Sports Nutrition Bible

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Energy (ATP)

I was going to start off by talking about Protein, Carbs, Fats etc... but before we go into that i think it's important to explain how the body produces energy. Once you understand how the body produces energy, you will hopefully be able to see for yourself the importance of nutrients.

So....Energy!

Energy is produced by the splitting of a chemical bond in a substance called Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP from here on...). ATP is produced in every cell of the body from the breakdown of carbs, protein, fat and alcohol (booze )

Ok so, what's ATP then?

It's a small molecule with an adenosine backbone with 3 phosphate groups attached. Basically think of a daddy long legs with only 3 legs (on the same side) and a body. The body is the adenosine backbone and the 3 legs are the phosphate groups (hope that makes sense).

What's this got to do with energy?

Energy is released when one of the phosphate groups splits off. So basically the poor daddy long legs only has 2 legs now. Now it has become adenosine diphosphate or ADP. Some of the released energy is used to carry out work (muscle contractions etc...) while the rest (in fact most of it) is given off as heat. That explains why you feel warm when you exercise. Anyways, once this happens ADP is converted back into ATP and a continual cycle takes place, in which ATP forms ADP and then becomes ATP again...