Table of contents:
- Tips for fulfilling a football player's nutrition: what is wrong and what is right?
- Myth: Performance on the ground is not affected by food
- Myth: What you eat after the game doesn't matter
- Myth: Drink only when you feel thirsty
Playing on a green field for 90 minutes requires a lot of energy. Therefore, you have to be smart in choosing the food menu every day so that your stamina can be maintained until the match day arrives. Unfortunately, there are still many people who misinterpret the guidelines for fulfilling the nutrition of football players circulating in the community. For example, there is a myth that prohibits you from eating heavily before a competition to prevent stomach nausea while running. Is this true? Check out the following facts.
Tips for fulfilling a football player's nutrition: what is wrong and what is right?
Myth: Performance on the ground is not affected by food
Wrong. The nutritional adequacy of football players is the most important part that must really be considered. Nearly all the research on sports to date has shown that a diet high in carbohydrates can improve athlete performance in the field.
Research conducted in Sweden found that low-glycogen soccer players were only able to stay on the field for half the game. Glycogen itself is the end product of glucose in the body which is stored in cells and the liver as energy reserves.
In muscle tissue, stored glucose in the form of glycogen can be used directly by the muscle to generate energy. As much as two thirds of all the body's glycogen reserves will be stored in muscles. Glycogen stored in muscles will experience shrinkage if a person does vigorous exercise for a long time.
Many footballers think that food will not affect their performance on the court, whereas the more carbohydrates an athlete consumes, the more endurance they have. The soccer player can run faster and last longer if he consumes the right amount of carbohydrates. Football players must choose foods that contain about 40 percent carbohydrates, 40 percent fat and 20 percent protein.
Myth: What you eat after the game doesn't matter
Wrong. Maybe you often see your professional footballer or idol player eating snacks such as sodas, sugary drinks, potato chips, candy, and fries after a tiring match.
In fact, muscles need a "supply of fuel" for an hour or two after a match. The best foods to eat after a match are those that are high in carbohydrates so that your muscles get enough glycogen stores.
Food sources that contain the right carbohydrates are needed by players after the game. Even more so if the next game break is very short. But this doesn't mean you can spend a dozen ready-to-eat meat burgers and fries, you know! It's a good idea to choose healthy carbohydrate sources, such as complex carbohydrates found in foods containing whole grains.
Myth: Drink only when you feel thirsty
Wrong. Because you only focus on training or matches, you may not feel the need for drinking water, even though you who are active as a soccer player should not drink only when you feel thirsty. Humans will not feel thirsty and need water if they have not lost about two percent of their body weight due to sweat. When you feel thirsty, your performance in the field will drop sharply.
The footballer must drink before the match started, during games football players should drink every 15-20 minutes whenever possible, and at halftime. Make sure the team puts drinking water along the edge of the field and near the goal so that players can easily get a drink when there is a stoppage time.
Even if you play in fairly cold air, you will stay hydrated if you don't get enough fluids. You must not forget that fluids are a very important part of a footballer's nutrition.
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