Howdy all,

The proper GAA action is back this weekend lads!

The 2017 National Football league is back in action this weekend. Every team will be hoping to get off to a good start and get some vital points on the board.

An early win can seriously boost morale and give the squad a mighty pep in their step. The winning manager's methods will seem like genius stuff. All the hard work in January and beforehand will well be worth it and the lads will be buzzing for training come Tuesday evening. 

Want to make sure you are giving yourself every chance to win? Then make sure you get your nutrition sorted the day before the match. Many people think the pre match meal is the most important meal but the meals consumed the day before are probably more important. 

DAY -1 : Eat a high carbohydrate diet

The above research refers to a study done with soccer players comparing those who ate a diet with low carbohydrate and high carbohydrate. The lads eating a high carbohydrate diet on the day before the match ran considerably further than the lads eating the low carbohydrate diet, with a higher amount of sprints. The lads on the HC also beat the LC in the match they competed in during the study unsurprisingly!

Can you imagine the benefit of 14 outfield players on your team emjoying the benefit of a high carbohydrate diet and running a hypothetical extra 1,000m per match? Basic math tells me that you would get an extra 14,000 metres covered for your team. Even the biggest 'nutrition skeptic' (the negative lad who gives out about everything) would find it hard to argue that this would dramatically increase your chances of winning.

Without getting too technical, an 8g/kg per day diet means that a person who weighs 80kg should be aiming to eat 600 - 650g of carbohydrates on the day before the match.

Think large portions of carbohydrates in each meal (porridge, pasta, rice, potatoes), extra carbohydrate snacks (banana, cereal bars, bread, fruit juices), desserts post dinner and cereal pre bed. Some of these foods may not be 'healthy' as such but if they can increase glycogen stores high enough they serve of the purpose of increasing performance the next day.

But if you are playing in the National League this weekend, I assume your nutritionist has told you this stuff already (; Nutrition is important, get your carbs in over the next few days and best of luck.

For the rest of us mere mortals, we can still ensure we use this information for the club league which no doubt is kicking off in the next few weeks. 

Feel free to share this email around and get your buddies on board the email club of eatdrinksleepgaa.com 

Don't be afraid to email back if you have any queries or any questions. 

Chat ye later, 

Philip

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23168373 extra reading for any nerds out there.