All the hours spent at the training ground, honing set pieces, skills and stamina… It will all be for nothing if you turn up on match day and don’t have the energy to play because of poor nutrition. Pro footballers need to pay as much attention to their nutrition as they do to everything else, maybe even a bit more. You may not have the skill of say Lionel Messi but at least you can at least match him in terms of nutrition, meal for meal.
Nutrition Seven Days Before The Game
It is essential to carbo load before game day. But be warned that it’s not as simple as just eating pasta with a bit of tuna the night before. Caro de Waal suggests steering clear of processed carbohydrates such as white bread.
Some nutrition experts will recommend that you deplete your carbohydrate stores early in the week and gradually increase your carbs as you get closer to match day. This forces you muscles to increase their carb-absorbing abilities as your body tries to maximise the limited amount of blood sugar available. This results in increased sensitivity to carbs so they’ll have more of an effect when you carbo-load. This supercompensation can increase the maximum amount of carb storage you will have by up to 50%.
Nutrition Two or Three Days Before The Game
Soup is great to eat a few days before the game. This is because it will improve your hydration quite a bit. Ingredients you should look for in your soups are:
- Chilli,
- Ginger, and
- Tumeric.
All these ingredients contribute to thinning your blood. (Thinner blood makes its way through your body a lot easier than thick blood. This ensures that sufficient oxygen is sent exactly where it’s needed.) Tumeric also curbs liver damage and scarring which means you can have those couple of post-match pints!
Nutrition The Day Before The Game
It goes without saying but the meal you eat the night before the game is the most crucial. Your nerves can make eating the night before quite difficult but if you eat well you can easily turn up in prime condition!
Trifocus Fitness Academy offer a wide array of nutrition courses which means you can provide pro footballers with a proper diet for the days in between match days. Call Trifcous Fitness Academy today to apply.