Putting the squad through their pre-season paces - a look....

[Frankie 8,150]

Superb article - will get it on the main site today mate!

[Big Spliff 0]

SA - fantastic article, well worth the effort you put into it!

 

I honestly feel better now, knowing that players genuinely have tailored regimes specific to their history, position, needs and so on. it must be quite a job keeping on top of all this for a squad of 25 players or so. Very interesting.

 

Can you shed any light on how players' ..erm... bad habits would show up on a week to week basis please? Not bashing anybody, but a handful of our guys (at least) are allegedly prone to fast and greasy food as well as a bit of a bevvy - how do you think this shows up and what do you think the approach is from within the fitness team?

[Super_Ally 0]

:cheers:

 

Some of you will have already seen this, but for those who haven't these links are worth a look. They may suprise a few of you:

 

Olympic Gold medalists fueled by chicken nuggets and fried egg and cheese sandwiches.

 

Phelps' "Olympian" diet.

 

(Can no longer find the link to the original Bolt story).

 

So the fastest man on land and in the water have their success built on a diet of junk food and excess calories.

 

Of course this is an extreme.

 

For those not familiar, swimmers' training (even sprint swimmers) involves an phenomenal volume of exercise and hence energy expenditure. They swim an obscence amount of lengths (combined with weight training) and need a phenomenal amount of calories.

 

Bolt's training will be incredibly intense. Shorter duration, power and strength training. But again he will need the fuel for his body.

 

Earlier this year it was reported that Andy Murray was consuming 6000 calories a day during a December training camp in preparation for the Australian Open.

 

And, in a more relevant story I'm sure we all remember the post match Arsenal - Man U dust up where an Arsenal player (van Persie?) was rumoured to have thrown a slice of pizza at a Man U employee (Fergie?).

 

Sticking with the Man U theme:

 

Fruity goo: the Jaffa Cake got there long before the energy bar and is still Rio Ferdinand's favourite half-time treat. The Jaffaholic has even been fed them by physios when lying injured.

 

I think this demonstrates that the modern sports star does not need to live like a monk. In fact, foods such as pizza are often recommended post exercise due to the high number of calories the players can quickly take in to refuel their body.

 

It is unrealistic to expect even elite athletes to abstain completely from "bad" foods. Even top class boyd builders who starve their bodies of calories near to their competitions, will have "cheat" days or meals whereby they can eat some of these so called bad foods. So having a sugary desert or fatty meal. Just like anyone else, athletes will get cravings for their favourite foods and occasionally partaking of them will help them maintain their focus at other times and maintain a healthy diet.

 

Of course nutrition for performance sport is not just about what you eat but when you eat too. As much as possible I imagine Owen (unless we have a nutritionist at the club, I have to admit to being unsure) will have individualised nutrition plans. Perhaps with a nutrition diary, much like a training diary.

 

I think with the internet age and this celebrity obsessed generation people sometimes worry to much about the occasional lapse in "professional behaviour" in terms of eating like a strict vegan.

 

As I say there is nothing wrong with the occasional "bad" food. Sometimes these calorie dense foods may in fact prove beneficial and also help psychologically with maintaining their diet throughout the week/month/season.

[andrew_2010 0]

great thread! and you were right about the goals!

 

Cheers Ian

 

oh, and loved the typo...

 

boyd building

[Super_Ally 0]

great thread! and you were right about the goals!

 

Cheers Ian

 

oh, and loved the typo...

 

 

Ha ha. Never has a typo been more innapropriate.

[calscot 0]

In an interview Bolt said he had the chicken nuggets before the race as he was wary of getting a dodgy stomach and it seemed a safe choice as it's well cooked. It's not in his normal diet.

 

I'm sure most well trained athletes can eat almost anything they want on a competition day as they will easily burn it off.

 

The likes of Phelps are really freaks of nature who have immense metabolic rates and so his energy expenditure is so huge he'll struggle to put on much fat no matter what he eats. If he wasn't a sportsman, he could be one of those really annoying guys who eat crap all the time, do no exercise at all, and still have a six pack...

 

Charlie Adam is probably the kind of person who would put weight on if he did an average amount of exercise and was left to his own diet. However, he's a professional footballer, who has to train like one and get's most of his meals made by a chef under instructions from a nutritionist. He'll have his body fat checked often and so I think it's hard to be at a club like Rangers and actually be fat these days.

