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Point1: Snack Shot

As a fan of alliteration (unknown as to why) I was gonna call these wee gems – Point1 Power-Balls. But, emm, well…I won’t!

So here you go, the Snack Shots, one simple base recipe, that you can add in all sorts of flavours, tastes and textures too to get what you want or need.

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Base Recipe

  • 500g Dates (medjool or if not then deglet or similar variety soaked for 3-5 hrs!)
  • 3/4 Cup of Oats
  • 1/2 Cup of Mixed nuts of Choice (almonds, cashew, walnuts, hazelnuts in this case)
  • 1 tsp oil of choice (walnut or coconut work best)
  • Flavourful Add-Ins

1. Chocolate & Coconut

Add in 2 tbs cocoa power and 2 tbs coconut flakes or dessicated coconut! Simple

2. Ginger and Cinnamon – Spice Bomb!

Add in as much grated fresh ginger as you dare to the base recipe and sprinkle on 2 tsp cinnamon powder!

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How To

The easiest way to get the textures needed for a rad snack shot experience is a hand held blender and/or upright blender. The key is getting the dates nice and liquid! so soak if needed. Then blitz to a creamy texture

Drop your oats and nuts into a blender and mix until you get a pretty fine “powder”, leave some left over un blitzed oat and nuts for texture if wanted.

Mix all the dry ingredients of your base and flavor recipes together

Add the oil and dates

Slowly mix until they are all combined – this may take a while so just chill and be patient!

Once you have a texture that still has some moisture but doesn’t stick readily to your hands you can roll up your mixture into the finest wee snack shots you’ll ever have!

Store in an air tight container or in the freezer!

Snack away on a nutrient dense tasty bomb, goes very well with crisp espresso!

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Recipe: Fig & Banana Bars

Friday Freebie at it’s finest! Here’s a simple, fast and tasty recipe to have in the “recipe bank”. Perfect carbohydrate packed bars to bring on rides or snack on about 1hr pre-training if it’s gonna be a tough one!

As always the recipe can be modified based on needs and availability of ingredients, but sticking give or take to teh ratio of “wet” to “dry” ingredients is important.

Bananas and figs make this one nutrient dense and taste filled. So you’ll have no issues with hammering all ride long and longer term health and robustness will be taken care of a little with all the minerals, vitamins and trace elements packed into this package!

Ingredients
2 cups of rolled oats
2 tbsp ground flax and/or chia seed
1/2 + cup chopped figs
2 very ripe mashed large bananas
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup/honey mix
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or real vanilla pods
1 teaspoon cinnamon/nutmeg mixed
1/2 teaspoon salt

How To

  • Mix all your dry ingredients in a large bowl.
  • Add your honey, mashed/blended banana and finely chopped figs to saucepan.
  • Heat over a low heat, stirring regularly until everything is nice and runny and gooey, you may have to presoak the figs or even blend and heat separately if you want a very smooth texture.
  • Be careful not to burn the honey/banana as it won’t taste so good if you do.
  • Once happy with your texture transfer the wet to the dry, mix well to combine.
  • Transfer the mixture a baking paper lined oven-tray.
  • Pat it down using extra baking paper or a large, flat spatula! The thicker you lay the mixture the chewier and softer your bars will be; too thin and you’ll have rock hard bars. not ideal for the trial.
  • Bake in a pre heated fan-oven at 180c for 18 to 20 min

 

Bingo.

 

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Point1 Snack Block

1 Recipe – 2 types of protein packed snack block; multiple uses!

Snack, Travel, extra calories

or

Recover and Re-Build

The Base Recipe 

  • 65g whey isolate protein powder (flavour of choice)
  • 100g ground almond meal
  • 35g desiccated coconut
  • 95-125ml  milk of choice (unsweetened almond or hazelnut or cow’s milk)
The base ingredients, mixed, rolled and blocked!
The base ingredients, mixed, rolled and blocked!

The add-ons, add-ins and changes for your needs

Recovery Bar: So if you want a recovery bar substitute the Whey Powder for a Whey based recovery powder! The chocolate bars pictured used High5 Recovery Protein Powder. If you need or want even more carbohydrate in the mix then add some honey, maple syrup or break all the rules and sprinkle in some cane-sugar!

Orange/Chocolate Bar: I’ve added cocoa powder (the real deal) and orange zest, then substituted some of the milk with fresh squeezed orange juice to make an unreal tangy block! Chocolate-Orange with all of the gainzzz!

