Nutrition advice for Football Players
In addition to running, a player must jump, change direction, tackle, accelerate, decelerate, etc. Each task requires an energy input over and above to cover a similar distance at a constant speed. While the average distance covered by a top-class outfield player during a 90-minute match is over 10,000m, at an average speed of around 7km per hour, these figures do not accurately represent the full demands placed on a player. Scientific investigation has shown that the exact demands on a player can be approximated at roughly 70% VO2 max. This is based on evidence of heart rate, sweat loss, increase in body temperature, and depletion of carbohydrate stores within the muscles (intramuscular glycogen).
The Keeper
The specific demands of the different positions within a team are not as clearly defined as in some other team sports, such as rugby union. The exception to this is, of course, the goalkeeper. A keeper relies little on the aerobic system for energy production since all the crucial phases of play for him last a relatively short time. The critical performance quality of the keeper is probably agility, and this can be broken down further to include speed, power, strength and flexibility. If he happens to be tall, it is a bonus!
Popular training programs for keepers include repetitions of short sprints performed at maximal speed, with many changes of direction involved. An element of skill can be built into this training by having to save a bombardment of shots at goal. This way, another important constituent of training is automatically introduced: the ability to regain one's feet to keep a follow-up shot at goal.
However, to gain the edge in physical development, the keeper should also train away from the pitch so that upper and lower body strength and power can be improved in the weights room. Also, plyometric training perfectly enhances the qualities necessary for agility around the goalmouth. Plyometric training does need to be conducted correctly, which includes the provision of rest periods between sets of exercises, but if done so can produce some significant improvements in the ability to move one's body weight at speed.
Outfield Players
As far as the rest of a soccer team goes, the differing demands are less noticeable. However, a systematic analysis of soccer matches on video has shown that midfield players tend to cover the most distance. Other studies have - not surprisingly - shown these players to have the highest VO2 max scores and show minor fatigue when performing many repeated sprints in succession. Conversely, midfield players tend to have more continuous involvement in the game than forwards and defenders. However, while forwards and defenders usually have more time to recover between sprints, they also need to perform those sprints faster to succeed in their crucial phases of play.
Implications for training should become apparent. The midfield players need more of an all-around fitness profile, emphasising both aerobic and anaerobic capacity. Aerobic capacity relates to sustained performance (20-40 minutes) or performance during lengthy repetitions, each of 2-3 minutes in duration. Anaerobic capacity can be associated with the performance of a repeated nature but with work/rest intervals of equal length and not over 30 seconds.
The players regularly involved in attacking/ defending situations will need more training on speed. Speed training can be broken down into at least two phases - an acceleration component and a maximal speed component. For improvements in acceleration, repeated sprints of not less than six seconds in duration, performed from a standing or walking start, will be helpful in training. This will help develop the neuromuscular function of the athletes. For the development of maximal speed, a moderate increase in speed to about 85% followed by a sustained burst at maximum speed for about six seconds will produce more specific improvements. This will help develop the metabolic and neuromuscular qualities of the muscles involved. To improve acceleration, accelerate as fast as possible in training. The length of time spent running at the current maximal speed during training should be increased to improve maximal speed. A relatively gentle acceleration phase before a sustained burst can best achieve this.
If the coach can accomplish these training goals by using drills involving ball skills, then the players will become used to performing the skills under conditions of fatigue. As many will appreciate, it is under conditions of fatigue and mental pressure such as a competitive match that skills often become lost - unless they are both well-drilled for their own sake and practiced under simulated conditions of fatigue.
Match-play
Moving away from training methods for a moment but continuing the analysis of the game's physical demands, there is an exciting form of player behaviour that the playing experience seems to encourage. Many players will recognise a phenomenon as standard without perhaps understanding why. The response is to avoid prolonged high-intensity activity that would require a lengthy recovery period - which can rarely be afforded in a competitive situation.
For instance, if a defender is involved in a high-intensity activity as he assists in an attacking phase of play, he often will not attempt to return to his defending position in time for the immediate counter-attack. While this might be perceived as laziness, it may benefit the individual player and the team in the longer term, providing the rest of the team with sufficient cover to deal with the counter-attack.
