Routines, we all have them. Whether they’re planned or not, we as humans operate to find some sense of order or purpose daily. We seek structure, and with structure comes routine. Let’s start with what a routine is. Routine is defined as a series of tasks that a person engages in daily. This could be a wide range of things: your morning rituals before school, your protein shake you drink after a grueling practice or workout, the same foods you eat during lunchtime, your daily soft-tissue and mobility circuits you do before practice, the book you read before you go to bed, etc. But let’s not mistake this for superstitions. Superstitions, although they may seem similar, are more oriented with an expectation of a specific outcome.

As high school athletes, it can be challenging to establish a performance-based routine. There are so many distractions for a teenager: class schedules, practice, friends and family, video games; the list can go on. All of which can have impacts on daily decisions. And this isn’t just teenagers; adults struggle with life events impacting routines. In the nutrition and sports performance field, there is an overwhelming amount of information for high school athletes to process. Everything they see on social media and hear on podcasts, it always seems there is a “new thing”: a gimmick, potion, pill, or “take this, take that!”. Whatever happened to keeping the main thing the main thing?! Some of the information can be valid, emphasis on can be. But keeping it simple is best. Sleep, training, hydration, nutrient timing, and proper nutrition are the foundation for health, wellness, and performance. There are no pills or powders that can change behaviors. How you do anything is how you do everything.

So where do you start? Let’s start with sleep.

Sleep Hygiene:

Athletes hear it all the time. The cliché “Get your 7-8 hours of sleep every night!” And they’ve all been told the reasons why: better muscle recovery, better focus, clears inflammation, improves body composition, better weight management, etc. All the above are valid. However, sleep is still something that a lot of high school athletes struggle with, despite all the benefits. The thing everyone needs to ask themselves is: “How is my sleeping environment? And how do I prepare myself to sleep?” This is sleep hygiene. Sleep hygiene is defined as healthy habits and behavioral and environmental factors that can be adjusted to improve one sleep. An issue many high school athletes have with sleep is they hop into bed and expect to fall asleep and end up finding themselves with their eyes closed, waiting for the internal ball to drop. Maybe this routine works for them, and if it does, great. But if you find yourself frustrated, ask yourself the question above: “How is my sleeping environment? And how do I prepare myself to sleep?”. Here are some helpful tips on gaining better sleep.

1. Purchase a fan or
   make sure your room is cool.
1. Keeping
   temperatures cool or having a fan to help circulate the room and help
   improve sleep.
2. Blackout Curtains
1. While sleeping,
   it is important to block out as much light as possible.
3. Limiting blue
   light
1. This is one we
   all struggle with. Blue light, whether it’s from televisions, cell
   phones, or tablets, blue light exposure late in the evening can impact
   sleep quality.
4. Last meal 1.5-2
   hours before bed
1. Having a
   late-night meal can impact sleep quality. For young athletes, time their
   last meal 1.5-2 hours before their desired bedtime.
5. Go to bed and
   wake up at the same time.
1. The goal is to
   strive for 7-8 hours of sleep consistently per night and have the same
   wake time on a daily basis.

Along with setting your daily routines (meal schedule, training times, daily tasks, etc.), this is an important one to have in place. Routine and Sleep (7-8+ hours consistently per night) help set the foundation for obtaining your performance goals.

Timing of Training:

Strength training is imperative to performance. The timing of your training sessions may be even more important to your performance-based routine. This isn’t to say that you won’t see the “gains” you’re looking for if you do not train at the same time; however, setting a desired training time centers a lot of important variables within your day. From what time you go to bed (not sure if you’ll want to stay up late if you have a 6:00 AM training session!), the timing of your meals, homework, study time, etc. For high school athletes, this time may already be predetermined during the school year. But depending on the sports you play, these may change on a semester/seasonal basis. Once you have the training time figured out, you can essentially “plug and chug” the rest of your day. Below is an example:

