It’s no secret.

Especially for my readers and followers.

Exercise researchers and sports nutritionists have known for years that carbohydrates and fats are the most important fuel for endurance.

Step into the new millennium and science has discovered that blood glucose may be the most important fuel source available to soccer players.

So what is blood glucose?

Blood glucose is a carbohydrate that is a readily available source of energy. Blood glucose also has the ability to decrease fatigue even when glycogen is available in the body.

Lets quickly recap what we already know.

Soccer Nutrition For Soccer Players- The Hypoglycemia Effect

Soccer Nutrition Tips- The Sugar Effect

Soccer Nutrition- The Pre Match Meal

Soccer Nutrition- Get Ready To Crush Your Opposition

The fuel that is required to perform is stored in the body in 3 ways.

Can you remember these?

The forms are

Muscle Glycogen

Body Proteins

Fat

The greatest supply of fuel comes from fat even in the leanest of soccer players. Muscle glycogen is the fuel source that is limited. The storage limits that differ from player to player are 1600-1800 calories of carbohydrate that can be stored as glycogen.

So how do you reach these maximum levels of glycogen?

Increased glycogen levels can be achieved in 2 ways.

The first step is to regularly eat foods that are rich in carbohydrates. The second step is to eat carbohydrate-rich foods after a match.

Studies show that glycogen is made in the body and stored in the muscles at the greatest rate within the first 2 hours after training or a match.

The secret to performance is that players need to eat carbohydrates after training or a match to replace used glycogen.

That’s it, pretty simple don’t you think?

The best results for recovery have been achieved by eating 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrates each hour (up to 2 hours) after a session.

Don’t take these figures as gospel. Each player is different and will react differently to various preparation and diets. You should experiment with a small amount of carbohydrates before and during a training session. This will allow you to experience what feels comfortable before jumping into an experiment on match day.

So today’s lesson is this,

Use food to your advantage. Eat smart and use food to increase your performance. Carbohydrates could transform your team to a winning one.

Soccer Training Diet

This diet should only be used as a guide.

Monday-Wednesday

Activity- Rest

Diet-

60% Carbohydrates=1500 calories (375 grams)

15% Protein=375 calories (95 grams)

25% Fat=625 calories (70 grams)

Tuesday-Thursday

Activity- Training

Diet-

Breakfast= high carbohydrates such as bread, bagels, cereal, pancakes, fruit juice, milk and yogurt.

Drink carbohydrates in the form of Gatorade every 1-2 hour.

Before training (3-4 hours) eat a high carb snack of 500-600 calories

1 hour before training eat or drink 30 grams of carbohydrates.

1 hour into training try and drink 30 grams of carbohydrates

Soon after training eat or drink carbohydrates to encourage glycogen production.

Friday

Day before Match/ Plenty of Rest

Follow Mon-Wed diet. Carb up at the evening meal with any of these-pasta, potatoes, rice, bread, salad, fruits, vegetables and lean meats.

Saturday

Match Day

Eat high carb, low fiber meal 3-4 hours before the game (500-600 calories)

Each hour after meal eat or drink 30-60 grams of carbohydrates

At half time, drink a carb drink or eat some fruit

Sip water or drink throughout the game

Eat carb foods soon after the match for maximum glycogen building.

“May the winds of destiny blow you to the stars.”

Do you know how many people play soccer worldwide?

The number has climbed to 138,000,000 million. Can you believe it? Soccer is the undefeated sport of the world. No other sport comes close to these kind of numbers and rightly so.

Although soccer has become a mass phenomenon, most players don’t have a clue about soccer nutrition. Most players couldn’t even tell you what glycogen is and wouldn’t even know where to find it.

Most amateur players wouldn’t even consume enough calories for them to perform for 90 minutes. Research has concluded that the majority of players consume approximately 1200 calories. Do you think that’s enough?

Do you know how many calories you need to consume to perform at your maximum?

Data form the Institute of Sport suggests that the optimal level is around 2300-3200 calories. Before you get excited, not just any calories, carbohydrates.

Foods high in carbohydrates include breads, pasta, beans, potatoes, rice and cereals. Carbohydrates require less water to digest than proteins or fats and are the most common source of energy.

Carbohydrates are high in starch and stimulate the development of glycogen stores in the muscles. The levels of glycogen in your muscles would be like the petrol gauge in your car. The more petrol (glycogen) you have, the greater distance you can travel (run).

Have you ever wondered why your second half performance steadily declines?

When you start a match with low glycogen levels your muscles after 45 minutes will be depleted of any carbohydrates. A low carbohydrate intake results in low energy levels and inevitably leads to a fatigue performance.

Players that lack glycogen can be spotted quite easily.

• The players that hide during the game and don’t want the ball.
• The players that cheat and don’t chase their opponent back.
• The teammates that argue amongst each other and try to explain their laziness and lack of marking.
• Spend more time walking.
• And players with muscle cramps.

