Best supplements for soccer players

Introduction to soccer

Soccer is actually the most popular sport in the world and soccer players must drink and eat like marathon runners in order to stay in good shape. Soccer requires sudden bursts of energy and the player does not need to sprint all the time, but when everything is taken into account an average game of soccer requires a lot of sprinting, acceleration and constant sudden pace changes.

Leg muscle glycogen easily gets depleted because of the constantly alternating running paces. The time required for a soccer game is usually more than enough to spend all reserves of glycogen in leg muscles. Severe depletion of glycogen in leg muscles can lead to the reduction of the running speed and chronic fatigue.

Tips and Supplements

Most soccer players are unfortunately pretty much unaware of the importance of carbohydrates. Insufficient ingestion of carbohydrates leads to decreased levels of glycogen which means that the player is not physically fit enough to last through the entire match.

By the time the second half starts, all the reserves of glycogen have been already spent and that means a very bad performance during the second half of the match. Low levels of glycogen seriously affect the running speeds and covered distance of each and every player. Those who suffer from low levels of glycogen during the match usually spend more time walking than sprinting and the overall quality of their performance gets severely deteriorated. It is very important to drink plenty of sports drinks that are rich in glucose.

There are numerous different strategies that can be used to balance the ingestion of precious carbohydrates and the individual perception of stomach fullness. All strategies bring comfort gradually over time and they are very important and efficient in reducing the risk of carbohydrate and glycogen depletion during a soccer match.

Soccer player meals should be small to moderate. A good example of such, meal can be characterized by four slices of bread and three bananas. Tapering is also very important because the quantity and intensity of training needs to be slightly reduced for a couple of days right before the match. Grazing can be of great help too.

Hydration is of utmost importance for all soccer players because they tend to lose a lot of fluids during every match. It is always the best solution to drink different types of sports drinks and water in order to reduce severe dehydration.