● Strength Training time: 9:00 AM

● Practice time: 4:00 PM

● *Note that this is an example

● 10:00 PM – 6:00 AM – Sleep

● 6:30 AM – Breakfast + Hydration

● 8:30 AM- Pre-Training Fuel

● 9:00 AM -10:00 AM- Training

● 10:00 AM – Post-Training Recovery

● 12:00 PM – Lunch

● 3:00 PM- Pre-Practice Fuel

● 5:30 PM – Post–Practice Recovery

● 6:30 PM – Dinner

● 8:30 PM- Night Snack

● 9:00 PM- Bedtime routine

Think of it this way: before any training session, you want to have some fuel before and after (see Nutrient Timing for more specifics). Once you have training time identified, you can easily figure out your meal schedule, and lastly, this will allow you to figure out your desired bedtime and all the other things you need to do (family time, homework, chores, work, etc.). It is one less thing to worry about.

Nutrient Timing:

Nutrient Timing is exactly what it sounds like; the timing of specific nutrients around specific training times. When training is intense, let’s say a high school American Football Athlete is in the middle of training camp in August. Consider the conditions: hot, maybe humid, full pads, high intensity repeated drills for 1.5-2 hours a few days a week. A Football athlete, in those conditions, would want to consider some form of a pre-practice snack or fuel source prior to that practice, and most of that comes from dietary carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are an athlete’s primary fuel source. So, it would make sense that athletes would want to plan or make a routine habit of supplying their body with the fuel it needs to perform at an optimal level. Carbohydrate-rich sources such as bananas, apple sauce, performance bars/gels/gummies, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, low-fat yogurt with fresh fruit + granola, bagels with nut butter spread, instant oatmeal, sports drinks, etc. Timing is everything. This is why knowing your practice or training schedule allows you to plan accordingly and make a routine habit of implementing this into your day.

But that just covers the “Pre” portion. Post-training nutrition is also vital to an athlete’s performance routine. Athletes are always under high amounts of stress. Stress is stress to human beings. Our bodies cannot identify emotional or physical stress. From a training standpoint, stress is how we get stronger and more resilient. The recovery process to which an athlete does afterward will make the difference in how they repeatedly perform day in and day out. The emphasis for post-workout recovery will be on dietary protein. Proteins such as lean meats (chicken, beef, fish), eggs, whole-fat/low-fat yogurts, plant-based options, whey protein powders, etc., are options that a high school athlete should look for. As stated earlier, carbohydrates are the primary fuel source for intense training, protein, and amino acids are the primary building blocks for building muscle. Most commonly, athletes will choose to supplement with a protein powder or ready-to-drink protein shake post-training due to its convenient nature. However, high school athletes, who are still developing, should strive to choose whole-food options.

Balance and Variation of Meals:

Every food, no matter the level of quality, brings something to the table; pun intended. But the frequency of which types of foods we choose can have an impact on performance. Choosing foods that are ultra-processed (packaged, long shelf-life, fast food) more frequently can have a negative impact on an athlete’s performance. Whereas choosing foods that are nutrient-dense: whole fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, etc., tend to have better outcomes for an athlete’s daily health and recovery. Nutrient-dense foods contain the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that help promote better recovery from the daily wear and tear an athlete endures. Now, every athlete will be different regarding their food preferences and/or dietary needs (vegan, vegetarian, etc.), and no athlete will eat the same. But understanding what different foods can do for them is an important thing to understand when planning their meals.

All of this may seem like a lot of information, but to make it simple, it really comes down to this: timing. Timing is everything, especially for a performance-based routine. Athletes love schedules; when they know what’s coming or going on in a day, they can plan. For athletes, the best ability they can have is their availability of themselves on game day. That’s why there is such an emphasis on routines and what the makeup of that is every day. When you have purpose and intent with what you do, you don’t even have to be an elite-level athlete to do this; everything else in life becomes easier. You don’t have to waste time in the day thinking about what time you want to train or when lunch will be; it’s already been thought out. Does every single detail need to be drawn out? No. Start small and map out a few of the things mentioned and go from there. Again, it’s all about the individual athlete and what works for them. Compliance is the science.