To meet the nutritional needs in team sports we must take into account the nutritionalrequirements, both at the level of the individual athlete as the collective.
In addition, the framework of "sports equipment" include very different sports:football, basketball, hockey, volleyball, etc. Also taking into account the differentmodes and the profiles that we can find (children, women, veterans). Your needs will be totally different and must be adapted individually.
Characteristics of sport the team
- Intermittent high-intensity exercise.
- They are events extended in time (between 60-120 minutes).
- High intensity, interspersed with low-intensity: walking, sprint, jog, jump... whichimplies different requirements in terms of the energy use and thermoregulation.
- Breaks of different types: between times, player, etc. (can be leveraged for drinking orenergy recovery).
- The different positions of the game make requirements between players to vary.
- Each match is different: emotional pressure, contrary, time, weather, etc. So that needs can vary substantially.
Therefore, requirements of nutrients are taken in team sports?
Carbohydrates are the main source of energy. Since muscle glycogen is the substratethat is most important in this kind of sports.
It is important to cover the needs of phosphocreatine and phosphagen.
MOST IMPORTANT NUTRITIONAL ASPECTS IN TEAM SPORTS:
Physical aspects (body composition):
Increase and maintain lean mass to improve strength and power.
Maintain moderate levels of body fat to improve agility and speed.
Nutrition related training:
- Sufficient energy intake to maintain body weight.
- High carbohydrate intake among competitions to promote recovery.
- Sufficient protein intake to meet training needs.
- Controlling iron deficiency, especially in women.
- Intake of fluids during the training session.
- Nutrition education, culinary skills, especially in young people.
- Weekly planning by objectives. Since the competitive calendar is very tight.
Nutrition in competition:
- Intake before the game, important to refill muscle glycogen stores.
- Intake of fluids and carbohydrates during the competition.
- Rehydration after the competition.
- Power supply during travel and displacement. It must be scheduled and controlled forthe whole team.
- Moderate alcohol consumption, especially after the games.
- Supplementation to improve performance. If it were necessary.
- Must be borne in mind that the caloric needs may vary by several factors: position inthe field of play, age, sex, etc. Therefore the pattern always should be personalized and adjusted by a professional.
In team sports competitions take place on a regular basis and throughout the year, sodietary guideline should be kept in time differentiated phases: basket
-Pre-season.
-Season.
-Rest periods.
At the same time the season is divided into weekly micro that will be repeated. Tocorrectly establish the diet and meet the requirements we need to know what are thescheduled training and competition schedule.
It must be taken into account that in professional athletes, competitive freight is muchgreater, including also competitions during the week, we therefore have less time torecover between competitions.
The general recommendations for intake of macronutrients shall:
NUTRIENT AMOUNT
Carbohydrates 5 - 7 gr/Kg (increasing up to 10 g/Kg in periods of much competitionor more mobile players).
Protein 1 - 1.5 g/Kg weight
We also have to take into account some special requirements that we can find:
1. INJURED ATHLETES:
They should be treated specifically to ensure its recovery.
Nutritional guideline will be directed to not increase body fat by a caloric excess torestrict his training.
Also attempting to mitigate the muscle loss especially in the first weeks by increasingprotein intake or supplementation (creatine, HMB, Leucine). In collations of 30 g every3 hours.
2. WOMEN ATHLETES:
The most common pathology in women athletes is iron deficiency anemia by what theintake of this nutrient must always be secured. In addition may appear (amenorrhea)menstrual problems or thyroid diseases.
Women are more common strategies for unhealthy weight loss nutrition education isessential.
3. SENIOR ATHLETES:
There are many athletes who continue his sporting life once retired, in a recreationalway. For them, the guidelines will be similar to the rest of the population but trying toavoid as far as possible the risk situations.
In these cases, it is essential to carry out medical checks and biochemical moreregularly, and take into account the diseases and associated treatments (hypertension,hypercholesterolemia, anticoagulatnes, etc.).
GUIDELINE DIETARY AND NUTRITIONAL (DIET) FOR COMPETITION IN TEAM SPORTS:
Food preparation
- The intake will be at least 3-4 h before the match.
- It will consist of easy assimilation and medium-high glycaemic index carbohydrates.(pasta, rice).
- 30 min before, intake of beverages (carbohydrates and electrolytes).
- Eating a meal rich in CHO after the overnight fast and food prior to the party.
- Make snacks (smaller amounts 30 g CHO per hour) in the two hours before the match.Always depending on the susceptibility of the athlete and avoiding digestive problems from occurring.
With all this we will achieve that in liver and muscle glycogen reserves are charged tobegin the meeting. Perform this prior meal with all the equipment allows us to controlintake and help to establish emotional ties, as well as to further involve athletes of theimportance of it. Try to avoid the heavy spices or that can be difficult to digest.
Remember that a previous meal will never compensate for a poor diet for the rest ofthe week.
During training or party
- The main guideline will be trying to drink as much as possible, so the scope of drinksshould be provided to athletes on the field. Take advantage of the stops in the game,breaks, etc.
- Alternate water with sports drink (electrolyte + CHO) in 6% concentration. Thesedrinks can help delay fatigue.
- Take breaks to include different drinks and solid foods.
Power after the match. RECOVERY.
- Consuming carbohydrates from high glycemic index (CHO 1 - 1.5 g / Kg weight) immediately after exercise to begin to replenish glycogen stores.
- Rehydration, approximately 150% of the body weight lost.
- Consume 20-25 gr protein to increase the muscle synthesis and prevent catabolism.
- Make a meal complete 3 hours after the match.
- As the calendar is so intense there long enough for the recovery of muscle glycogen.One technique is to increase intakes of CHO and protein within hours because it hasbeen shown to help recover before those energy stores. For example, doing intake insmall collations within hours. (3 hour aprox.).