Training geared Nutrition

D'Agger

Hi all,

I've made a number of changes to my diet over the past year and I'm quite happy with the results so far. However, I'm looking to have my diet reviewed and see if there are changes I should be making in order to get the most out of my training. There's a few reasons why I'm starting the thread

- I'm aware of how important training backed up with good diet is - I need to get it right in order to get all De Gainz

- I'm 26, I play Gaelic football and I've won fúck all, I'd like to change it, or, at the very least, given the time I'm investing into the sport already, give it my best shot while I'm headed into my best years physically.

- I have a few reservations about how I'm eating given the training I'm doing and I feel if I get some solid advice here I'll be in good stead for the next few months of training.

So to make this easier to read I'll split it into my specs, current training & current diet before finishing with some conclusions I've come to myself and some questions I hope you fine folk will be able to answer.


Personal:
181cm in height
76.2kg as it stands - this is the lowest I've been for some time
Athletic build, quick - endurance/cardio needs work
Injury prone
Back issues in particular

Training:

Went back to football training in December and did two sessions per week for a while, turning into two sessions and a match every week for roughly 5 weeks from January. I have however been out for the past 3 weeks, returning this Friday.

I will be training at least twice a week with football always, if this drops to one session then I'll be doing another cardio session in the gym for my own fitness needs - particularly for the coming 6 weeks as we'll be playing our first round in 8 weeks. My plan is to do additional cardio if required, otherwise my sessions will have light bike work, foam rolling, lots of stretching and then working one of 3 workouts (Chest & Arms, Back & Shoulders or Legs). These workouts will involve some weights but moreso bodyweight exercises such as boxjumps, pull ups, wall squats etc.

After these sessions I'll have a sauna and steam, possibly a swim also.

Where I don't go to the gym, I'll be looking to do a pilates session for conditioning/injury prevention as I find it very good for my back.


Diet:

Currently my diet is fairly simple. The reason I've dropped to 76kg is due to the following changes:

Cutting out sugar as much as possible, out of tea/coffee, not drinking soft drinks etc.

Swapping olive oil for coconut oil - I cook everything with coconut oil thesedays

• Drinking Green Tea - mainly lemon & ginger or Matcha tea before training

• Mainly sticking to a diet of chicken, carrots, kale, brocolli, porridge, granola, fruit and ON whey protein

My regular day would involve:

Breakfast: Granola, Avocado, Greek Yogurt or Greek Yogurt, eggs & bacon (day after heavy session/match)

2nd breakfast: bowl of porridge at work around 10 or half past

Lunch: Salad plate (Turkey breast slices, hard boiled egg, quinoa, cucumber, chickpea salad / egg mayo, grated cheese) & soup

Dinner: Chicken Stir fry (Kale, brocolli, herbs & spices) with Basmati Rice or two breaded chicken breasts with sweet potato, kale, brocolli, beans & raw carrot

My dinners do change from time to time but those are my two staple meals as they're simple to cook and I like them - they have everything I need (at least I think).

In between I'll snack on pistacios, almonds, cashews, I try to drink about 3 litres of water per day and I've picked up coconut water for after very heavy sessions or matches.

FWIW I'm not an angel, I will have some chocolate here and there if I feel I've been eating well all week, I also don't see a problem with having one take away per week however I've been disciplined in that regard somewhat.


Conclusions/Questions:

So I want the diet critiqued because I think it's good, but I may need to eat more given the amount of training I plan on undertaking. Should I be eating more carbs or are sweet potatoes enough?

Sometimes I will actively eat more when training or playing a match - i.e. the morning of a match I'll have a large breakfast, or if I have training in the evening, I'll have a second lunch of rice and some chicken to keep me going until I finish training. Sometimes I'll eat too close and feel unwell meaning when I finish training I'll just have a shake, mars bar and banana because I'm too tired to cook and not interested in eating late anyway.

Another issue I'm finding is what to eat before matches - sometimes I'll feel weak after a run during a match or feel like I don't have a huge amount of energy in the tank - this could be down to not being at peak fitness just yet, but I suspect it's my diet that's the issue.

