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You’ve worked long and hard to prepare for this competition, and the outcome could mean winning the championship. The last thing you want after grinding your way through the preliminary rounds of competition is to bottom out during the finals!

One of the biggest nutrition challenges of tournaments is what to eat in the limited time before and between games, while keeping your energy levels up all the way through the competition. Optimal recovery between events can be critical to consistently achieving your best performance. Your skill level and training may give you an edge over your competition, but if you’re dehydrated or running low on energy, that advantage can quickly evaporate.

Get a good start
One of the most important things you can do to prevent a drop-off in performance over the course of a tournament or meet is to start fully energized and hydrated.

If possible, taper your training for a few days before the start of a tournament. At the same time, boost your daily carb intake to about 10 grams of carbs for every kg of body weight. This is about 680 grams of carbs for someone weighing 68 kg. This carbo-loading strategy will help enable you to super-maximize the storage of glycogen muscle energy prior to the competition. A pasta dinner the night before a competition is still a great idea, but make sure to include some protein too, such as grilled chicken, fish, or the like.

The general advice for eating just before a competition is to consume a carbohydrate-rich meal somewhere between 2–4 hours before the action begins. This will help provide you with the energy you need and help ensure a steady supply of blood glucose during competition. It’s also wise to make sure that you’re well-hydrated at the start of exercise. Do this by drinking fluids as soon as you wake up and continuing to drink regularly up to your first competition of the day.

Here’s an example of a high-carb, pre-exercise meal:

• Breakfast cereal with lowfat or skim milk
• Banana
• Toast with jam or honey
• Yogurt

If pre-game jitters have your appetite waning, don’t skip out on carbs entirely. Instead, try liquid or less-solid carbohydrate sources such as a fruit smoothie, a meal-replacement drink, low-fat flavoured milk, yogurt, applesauce, canned fruit, or low-fat pudding. Find a carbohydrate source that you’re comfortable consuming.

If you have an early-morning competition, and a full meal 2–4 hours before the start just isn’t feasible, a high-carb snack an hour or two before exercise is the way to go. POWERBAR® SPORT bars, POWERBAR® FRUIT ENERGIZE bars, yogurt, fruit smoothies, meal-replacement beverages, breakfast cereal with milk, and POWERBAR® RECOVERY shakes are all good examples of easy-to-digest options.

If you miss your wake-up call entirely or only have an hour or so before game time, try POWERBAR® GEL Carbohydrate Electrolyte Blends, POWERBAR SPORT bars or POWERBAR FRUIT ENERGIZE bars on your way to the event. They are convenient, on-the-go solutions for helping you get the needed carbs and fluids.

Recovery between events starts immediately
Okay, so you’ve emerged victorious from your first competition of the day and it’s on to the next round. Congratulations! But what do you do next? Post-competition, your first priority is recovery. Your window of opportunity for recovery starts as soon as your first event is over. Glycogen stores need reloading, and fluid and sodium losses need to be replaced.

Your body’s ability to synthesize and reload glycogen muscle energy is fastest in the first 30–60 minutes after exercise. So your job is to consume carbs as soon as possible to help jumpstart the recovery process. The general rule of thumb is to consume roughly 1.1 grams of carbs per kg of body weight immediately, and to repeat within 2 hours or until you have a regular meal. For a 68-kg athlete, this is about 75 grams of carbs within 30 minutes, then again in two hours or until you have a regular meal.

You’ll also benefit from having some protein. Consuming 10–20 grams of protein with those carbs provides the amino-acid building blocks your body needs for muscle tissue building and repair, because the first hour after exercise is prime time for your body to start those processes. The protein you consume also helps speed the rate of glycogen resynthesis.

The downtime between competitions will vary, so it’s wise to be prepared for any possibility. In addition, tournament and meet venues sometimes have limited access to food and fluids — or none at all. So don’t just hope for the best: Plan ahead. That means packing your bag and cooler with the types of foods and fluids you’ll need to keep hydrated and energized throughout the day.

If your break between competitions is long (around 2–4 hours), a carbohydrate-rich meal with some protein is appropriate. Steer clear of slower-to-digest fried, fatty, or high-fibre  foods. Examples of good choices are bagels, sandwiches, fruit, cereal with milk, and low-fat muffins — the same types of foods you would eat for a pre-exercise meal.

If the interval between competitions is short or uncertain, “grazing” is the best recovery strategy. Grazing involves consuming smaller portions of foods and beverages that are quickly and easily digested. Again, the focus should be mostly on carbs with some protein.

