First Steps 11 - Training & Nutrition

This section is about what keeps you in good shape and allows you to perform to your full potential.

Training & Conditioning

As you begin to take your sport more seriously you will need to get your body conditioned for strength, suppleness and body tension.

Your regular training session should always start with a warm up then stretch and finish with a warm down then stretch to get you ready for exercise and to help prevent injury. During your training session you should exercise to build stamina as well as developing skills.

Away from the trampoline there are many options for general fitness training and specific training to improve your trampoline performance. This beginners guide could not possibly cover the range of training programs and you are strongly advised to seek guidance from your coach or fitness instructor. Joining a gym is a great way to get specific and measurable exercise.

Nutrition for High Performance

Someone said "you are what you eat" and this is certainly true for the high performance athlete (yeah, you!). While the correct foods are important, hydration (having sufficient fluids) is even more important.

Dehydration will severely reduce your performance. A general guide is 360ml 2 hours before training, 180ml immediately before training and 180ml every 15-20 minutes during training. So a 2 hour session will easily require 1litre of fluids (water, squash or diluted fruit juice).

Follow this link for more information on nutrition: British Gymnastics Senior Squad Nutrition Seminar Nov 2004 (presentation).

There are many good books on the subject of nutrition and training for sports, a few are listed in Additional Information.

For further information about this sport, read on...