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NUTRITION for SOCCER PLAYER

Selasa, 17 November 2009

NUTRITION for SOCCER PLAYER

inflatable goal posts

portable football goals

Although soccer is the most popular sport in the world, with over 120 million amateur players worldwide, scientific research concerning the nutritional needs of soccer players has been scant. Fortunately, new investigations are being conducted, and the up-to-date research suggests that soccer players should eat and drink like marathon runners!

The link between soccer players and long-distance endurance athletes seems odd at first glance, since soccer is a game involving sudden sprints and bursts of energy rather than continuous moderate-intensity running, but the connection doesn't seem so extraordinary when one considers what happens during an actual soccer match.

In a typical contest, soccer players run for a total of 10-11 kilometers at fairly modest speed, sprint for about 800-1200 metres, accelerate 40-60 different times, and change direction every five seconds or so.

Although soccer players don't cover a full marathon distance (42 kilometers) during a game, the alternating fast and slow running which they utilize can easily deplete their leg-muscle glycogen stores. For example, just six seconds of all-out sprinting can trim muscle glycogen by 15 percent, and only 30 seconds of upscale running can reduce glycogen concentrations by 30 percent!

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The high average intensity of soccer play (studies show that topnotch players spend over two-thirds of a typical match at 85 percent of maximal heart rate) accelerates glycogen depletion. Plus, the time duration of a soccer match, 90 minutes, is more than enough to empty leg muscles of most of their glycogen.

In fact, research has shown that soccer players sometimes deplete 90 percent of their muscle glycogen during a match, more than enough to heighten fatigue and dramatically reduce running speeds.