Tennis and sprinting on low-carb

[LOOPS]

Hi -

maybe someone can help me out here. I train at tennis pretty intensively every day, and this involves more than just hovering at the back of the court whacking the ball. My trainer makes me really run for hard balls.

Ok - so I am low-carbing - pretty low - not really more than 40g carbs a day - all from veggies/nuts/berries - but I find it hard to sprint. Am hitting the ball REALLY hard so power is there, but my legs just don't have the 'fast' energy I need.

I am experimenting with carbs before tennis, but how many would really make a difference? I feel there must be a magic number for me. I enjoy ketosis as I suffer from anxiety and skin problems, and keeping carbs this low anihalates these problems, but I still want to be able to perform at tennis.

Anybody help me?

Thanks

Loops

[Dodger]

The only way to determine how many carbs to add is through trial and error. Your goal should be to have your muscle and liver glucose (glycogen) stores near full prior to the tennis. You don't want to overfill the stores because the excess gets stored as fat.

The 40 grams per day you are currently at seems to be too low. You should not have to go over 100 grams. You could start by adding an additional 15 grams of 'good' carbs an hour or so before the tennis and another 15 grams within an hour afterwards. Do this for a couple of weeks and see if your tennis power has returned. Monitor your weight to make sure the extra 30 grams is not too much. If your power is still not where it should be and your weight is still good, add another 10 grams before the tennis.

[kbfunTH]

How long have you been at this level of carbs? What do you mean your legs don't have that 'fast' energy?

[LOOPS]

I've been doing this for around a month now. I've done low-carb before, so I'm no spring chicken to this. HOwever I wasn't convinced before (I now am) that low-carb was what I needed. I recently came back and want to find a compromise with sport.

So the fast energy I mean is that I just don't have the energy to sprint like normal. I can go all out for a single sprint across court, but then I'm completely spent.

It feels like my arms are fine - the power is there, but my legs just don't seem to have any energy to sprint. I will sprint, but then it takes me a good 5 minutes to recover for the next rush across court.

I've searched the posts here and can't find anything about sprinters and low-carb. I would really like to believe that eventually my body will work off fat/protein for sprinting but I feel doubtful.

On a plus side my concentration has never been better and I'm hitting really hard. Just need the speed now.

Loops

[kbfunTH]

What percentage of your diet now, is from carbs?

The fat adaption will happe with time at a low level < 25%, carb intake, so no need to doubt that. 4-16 weeks appears to be a normal range of time to accomplish this. Fat is very important for the production of energy in the presence of low carbs, so be sure not to limit its intake. Naturally occuring animal fats in your protein choices should work well.

Work within your means now and increase it as you can. Find your level of carb intake, but don't get caught up in trying to carb load before activities. In a fat adapted body, this will only hurt you.

[katelynal]

Loops,
Are you doing any other kind of exercise? I recently started some strength training and have found that I have had to watch the timing of that in relation to playing a match or going to a drill.

I weigh significantly more than you do and my sprinting on the court is an area that I am very pleased with. I have consistently been getting to balls that my opponents thought were unreachable. Have been going through points requiring sprinting all over the court, then noticing as I am about to serve the next point that I am not even breathing heavily. Perhaps that is because I have more lung capacity from carrying 50 extra lbs around?

I also agree with the advice to experiment with your level of carbs.

Kathi

[kaypeeoh]

When you are sprinting you are burning pure carbs. Energy usage is determined by heart rate. At a low rate you are burning 90% fat. At your maximum heart rate you are burning 90% blood sugar. Everything else you are burning a mixture of fat and carbs. With training the curve shifts toward more fat burning but you can't get to the point of burning pure fat with a high heart rate. I'd suggest Hammergel. It's pure carb that is quickly sent to the blood. I'd use it before and during the competition. It's up to you to figure out how much you need.

[LOOPS]

kbfunTH -

I don't know about percentages - I just eat mostly meat/fat (butter/cream/some olive oil), some nuts, cheese and veggies. Carbs are pretty low - I just throw in some low carb veggies for every meal - mostly broccoli, spinach, bell peppers, asparagus etc. I put butter on everything. I think my fat percentage is pretty high.

Actually I've just come back from training and after a 3 day break I did much better - I didn't feel so exhausted after an hour. I also swam before and was no way lacking in energy - although that is a more steady endurance sport for me anyway.

I just don't want to mess up the system - I'm just starting to really get into the groove of burning fat and today went well without extra carbs so I think I'll give it another month or so and see what happens with eating the carb levels I would without sport (i.e low). I like the way I feel right now so we'll see.

Thanks guys -

Loops

[kbfunTH]

kbfunTH -

I don't know about percentages - I just eat mostly meat/fat (butter/cream/some olive oil), some nuts, cheese and veggies. Carbs are pretty low - I just throw in some low carb veggies for every meal - mostly broccoli, spinach, bell peppers, asparagus etc. I put butter on everything. I think my fat percentage is pretty high.

Actually I've just come back from training and after a 3 day break I did much better - I didn't feel so exhausted after an hour. I also swam before and was no way lacking in energy - although that is a more steady endurance sport for me anyway.

I just don't want to mess up the system - I'm just starting to really get into the groove of burning fat and today went well without extra carbs so I think I'll give it another month or so and see what happens with eating the carb levels I would without sport (i.e low). I like the way I feel right now so we'll see.

Thanks guys -

Loops

It sounds like you've got your system down fairly well. I wouldn't change anything either. Give yourself some more time to fully adapt. No reason your sports should suffer because of the lack of carbs.