Nutrition And Hydration
Eating and drinking the right things at the right time (most of the time) will lead to big changes in performance. Here are a few guidelines that may help you.
Before You Train
Before exercise, the best place to start is with good-quality carbohydrate foods that are low in fat.
Breakfast
Quality breakfast foods like porridge kickstart your metabolism and give your body what it needs to help burn calories throughout the day
Snack Right
To stop you fading between meals, it’s important to tuck into some healthy snacks. Think high nutrition foods such as almonds, walnuts, Greek yoghurt, eggs, fruit etc.
Post training
As part of a good diet, eating foods high in protein such as dairy, fish, lean meats and chicken, eggs, nuts and peanut butter can help maintain and repair your muscles while carbohydrates including fruit, vegetables and grains are needed to replace the energy you just used up at training.
Try to choose wholegrains such as brown rice, oatmeal and whole wheat bread to give you the energy you need whilst also providing fibre and other nutrients you need to be healthy.
On Game Day
Make sure you eat 2 to 4 hours before the game. Choose a meal high in protein and carbs – like a chicken sandwich, cereal and milk, chicken noodle soup and yoghurt or pasta with tomato sauce.
It's important to have a light snack like fruit or vegetables, crackers, bagels or low-fat yoghurt about 2 hours before a game – any closer you might feel full or a bit sick when you play.
Hydration
Be hydrated before arriving at training or game day (Before a morning game have a glass of water with breakfast, or sip a bottle of water in the hour leading up to training or competition).
As a rule:
- Drink 200-500ml during warm-up
- Drink 120-150ml during game breaks
- Drink 200-500ml during cool-down
- After game drink another 1L