NUTRITION
WRU NUTRITION
GUIDELINES
HYDRATION
•
You need to drink a minimum of 3 litres a day + whatever
is required in training.
•
Drink little and often through the day and more during
training.
•
In training, consume at least 250ml of fluid every 15
minutes.
•
•
Drink during a game – drink whenever it is offered.
Remember: If you dehydrate by only 3% - that is
3kg for a 100kg player – your performance will
decrease markedly – losing up to 10% of your
strength and 8% of your speed. You also increase
the possibility of muscle pulls and strains
BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS –
30g PROTEIN / 100g CARBS
•
Scrambled eggs (3 whole eggs) with 4 slices of wholemeal toast,
2 tablespoons baked beans, medium banana.
•
80g dry weight porridge oats, 20g protein, ½ pint semi-skimmed
milk, add chopped banana and drizzle of honey.
•
2 seeded bagels with whole earth peanut butter and 1-pint semiskimmed milk.
•
1 seeded bagel with lean ham, 3 tablespoons baked beans and
glass apple juice.
•
4 Weetabix with banana and pecans (small handful) with ½ pint
whole-milk, drink other half.
POWER LUNCHES –
30g PROTEIN / 100g CARBS
•
•
•
•
3 wholemeal tortilla wraps with choice of fillings – 1.5
cooked chicken breasts /can of tuna / 200g
ham/turkey/pastrami), this protein amount to be
shared amongst the 3 wraps, fill with salad of choice
and olive oil dressing.
Medium baked potato with tuna and beans
Rice (8 tablespoons cooked wild or wholegrain) with
1.5 chicken breasts and a serving of mixed
vegetables; add sauce to flavour as desired.
Spaghetti Bolognaise ( 100g lean steak mince and
100g dry weight spaghetti and sauce, this could be a
2nd portion from night before meal)
BALANCED EVENING MEALS -
40g PROTEIN / 50g CARBS
•
Protein choices = 2 medium chicken breasts / 200g
raw weight turkey breast meat / 300g lean steak
mince / 2 large salmon fillets / large gammon steak /
10 oz sirloin /rib eye/ fillet steak / 2 lean pork
chops.
•
Carbohydrate choices = 4 tablespoons cooked rice / 6
tablespoons cooked pasta spirals / 1 medium baked
potato / 2 wholemeal wraps or pita bread / 1 large
sweet potato (mash or wedges)
•
Vegetable Options = Asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower,
green beans, carrots, sprouts, mushrooms, peppers,
peas, sweet corn.
PRE AND POST
TRAINING SNACKS
Pre, approx. 1 hour before
•
•
•
•
Seeded bagel with peanut butter
Low fat yogurt with banana and nuts
2 slices wholemeal toast, peanut butter and sliced banana and
drizzle of honey
Small jacket potato filled with low fat cottage cheese or baked
beans
Post - Immediately after
•
•
Pint semi-skimmed milk and banana
Home made smoothie – 400ml semi-skimmed milk, 2 bananas,
teaspoon honey, add handful ice cubes and it will keep it chilled,
could also add handful frozen berries
Additional Options!
Preferred Protein Foods
Oily Fish
(mackerel, kippers,
sardines, salmon, prawns)
Preferred
Fibrous Carbs
Preferred Low
Carb Choices
Preferred High Carb Foods
Coarse cut or Scotch type Porridge Oats
Asparagus
Blackberries, Raspberries ,
Blueberries,
Strawberries
Carrots
Sweet Potatoes /Jacket potatoes /
(not instant)
Red Meats
(steak, gammon, pork,
pastrami)
Cauliflower
White Fish
(cod, hake, plaice, dover
sole, tuna)
Cabbage
High Veg Content Soups
Muesli, Granola
White meats
(chicken, turkey)
Celery
Kidney Beans
High Carb home made Soups
LF Cottage cheese
Courgette
Lentils
Dried Fruit
Free Range or
Omega 3 Eggs
Lettuce
Melon, slice
Wholemeal pita bread and tortilla wraps and chapattis
Kale
Nectarines
Wholemeal / Granary bread and rolls
Orange
Wholemeal pasta
Green Beans
Pineapple, slice
Wild rice and wholegrain rice
Mushrooms
Peas
Brown basmati rice
Onions
½ grapefruit
Pears
Peppers
Tomatoes
Quinoa
Sprouts
Sweetcorn
Buckwheat
boiled potatoes.