The depletion of glycogen in your body is directly proportional to your performance. As your levels diminish and head south, so does your performance and ability to compete for 90 minutes.

GPS tracking used on some amateur players identified a 32% reduction in the distance covered in the second half. Those kind of percentages are quite significant don’t you think?

If there were ever a secret or a product that could influence your game it would be the carbohydrate. Carbohydrate intake before a game is crucial and more important than any skill you’ve picked up on the training ground.

So how do we overcome second half fatigue?

Leading up to the game players should eat small meals. You definitely don’t want to go into a match with a full stomach. Small meals of 600-750 calories are more than adequate. A good example is some toast (3-4 slices) and 2-3 bananas. This will give you about 600 calories and will be light enough for you to digest if taken 2 hours before a match.

2-3 days before a game consumption of carbohydrates should be 9-10 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight each day.

Another good approach is to reduce the level of training intensity to allow your body to build glycogen stores in the muscles. Also the time spent on the training field should be significantly reduced to avoid any injuries or strains close to match day.

To put the icing on the cake make sure to drink a sports drink that contains some glucose. Clinical studies done in England proved that these drinks led to a 28% increase in the amount of distance covered in the 90 minutes.

Drinking about 30 grams of carbohydrates before a game is ideal and will give your glycogen levels a nice buffer. Make sure to have another sports drink ready at half time to replenish your glycogen levels and reduce your fatigue.

If you follow these simple steps,

Next time you line up against your opponent you will run him into the ground.

First, lets establish and rectify the myth that you only need to think about sports drinks on match day. Fluid replacement is just as important during training as it is during a match. If you are going to use sports drinks during a match, then it’s imperative that you first try them out during training. Why? Simple, some drinks can make you feel bloated and even upset your stomach. Have you ever tried to play with a bloated stomach? Can you possibly play at your peak with an upset stomach?

Another common myth surrounding the soccer fields is that you only need to drink on extremely hot days when you become thirsty. This couldn’t be further from the truth. For starters, you need to drink whatever the temperature. Also if you wait until your thirsty to drink then the chances are you’re already dehydrated and your performance will suffer significantly.

So why do we need to drink?

When training or competing on match day, many metabolic reactions take place in your body to produce the energy required to make your muscles contract. Through these metabolic reactions heat is produced within your body. You might think to yourself so what? But we must remember that our body temperature must be kept relatively stable within certain temperature ranges. When we exercise, the extra heat we produce is released from the body in the form of sweat. Sweating is our bodies defence mechanism and allows our body to somewhat cool down.

The problem with sweating is that it eventually reduces our performance. Medical journals and scientific literature document that a loss of 2% of your body mass in sweat will create a significant reduction in your performance. It’s also worth noting that excessive fluid loss during hot environments can even lead to your death. So don’t be afraid to drink.

During soccer it’s customary to drink fluid during breaks like half time, substitutions or even injuries. Don’t you think its coincidence that when a player goes down injured, all his team mates run to the bench for drinks. When America hosted the world cup I clearly remember watching Greece vs Argentina and the South Americans (staff) throwing little plastic fluid bubbles onto the field from the bench at every stop. Players like Gabriel Batistuta, Diego Maradona, Simeone all the big name players running to them like their lives depending on it. This clearly shows that even the biggest players in the world understand the importance of hydration.

As a player you must aim to drink whenever you can. Little amounts and often is proven to be the best method of hydration.

Although I’ve mentioned sports drinks for hydration, it’s a safe bet to announce to the world that plain water is better than drinking nothing at all. However drinks with small sodium or electrolyte concentrations are the best for soccer hydration. These drinks will not only speed up the rate at which fluids are absorbed, it also increases the amounts of fluids absorbed by the body.

Lets break down the facts a little, a soccer player competes for 90 minutes and performs most of his duties at high intensity. This high intensity level depletes the players carbohydrates rapidly. How do we overcome this? Another good source for soccer players are the drinks that also contain a small concentration of carbohydrates. These drinks can aid in restoring and even protecting your glycogen levels found in your muscles. High carbohydrates drinks can also be great for immediate post training or post game recovery.

To finish up I would like to add this

Never deny the facts and scientific research. All the above has been proven through extensive scientific research.

If you want to succeed in soccer make sure you stay hydrated. Spend a little extra money on the required drinks and resources needed to perform at your peak. The extra money you outlay will pay itself back in performance.

Remember this next time you purchase your sports drinks,

Break even Today and Break the Bank Tomorrow.

Hopefully you can read between the lines.

Games being played in the morning require a different pre-match meal as opposed to games played in the afternoon or late afternoon. When reading some of the advice in books did you ever consider this? Most books on soccer and nutrition assume you will be playing in the late afternoon or at night and give you the relevant information based on this assumption. What happens if you play in the morning? How does this change your pre-match meal?

