Head sports activities dietician Cat Hammer brings firsthand expertise to her new position
There are numerous components that go into making an ideal athlete. From natural-born expertise to coaching and work ethic, a lot influences which gamers safe the sting on recreation day. However when you ask head sports activities dietician Cat Hammer, crucial think about athletic efficiency is slightly easy.
“While you’re an athlete, when you didn’t work on schoolwork, your schoolwork most likely wouldn’t be nice, however you might nonetheless do it,” Hammer mentioned. “For those who didn’t power prepare, you most likely would not be tremendous robust, however you might nonetheless raise weights and compete at some degree. However when you didn’t eat, the results could be much more dramatic.”
Hammer’s duty is to make sure each Penn athlete is at their greatest from a dietary perspective. She started working with Penn Athletics in November 2020 and was just lately promoted to move dietician.
All through her profession, Hammer has labored with a variety of various athletic demographics, all with distinctive objectives and desires. These embrace the Pittsburgh Pirates of the MLB, Virginia Tech, and the Navy SEALs. Together with her huge expertise within the area, Hammer feels she’s geared up with what it takes to deal with any nutrition-based quandary for Penn sports activities.
That is extraordinarily essential relating to steering a Division I athletics division. No two sports activities are the identical, and neither are their dietary plans. Understanding how you can tailor weight-reduction plan to particular sports activities and athletes is without doubt one of the most advanced but important elements of Hammer’s job.
“It’s a big number of matters with a big number of people,” Hammer mentioned. “I can begin the day working with a feminine cross nation runner, then go and work with a wrestler, then work with a soccer lineman, then work with a gymnast. I want to speak about completely various things in all of these conferences, however it retains it tremendous attention-grabbing.”
In an effort to design applications match for every sport, Hammer works to grasp the nuances of the sports activities themselves. Whereas her data of vitamin is expansive, offering the very best regime for every athlete requires an acute data of their particular person efficiency.
“If you consider a cross nation runner, they’re an endurance-based sport, so the vitamin and restoration concerns for them are going to look rather a lot totally different versus an influence sport, like a sprinter,” Hammer mentioned. “For those who’re working with a softball athlete, you want endurance, however there’s additionally these items of energy of their recreation.”
Whereas every sport requires distinct preparation, Hammer says that one of many overarching truths of athletic vitamin is whole calorie consumption. Consuming sufficient all through the day is essential for each common well being in addition to in-game efficiency, and in response to Hammer, many athletes battle to adapt their understanding of simply how a lot gasoline they want with a view to preserve tempo with their vitality expenditure.
As a former athlete herself, Hammer is aware of how difficult the method could be. She was a standout softball participant for West Chester College, and through her collegiate profession, she grappled with the complexities that plague lots of the athletes she works with in the present day.
“To be utterly clear, I struggled after I was an athlete with just a little little bit of disordered consuming,” Hammer mentioned. “I obtained tremendous into vitamin, and I believed I had all of it found out, and I believe loads of athletes as they undergo, it’s exhausting to take a step again and see it from a unique perspective. However after I’m on the opposite aspect of it, I can see a lot, rather more clearly and assist athletes to higher perceive their our bodies, their sport, and their athletic skill.”
Nevertheless, Hammer additionally credit a lot of Penn’s athletes for his or her dietary instincts. If athletes don’t totally purchase into her steerage, there’s solely a lot Hammer can do to assist them maximize their potential. Fortunately for Hammer, many student-athletes are energetic members, opening the door for much more prospects.
“There are some athletes right here that I work with which can be so extremely sensible,” Hammer mentioned. “Loads of them do analysis on their very own. So with some athletes, it’s cool as a result of there’s extra fine-tuning when their weight loss program is already set, and now we get to speak about dietary supplements, and the way we might be able to get even 1% higher.”
Correct vitamin is without doubt one of the most impactful steps an athlete can take towards maximizing potential. And whereas some could also be extra inclined towards it than others, it’s vital for any participant to turn out to be one of the best model of themselves.
In Hammer’s eyes, crucial a part of weight-reduction plan, each in sports activities and in on a regular basis life, is to understand the significance of what we put into our our bodies. It’s typically an unconscious course of, but it’s one which have to be handled with care and consideration.
“Consuming is one thing we do each single day,” Hammer mentioned. “We virtually take it with no consideration. Whereas if we put extra intention behind what we’re truly doing, we might see a lot, significantly better profit.”
With Hammer on the helm, Penn’s athletes can’t solely take into consideration their vitamin, however maximize the benefit it gives them.
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