Nutrition For Football Players: Give Them Choices
Dec 1st, 2007 by Coach DeLorm
Here is another great article by Coach Bryce Karasiak. He is a guest contributor to the blog and a certified strength and conditioning coach.
One of the hardest things to do as a strength and conditioning coach at any level is to make sure your athletes eat, and eat enough. Over the summer, football players can burn anywhere from 700 to 1000 calories a day during their workouts alone. During the season, players can burn anywhere from 500 to 800 calories during practice. Based on these numbers, it is important for athletes to eat the proper amount of calories to support their effort. From my experience, most players usually never eat breakfast before a workout/practice, and if it is not given to them, they will never add any fuel after their workouts for recovery. As a strength and conditioning coach, I have a background in sport nutrition. It was my responsibility on our staff to provide meal plans for our athletes that allows them to take in the correct amount of calories to make sure they are maintaining, gaining, or losing the proper amount of weight for their particular position. Athletes, football players in particular, come up with all the excuses as to why they did not eat before or after their workouts or anytime during the day. School work, time, money, and being too busy are the major excuses I hear consistently. When designing a meal plan, I make it as simple as possible for them: This is not rocket science. The main thing I try to do is give them choices.
When designing a plan, boredom usually is the main reason why an athlete does not stick with his diet plan. Forget all the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins; I concentrate on calories in versus calories out. Granted, I reiterate that eating a bag of Twizzlers or McDonalds is not the right choice, but I do allow them to eat these things just so the still can enjoy eating food. Football players are not bodybuilders. Yes, we want them to be lean and not have sloppy weight on their body, but eliminating all foods is not the answer.
This is how I break down a meal plan. I start with 6 meals a day. There are three main meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then, I add three additional meals as snacks or post-workout/recovery meals. For each meal, I will breakdown the calories for each particular food. This gives the athlete the exact amount of calories for each particular food and each meal. As we all know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so I try to give a good amount of calories here. Depending on your workout schedule, I add a good recovery meal with carbohydrates and proteins to aid in muscle repair.
Based on the amount of calories each athlete needs to take in, I find foods that they have easy access to and are readily available. As freshmen, I usually have them record all their meals for a 2-3 week period just to get an idea what they are currently eating. Based on their desired weight, I then prepare a meal plan. Here is an example of a meal plan that I used for a wide receiver, a linebacker, and an offensive lineman.
Football Player Meal Plans
| Wide Receiver | Linebacker | Lineman |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-workout Snack (6:00 AM) | Pre-workout Snack (6:00 AM) | Pre-workout Snack (5:30 AM) |
| 2 cups Honey Nut Cheerios (230) | 12oz Gatorade Replacement Shake (360) | PB&J; on WW Bread (360) |
| 12oz Skim Milk (120) | 8 oz Skim Milk (90) | |
| 12oz Orange Juice (154) | Post Workout Breakfast | |
| Post Workout Breakfast | 2 cups Oatmeal (198) | Post Workout Breakfast |
| 3 Scrambled Eggs (560) | 2 pcs Of MultiGrain Toast with | 1 bowl Fruit Loops (150) |
| 2-Multigrain Toast w/ 1tbsp butter (230) | Peanut Butter and Jelly (320) | W.W. Bagel w/ PB&J; (452) |
| 20oz Gatorade (160) | 12oz Skim Milk (120) | 8 oz Skim Milk (90) |
| Lunch | Lunch | Lunch |
| 1 cup Roast Beef (420) | 1 Burger King Chicken Sandwich (500) | Bacon Cheeseburger (510) |
| 2 pieces of M.G. Bread (160) | 1 Cup of Frozen Yogurt (280) | 1 cup Green Beans (40) |
| 1 tsp Mustard (3) | 20oz Water | 1 C.C. Cookie (50) |
| 2 leaves of Lettuce (4) | 12 oz. Lemonade (130) | |
| 20oz Water | Snack | |
| Snack | 2 cups PrePackaged Trail Mix (700) | Snack |
| Apple (60) | 20oz Gatorade (160) | Gatorade Bar PB (250) |
| Gatorade Energy Bar (260) | 20 oz. Gatorade (130) | |
| 20oz Water | Dinner | |
| Dinner | 1 cup Roast Beef (420) | Dinner |
| 8 oz Sirloin (226) | with 2 pieces of MultiGrain Bread (160) | 4 pcs. Of Fried Walleye (810) |
| 2 cups Spaghetti Noodles (400) | 1 cup cooked Baby Carrots (70) | Steamed Carrots (90) |
| 1/2 cup Spaghetti Sauce (140) | 12oz Skim Milk (120) | Caesar Salad (95) |
| 12oz Skim Milk (120) | 12 oz. Skim Milk (120) | |
| Snack | ||
| Snack | 2 Peanut Butter/Chocolate Chip | Snack |
| 1 yogurt, Plain (120) | Power Bars (480) | Chipotle Chicken Wrap (1234) |
| 12oz Water | 12oz Water | 20 oz Water |
| Calories = 3,367 | Calories = 3,838 | Calories = 4,601 |
As you can see, each athlete has a specific amount of calories they need. I take into account the amount of calories burned during each workout and each athletes resting metabolic rate (RMR). This allows me the find the correct amount of calories each particular athlete needs. I give each athlete 4-5 meal plans for each week. This allows them to mix and match meals, but they can always monitor their caloric intake.
Having an athlete monitor his diet allows them get familiar with how many calories he needs on a daily basis, and it also allows an athlete to begin to educate himself on what foods are necessary to take in to be successful in the weight room and on the field. Knowing that college football players are the masters of excuses, giving them the proper choices allows them to know exactly what to eat to gain muscle mass and get to their position-specific weight. As you can see, I still allow my athletes to enjoy some fast food places, but keeping it at a minimum is important. Eliminating it completely just makes them want it more, especially because it is readily available. If you can and your budget allows for it, keep meal recovery drinks on hand, and hand them out after your workouts. If you can not afford post-workout drinks, research shows, having your player drink a glass of chocolate milk is just as good. At least you know they are getting the proper calories and nutrients to aid in their recovery. I always ask my athletes before each workout to see who has eaten breakfast and meals throughout the day, just to make sure they continue to know the importance of eating enough calories. Nutrition is 85% of strength and conditioning. An athlete can lift as much as he wants, but without eating properly, the other 15% will not improve.
Next Week: Plyometric & Explosive Training
