In the context of high-performance football, from early ages to adulthood, nutrition as recommended by a sports nutritionist plays a determining role in the physical performance and health of athletes. The sports nutritionist plays a key role in meal planning, adapting menus according to specific training demands and using advanced tools to comprehensively evaluate physical condition.
Table of Contents
Physical State Evaluation:
The implementation of various advanced tools for the evaluation of physical conditioning allows the nutritionist in the field of football to obtain a complete understanding of the health and body composition of athletes. In this way, we can understand the athlete’s current condition and be able to work together with a multidisciplinary team to achieve the necessary objectives.
Body Composition:
There are various methods that we use at SIA ACADEMY to locate or obtain the body composition of our athletes with a varying degrees of accuracy.
1 Bioimpedance:
Bioimpedance is a non-invasive method used to measure body composition, which refers to the ratio of lean mass (muscles, bones, organs) and fat mass in the body. The principle behind bioimpedance is based on the difference in electrical resistance that lean tissues and fat offer to the passage of a low-frequency electrical current.
Procedure:
- Electrodes: Electrodes are placed on different parts of the body, commonly the hand and foot.
- Electric current: A low intensity electrical current is applied through the electrodes.
- Resistance Measurement: The machine measures the electrical resistance encountered by the tissues. The speed at which the current travels through the body provides information about the amount of water present in the tissues and, therefore, about the lean and fat mass.
Advantages:
- Non-invasive and easy to perform.
- Quick results.
- Available in various configurations, from home-use bioimpedance scales to more sophisticated equipment in clinical settings.
Limitations:
- Hydration sensitivity: Changes in hydration may affect results.
- Less accurate than other methods such as anthropometry or DEXA.
2 Anthropometry:
Anthropometry involves the measurement of physical dimensions and characteristics of the body to evaluate body composition. This method is based on the premise that certain body indicators, such as skinfold thickness, limb circumference, and body segment length, are related to the amount of fat and lean mass in the body.
Procedure:
- Skin Fold Measurements: Calipers are used to measure the thickness of skin folds in different areas of the body, such as the triceps, abdomen, and thighs.
- Circumferences and Lengths: Circumference measurements are taken in specific areas, such as the waist and extremities, and the lengths of selected body segments are recorded.
Advantages:
- Economical and non-invasive method.
- Widely used in clinical and sports settings.
Limitations:
- Requires training: Measurements must be made accurately, which requires adequate training.
3 DEXA (Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry):
DEXA is an advanced technique that uses dual-energy x-rays to measure bone mineral density and body composition with high precision. Although DEXA is primarily known for its application in assessing bone density, it is also valuable in determining lean and fat mass in different regions of the body.
Procedure:
- Body Scan: The patient lies down while a machine emits dual-energy X-rays through the body.
- Computerized Analysis: DEXA uses advanced software to analyze X-ray absorption and calculate bone mineral density, as well as body composition in terms of lean and fat mass.
Advantages:
- High precision and reproducibility.
- Provides detailed data on the distribution of lean and fat mass.
- Useful for evaluating bone health.
Limitations:
- Expensive equipment and requires trained personnel.
Final Considerations:
Each method has its strengths and limitations, and the choice of method will depend on factors such as equipment availability, budget, and the precision required for the specific purpose of body composition assessment in high-performance athletes. In SIA Academy we rely on methods that, in our opinion, are the most accurate such as DEXA and anthropometry.
Menu Preparation:
The design of specific menus is an essential part of the contribution of our sports nutritionist in the academy where we will seek to optimize the performance of each footballer. This process involves a deep understanding of individual nutritional needs and the specific requirements of training and competition.
1. Individual Needs Assessment:
The nutritionist, as a starting step, will make a detailed analysis of the metabolic and energy demands of each player, so that the diet can be adapted to them. In this analysis he will take into consideration certain individual factors such as weight, height, age, and specific body composition goals.
2. Nutritional Periodization:
Having certain physical characteristics does not condition the athlete to maintain the same dietary planning throughout the season. It is necessary to know the sports calendar to align the menus with the periodization of training and competition phases or ”peak periods” where the athlete must be with the best body composition to obtain maximum potential.
In turn, within each of the phases of the season, each athlete will have an action protocol with certain specific nutritional strategies to optimize recovery and performance at key moments.
3. Strategic Supplementation:
In contexts such as sports performance, sports supplementation is justified in order to eradicate certain nutritional deficiencies that may exist as a result of the high energy expenditure suffered by the athlete due to the intensity of their practice. But it should be noted that, first of all, our athlete’s diet is rich and varied, otherwise they will not obtain all the benefits of supplementation.
Another important tasks of a sports nutritionist is to guarantee and supervise that all supplementation of their athletes has inviolable quality and safety requirements, since it will not only effect sports performance, but could also affect the athletes health.
Conclusions:
The collaboration between the coaching staff and the sports nutritionist in SIA Academy is essential to maximize the performance and health of the footballers. The work of the sports nutritionist will be based mainly on the personalization of menus, attention to nutritional periodization and the application of advanced physical condition evaluation tools, which are key components in optimizing the preparation of athletes in their different phases of training during the sports season.