Now that we’ve established that pre-match meals can differ due to time of day, lets discuss some of these variations. Even better, I’ll give you some of the best suggestions for a pre-match meal depending on the time of day. Lets start with a game being played in the morning.

Matches played in the morning:

For starters never drink coffee in the morning before your game. Coffee takes a long time to digest and gives you the sensation of something heavy in your stomach due to gastric acid produced by the coffee. Also the caffeine mixed with stress, fear or anxiety could result in nausea, vomiting and headache.

If you have carb-loaded correctly the night before, all you need in the morning for an early morning game is some toast, with a thin layer of honey or marmalade. A glass of juice and a small portion of oats (or similar cereal) is all that is required for a morning game. Notice how i haven’t mentioned pasta once. According to the majority of books and experts, pre-match meals should always contain carbohydrates in the form of pasta. Not in the mornings.

Matches played in the afternoon:

This example of a pre-match meal should be eaten 2-3 hours before the warm up session for a match.

• Main Course: pasta or rice
• Side dish of boiled potatoes with a little oil.
• A small portion of chicken.
• If you drink coffee, 1 cup of coffee will not hurt you at this stage.
• Water. Always maintain your hydration and drink glasses of water throughout the day.

Matches played at night:

When playing a night game, its advisable that you do not eat dinner at dinner time. In this case its better to have a midday meal full of carbohydrates like the one we discussed above. Supplement this with an afternoon snack 2 hours before the start of warm up.

• bread with honey,
• a piece of cake
• or fresh fruit
• Water. (hydration is very important).

As you can see, the pre-match meal requirements can differ. Considering that a match can be played at different times, it would be a mistake to just settle on one type of pre-match meal. Always read and learn about the game, but make sure the information is relevant to you. Ensure that your pre-match meal is suitable and meets your requirements, not the Authors.

Most soft tissue injuries occur when a player is fatigued and is suffering from tiredness. Weakness and muscle soreness can be prevented to some extent through proper nutrition. Its no secret that glycogen levels in the blood stream and in the muscles is required to play at your peak. Soccer is a game which requires short bursts of energy, followed by long periods of endurance. What many athletes don’t know is that having a positive level of glycogen in the muscles can significantly reduce the risk of soft tissue injuries. Science has proven the link between muscle glycogen depletion with fatigue and injury.

The link or connection is quite simple, muscles that fatigue lose their strength which puts your joints at risk. To help me explain this I’ll use an example. Lets use a very common injury among soccer players and that is the “shin splint”. When a soccer player runs, he relies on one particular muscle to take proportionately more strain. This is the strip of sinew that runs down the shin to the inside edge of the foot and pulls the foot inward and upward. During the running motion, this muscle works twice as hard as the other local muscles and its a safe bet that this muscle will fatigue first. Once this muscle fatigues, the risk of injuries increases exponentially. Injuries such as shin splints, stress fractures and the risk of knee injuries are very common from this kind of fatigue.

So far we’ve established that glycogen levels in the muscles are very important. So how can we prevent this muscle fatigue? A simple answer to this question is eating the right amounts of carbohydrates. Eating to ensure your muscles are packed with glycogen will inevitably prolong muscle fatigue and the risk of injuries. Scientific evidence correlates muscle glycogen depletion with muscle fibre damage and sport injuries.

So what causes muscle fatigue? There are 2 metabolic processes of fatigue that develop in the muscles.

• The first one is the accumulation of certain metabolites,
• and the second one is the depletion of other metabolites.

The first component is very common, if you’ve ever had a cramp you have succumbed to this process. The accumulation component includes an increase in the amount of hydrogen ions as a result of lactate build-up. Depletion on the other hand includes decreasing the amounts of fuels found inside the muscle cells such as ATP and glycogen.

To keep this basic, prolonged exercise is associated with a depletion in muscle glycogen stores, which in turn results in a decrease in energy production. When energy fuel levels in the blood and the muscle cannot satisfy the players workload, the player becomes very vulnerable to injuries both soft tissue and skeletal.

So the question is, what to eat and in what quantities?

The general rule of thumb is that 8-10 grams of carbohydrate per kg of body weight will maintain appropriate glycogen levels during heavy training or competition. This kind of carbohydrate loading only benefits players that exercise for longer than 60 minutes or whose sport requires repeated bouts of high intensity exercise such as soccer. An easy way to boost your glycogen levels is to consume 500-600g of carbohydrates for 3 days before your match.

Also keeping your glycogen level topped up is just as essential in training. It’s very easy to gradually drain your glycogen stores if you’re training without eating a diet high in carbohydrates.

So the take home message from this post is

• Eat simple carbohydrates to replenish and maintain your glycogen levels in the muscles and the liver.
• Avoid glycogen depletion as it is linked to poor performance and injuries.