The typical college season consist of about one month of preseason training, three and half months of regular season that includes roughly twenty game days and practices on non game days. If the team makes playoffs, the numbers go up to twenty-eight games. Now the amount of games does not seem heavy, but compressed in 4 months, it sure is a heavy and painful season soccer players go through.
Diets play a big role in sports performance in athletes, it is consider to be more than half percent dependable on how effectively a player performs on the field. For soccer players, who burn huge amounts of calories and deplete several liters of sweat per game, dieting can be the difference between a successful or failed season.
Soccer demands strength, speed, agility and most important, endurance. This article provides the type of food a soccer player should eat according to their practice/school schedule:
Morning Training: Do not go to morning training with an empty stomach. Simply a banana, protein shake, or peanut butter on bread can boost your metabolism. This way your body uses the energy from this high-carb meal instead of your muscle tissue.
Breakfast: Recovery is key here, if you train early in the morning, use breakfast for a recovery meal. Loads with nutrients, calorie dense (fats, proteins, complex carbs) must be on the plate. Eggs, greek yogurt and oatmeals are great for recovery and provide essential energy for the remaining of the day.
Lunch: Must eat lunch before your second practice, depending on how far away is your meal from practice. If practice is an hour away from lunch, stay away from fatty foods or high protein. If it is 2-3 hours load up on carbs and protein dense foods to increase performance.
Dinner: Dinner is crucial for you sleep-time recovery, during this phase, you want your body to go nuts into recovery mode. You must feed your body with enough calories to replenish what you burned during the day and replenish glycogen levels and hydrations levels in your muscles. Dinners that are nutrient- dense, lean proteins, and hydration will provide a good night rest and set you up for the next training day.
PRESEASON PHASE:
Gaining Muscle and Losing Fat is the target goal. You want to lose inadequate weight while maintaining strength and stamina muscles. The problem is not on how many calories you consumer but the macronutrients within those calories.
Focus on recovering nutrition within
30 minutes of each training session. (Weights, conditioning, soccer practice).
Avoid excessive calories from drinks and sugars.
Eat according to your active levels, on training days consumer more calories then on rest days.
Include lean protein in each meal.
Supplement correctly, use protein shakes,BCAA’s, vitamins to increase nutrient absorption and speed up recovery.
Choose complex carbohydrates, not just carbs. Carbs can you be your best friend is used correctly and timely.
A well designed, balanced diet followed by a good sleeping schedule should catapult you into bigger performances on the field. No only will it provide the fuel for your body but it will help with your mental toughness as well. You are what you put into your body and it will reflect on the field once the whistle blows.
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