TYSA TRIUMPH HEALTH & FITNESS PERFORMACE GUIDE
This information is provided to help maximize each player’s ability to perform at a high level.
Water and Hydration
Water is the most vital nutrient relative to your performance; small decreases in your hydration status will lead to large decreases in your performance capabilities. In general, you should be consuming 6-8 glasses of water a day, and 12-16 glasses a day when you practice outside in the heat. A gallon is equal to 16 glasses. Before practice or a match, you should consume at least 16 ounces of water 45-60 minutes beforehand and then another 16 ounces after. Over-consuming during half-time can have negative effects until the water leaves your stomach.
Carbohydrate Consumption:
In general, as soccer players in a competitive season, you should be consuming around 1500 to 1800 calories a day (1 gram of carbohydrate = 4 calories), healthy carbohydrates (whole grains). Hopefully we all know how to read food labels, but to help you understand how much you need to eat, here are some examples:
Bagel: 200 calories (156 cal from carbs)
Whole Milk (1 cup or 8 oz): 149 calories (44 calories from carbs)
Wheat Bread (Slice): 65 calories (48 calories from carbs)
Granola Bar (1 Piece): 118 calories (64 calories from carbs)
Spaghetti (1 cup cooked): 197 calories (160 calories from carbs)
Protein Consumption:
As an athlete protein is an important nutrient needed for growth and development as well as an energy source for your body. As a whole, we tend to over-consume the actual amount of protein our bodies need. As a general rule for competitive athletes, you need to eat about 1 gram of protein for every 2 pounds of body weight every day. So if you weigh 150 pounds, you should be eating around 75 grams to 80 grams (300 – 320 calories) of protein per day, which is easy to do. A chicken breast, depending on size has between 25-30 grams of protein. A glass of milk has between 8-10 grams of protein. Anything beyond 100 grams of protein in a day is useless unless you are training 3 times a day. That excess protein will be converted to fat or synthesized for use as fuel, but as a “dirty fuel” with byproducts your body must remove.
Fat Consumption:
Most of us have a negative image of fat, but certain types of fat are necessary for health and performance. Certain vitamins and minerals can only be transferred to our cells using fat molecules. What you want to consume are mono and poly UNSATURATED fats. The bad fats are the trans fats and the saturated fats. Mono and poly unsaturated fats are found in vegetables like beans and peanuts. Saturated fats are typically found in fatty meats. Moderate consumption of beef and pork products are fine, but overconsumption of these foods will be detrimental to your performance goals. Excess fat on your body is dead weight, which means you have to move more mass around than necessary, making you slower and less agile.
Rest and Recovery
Since most teams only train 2 times per week and generally only have 1 game per weekend, you have 4 rest days and only 3 training days, which is ample recovery if you are eating and sleeping properly. Young athletes require 8-10 hours of sleep to recover from hard sessions. If you are staying up until midnight or later and waking up at 7:00 AM for school, you are not giving your body enough rest. Power naps are also vital for athletes. A 15-20 minute nap will help you mentally re-energize after a day at school. A 30+ minute nap will hurt you because of something called sleep inertia (sleep cycle). If you take a 30+ minute nap, you trick your body into thinking it is going to rest for 3 or more hours. When you wake up, you are often more tired than when you fell asleep.
Additional Training
In a 90 minute session twice a week, you can only achieve a certain level of fitness. It is up to you to complete your fitness. All of my workouts for players are based on proven science and will make you a faster, more agile player. For those of you who are motivated and want to be the best you can be, here is a workout for your off days. All exercises should be done as fast as possible while maintaining good form.
- Walking Lunges w/ a Twist– 20 yards
- 15 Push Ups
- 15 Crunches
- 20 Sideways jumps over soccer ball
- Rest 1 minute
- Sprint 20 yards, back pedal 20 yards
- Side Shuffle 20 yards, side shuffle back 20 yards (same direction)
- 15 Squat Jumps
- Side Plank – 30 seconds
- Rest 15 seconds
- Side Plank (opposite) – 30 seconds
- 15 Knee-to-Chest
- Lateral Lunge Right Side -15 reps
- Lateral Lunge Left Side – 15 reps
- Sprint 20 yards, back pedal 20 yards
- Rest 1 Minute
- Repeat 3 more times
This is all information you need to become a better player. It is for your benefit. If you use it, apply it, and live by it, you will become a better athlete.