Finally, I appreciate that this is a long post that will take some going through so thanks for reading - if you have any suggestions on what I could incorporate to help me train more effectively I'd appreciate it.

I'm not interested in eating weights, my main goal is longevity for the season, don't get injured, do pilates, foam rolling and stretching as much as possible but fuel my body and train like I know I can - then over time I'm confident I'll get results

gl0Rob

I'm not sure swapping coconut oil for olive oil is a healthier choice . You replacing a good source of unsaturated fat which has plenty examples of being good for your heart health with a source of saturated fat which by my understanding is not that healthy for the heart.

Personally I have gone for a mix of both olive oil and cocnut oil. I use cocnut oil for cooking at high heat as olive oil can go bad if cooked too hot.

D'Agger

gl0Rob wrote: »

I'm not sure swapping coconut oil for olive oil is a healthier choice . You replacing a good source of unsaturated fat which has plenty examples of being good for your heart health with a source of saturated fat which by my understanding is not that healthy for the heart.

Personally I have gone for a mix of both olive oil and cocnut oil. I use cocnut oil for cooking at high heat as olive oil can go bad if cooked too hot.

Coconut oil is high in a saturated fat called medium chain triglycerides. These fats work differently than other types of saturated fat in the body and although I don't know everything there is to know about it, the benefits of coconut oil are quite high from what I've read

I haven't really seen anything about the effects of over use of coconut oil

MightyMandarin

Have you any sort of goal weight you want to achieve? 76kg is quite light for your height so I would suggest to bulk slowly till around 85kg and see how fat you are then. GAA players do need to be quick on their feet, but also physical especially nowadays, so gaining a few kgs will benefit you I'd say.

If you feel slightly drained during matches, you should be eating more carbs before the match. You should have a big portion of pasta, potatoes, rice etc. about 2hours before every game and another portion after. Even more sugary things like fruit, jellies and isotonics should be had before and after a game. If you feel sick during it, then eat them a little bit earlier. A match is going to take a big toll on your body energy-wise, so you should be replacing anything lost; at the moment it sounds like you're not doing that which explains your weight loss.

Even if you don't want to gain weight, you should certainly incorporate more weights into your training.Box jumps, Wall squats etc are beneficial, but you would be better off trying to squat, deadlift and bench heavy and get as strong as possible. Your split could also be changed to Chest+tris, back+biceps and legs+shoulders, otherwise known as push,pull legs. Shoulders can go with chest but I prefer to pair them with legs for convenience.

D'Agger

MightyMandarin wrote: »

Have you any sort of goal weight you want to achieve? 76kg is quite light for your height so I would suggest to bulk slowly till around 85kg and see how fat you are then. GAA players do need to be quick on their feet, but also physical especially nowadays, so gaining a few kgs will benefit you I'd say.

If you feel slightly drained during matches, you should be eating more carbs before the match. You should have a big portion of pasta, potatoes, rice etc. about 2hours before every game and another portion after. Even more sugary things like fruit, jellies and isotonics should be had before and after a game. If you feel sick during it, then eat them a little bit earlier. A match is going to take a big toll on your body energy-wise, so you should be replacing anything lost; at the moment it sounds like you're not doing that which explains your weight loss.

Even if you don't want to gain weight, you should certainly incorporate more weights into your training.Box jumps, Wall squats etc are beneficial, but you would be better off trying to squat, deadlift and bench heavy and get as strong as possible. Your split could also be changed to Chest+tris, back+biceps and legs+shoulders, otherwise known as push,pull legs. Shoulders can go with chest but I prefer to pair them with legs for convenience.

Thanks for the response firstly MightyMandarin

80kg or thereabouts - tbqh, this is the lightest I've been, I think part of that is not doing weights during the off season and instead doing pilates to try and sort out back issues I've had. That coupled with getting my diet in check is what the weight loss is down to. I'll be gymming more over the next few weeks and should put on some weight from that. I've also taken on the advice of requiring more carbs, changed protein to oats and whey as opposed to just whey, so getting 24g of carbs twice a day from that alone. Add to that porridge daily and I'll look to add more sweet potatoes, that should bring my carb intake to more along the lines of where it should be I'd imagine. I'll look to eat pasta nights before matches if possible.

