Athlete: Feeling exhausted, fatigued and spacey. Is there anything I can do to change this?

By Jennifer Santiago 2011

This a question that has been asked so many times over and over. Even myself! As a competitive athlete, I even felt the brute force of fatigue, spaciness and even the same training routine getting harder. What happens to our bodies that causes this?First, let us define Energy Balance and Energy Transfer. Energy Balance is relationship of the body intake (eating) and energy expenditure. A person is 'Energy Balanced' when that individual has equal energy coming in and out of body. Energy Transfer is when energy comes into your metabolic system (food you eat) and the body conversion of that energy from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats to ATP. ATP is crucial for everything: from digesting, to blinking, to walking, to running, to punching, etc... ATP is energy for your body!

Now that we discussed two important terms lets put that together. In order to be 'Energy Balanced' your 'Energy Transfer' has to produce efficient amounts ATP for your system for optimal performance and even health.So basically what I am saying is: Eating good quality foods (not processed, fried, or high in sugars!!!!!) helps with the Energy Balance so that your body can use those good quality foods for your body to move. But lets say you are eating good quality foods, now WHAT?! Well, lets discuss what your activities are and what types of foods you are taking to support those activities. Do you know that different activities require different recruitment of Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Fats?

Use me for example. Being a competitive athlete, I played with a lot diets to see what works and didn't. When doing the research, it made sense why I was breaking down while training, feeling spacey and fatigue, and I was actually surprise that my body was that functional with what I was doing to it. I still won and still performed well, however within my head, I was just surviving in competition because I was depleted.I finally learnt! It was invigorating! I was so full of life and energy.... and was ready for anything. My breathing was top notch and my training was progressing where it had just peaked. I was no longer maintaining but excelling.

What did I do differently? For any given activity your body uses different Energy Transfer systems. For example: My sport is Combat Fighting, it requires spurts high of intensity movement for up to 2-3 minutes. What I did not realize is that it required my body to grab a large percentage of its Energy Transfer from the Glycolytic system. Which means my body was grabbing a lot of its energy from glucose= sugars. Throughout my career up until recently, I highly minimized and sometimes eliminated carbohydrates from my diet. Imagine what my body was doing when it couldn't use sugar when that's what it needed to function at the highest level I needed it to. I am quite surprised I functioned at all with what I was doing to it. Although I won, my performance didn't feel like my best. I started to increase a bit on my carb in take and not only was my stamina and breathing better, but my body looked better and my power increased. I was having fun in the ring instead of focusing on my oxygen intake.. feeling depleted. I finally figured out what my body lacked to create an Energy Balance.Energy imbalance can cause drastic changes in metabolic functions as well as:Reproduction: reduce of fertility in both men and women, impotence in men, irregular to non-existent periods for women, and both men and women reduced sex drive.Cognitive functions: lack of focus, impaired memory, mood, depression and fatigue.Improper repair and regeneration of tissues: the body is always in a state of breaking down. Little is left over for repairing when your body has to maintain minimum function thus Injury can occur.There are three pathways (Glycolytic system, ATP-PCr system, and Oxidative system) that your body can create energy from to work optimally. All three work together but your body takes a big percentage from one of these systems depending on the body's demands and it is your job to figure what your body needs for it to function at its best.

 My advice to you: if you are feeling a low energy in your training try - rest (take two days) then as you are resting figure out what activities you are doing, what pathway your body mostly uses, and then evaluate your food intake and activities. What is it you are lacking or even over doing? Taking this huge step will be one of the most important steps you take that will be life changing.

Energy Balance is key for optimal performance and overall health.

Note: Please use this information as a guide. It is recommend to see a specialist to receive optimal treatment for optimal performance. Please refer to a nutritionist for more information.

Enjoy! Eat! and be Merry!

Live it. Be it.

Jennifer Santiago