NUTRITION

Please note this section is still under construction – what follows are brief notes

Some research suggests that less than 15 minutes of "intensive" anaerobic interval work can lead to glycogen depletion

Remember low glycogen (glycogen depletion) leads to the following

1. No fuel for anaerobic efforts – Carbohydrate (glycogen) is the fuel source for anaerobic efforts, no fuels = no ability to produce lactic acid = no anaerobic effort. Therefore to complete this event the athlete must drop the intensity and wok aerobically. (Aerobic efforts uses both fats and carbohydrates as energy sources). Dropping the intensity off makes it more difficult to win
2. Blood glucose (carbohydrate levels in the blood) are important for the brain (carbohydrates are the preferential food source of the brain). Low carbohydrate levels can effect how well you feel, your ability to make tactical decisions and your technical ability. In some sports this lack of carbohydrates is termed hitting the wall and usually precedes a rapid drop off in exercise intensity.

Given the importance of carbohydrates many athletes devote much time and attention to getting their pre competition and competition diets perfect, as this is probably the easiest avenue to gain a performance enhancement.

However after many years involved with a variety of athletes I feel that many (not all) rugby players go out of their way to sabotage their game performance through an inadequate diet.

While virtually all athletes load up on high carbohydrate foods in the 1-2 (often more) days leading into competition and then follow a preset carbohydrate routine during competition, rugby players are often poorly educated and disciplined in this area. In my experience a large number of players get up late (from Friday nights festivities) miss breakfast and have a Brunch which is high fat. The number of players I have come across who are still dehydrated from the effects of Friday nights binge or are still hungry before the game and rely on fast food on the way to the match for their pre competition nutrition is staggering.

Given the intensive nature of rugby, nutrition is vitally important. Players need to have an established pre match nutritional routine and good habits during the game. Drinking carbohydrate drinks during the game is becoming very common due to the promotions done by powerade etc. However it is my experience that the standardised mixture is to strong and leads to solute diuresis in many players working to actually dehydrate them. It is therefore important that each player experiments with different concentrations during practise and pre season games to work out an ideal mix (some players will prefer as low as 2.0 %). Once this is sorted out then a system of labelling bottles is important for the trainer so that players get the right mixtures.

Another option that I have played round with is having the players drinking water and consuming carbohydrate gels. Some of these gels are very good sources of carbs, are easily digested and can be given to the players during injury breaks, penalties and other game stoppages rather than just at half time. Unfortunately they are expensive and difficult to work with as the gel/syrup can get over the players hands etc and generally make a mess. An alternative is to buy the little bottles the cyclist use however they can still be messy. Whatever you decide on it must be practised either preseason or during practises.

I believe the whole issue of nutrition for rugby is being investigated at Otago University by Marcus Duetsh and Glen Kearney and I will communicate their findings when they are avaiable.

For more information on nutrition see the links section