Half Time Recovery Nutrition
It is well understood in the sports science literature that half time is the perfect opportunity to take additional carbohydrate and fluid to help optimise energy levels and prevent any reduction in performance over the second half. There are few studies in the literature that have measured second half performance following carbohydrate feeds. The efficacy of the half time feed will depend on the pre-game hydration and carbohydrate status of each player, the playing conditions and the individual player’s work rate.
Recent work by sport nutritionists have stressed the importance of half time carbohydrate feeds, but have suggested if players overload with carbohydrate they will not achieve optimal body composition throughout the season. A good training diet that is monitored by the sports nutritionist along with body composition levels throughout the season will ensure that each player is well prepared for each match.
The half time carbohydrate and electrolyte supplement will help to replace carbohydrate stores and optimise hydration for the second half. A good nutrition strategy will help to prevent fatigue and cramps plus optimise mental skills and performance.
A player needs to be able to prevent less than 1% weight loss over the duration of a match to prevent any reduction in performance due to dehydration. In a temperate climate sweat losses of about 2 litres per hour is typical. Therefore, approximately 500-800mls of fluid will need to be replaced at half time.
In premiership football, hydration status is monitored closely by the team’s nutritionist and it has been shown that some players tend to turn up to training with suboptimal levels during winter months. This could be possibly due to players not realising there is increased sweat losses in cold conditions and they do not drink enough fluid. Studies show sweat and electrolyte losses vary significantly between players.
Nutritional and hydration strategies need to be individualised. This can be difficult in a team squad, but this can be managed by individualising the composition of sports drinks to suit each player and keeping all water bottles labelled for each player.
Recommendations
- weigh players before and after matches to assess fluid losses throughout the season, ensure they do not lose more than 1% body mass over the duration of a match
- Individualise composition of sports drinks to suit each player, labelled bottles
- For players who are heavy sweaters they may need extra electrolytes to replace losses
- 7-10% glucose polymer solution - 500-800mls dependent on each players carbohydrate and fluid requirement, concentration will depend on gastric tolerance