Vegan bar: For those who ain’t keen on tasty animal products then you can easily substitute the Whey for a Rice or Hemp Protein! Job done!

Travel Bar: If you want these guys to pack an even bigger nutritional punch or need them to be even more satiating for travel then add in some chopped goji berries, chia seeds and nuts of choice like brazil and walnuts! You’l have to adjust liquid to dry ingredient ratios though!

protein block
Protein Block , cut and ready for the fridge/freezer

How To:

  1. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl
  2. Measure out or weigh your milk of choice
  3. add a little liquid and start to mix, things will seem very dry at first but the dry ingredients will absorb the liquid slowly and start to bind
  4. have patience, adding and mixing slowly
  5. you should get a pretty workable and dry mixture after a couple of minutes
  6. roll the mixture into a log, sprinkle with almond meal so it is easy work
  7. roll it out and cut into discs; shape those discs into blocks as pictured
  8. refrigerate for up to 1 hr
  9. they are ready to roll at any time, but once out of the fridge you can coat with dark chocolate or a chocolate and yogurt mix and it will set fast
  10. The base recipe is key – you can go wild with modifications to suit your needs

This recipe makes about 6 to 7 blocs – double or triple as needed!

Freeze, refrigerate for up to 1 week! These go great as a quality snack after training with a coffee, in the back pack for the long missions or rides (perfect after the 3hr mark) or as a travel stop-gap when jammed with seeds and nuts!

Imagination is only limitor!

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Out of the fridge and ready for dipping in chocolate or eating!

 

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Hhmmmm Protein, Fat and all dem nutritious nutrients
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Smart Nutritional Choices during DH and Enduro Training

I often sit down with the best intentions to right clear, useful and succinct blog posts about a variety of topics! But often, they sit in the “draft” folder, why? Well mainly because I have more than a few lines of thought on more than a few topics, which often leads me down a rabbit hole of additional research and thinking…and before long I’ve chosen to work with or update programs, gather feedback or catch up with the full time Point1 athletes instead of finishing a blog post!

I suppose there are both positive and negatives in that! But I’ve decided to aim for shorter, more concise blogging for this summer. Useful, less wordy but hopefully just as useful!

Less of this and more blogging........right?
Less of this and more blogging……..right? – Photo: Sean Rowe

So here it goes…the first in what will hopefully be a long line of “snappy” blogs!

Nutrition is without doubt the one area I get the most questions in, from athletes to riders on the trials of Morzine, to guys and girls in coffee shops, or on Facebook, people want nutritional info…but they also want the “secret” to eating success. Well there isn’t any secrets. But there is a stack of bull 4m deep, dogma, over-zealous lunatics, fads, supplement companies more interested in marketing than manufacturing and many other pit-falls.

So while the very first port of call of any rider or athlete is a very consistent, well planned and tasty daily meals and snacks…there are a few key areas of focus for the rider engaging in training.

1. Eating enough quality calories

2. Getting the right Macronutrient balance based off of energy expenditure demands and training goals

3. Having tasty, colourful food with good texture variety

4. Having a good idea what you’ll be eating each meal/snack at least 10hrs in advance! (this is KEY)

5. Hydrating regularly and enough 

6. Eating lots of vegetables, a little fruit, various protein sources and a good amount of fat!

Now while the above is just a short list of some areas to focus on when planning out your approach to “healthful” eating. The average rider often asks about supplements long before they address anything like the above! You’d think that the coach in me would say “sort of the basics” change your behaviours and attitudes to food and then we’ll talk before even entertaining the idea of adding in supplements to a diet and you’d be right…but having said that “supplementing” a good diet is becoming a whole lot more difficult because, luckily for people like me, it seems that smart, simple, relaxed approach to nutrition and diet are becoming very much the “norm”!

Have your nutritional sh*t in a pile before you worry about the supps! - This is a Neil Stewart feed!
Have your nutritional sh*t in a pile before you worry about the supps! – This is a Neil Stewart feed!

With that in mind – there are two key areas where I look to supplement with Gravity athletes who get themselves set up on a Point1 Coaching Partnership.

During and After Training – Why, because the high intensity, intermittent nature of DH and Enduro practice, riding or racing means significant exercise induced muscle damage (EIMD), glycogen depletion, mild dehydration and possible reductions in adaptation too or performance in a given session. So while we look to have some of the above to provide an adaptive stimulus for our bodies after training, we also need consistent application of the minimal worth while load over a long period of time to actually, ya know, get dem GAINZZZ!

