Hockey players should know the importance of eating properly. If you’re an athlete and you don’t know that poor nutrition can hinder your performance then you better pay extra attention to this post. I am going to discuss 3 tips that will help to keep your body performing at an optimal level. These tips will cover what and when you should be eating before, during and after a training session. Following these tips will help you recover faster, maximize your energy levels without feeling heavy and sluggish while also keeping you mentally focused. If you’re not sure how close to a training session you should be eating read this first Should You Eat Before Training? Depending on how much time you have before your training session will determine what your best options are for food. If you have more than 2 hours you can basically eat anything (as long as it’s healthy) because your body will have enough time to digest almost all of the contents.  When you only have an hour or less before you have to train and you feel your stomach rumbling, it’s easy to overeat but this will make you feel terrible during your training. Make the smart choice and pick the correct foods to eat so that you don’t make yourself sick during your training session.

BEFORE

If you have around an hour I would suggest having a bagel with peanut butter and a banana or bagel with a small amount of cream cheese and a banana. This small snack will provide your body with the nutrients it needs to perform at a high level without slowing you down. If you have less than 30 minutes, then I would stick with eating only a banana. The banana will provide your body with satisfaction but it’s small enough that it won’t make you feel ill during your training. I won’t get into what you should be eating before games as I’ve written about this in this article Pre-game Meal For Hockey Players.

DURING

Our bodies do a good job at storing enough energy (glycogen) in our muscles to enable us to perform for 60 – 90 minutes. Once the training exceeds 90 minutes then you’ll want to consume some type of carbohydrates to help maintain your energy levels. Choosing the right foods during competition can be a difficult task. The easiest way to consume carbohydrates during prolonged events is in liquid form. Consuming 250ml (8oz) of a sports drink containing 6-10% carbohydrates every 15 – 20 minutes will help you keep optimal energy levels. It’s highly recommended to avoid drinks like pop (Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, etc…) that are extremely high in sugar as they will only give you a quick burst of energy but at the expense of your performance because you’ll quickly crash after and feel tired.

AFTER

The post training meal is very important and has 3 stages. First, you’ll want to get 75 – 100 grams of carbohydrates paired with 15-25 grams of protein within 15 – 30 minutes of completing your activity. Combining carbohydrates and protein together helps the absorption of both nutrients into the muscle faster making it a more effective way to replenish your energy stores (muscle glycogen). Liquid forms of carbohydrates are easier to mix with a whey protein and easier to consume after training. Second, 2-3 hours after completing your activity you’ll want to consume at least an additional 100 grams of carbohydrates. At this stage in your recovery you should have a very healthy appetite and be eating some solid foods will allow you to consume the 100 grams of carbohydrates you need. Third, and final part of your post training recovery strategy is REST! (Read more here) I know this doesn’t have anything to do with nutrition but if you’re not resting (sleeping and relaxing) then it doesn’t matter how hard you train or what types of fuel you’re providing your body because you won’t be able to perform at your best. To recap everything, consuming the right nutrients at the right time and in the proper amounts will allow your muscles to have the energy they need to perform at their best while also speeding up your recovery to best prepare you for your next training session.

When training as an athlete your main focus is increasing your performance. When you don’t fuel your body properly this is a lot harder to achieve. It’s extremely important to give your body the nutrients it needs to perform at its best. So should you eat before training? The answer is yes. When you don’t fuel before your workouts you’re making everything harder for yourself. I feel too many athletes nowadays think it’s better to train in a fasted state but this couldn’t be farther from the truth.

There are a few reasons why someone may choose NOT to eat prior to lifting.  First, athletes may feel it will burn more fat. In actuality, lowering your daily caloric intake helps you lose fat in the long run, if you avoid eating prior to a workout it can be detrimental. It will put your body under stress while also resulting in a lack the energy needed to get the most out of your workout. Even if your goal as an athlete is to lose body fat, it’s more effective to consume the bulk of your calories before and after your workout. Then throughout the remainder of the day, you’ll want to reduce the total amount of calories you consume. A fatigued (hungry) body will burn fewer calories in a workout and bring your body into a catabolic state, thus making it harder for your performance to improve (through recovery).

There’s an upside and downside to eating before a workout. The upside is that you give your muscles the fuel they need to perform as well allowing you to burn more calories. Eating prior to exercise can also help with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar); having low levels of sugar in our blood can result in dizziness, blurred vision, and needless fatigue.