Green Leaves (spinach, etc)
TEN COMMENDMENTS
1.
Drink a pint of water upon rising to hydrate the body
2.
Eat a balanced breakfast of carbs and protein
3.
Eat 3 pieces of fruit a day and have 2 serving of vegetables
4.
Eat quality protein every 3 hours
5.
Fuel up with a snack 30 mins before training, low fat yogurt and a banana or bagel with peanut
butter
6.
Stay hydrated by drinking before, during and after training
7.
Always have a recovery shake after training to fuel muscle growth
8.
Eat the biggest meal within 1-hour of training when looking to gain muscle mass
9.
Have some slow release protein before bed-cottage cheese, milk, eggs, fish.
10. No soft drinks, bad for bones, drink water, squash or milk.
RECOVERY
Recovery refers to your body’s ability to adapt to the workloads
placed upon during training and competitive situations. Not
recovering or adapting is detrimental to your performance and
sometimes your health, it can lead to a condition known as
overtraining syndrome, commonly termed burn out. If you are
able to accelerate your rate of recovery after competition and
training, your training will be more effective and more likely to
produce the required gains.
Recovery training can be thought of as a method of accelerating
the adaptation stage.
The stresses produced during training and competition can vary
greatly and this will affect the time taken to recover as well as the
type of recovery work you would undertake in order to improve
your rate of adaptation. It is important to realise that the
psychological stress imposed during competition/training is as
important as the physical stress that occurs.
RECOVERY - Cont.
• Speed work - the low volume and high intensity of speed training means the
main impact is neurological, with longer distances there will
also be physiological and nutritional aspects to consider.
• Games - will impact all forms of recovery and are likely to have the highest
psychological fatigue carryover, especially in important competitions or at
times when a team is fighting for a league position or to avoid relegation. If
you are able to marry the recovery work you perform to the stressors your
training produces you will adapt at a faster rate and all aspects of your
performance will improve. The following are illustrations of effective recovery
strategies for different types of fatigue:
• Nutritional fatigue - replenish fuel and fluid supplies as quickly as you can at
session end. See nutrition chapter.
• Physiological fatigue - active recovery work (good cool downs, stretching,
easy pool session etc), hydrotherapy (Jacuzzis and 4 sets of hot (1min) and
cold (30secs) contrast showers or baths), sports massage.
RECOVERY – Cont.
Fatigue has been divided into four main types:
• Nutritional - this type of fatigue can be explained by measurable
factors such as dehydration, lack of fuel in the muscle or build up of
waste products such as lactate.
• Physiological - a build up of waste products such as lactate causing
localised fatigue at the muscle cell.
• Neurological - the peripheral nervous system (i.e. the nerves
responsible for movement and control of your muscles etc) become
fatigued from high intensity work.
• Psychological - the central nervous system (i.e. your brain and spinal
cord) becomes fatigued from competition and training.
Each type of training method employed to improve your performance will supply
your body with a unique set of stimuli and therefore a unique set of stressors
which you will need to recover from.
• Endurance training - both aerobic and anaerobic is likely to produce
nutritional and metabolic fatigue, the higher the intensity of the work the
greater the likelihood of neurological fatigue.
• Weight training - the type of work performed in the gym will impact
the fatigue produced, hypertrophy work (high volumes, small rest
periods) will impact both nutritionally and physiologically, as the quality
of the work increases to strength and power (lower volumes far more
intensity) the main stressor is neurological followed by physiological and
nutritional.
• Neurological recovery - active recovery work, massage,
hydrotherapy and passive rest (relaxation time and quality sleep)
• Psychological recovery - motivational work, visualisation, meditation,
massage and passive rest.