Below are some ideas for good grazing:

• Liquid meal supplement
• Fruit smoothie
• Breakfast cereal with low-fat or nonfat milk
• Pretzels
• Yogurt
• Low-fat puddings
• Mini-bagels
• Fruit (melons, plums, ripe bananas, peaches, cherries)
• POWERBAR® RECOVERY bar
• POWERBAR RECOVERY shake
• POWERBAR SPORT bars
• POWERBAR FRUIT ENERGIZE bars
• POWERBAR GEL Carbohydrate Electrolyte Blends

Build variety
Plan on packing some variety in your bag: Take along both snacks and the makings for a small meal. Don’t burn out your taste buds by packing only sweet, carbohydrate-rich foods. Savoury carbohydrate sources, such as noodle soups, crackers, and pretzels are often more appealing during the latter rounds of a competition. Also, savoury foods tend to be higher in salt, which can help you replace the sodium lost in sweat. Consuming sodium will help you take in more fluids, as well as better retain the fluids you consume.

Maintaining hydration: drink up EARLY!
Preventing dehydration is vital to sustaining optimal athletic performance through a tough competition.

Use these tips for maintaining hydration during tournaments and meets:

• Drink 400–600 ml 2–3 hours before game time.
• Drink another 240 ml during active warm-up.
• Start exercise well-hydrated: Make sure you have fully replaced the fluids you lost in your warm-up. You should be at your usual pre-exercise body weight.
• Steadily consume small amounts of fluids, beginning when you wake up and continuing throughout the tournament or meet.
• Take advantage of every break or time-out during a competition to consume fluids.

Remember that a sports drink is more effective at maintaining hydration than plain water. This is especially true during hot and humid conditions and during long competitions. Also, a sports drink has the added benefit of being a good source of carbohydrate energy. Cool fluids are usually most appealing: Use ice, if available, or freeze drinks the night before and allow them to defrost slowly over the day of competition.

Leading-edge recovery
POWERBAR has a number of product options for promoting rapid recovery. The very latest is the POWERBAR RECOVERY bar. This great-tasting bar uses state-of-the-science to help you maximize your recovery after a grueling competition. Each bar provides carbs for glycogen energy, protein for muscle repair and building, electrolytes to promote rehydration, and lipids to restore those muscle-tissue energy sources that are lost during exercise. With a POWERBAR RECOVERY bar in your bag, you can be sure that you’re getting the sports nutrition you need to be ready for the next round.

The following POWERBAR products help promote rapid recovery; mix and match them to meet your needs:

• POWERBAR RECOVERY bars (30 g carbs and 12 g protein per bar)
• POWERBAR RECOVERY shake
• POWERBAR® PROTEINPLUS™ bars (37–39 g carbs and 23 g protein per bar)
• POWERBAR SPORT bars (41–45 g carbs and 8–10 g protein per bar)
• POWERBAR FRUIT ENERGIZE bars (42 g carbs and 6 g protein per bar)

Overnight recovery
Full recovery after an exhausting day of competition usually takes 24 hours or more. However, if your tournament or meet continues the next morning, then your window of opportunity for recovery opens as soon as your last competition of the day ends. For rapid recovery, remember to have recovery foods with you to eat right after your last competition of the day. Keep consuming carbs until you go to sleep.

For effective rehydration after a tough day of exercise, plan to consume 700 ml of fluid for every half-kg that you’re below your typical body weight. Rehydration will be more effective when sodium is included with the fluid or food you consume during recovery. Monitoring your body weight following a day of competition is a good way to assess your hydration status. If your body weight returns to your normal pre-exercise weight, it’s a good indicator that you’ve fully replaced your fluid and electrolyte losses.

Here are some post-competition foods that promote rapid recovery:

• Bread, rolls, bagels, and muffins
• Pasta and rice dishes
• Bread sticks
• Baked and boiled potatoes
• Sandwiches
• String cheese and crackers
• Fresh and canned fruits, fruit salad, and fruit smoothies
• Cereal with low-fat milk
• Yogurt or cottage cheese with fruit
• Thick-crust pizza

Putting it into practice
Practice may not make you perfect, but it will help to ensure that what you put in your mouth on the day of a competition will enhance — not hinder — your performance. Make certain that the foods and fluids you bring to a tournament or meet have all been put to the test during training. This will help you avoid food-related stress and issues during the competition.

Tournament day is not the day to try something new; stick with familiar foods!

Below is a practical example of a sports nutrition plan for a tournament schedule. The idea is to get a good start on the day of competition and to achieve optimal recovery between events. Use this example as a guide to developing a plan that works for your sport and specific needs.

Keep in mind the more time you have before a game, the more food you can take in; with less time before a game, you need to go easy, or you could be risking a game-ruining GI upset.

