Improving Body Composition During the Season

Once again we're caught out and we're not 100% ready for the season as it comes around. This time we're carrying a few extra kgs from the off season which carried on well into March.

Your body composition or lack there of, can have a detrimental effect on your playing performance. The more weight you carry, the more stress that goes through your joints, especially the ankles, knees and hips.

More importantly your center of gravity shifts too which can wreck havoc on your coordination and what was once a straight forward skill can turn into something very hard to master in a "new body."

We have already discussed training in some previous posts including resistance and energy systems training so whats left?

Yep the one everyone hates to address, diet.

At least 80% of your fat loss will come from what's going into your mouth and you can't out train a bad diet although that's what most of us try to do, with little to no results.

Here are the 5 most important one's to get handle on:

1 - Cut Out the Grog

I can hear you yelling at me already but this is a must. Alcohol is poison, simple as that and that is what your body perceives it as and it will not burn fat when poison is present. So if you're having a crack on a Saturday night then it's going to take at least 3 days to rid your system of it, regardless of how much exercise you do. So now you've simply cut your fat burning days per week in half, and that's with the perfect diet and exercise regime.

2 - Up the Veg/Fruit

Do you eat veggies? Yeah I have them with dinner. What type? You know, peas, corn and potato. Oh.....

You need to eat fruit and/or veg at every sitting. I like fruit to be had with the first 1 - 2 meals and then veg with all other meals. Veggies, especially the green leafy variety such as spinach and broccoli, contain fiber, which slows digestion of your food and makes you feel fuller for longer. They also contain next to no calories so you can basically eat as many of them as you want. Oh, and peas, corn and potato are starch carbs, the worst of all veggies and should be avoided except for before or after training/playing times.

3 - Up the Water

Ever wondered why those cramps come along on the last quarter? Wonder why your performance takes a dive late in games? Look at hydration. You should be loading up on the water, not Gatorade and soft drinks, during the week and even more so in the days leading up to the game. You should also get a fair bit in on a Saturday, pre, during and post game time. 4 litres a day is the minimum here.

4 - Up the Protein

Muscles are made up of protein and during intense activity, they are broken down so they need to be built back up as soon as possible. The best part of eating solid protein is that they utilise 80% of their own calories just to chew, break down and swallow so for fat loss, this is crucial.

5 - Daily Breakfast

For body composition, metabolism is where it's at. 90% of your calories are burnt through your metabolism so the more often you can rev this up the better. How do we do this? Through frequent feedings and intense exercise, of which we've already taken care of. The longer you take to eat breakfast, the more chance you'll get something on the run and the less time you have a ramped metabolism. Unfortunately, once you miss the boat on breakfast, having it later in the day won't catch you up as your metabolism will already have slowed down and become a little sluggish. The sooner you can have breakfast in the morning, the better so aim for within 30mins.

No break through information here but they bare repeating again and again. The one thing you don't want to do in season is drop your calories which will negatively effect your performance at training and thus during games. In most cases, training and playing hard mixed with some better food choices, timing and portion control, will whip you back into shape.