Post hockey game meal

Today, I want to dive into how we are going to attack this and provide you some sample options to start trying out today.

Put simpler, hockey athletes should be refueling, increasing muscle size, and repairing any damage that the game or workout could have caused.

Accomplishing this allows them to increase performance, recover faster, have a better body composition, and further prevent injury risk. In doing all of this stuff, we are going to want to have a combination of carbohydrates, protein, and electrolytes.

So, post-workout nutrition has to support this supply and demand chain. If we deplete glycogen carbohydrates stored within the muscle cell during a game, we need to be replenishing that if fast recovery is a goal of ours.

This helps our body gain muscle mass when we are in a lean mass phase or maintain our lean muscle mass when we are currently trying to drop body fat. Whey has earned its reputation in the industry because of its amino acid profile, most specifically due to the high leucine content, an amino acid that plays a big role in protein synthesis. Whey is most effective after training due to its fast rate of absorption and abundance in leucine. The recommendation here is to consume 0.

Carbohydrates are incredibly well-tolerated in the body, they restore glycogen very quickly, and they support recovery better than any other macronutrient in the dietary world. No matter how good your pre-workout or pre-game meal is, it can make up for a lack of recovery over the past hrs due to poor nutrient timing and choice strategies.

Your body needs the right nutrients to power you through the next practice, next game, next drill, or your next workout. Here is a guide to some of the best food and drink options for athletes after the big game to help recovery and the best times to consume them.

One of my best recommendations is Mexican food. Eating a burrito or burrito bowl provides complex carbs to refuel your muscles and protein to rebuild your muscles.

But I recommend minimizing the higher-fat add-ons like guacamole, sour cream, and cheese—high-fat foods will slow the recovery process. Burrito or Burrito Bowl : Made with rice, beans, vegetables, and protein—Turner recommends chicken breast, sirloin, or tofu.

I am not usually very big on commercial products in this area as in many cases it is all about the dollar but in this case these companies have done some very extensive research and in my opinion they have done a good job.

I have found that players generally have more energy towards the end of the game then when they consume a commercial drink as compared to when they just drink water. Even with my own training I find a huge difference when I drink a commercial drink or for that matter even fruit juice rather than water.

The reason I want to address this is because this can be just as important if not more important than pre game or in game drinks. Recovery after the game especially when playing games over a weekend in a tournament of even when playing back-to-back games in consecutive days is crucial. Most experts will agree that following a game you have a window of opportunity of about 30 minutes to restore muscle glycogen.

The reason this is so crucial is because glycogen, in large part, is what gives your fast twitch muscle fibers energy. At the end of the game this muscle glycogen is depleted and needs to be restored ASAP especially if you are playing again within a hour period. As with the previous questions you are bound to get different answers here depending on whom you ask as to the best way to restore glycogen.

A former writer for the magazine and NHL strength coach wrote an article on this where he recommended marshmallow squares; another one of my colleagues recommends chocolate or strawberry flavored milk. The basic idea here is to make sure that you get some glucose into your system. Some of the research shows that if you combine this glucose with protein it will be absorbed quicker therefore the reason for strawberry milk glucose plus protein.

Another reason for this milk is because fluids are absorbed into the system easier than solid food and it is usually more convenient as well. There are also some good pre packaged powders on the market now that are made specifically for post-game nutrition.