The downside that I hear from hockey players is that eating prior to a training session results in them having an upset stomach and feeling sluggish. When muscles work, blood flow will increase in response to the muscles demand for more oxygen and nutrients. Eating too close to training means food will sit in our stomachs undigested. As blood flows away from the stomach and to the working muscles, and this can cause unpleasant symptoms. If you’re going to eat a big meal, do so at least 2.5 hours prior to exercising. This will give the stomach adequate time to digest the food, convert it into energy and fuel your body for best perform.

If you forget or don’t have time to eat a big meal before a training session make sure you eat at least a small snack. Choosing a snack that digests easily like crackers, bagels, bananas or granola bars will allow you to eat as close as 20 minutes prior to your training session. Getting these quick-digesting carbohydrates in your body will increase your performance while preventing the negative effect a larger meal has on the stomach.

The moral of the story

When eating close to your workouts it is also important to consider the type of exercise you are doing. For example, biking will have a different effect on the food in your stomach than running. There is less body movement with biking than running so the food in your stomach won’t be getting tossed around as much.

Ultimately, everyone is different and some people can handle a little more food before exercising while other people cannot, so it is important to figure out what works best for you.

 

Besides always being told that I needed to improve my foot speed as a young hockey player, coaches would also tell me that I needed to put on weight. I have always been a skinny kid and it was extremely hard to put on weight during the off-season, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t try. I listened to my coaches recommendations, did what they said and started eating everything I could get my hands on. It didn’t matter what type of food it was, as long as it would make me heavier I would eat it. Looking back I’ve realized I was given the wrong advice and as a result, I did it completely incorrectly. Everything I gained during the off-season wasn’t helpful when it came to my performance on the ice. It actually made me slower and I definitely couldn’t afford to get any slower. Not only did I suck when I first got back on the ice I would end up losing all the weight in the first 2 weeks of training camp anyways. The extra weight I gained did me no good. A few years wiser now, I know that there’s a huge difference between healthy (usable) weight, and just adding weight to be heavier.

Bulking up during the off-season probably has more to do with your nutrition than the type of workout program you’re doing. But with saying that, if you’re following the incorrect workout plan then you’ll be wasting your time and energy trying to put on extra muscle mass. Each time we lift weights or do some type of conditioning, we are creating a stimulus for our body. The response we get is determined by that exact stimulus. If we’re trying to accomplish a specific outcome then we need to apply the correct stimulus so we can achieve our specific goal.

I’m going to lay out some basic things you should follow in order to safely add healthy, usable weight that won’t slow you down on the ice. I don’t want you to make the same mistake I did!

Supplementing appropriately before and after your workout probably has the biggest impact on adding muscle size. Before your workout, you’ll want to take roughly 5g of BCAA (branched chain amino acids). BCAA’s are made up of 3 amino acids, leucine, isoleucine, and valine. Consuming these amino acids pre-workout will make them readily available for your muscles to use while you’re training. When lifting weights the muscle fibers break down (this is a good thing) and in order for the muscles to get larger, they need amino acids to repair them. The amino acids can start the repair process during the workout when consumed before. This not only helps to increase the muscle’s size but can also help with the recovery process.

After the workout, you’ll want to consume a protein shake along with some carbohydrates. Post workout you should have roughly .44g of protein per 1kg of body weight and 3-4 times the amount of carbohydrates (more protein isn’t better for you). For example, if you weighed 60kg you would have 26g of protein and somewhere between 80 – 105g of carbohydrates. The carbohydrates help the muscles absorb the proteins faster and also supply energy to the muscles so you can train harder in the gym the following day. You’ll also want to add an extra 300-500cals per day on top of your recommended daily allowance.

Now, what type of workout should you do?

Workouts focused on muscle hypertrophy (growth) require the correct balance between volume and intensity. Too much or too little will hinder your results. Performing sets of 8-12 reps with around 60 seconds of rest between sets is ideal for muscle hypertrophy. You’ll want to make sure you change up your rep count throughout this training phase (should be about 6 weeks) which will give your muscles a slightly different stimulus to spark new muscle growth. Don’t be in the gym for over 90 minutes as this will hamper your growth by having too many of the wrong hormones released. Keep the rest short between sets and make sure you’re getting your pre and post nutrition shakes to maximize your gains.

If you want a plan that is specifically designed for hockey players check out the one below. I have put together two different programs. One is for the advanced lifter who has at least 2 years of training experience while the other program is for a beginner who has less than 2 years of training experience. If you decide to purchase my program I’ll send you a promo code so you can receive 30% off my nutritional guideline eBook for hockey players. This eBook will give you all the knowledge you need to make sure you’re fueling your body correctly to maximize your efforts in the gym!