So that’s why we look to supplement (not always) with some sort of specially prepared beverage during DH runs, Enduro laps or anything of that nature!

With a pretty solid body of evidence in the research to support the idea, a Carbohydrate – Protein blend beverage consumed at a rate of about 35 -45 g of carbs and 5 to 10g of protein in 500ml to 750ml of water per 2 to 3 runs or over 45min to 1hour seems to work spot on!

So what does it actually work on? 

  • Reductions in acute fatigue that manifest itself as both central (ability of your brain and CNS to control/create /drive movement) and peripheral (ability of metabolic and mechanical systems to power and fuel those movements)
  • Reductions in muscle damage and soreness during and after sessions meaning you can train sooner or to a higher quality in the next session – so that means more quality and/or quantity of good tech or physical ridning.
  • Better quality training during the session, less likely to make mistakes caused by the above fatigue discussed. More likely to execute lines and be able to overload the mechanical and metabolic systems in the exact movement patterns demanded by the sport! Therefore more likely to directly improve your “sport characteristic performance”.
  • Peripheral fatigue will cause reduced impulse, central motor drive and alterations in ideal motor unit (read muscle movement) recruitment patterns that will mean you’ll soon be using less than optimal technique and bleeding even more energy…this is the feeling of “not being able to ride” we all have gotten when riding and not snacking!

So, basically do more, do it better and arguable safer if you supplement a DH, Enduro or similar “intermittent” session with a Carbohydrate – Protein based beverage. Why beverage…well some studies have used gels…but the simplicity of a drink, coupled with the fact that you can easily get your required H2O, electrolytes and other minerals in the one package a drink based CHO -PRO supplement is a no-brainer!

The best and often recommend one to Point1ers is the High 5 4:1 product – it’s tasty, has Whey protein and not soy or some other sub-average protein source, tastes good, comes with the needed electrolytes in there already and not only is the mix in a research backed 4:1 mix of Carbs to Protein, it also is made with a variety of carb sources dubbed “multi-transportable” by Scientist meaning your gonna get a better delivery of energy and less stomach issues than if they used sugar, maltodextrin etc… alone!

High5 4:1
High5 4:1 – natural stuff for the most part

Now you may think I’m pedaling supps here with my marketing cap on! But I have made a variety of “home-brew” versions of a 4:1 intra riding drinks and invariable I come back to using the High5 4:1 as it’s on the money out of the box. Although that’s not to say I’ve not recommended some changes! 😉

However feel free to recommend in the comments the other brands or mixes you have tried if you have tried any!

Likewise questions below are welcomed!

A few Gravity Enduro lap essentials!
A few Gravity Enduro lap essentials!

 

A full day of timed DH runs needs more than a drink mix, but the 4:1 is still an integral part! As is pen and paper.
A full day of timed DH runs needs more than a drink mix, but the 4:1 is still an integral part! As is pen and paper.

Finally here’s a link to some of the research mentioned in this article – 4:1 mix used in Alpine Skiing a sport with many similarities to ours! – cho 4;1 gel skiing study

And finally part two – more research supporting the above claims for those interested!

Seifert, J.G., Kipp, R.W., Amann, M. and Gazal, O. (2005) Muscle
Damage, Fluid Ingestion, and energy supplementation during
Recreational Alpine Skiing. International Journal of Sport Nutrition
and Exercise Metabolism 15, 528-536.
Saunders, M.J., Luden, N.D. and Herrick, J.E. (2007) Consumption of
an oral carbohydrate-protein gel improves cycling endurance
and prevents postexercise muscle damage. Journal of Strength
and Conditioning Research 21, 678-684.
Ivy, J.L., Res, P.T., Sprague, R.C. and Widzer, M.O. (2003) Effect of a
carbohydrate-protein supplement on endurance performance
during exercise of varying intensity. International Journal of
Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism 13, 382-395.
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High5 RP Chocolate Mousse

Tough day in the saddle or better yet standing on the pedals slappin’ turns and berms? – Feeling like a treat straight after riding or something sweet after your main meal but don’t want to stop the Gainzzz (yes 3 Z’s) train?

Well here’s the simplest tastiest treat going and “functional” to boot.

Chocolate Mousse that helps you Recover! – Voodoo magic surely!?

