any one time a 10 year old child has over 50% more anti oxidant vitamins in the system than a 50 year old man. An exercising mature person needs even more anti oxidants to combat the extra natural free radical propagation, which is a natural by-product of exercise biochemistry. This is much like exhaust fumes from a car on a necessary journey, and regularly exercising adults must ensure they get their extra dosages to maintain chemical equilibrium and immunological efficiency. Your Trainer must have in-depth knowledge of both standard nutrition and sports nutrition (and know the highly significant differences between them), or he/she will be unable to make comparisons between your past standard nutritional intakes and analyse your present needs. Take the following example, in some individuals, protein requirements after exercise escalate, in others no difference is noted in protein desire or intake. Why is this so? In spite of the conflicting evidence of extra protein requirements being unnecessary, proteins are still the basic building blocks of muscular tissue. Consequently, a body builder whose main goal is to increase muscular size (hypertrophy) will need more bricks to build a larger ‘house’. The case for building up large physiques when consuming an average RDA protein is heavily unsubstantiated. Alternatively, a sprinter or pentathlete would wish to avoid increasing lean mass (muscle) to such a pronounced degree, as the power to weight ratio of their physiologies could be compromised by the greater body/muscle tissue weight ie they would slow down. Hence a more average daily intake of protein is acceptable here. Likewise, for some who exercise there is a greater need for vitamin C, and whilst standard vitamin C is adequate, Ester-C-Ascorbate would be more effective as it is calcium and water based and therefore more easily absorbed into the system (i.e. has greater bioavailability). These facts can radically affect human colonic stability and stool production, often making a significant difference in a person’s bowel function. This, of course, is particularly important for those who are exercising and suffer IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) or Crohn’s Disease. Your Trainer must also have extensive and detailed knowledge of medical conditions, to enable analysis of your intakes to be accurate and effective. If, for example you are on a number of medications and a special diet, lack of quality expertise can cause not only lack of progress, but may also lead to physical regression. This is because the exercise regime instigated physiological changes and demands, which were not anticipated and prepared for by your trainer. Remember, and be very much aware, that even if you are a person who regards yourself as healthy, the changes within whilst exercising are still happening. You would still benefit more from your exercise regime with a nutritional expert to guide you in terms of what, how much and how often. Lack of sophisticated technical expertise in this area can be expensive when buying unnecessary, inadequate and inaccurately prescribed supplementation. Furthermore, due caution should be exercised in respect of overdose and the consequences of such incompetence. Bear in mind that all dietary scenarios differ radically between male and female, hence intricate knowledge of bone mineral density applications, hormone variations and osteoporotic physiology etc, must be well within the trainer’s expertise. He/she must have such knowledge immediately to hand, and be able to answer highly involved queries ‘on the spot’. Courses in Sports Nutrition outside of degree level are measured from 45 - 80 hours to a few weeks, and are all available to individuals with absolutely no previous experience at all in nutritional science. Titles such as ‘Optimum Nutritionist’ and ‘Nutritional Consultant’ or ‘Advisor’ are ones to watch out for here. It is up to you, when you consider your prospective Personal Trainer, to specifically ask what their exact qualifications are in this area, and then seriously consider if such training times can produce the outstanding, highly qualified professional you seek. You can contact Alan by telephone on  07833 110364