NUTRITION
Energy Demands Of Training & Match Play
Most serious football players play in one or more competitive games per week for a large part of the year and will train most days of the week, sometimes twice a day, throughout this time. The energy demands of training must be met to maintain performance capacity and prevent the development of excessive fatigue. Those who play for fun and train occasionally will find this a good way to stay fit and control weight, but they do not face the same nutritional challenges, advice here will assist you to achieve higher standards at Go-Pro Sports Football Academy Dubai.
Football is a game of intermittent work. Players generally perform low intensity activities for more than 70% of the game, but heart rate and body temperature measurements suggest that the total energy demand is high. The high energy demand may be partly explained by the repeated high intensity efforts that players are called upon to perform. A top class player performs about 150-250 brief intense actions during a game. These efforts place high demands on the anaerobic energy systems, and are a major factor in the fatigue that occurs at all stages of the game.
The energy demands of training will vary depending on the intensity, frequency, and duration of the training sessions, but they will also change over the course of the season. Most players will follow a weekly cycle that involves a reduced training load to allow recovery from the previous game, days of harder training, and a reduction in training load in preparation for the next game.
The foods we eat and the fluids we drink provide for the immediate energy needs of the body as well as influencing body energy stores. Energy stores play a number of important roles related to exercise performance, since they contribute to
• Size and physique (e.g. body fat and muscle mass)
• function (e.g. muscle mass)
• fuel for exercise (e.g. muscle and liver carbohydrate stores)