A Brief Look Into Bouldering Nutrition

Here is another paper I wrote for my Sports Nutrition Class. My professor had never heard of bouldering so it starts with a brief description of the sport.

Under the umbrella of rock climbing, there are several types of climbing. Each sub group of climbing has its specific nutritional needs due to the duration of the climb and intensity of the involved movements. Bouldering is identified in the climbing world by its shorter routes (usually a boulder’s height), powerful movements, and ropeless climbers. By forgoing the rope, climbers can perform trickier, gymnastic-like moves. Due to their complicated nature, boulder routes are called problems and require greater amounts of thinking to complete than other climbing routes. Most boulderers (specific term given to those that boulder) don’t spend more than a couple of minutes on a boulder problem and rest anywhere from two to ten minutes between attempts. While climbing, the boulderer’s body relies heavily on the glycolysis system.

Like other athletes that participate in high-intensity short-duration sports, boulderers train for longer durations than the time it takes to complete their “event” or boulder problem. Training specificity is very important for boulderers, but they also engage in resistance training. The typical training session lasts about 2 to 4 hours and includes: a warm-up, several attempts at a specific route, interval training, and a cool down. Because of the great stress that is put on the body, specifically the finger joints, training is limited to two to three times a week. These breaks allow the boulderer to replenish the muscle glycogen that is often depleted after their long training sessions.

Out of all the types of climbing, bouldering is the most popular when it comes to competition and statewide competitions are planned every 3 months. Some boulderers climb specifically to compete with other climbers, while others compete against themselves trying to climb a harder problem every week or two.

Zach Bradford is a local boulderer and agreed to be a part of this paper. He is 25 years old, 5’ 6”, and 135 pounds and considered one of the strongest climbers in the Cedar City area. In an interview, Zach stated that he trains about two times a week in addition to one trip a week outside where he really tries to push himself. When he trains, he usually does so for about 4 hours at a time and mainly performs interval drills. Zach mentioned that he doesn’t have a typical eating schedule when trains but says the most commonly eats a bowl of cereal with 1% milk and drinks a glass of water. After his training sessions, he usually eats a bowl of pasta and has another glass of water. When he climbs outside he doesn’t eat much and drinks just over half of a liter. In addition to what Zach normally eats he takes a multi-vitamin, a b-complex vitamin, and a joint health supplement containing glucosamine, chondrotin, and MSM. He explained that he takes these supplements because he doesn’t eat enough calories, have enough energy, and wants to prevent injuries. After the interview, Zach’s age, weight, height, and activity level were inputted into ChooseMyPlate.gov’s My Daily Food Plan tool.

Zach was asked to keep a diet log with amounts for three days but went the extra mile and tracked his eating habits for four days instead. The MyFoodpedia tool, also found on ChooseMyPlate.gov’s website, was used to look up, calculate the number of calories, and establish the exchanges for the food he ate during those four days. Once those numbers were collected, a daily average was calculated for calories, consumption of grains, whole grains, protein, dairy, vegetables, and fruit.  Those averages are as follows: Calories – 1910.5, Grains – 9.5 ounces, Whole Grains - .375 oz, Protein - 4.375 oz, Dairy – 2.06 cups, Vegetables – 1.18 cups, and Fruit - .375 cups. As well as keeping track of his eating, Zach also tracked his water/fluid intake over this time and drinks about 1.45 liters a day.
Based on the information provided by the My Daily Food Plan tool it is suggested that Zach should be consuming an average of: Calories – 2800, Grains – 10 ounces, Whole Grains – 5 oz, Protein – 7 oz, Dairy – 3 cups, Vegetables – 3.5 cups, and Fruit – 2.5 cups. This information shouldn’t be too surprising to Zach because he feels like he isn’t getting enough calories and is taking a multi-vitamin to try to make up for his lower intake levels.

Several suggestions can be made to improve Zach’s diet and his climbing performance and changing a few things can have a large effect on filling the holes in his diet. When it comes to his diet, Zach is eating enough grains (though he should be working on eating more whole grains) so he should put more focus on consuming vegetables and fruit. Along with increasing his vegetable and fruit consumption this should help with his caloric deficit and provide the nutrients he is looking for in his vitamin supplements. Drinking fruit juice within 30 minutes after his training sessions and climbing outings would be beneficial on multiple levels. With workouts as long as his, it is important to replenish fluids and carbohydrates and fruit juice is a good source of both of these. Not only will fruit juice after his training sessions help with recovery, he will be increasing his fruit intake. It is still a good idea for him to continue to eat pasta after his training.

Zach could also do well by increasing his protein intake, but a few things should be kept in mind. Because climbers and boulderers want to maintain a high strength to weight ratio, the protein sources he should seek out should be lean. By choosing to increase his intake of beans and peas, Zach will not only increase his protein consumption but his vegetable consumption as well. During the four days that Zach kept track of his diet he didn’t consume any seafood. Seafood is a good source of protein but also of Omega – 3s. If Zach increased his consumption of Omega – 3s, he could reduce the amount of joint health supplementation almost to nothing. Research performed on the ingredients contained in this supplement have been inconclusive and the anti-inflammatory effects of Omega – 3 would be more beneficial in preventing and recovery of orthopedic injuries.

GlucoChondro, A No Show?

