Clyde Williams, Ph.D. and Ceri W. Nicholas, Ph.D.
www.gssiweb.com
SSE #70: Nutrition Needs for Team Sport
1.) High-carbohydrate, pre-exercise meals improve exercise capacity.
2.) Carbohydrate-electrolyte drinks ingested during exercise are of benefit during competition and training.
3.) Fluid ingestion during prolonged exercise helps delay the deterioration in motor skills.
4.) Recovery is improved when about 50 g of carbohydrate are consumed immediately after prolonged exercise and at 1-h intervals thereafter.
5.) During daily training or competition, recovery is likely to be improved when carbohydrate intake is increased to 10 g per kg body weight each day.
6.) Rehydration is quickly achieved during recovery when athletes ingest fluids equivalent to at least 150% of the body weight lost during the exercise.
Adopting nutritional strategies within the broad recommendations for healthy eating will often improve exercise tolerance and help team-sport athletes recover rapidly from training and competition. High-carbohydrate meals 3 to 4 h before heavy exercise should result in greater exercise capacity than fasting or eating pre-exercise meals containing only modest amounts of carbohydrates. During prolonged training sessions or competition, there are likely to be performance benefits gained from drinking a well-formulated sports drink in small quantities (150 ml) at 20 min intervals. Recovery begins immediately after exercise ends, so it is essential to take advantage of the opportunity to increase the rate of glycogen restoration by consuming about 50 g of carbohydrate at the beginning of recovery and every 1 to 2 h up to the next meal.The dietary carbohydrate intake for team-sport athletes should be prescribed when recovery must be completed within 24 h or less. The carbohydrate intake should be increased to about 10 g/kg body weight during the 24-h recovery period and should include mainly high-glycemic-index carbohydrate foods. During recovery periods limited to only a few hours, rehydration and some refueling can be achieved by ingesting carbohydrate-electrolyte solutions in volumes of at least 150% of the exercise-induced loss in body weight (Shirreffs et al., 1996).
