In order for swimmers to achieve their individual performance goals, considerable training commitments are required. Swimmers often train between 3 - 10 times per week, comprising of 1 - 3 sessions per day in the pool. This is also supplemented by ‘dryland’ activities such as weight lifting, HIIT workouts, cycling and running. Furthermore, depending on race distance, swimmers can cover over 6km in one training session and include 2km of high-intensity sprints. Therefore, it is important that a swimmers diet provides suitable energy availability in order to support these training demands.

To fuel multiple training sessions and recover appropriately, swimmers should plan to eat frequently throughout the day, ideally every 2-3 hours. Alongside three main meals each day, swimmers should be consuming light snacks on a regular basis that include a combination of both protein and carbohydrate. The nutritional advice for swimmers is to consume low glycaemic carbohydrates, such as brown basmati rice, quinoa, oats and rye bread, while avoiding high glycaemic carbohydrates such as white bread and pasta. This allows elite swimmers to sustain energy levels throughout the day and perform in multiple training sessions. Foods high in antioxidants and nitrates should also emphasised, such as blue/purple fruits, beetroot, spinach and carrots. This is in the belief of reducing muscle damage, immune dysfunction and fatigue.

Due to activities such as weight lifting, it is also important for swimmers to promote muscle recovery and repair, therefore quantities of plant protein, dairy or lean animal protein should be eaten at every meal, including breakfast. Typical sources of protein include eggs, chicken and fish. In addition, fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and wholegrains all contribute to a balanced diet and provide swimmers with important vitamins and minerals, along with some healthy fats. It is important that both macronutrients and micronutrients are part of balanced meal plan, which can help to maintain a swimmers long term health, while providing suitable energy availability to support their individual training demands.

The nutritional requirements for a swimmer are very specific to the individual and are largely determined by body composition goals and anthropometric characteristics. In general swimmers have a slim physique with small percentage body fat, which improves swimming performance by optimizing propulsion and minimizing drag in the water. Therefore, swimmers must consume enough calories throughout the day to support training, whilst not overeating or consuming poor quality foods, which may increase body fat percentage and effect overall sporting performance.

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