 

Once he retires he'll probably turn into a Bobby Williamson look alike.

[Super_Ally 0]

In an interview Bolt said he had the chicken nuggets before the race as he was wary of getting a dodgy stomach and it seemed a safe choice as it's well cooked. It's not in his normal diet.

 

I'm sure most well trained athletes can eat almost anything they want on a competition day as they will easily burn it off.

 

The likes of Phelps are really freaks of nature who have immense metabolic rates and so his energy expenditure is so huge he'll struggle to put on much fat no matter what he eats. If he wasn't a sportsman, he could be one of those really annoying guys who eat crap all the time, do no exercise at all, and still have a six pack...

 

Charlie Adam is probably the kind of person who would put weight on if he did an average amount of exercise and was left to his own diet. However, he's a professional footballer, who has to train like one and get's most of his meals made by a chef under instructions from a nutritionist. He'll have his body fat checked often and so I think it's hard to be at a club like Rangers and actually be fat these days.

 

Once he retires he'll probably turn into a Bobby Williamson look alike.

 

All good points with a certain amount of truth depending on who they are applied to.

 

I just threw in the stories about Bolt, Phelps etc because I think some people worry to much that players shoud live like monks and seeing that the fastest man on the planet on the track and in the water do not follow such stricts diets may help alleviate (sp) such fears).

 

The odd big mac or fish supper will not ruin a football player.

[calscot 0]

I agree 100% with you. And like you said about body builders - it's good psychologically to have a treat of a bad food now and again to keep you motivated - as long as it is really now and again.

 

The trouble with your average person is that they treat themselves almost every day, and in many very overweight people's case, quite a few times a day.

 

When I go to a game, I always see how fit the players are compared to your average bloke, and I'm usually impressed. Even more so when you see the players at lesser teams as they are not exactly superstars.

 

You can really tell they're a few levels above the best player you play with or against at Sunday league level.

 

However, I think many stocky players look fat even though they usually have at least the outline of a six pack when they take their shirt off. I doubt many are above about 10% in body fat and 12% will probably be the absolute limit (except for the odd exception). A high proportion of non-athletes are 20% or above.

 

I think you generally need 8% or below for a six pack.

 

However, Ally is the expert here.

[Super_Ally 0]

I agree 100% with you. And like you said about body builders - it's good psychologically to have a treat of a bad food now and again to keep you motivated - as long as it is really now and again.

 

The trouble with your average person is that they treat themselves almost every day, and in many very overweight people's case, quite a few times a day.

 

When I go to a game, I always see how fit the players are compared to your average bloke, and I'm usually impressed. Even more so when you see the players at lesser teams as they are not exactly superstars.

 

You can really tell they're a few levels above the best player you play with or against at Sunday league level.

 

However, I think many stocky players look fat even though they usually have at least the outline of a six pack when they take their shirt off. I doubt many are above about 10% in body fat and 12% will probably be the absolute limit (except for the odd exception). A high proportion of non-athletes are 20% or above.

 

I think you generally need 8% or below for a six pack.

 

However, Ally is the expert here.

 

As you say having a six-pack is more about getting body fat down than building abdominal muscles. Most (well all) people have the muscle there, but it's hidden under a layer of fat.

 

Football is not like a weight ccategory sport like many combat sports (e.g. Boxing) where power:weight ratio is important and keeping body fat down confers an advantage.

 

Footballer's would not want or need an excessively low body fat percentage and anything around 10% or so would not be a worry.

 

I'm sure anyone watching the PSG game today will have noticed Boyd fitting his heart rate monitor and he seemed to be carrying no more fat around his stomach than the PSG boy who changed his shirt due to blood.

 

Neither guy had a rippling six pack, nor were they carrying massive amounts of fat around the mid-riff.

 

Some people will be more pre-disposed to have well developed abs and storing fat differently. I think the only time you would truly worry about a footballers body fat is if it was fluctuating a lot over the off-season or they were clearly carrying extra weight.

 

Otherwise it is just monitored to ensure it is at a good level for an elite player.

 

Due to variations in player muscle mass, body fat percentage and other anatomically variations I would not be entirely sure about an exact percentage whereby a 6-pack is clearly visible. However I don't know how important that really is.

 

Guys who do not have a naturally athletic figure like Hutton, like your boyd's and Adam's, might well be more closely watched to ensure nutrition and training programmes compliment each other.