Natural-PWG-NFACNASOP-Stg3

 

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Ingredients

200g of Fromage Frais – (why Fromage Frais – because it’s “alive” with cultures and a nutritional
powerhouse)

40g of High 5 Recovery Protein Powder (I used chocolate flavour)

1 Egg White – whisked

Optional Vanilla Essence to taste

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How To

1. Whisk the Egg White so she’s “peaky”!

2. In a separate bowl mix together your two scoops (more if you’ve had a wild day) of High5  RP

3. Slowly combine your egg whites with your Fromage Frais/RP mix and boooom you’re done

Optional extras: Add some vanilla essence, dark chocolate flakes/shavings, coconut pieces or top with frozen or fresh berries! All depends on your nutritional needs and energy expenditure for the day not to mention your current goals!

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The Finished Priduct
The Finished Product

Here’s the exact nutritional breakdown of a 100g Serving! – Multiple by 2 if you eat the whole lot in one – easy do!

http://point1athletic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/High5-RP-Chocolate-Mousse-2.pdf

Final Top Tip: If you are looking for or are in need of a lower calorie option then use the same recipe but just add a Whey Protein Isolate powder in whatever flavor you want! Similar taste, less calories per serving! But if you have genuinely had a tough day behind the bars or barbell then the “RP” Verison is your best bet!

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Recovery Ice-Cream – High5 Special

Sounds to good to be true I suppose – Ice-Cream that helps you recover from hard training and racing?

Well fear not sometimes in life the “to good” stuff comes true! This is about the simplest Point1 recipe yet and kicks off a series of blogs I’ll be doing using the awesome products from the folks at High 5.

high5-banner

 

So here it goes

Ingredients

1 Sachet of High 5 Banana Vanilla Flavour Protein Recovery Powder

2-3 Medium, ripe, Bananas

1 pot of Natural Yogurt – (I used a full fat one, makes nutritional “density” sense!)

1 tsp of Vanilla Essence

Small pinch of sea-salt
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How To

Place all ingredients in a bowl – I used a Tupperware with lid so I could transfer direct to freezer, no waste, no messing!

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Mix with a blender until smooth

Freeze for a few hours – DONE!

Oh and make sure to enjoy it with some dark chocolate shavings, dried coconut flakes or just on it’s own! I’ll update this post ASAP with the full nutritional breakdown from www.nutritics.com once they add the High5 Protein Recovery Powder to their database.

Like always this recipe can be modified as needed and to be honest using the Chocolate flavour powder with raspberries tastes even better!

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Enjoy.

 

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Point1 Breakfast in 1

Go anywhere do anything snacking! A cookie type thing that does it all! Breakfast, snacks, riding, racing…..bulking for those #gainzzz

Pictures, nutritional breakdown and “how-to” below!

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Mix all your dry ingredients in a big bowl – well! You can substitute the flour types, seeds and nuts for whatever you fancy! But the oats are crucial to hold these “cookies” together and give them there texture.

In a separate bowl mix all the wet ingredients and Almond or peanut butter! If you want a sugary cookie add in 1 to 4 Tbs of honey. I wouldn’t recommend the added honey for a breakfast or snack cookie, but it would be perfect if these were to be used as a snack on a very long ride or training session!

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Combine wet and dry ingredients until you get a nice consistent batter!

Plonk some dollops of batter onto parchment paper on your oven tray and bake at 180 c in a fan oven for about 15 mins!

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And by all means sprinkle whatever seeds/nuts you want on top or add cacao and some 75% + dark chocolate if you want some chocolate in your life!

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These “All in 1” cookies are packed with vitamins, minerals and fibre, so they fill you up and take some time to digest, so certainly not a pre-ride snack, but are perfect as part of a breakfast 2 hrs before training or riding or after the 3 hr mark on an epic trail ride or race!

As you can see in the 100g nutritional breakdown they have a pretty perfect ratio of fats to carbohydrate and protein to form a great snack or part of a meal!

Enjoy

 

http://point1athletic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Point1-Breakfast-in-1.pdf

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Point1 Chilli

Winter’s on it’s way! Nothing better than a massive bowl of ohh so very nutritious chilli to fuel you up after training and keep the immune system rocking.

Honestly there is so much awesome in this pot it’s mind-blowing. You’ve got some pics below and then the recipe with full nutritional breakdown in PDF form for you guys to download, print, share, save and use!

This chilli can be served anyway you like – I usually go for “lettuce-wraps” with homemade buckwheat and seed crackers for pretty much the most tasty nutrient dense feed any man, women, man-child or wee-man could ask for.

Enjoy! Sorry about winter.