Sound physiological reasoning provides the basis for this. It has been shown that short periods of intense exercise (e.g. less than 15 seconds), when interspersed with rest periods of similar duration, produce a fairly low build-up of lactic acid in the muscles (a strong indicator of fatigue) even when this activity pattern is continued for some time. However, periods of intense exercise of about 30 seconds or more, even when accompanied by equal rest periods of 30 seconds (such that the work: rest ratio is still 1:1 as in the previous example), produce a far higher concentration of lactic acid in the muscles and also more significant fatigue.
This situation is what the experienced player is trying to avoid when he decides to return more slowly to his primary position on the pitch. However, this requires a significant degree of teamwork, with teammates prepared to cover for the defender concerned. If a team can achieve this sort of co-operation, it helps reduce player fatigue and increase performance capacity throughout the match. The coach's role is paramount in organising this sort of team approach in spreading the workload, especially with inexperienced players. Indeed, some younger players may be almost too enthusiastic for the good of their own and the team's subsequent performance.
Nutrition
As already mentioned, the game's physical demands are sufficiently high to require a high rate of energy production. Whatever the sport, this can only be done by the breakdown of carbohydrates, and soccer is no exception. The heavy training/match schedule that the British game involves only increases the need for carbohydrate intake. This means that players should pay particular attention to this aspect of their diet - especially when considering the notorious practices of soccer players when they are given no guidance about what to eat.
When discussing this subject, it is usual to express the form of the energy consumed as percentages (proportions) eaten as carbohydrate, fat and protein. While the typical diet for the general British population is about 40% carbohydrate, 45% fat and 15% protein, the recommended dietary proportions for a soccer player would be roughly 65% carbohydrate, 20% fat and 15% protein. However, the typical diet of the soccer player is very similar to that of the general population - too little carbohydrate and too much fat.
The work carried out some years ago by Jacobs and colleagues ("Muscle glycogen and diet in elite soccer players", European Journal of Applied Physiology, 1982, vol. 48, pp297-302) illustrates the potential pitfalls of a low-carbohydrate diet. These researchers studied players in the Malmo soccer team in Sweden -the side had finished as runners-up in the European Cup the previous season. Muscle glycogen stores were assessed immediately after a national league match (Day 1), again 24 hours later after no training (Day 2), and 48 hours after the game after a very light training session (Day 3). The players consumed just 47% of dietary energy as carbohydrates - well below the recommended values.
Muscle glycogen stores of the general population are approximately 70-90 mmol.kg-1 wet weight. The average values for the Malmo team were 46, 69 and 73 mmol.kg-1 wet weight on the three days.
Experiments have shown that highly trained athletes have a muscle glycogen level of well over 100 mmol.kg-1 wet weight can achieve the following two or three days of light training. The soccer players didn't reach this level due to the lack of carbohydrates in their diet. There is no reason why the players could not have refilled their muscle glycogen stores to pre-match levels within 24 hours if they had consumed a high-carbohydrate diet.
The importance of high muscle glycogen stores for performance in events lasting longer than 60 minutes has been demonstrated by numerous researchers. Specifically, the diets (and hence the muscle glycogen stores) of players involved in an exhibition match have been manipulated with soccer. Those players have higher muscle glycogen stores before the game and cover a greater distance faster during the match. This effect was particularly noticeable towards the end of the game when glycogen always becomes lower - and many goals are often scored as the game opens up. Therefore, a high-carbohydrate diet leads to increased muscle glycogen stores, leading to a greater distance covered during the final stages of the match, leading to your team scoring the winning goal in injury time! Well, not always, maybe, but you can increase the chances of it happening by closely examining players' diets.
Article Reference
The information on this page is adapted from Williams (1996)[1] with the kind permission of Electric Word plc.
References
- WILLIAMS, A. (1996) You can lead a footballer to a proper diet, but can you make him eat it? Peak Performance, 68, p. 4-6
Page Reference
If you quote information from this page in your work, then the reference for this page is:
- MACKENZIE, B. (2005) Nutrition advice for Football Players [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/football/nutrition.htm [Accessed