My problem with squats & deadlifts is weight loading when I have back issues - lower lumbar lordosis - I'd prefer to get that fixed and gain muscle stamina in my legs through cycling, wall squats & box jumps - which I think is helping so far

Ideally next winter I'd be doing pilates again, however I'd be looking to incorporate squats & deadlifts then, having hopefully gained strength in the required areas from what I'm doing currently. I think the issue is trying to balance the 40 hours, three GAA outings & two or so gym sessions per week - in order to try and stay injury free and not over exert myself over the course of a season, I'm willing to have somewhat lighter sessions in the gym. Only if we're not going 3 nights per week with football will I be able to do heavier sessions.

Took the advice with jellies & fruit along with a protein shake on the way back from a match a long distance away today, cheers for that, stood to me.

Alf Veedersane

What might be useful is to track what you're eating on MyFitnessPal to give you an idea of the macros of what you're eating.

Without knowing how quantities, it's hard to say that you're not getting enough carbs but it would be one explanation for why you get tired during training. There might be a lot of reasons and it may be a combination but you can work that out in time.

Having the oats and whey after matches or heavy sessions will stand to you as well.

jive

Do lots of HIIT, best thing for football IMO. Rest the day before a match.

Weights etc. will help but not as important as just being 'match fit' at club level which is what HIIT will get you.

I used to do distance running, then weights, then a bit of both and a bit of HIIT. Doing HIIT is best from my experience just make sure to warm up properly and foam roll the **** out of it whenever you can.

D'Agger

jive wrote: »

Do lots of HIIT, best thing for football IMO. Rest the day before a match.

Weights etc. will help but not as important as just being 'match fit' at club level which is what HIIT will get you.

I used to do distance running, then weights, then a bit of both and a bit of HIIT. Doing HIIT is best from my experience just make sure to warm up properly and foam roll the **** out of it whenever you can.

Agree with you on HIIT - I haven't exactly looked into it but from playing GAA and knowing myself what I need to do for fitness - interval training is key, would mainly do it on the bike where I warm up, then go by distance or time at high intensity - haven't done it on a rowing machine for a while now but always find that to be brilliant training - three sets of 200m where I take it handy for 250-500m, then hammer it for the same distance.

I'm not overly concerned with the training side of things, it was nutrition information I was looking for.

Legs felt very weak at training last night, however that can be put down to a poor group warmup and lack of stretching, other than that I'm happy enough with how I'm approaching training and just need to get the balance right before games - that's with regard to timing.

I've started taking the oats & whey protein and increasing my carb intake at lunch - not by a huge amount but more than what I was taking in before, add to that coconut water after a hard session and I think I'm feeling a bit better for it with regards to stiffness and tiredness

jive

D'Agger wrote: »

Agree with you on HIIT - I haven't exactly looked into it but from playing GAA and knowing myself what I need to do for fitness - interval training is key, would mainly do it on the bike where I warm up, then go by distance or time at high intensity - haven't done it on a rowing machine for a while now but always find that to be brilliant training - three sets of 200m where I take it handy for 250-500m, then hammer it for the same distance.

I'm not overly concerned with the training side of things, it was nutrition information I was looking for.

Legs felt very weak at training last night, however that can be put down to a poor group warmup and lack of stretching, other than that I'm happy enough with how I'm approaching training and just need to get the balance right before games - that's with regard to timing.

I've started taking the oats & whey protein and increasing my carb intake at lunch - not by a huge amount but more than what I was taking in before, add to that coconut water after a hard session and I think I'm feeling a bit better for it with regards to stiffness and tiredness

Your diets good any changes you make to it will make a negligible difference to your performance. Up the carbs around training and matches but other than that it is fine. People will suggest different things but ultimately if you're eating like you have listed consistently then you'll be eating much better than 99.9% of footballers in the country.

Rest up near match days is all I'll recommend, you'll feel the difference. It's easy to feel bad for not training but you'll actually perform much better although it is actually tough mentally to take a step back and not train.