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http://point1athletic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Point1-Chilli-2.pdf

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Point1 – Veggie Burger Deluxe

Varying your source of protein is a pretty good habit for sticking to a successful, tasty, performance enhancing diet! Variety, colour and texture are all pretty key parts of keeping yourself eating like a champ day in, day out!

It  seems to me that males in particular often go two ways – polarised opposites – either all out vegan or all out dead cow! Both approaches are the different sides of the same coin. Riders frequently think that depriving themselves of certain things will =equal success, like total sacrifice is needed to achieve your nutritional goals or similarly the total #NFG approach of I’ll eat what I want and just bury myself into the bars/pedals/weights twice as hard! Well neither approach is going to be optimal.

So that’s where tasty alternatives to the same old meals come in handy. Step in the Point1 Veggie Deluxe! A protein, nutrient and taste pack wee patty of awesome.

Once again, simple to make, cook and above all else performance enhancing tastiness. Each patty has decent amounts of protein, a moist but crispy texture and can form part of a variety of main meals or snacks.

 

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Ingredients:

500g of canned Chickpeas – drained, washed, re-washed and then soaked in some water and apple cider vinegar for at least 4 hrs!

Small Handful of grated Cheese, old, matured, raw milk awesomeness – aim for good stuff not plastic

35g Rolled Oats

35g Quinoa (about a quarter cup)- Red, black or white

1 Egg – Beaten

1-2 Tsp Wholegrain Mustard

1-2 Tsp Paprika

Pinch of Chilli Flakes

2 Tsp Cumin

1-2 Tsp Curry Powder

1 Tbs Herbs of choice

Sea-Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper – ‘cos that’s how we roll in the Point1 Kitchen!

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How to:

Mix Mustard and Egg together in a cup, combine all other ingredients in a large salad bowl. Mash bowl ingredients with a potato masher! Add in the Egg and Mustard mix, continue to combine/mash as you see fit until you obtain a nice mixture. If things seem a little moist then you can add in a little buckwheat flour to soak it up!

Make Patties in any thickness, shape or size you see fit. But round, plam sized ones about 2cm thick cook the best!

You can “cook” the burgers on a pan with some olive oil or walnut oil, on the BBQ or like I prefer under the grill. Cook until nice and golden on both sides, but not so long as to dry out all the ingredients!

Enjoy as you see fit, but hopefully for your health and performance you won’t be eating them in a filthy, industrial, nutritionally void white burger bun, but instead with a huge side salad, sweet potato fries and hummus!

Feel free to add in other beans/pulses instead of the 500g of chickpeas (as-long as they are well washed/soaked and prepped), I’ve used the same recipe with kidney beans, white haricots, lentils, extra cheese, no cheese, tons of Quinoa and split peas just to name a few!

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Plated Up!

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Point1 PowerJacks

Like a flapjack but designed to maintain or maybe, who knows, even improve performance during your training rides or sessions! Between DH runs, on the lift when partaking in Broduro laps or trail side on a trail ride, these PowerJacks are simple to make, quick to cook, tasty, moist and portable! Get on the program my friends.

Ingredients:

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Dry

150g rolled oats – (soaked overnight in a small amount of yogurt/water/milk if you wish – adjust wet ingredients accordingly)

2 scoops (abut 120g) of your favourite “Recovery Mix” – I used Kinetica’s Complete (Chocolate Flavour) this time but have used similar products from High 5 and Optimum Nutrition.

Sunflower seeds and hazelnuts (or similar) to taste

1tsp of cinnamon

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Wet

1 ripe banana

150ml of Milk of choice (Cow’s, almond, hazelnut, rice etc… – not Soya, soya milk is filth!)

1 tsp of Vanilla extract

35-50 g of honey or maple syrup (Optional)

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How To

Pre-Heat a fan-oven to 180c. Mix all wet ingredients together until well combined; add to dry until a nice consistent mixture is obtained. Spoon mixture out into a rectangle about 1.5cm thick on a parchment paper lined oven tray. Top with Sunflower seeds for added texture and awesomeness!

Cook for 12-15mins in the oven, just enough so its slightly browned, to long and you’ll have some dry Jacks!

Remove from oven and immediately, but gently, cut into “bars” – this mixture will make 12-15 small bars. Let cool and BOOM you’ve got yourself some PowerJacks!

 

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Make sure to eat with water/fluids and reap the benefits! Finished product below. Store them in some Tupperware for up to 3 days!

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