Tournament Sample Day:
Time	Event	Sports Nutrition Plan
6:30–7:00 am	Breakfast (Ideally 2–4 hours before a game)	Low-fibre breakfast cereal with low-fat milk Banana Toast with honey Sports drink or water
7:00–8:30 am		Frequent sips of sports drink or water
9:00–10:30 am	Game #1	Frequent sips of sports drink, POWERBAR® GEL Carbohydrate Electrolyte Blends, or water during breaks in play
10:30–11:00 am	Recovery	Plain bagel Yogurt Banana Frequent sips of POWERBAR® RECOVERY shake or water Goal: 1.1 grams of carb/kg of body weight within 30 minutes, plus 10–20 grams of protein
12:00–12:30 pm	Lunch	Turkey sandwich Canned fruit Baked chips Low-fat frozen yogurt Frequent sips of sports drink or water
12:30–1:30 pm	Rest time	Frequent sips of sports drink or water POWERBAR GEL Carbohydrate Electrolyte Blends, POWERBAR® FRUIT ENERGIZE bars or POWERBAR® SPORT bars if hungry
2:00 pm	Warm-up	Frequent sips of sports drink or water
3:00–4:30 pm	Game #2	Frequent sips of sports drink POWERBAR GEL Carbohydrate Electrolyte Blends or water during breaks in play
4:30–5:00 pm	Recovery	Choose from: POWERBAR RECOVERY shake POWERBAR® PROTEINPLUS™ bar POWERBAR® RECOVERY bar String cheese and crackers, smoothie, bagel, or peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich Goal:1.1 grams of carb/kg of body weight within 30 minutes, plus 10–20 grams of protein
6:00 pm	Dinner	Cheese ravioli with meat or marinara sauce French bread Fresh or canned fruit Steamed vegetables Gelato or frozen yogurt Goal: Consume a carb-rich meal and carb-based snacks until you retire for the night

Proof of principle
Will all this preparation and planning make a difference in your performance? Chances are very good that it will.

Soccer players, for example, have been found to have significantly depleted muscle glycogen stores after a game, with some players already showing low glycogen content at halftime. Players with depleted muscle glycogen stores covered less ground in the second half of the match — and at a lower speed. If a single game or match can deplete your muscle energy stores and impair your performance, imagine what multiple competitions in a day or weekend can do.

Studies have also shown that carbo-loading before a competition allowed soccer players to complete 33% more high-intensity work during a game and allowed ice hockey skaters to skate for longer distances at a higher intensity, compared with when their normal dietary practices were followed.

Other studies have shown the performance benefits of a strategic approach to recovery in the interval between competitions occurring on the same day and when the competitions were on successive days or even a few days apart.

The bottom line is that during a competition, attending to your recovery as soon as possible after each event is critically important to helping you achieve your best performance.


Disclaimer:
The scientific information found on the powerbar.com website is derived from the following sources unless otherwise stated:

American College of Sports Medicine, Sawka MN, Burke LM, Eichner ER, Maughan RJ, Montain SJ, Stachenfeld NS. American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Exercise and fluid replacement. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2007;39:377–390.

American College of Sports Medicine; American Dietetic Association; Dietitians of Canada. Joint Position Statement: nutrition and athletic performance. American College of Sports Medicine, American Dietetic Association, and Dietitians of Canada. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2000;32:2130–2145.

Burke L, Dean V, eds. Clinical sports nutrition. McGraw-Hill Companies, Australia, 2006; 415–453.

Currell K, Jeukendrup A. Superior endurance performance with ingestion of multiple transportable carbohydrates. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2008;40:275-281.

Jeukendrup AE, Moseley L, Mainwaring GI, Samuels S, Perry S, Mann. CH. Exogenous carbohydrate oxidation during ultraendurance exercise. J Appl Physiol 2006;100:1134-1141.

Asker Jeukendrup, Michael Gleeson: Sport Nutrition, An Introduction to Energy Production and Performance, Human Kinetics 2004

Expert Panel:
Trent Stellingwerff PhD, BSc, Senior Research Scientist – Performance Nutrition, Nestlé Research Center
Christopher D. Jensen PhD, MPH, RD Nutrition & Epidemiology Researcher
Tricia L. Griffin RD, CSSD, POWERBAR Sports Nutritionist

References:
Practical Sports Nutrition, Louise Burke PhD, 2007

Balsom, Wood et al, 1999.

Akermark et al, 1996.

Topics: Pre-Workout, During, Post-Workout, Hydration, Recovery, Carbs, Energy, Fat, Usage

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