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Training hard is extremely important if you want to experience incredible gains. But if your recovery doesn’t match the efforts of your training you won’t see the gains you should.  I’ve already written an article outlining different ways to help you recover from your training, you can read it here.

Today’s post is going to focus on the # 1 way to best recover from rigorous training…

…..SLEEP!

Sleep is by far the best way to allow your tissues to rebuild and give you the strength and energy you need to continue to train as hard as you do.

To learn more about the importance of sleep and what it can do for your training and the longevity of your career make sure to read “Rest is a Weapon”.

Below I’m going to share some strategies to help you fall asleep faster at night, and hopefully keep you asleep longer.

I’m sure at some point you’ve heard that our bodies work on a schedule (known as the circadian rhythm). The closer we can fall asleep each night and wake up at the same time each morning (as much as possible) the more efficient our circadian rhythm becomes and this will promote a higher quality of sleep each night.

You’ll want to avoid any and all electronics in bed like your tv, laptop, cell phone, tablet, and gaming system. The light these electronics emit causes a reduction in melatonin (sleepy-time hormone). This reduction will make it hard to fall asleep, and once you are asleep your quality of sleep goes way down. Another reason to avoid electronics in bed as well any other activities other than sleeping (do your Netflix binging in the living room) is so that you make the mental association that your bed is only for sleeping.

A few other things you might want to avoid before going to bed are caffeinated beverages, such as pop, coffee, black tea, chocolate, etc. Caffeine has a half-life of 6 hours, so your afternoon coffee could still be in your system come bedtime. Try and avoid alcohol before bed. Yes you might feel like that glass of wine or that beer helps you sleep better at night but your body actually doesn’t get the same restful sleep. (If you’re currently under the legal drinking age then you won’t have to worry)

If you constantly find yourself having trouble falling asleep at night you need to ask yourself, what are the distractions that are keeping me from falling asleep and getting a good quality sleep?

Go through this sample checklist:

• Is it too light in my room?
• Is there too much noise?
• Did I watch TV right before bed?
• Was I on my computer/phone/tablet while lying in bed?
• Is my room temperature is too warm or too cold?

If you answered yes to any of those then it’s time to make some adjustments. Put your phone away and out of your room. Yes, I know you use it for your alarm clock, but stop it. It’s the worst thing for you. As you’re trying to fall asleep you’ll continue to look at it and get distracted by someone’s message or a stupid game notification. Go down to the dollar store and buy yourself a cheap alarm clock. It’ll do the job waking you up! Get the TV out of your room.

Remember, your room is only for sleeping, not gaming, not binge watching Netflix in your bed, nothing, but sleep!

Try and keep your room nice and dark and the temperature between 17-20 degrees Celsius. This will help cool your core temperature slightly (ever so slightly) thus promoting a deeper sleep. Reducing the noise in your room will help you fall asleep faster and keep you asleep longer. If you can’t make your room quieter for whatever reason (maybe you live near the highway or a busy city center) then invest in some 50 cent ear plugs.

If you need to calm yourself down and wind down before bed, try performing some breathing exercises. This will help bring down the excitement of the central nervous system (CNS). While lying in bed with your eyes closed, inhale for 7 seconds, hold this breath for 4 seconds, and then exhale on an 8-second count. Repeat this a few times and it should help you relax and fall asleep.

Establishing a sleep routine will help train the mind and body to prepare for sleep and you’ll start to notice you’ll automatically want to go to bed at the same time each night. Keep your routine consistent and simple and you’ll start to get better sleeps each night.

It’s not fair but sometimes things in life aren’t fair and this is one of those times. Whether you’re male or female under eating and over working will have huge negative effects on your performance. But the thing that’s really scary is, not only does under eating have negative effects on a female’s performance it has an even bigger effect on her overall health. This is a very serious topic and I’m going to cover what I feel is important. However, if you’re a female hockey player and you think you may have some form of an eating disorder, I strongly recommend that you go talk with a health care provider.

It’s very unfortunate but society has made females believe that they need to look thin in order to be attractive. And most females believe this is only achievable if they don’t eat and exercise lots. This could not be farther from the truth. Social media has made this way of thinking even more prevalent in today’s female population and that needs to stop.

Today’s post is going to be geared towards female hockey players and the risks and concerns they can undergo if they don’t follow a proper nutrition plan.