Here is a copy of a paper I wrote for my Sports Nutrition class last semester regarding Glucosamine and Chondroitin supplementation. A week or so after I turned in the paper I came across this web page, which provides the research that the NCCAM has found on the effectiveness of GlucoChondro.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been a popular choice for athletes to relieve their joint pain and other symptoms of osteoarthritis. These drugs are great for providing relief for short periods of time, but have some negative effects that can delay injury recovery if taken long-term. (4) One alternative to NSAIDs that has been suggested in the last decade is glucosamine/chondroitin supplementation. It is believed that glucosamine helps in the formation of cartilage as well as its repair.  Chondroitin has a similar function and helps with the elasticity of cartilage. Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are chemicals that are naturally produced by the body.  Because their production isn’t dependent on the individual’s diet, it is suggested that supplementation will either increase cartilage growth or decrease its breakdown. (5)  Rock climbers are known for the strain they put on their bodies, especially their joints.  Taking a glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate supplement is strongly encouraged within the climbing community (6,7) to prevent osteoarthritis though the research regarding the effectiveness of such supplementation is conflicting to say the least.

The usual dose for glucosamine and chondroitin is 1500 mg/d and 1200 mg/d respectively. (1,5) The larger doses are due to the fact that the supplement’s bioavailability is only 12 to 21%.  Glucosamine/chondroitin supplementation is relatively safe due to a small number of adverse effects. As a supplement, glucosamine is derived from the exoskeleton of shellfish like shrimp, lobsters, and crabs and can causes allergic reactions in individuals who have seafood allergies. Chondroitin can have a blood-thinning effect and should be avoided by individuals taking blood-thinning medication. Other adverse effects that have been reported are nausea, abdominal pain, headaches, and back pain. (1)

Most of the positive evidence regarding glucosamine/chondroitin supplementation has been obtained from experiments involving animals. Though these studies do not directly related to human patients they do provide information that would be difficult or unethical to obtain from human subjects. One study involving cows used the cartilage and ligament cells surrounding the metacarpals joints as cultures and concluded that glucosamine/chondroitin not only stimulates cartilage growth but ligament growth as well. (4) Another study conducted on rabbits suggests that glucosamine/chondroitin supplementation cannot improve already healthy joints. (2)

A study comparing a mineral supplement, Aquamin, a glucosamine/chondroitin supplement, and a combination of the two in their ability to relieve osteoarthritis pain happened upon some shocking results. This study tested the functional capacity of subjects with moderate to severe osteoarthritis in their knees. Aquamin is a supplement derived from seaweed that contains minerals such as calcium, magnesium, salt, and other trace minerals. The subjects were tested by walking as far as they could until their pain was too much. The distance they could walk was measured several times during the 12 week study.  The study found that Aquamin provided the greatest amount of relief and allowed for the greatest distance of walking, followed by glucosamine and chondroitin, the placebo, and the combination of the two supplements. (8) The performance of the combination treatment suggests the ingredients of the two supplements must be counteractive in one-way or another. This topic would be very interesting to study.  The results of the study should be viewed with caution because Marigot Ltd, the manufacturer of Aquamin, paid for the study.

The clinical practice guideline approved by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons is based on a review of published studies regarding osteoarthritis in the knee. The purpose of the review is to compile a list of recommendations of non-invasive treatments for osteoarthritis. One of these recommendations is to refrain from prescribing glucosamine and chondroitin to patients. This recommendation is based on another review of studies that concludes that glucosamine/chondroitin supplementation doesn’t provide any clinical benefits to the patient but is superior compared to a placebo. Unfortunately, the guidelines do not define clinical importance or specify what clinical benefits are. Though the guidelines do not suggest glucosamine/chondroitin supplementation they do suggest the prescribing on NSAIDs as well as acetaminophen despite the long-term implications. (3)

With this review of the research literature it would be suggested that glucosamine/chondroitin supplementation should only be recommended as a last resort treatment for osteoarthritis.  Supplementation hasn’t been shown to prevent joint injuries or the onset of osteoarthritis so it should only be tried by those that have already suffered injury. Also supplementation should be considered if the duration of injury recovery is longer than the suggested duration of NSAID use to avoid longer delays in recovery. Because research suggests that improvements due to glucosamine/chondroitin supplementation take 6 to 8 weeks to show (1); supplementation should stop after 8 weeks if improvements aren’t noticed.

References
1.     Leburn, CM. GLUCOSAMINE (and Chondroitin). American Journal of Medicine and Sports. 2004 May/June

2.     Bradley-Popovich, G. Sports Injury Management: Do Diet and Supplementation Play a Role?. Strength and Conditioning Journal. 2004 October

3.     Richmond, J; Hunter, D; Irrgang, J; Jones, M; et al. Treatment of Osteoarthritis of the Knee (Nonarthroplasty). Journal of American Orthopedic Surgeons. 2009 September

4.     Lippiello, L. Collagen Synthesis in Tenocytes, Ligament Cells and Chondrocytes Exposed to a Combination of Glucosamine HCl and Chondroitin Sulfate. Advance Access Publication. 2006 December

5.     Dunford, M. Sports Nutrition. American Dietetic Association. 2006

6.     Horst, E. Training for Climbing. Falcon Guide Publishing. 2008

7.     Rosenberg, Thomas. To Supplement or Not To Supplement? Climbing.com

8.     Frestedt, J; Walsh, M; Kuskowski, M; Zenk, J. A natural mineral supplement provides relief from knee osteoarthritis symptoms: a randomized controlled pilot trial. Nutrition Journal. 2008 February