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Prepare for the Heat

Beat the heat and play it cool

Football BC would like to remind all our members to engage in safe heat practices when running camps and clinics during the summer and with temperatures outdoors constantly rising. Here are some tips from the Cleveland Clinic on how to prevent heat illness:

Cleveland Clinic Tips to Prevent Heat Illness

A heat related illness occurs when the body is not able to regulate, or control, its temperature. If left untreated, a heat illness can lead to serious complications, even death. If detected and treated early, however, most serious problems can be avoided.

1. Proper Hydration

  • Pre- and post-exercise hydration
  • Drink water and electrolyte drinks
  • Limit excessive caffeine consumption

2. Be Aware of Supplements

  • Research has shown supplements use can raise blood pressure, speed heart rate and contribute to dehydration.
  • Products containing ephedrine contribute to fatal heart rhythm difficulties, heat related illnesses, stroke, and seizures.
  • Ephedrine raises the body’s heat production and body temperatures and increases the risk of developing heat illnesses.
  • Supplements are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). As a result, nutritional labels may be inconsistent.
  • Creatine may be linked to muscle cramping if working out in the heat of the day.

3. Keep Cool

  • Use ice towels
  • Use cold tubs
  • Wear light-weight, light-colored clothing

4. High Risk Athletes

  • Overweight & unfit athletes have a tendency to overheat.

5. Stay Healthy

  • Eat a well-balanced diet
  • Salt food lightly, if not hypertensive
  • Monitor weight before and after each practice session
  • Monitor urine: Clear or light yellow for color of urine
  • Get plenty of rest

6. Notify Medical Professional if experiencing any signs of dehydration and heat illness

For more information on heat related illnesses, click here.



Sports Nutrition: Basics and Tips from Coach.ca

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Hydration

Two hours before exercise, athletes should consume 16 ounces of water or a sports drink.

Thirty minutes before exercise, athletes should intake another eight ounces to prepare themselves for activity.

During activity, athletes are sweating out important fluids, they must replenish them by drinking eight ounces every 20 minutes.

Long-term activity of 30 minutes or more requires periodic rehydration, such as the eight ounces every 20 minutes just suggested.

If an activity lasts more than 40 minutes, water is not sufficient to rehydrate the body. The nutrient loss through sweat requires a sports drink to replenish electrolytes.

After activity, athletes should continue to intake fluids.


Post Workout Sports Drink: Chocolate Milk

Downing chocolate milk after a tough workout can help replenish exhausted muscles and significantly aid exercise recovery, new research shows.

Compared to plain milk, water, or most sports drinks, Chocolate Milk has double the carbohydrate and protein content, perfect for replenishing tired muscles. Its high water content replaces fluids lost as sweat, preventing dehydration. Plus it packs a nutritional bonus of calcium, and includes just a little sodium and sugar.

Post-Workout Drinks

When it’s time to choose a liquid chug after a long, tough workout, there’s a slew of options out there. Water? Gatorade, POWERade, or All Sport? Endurox R4? Physiologist Joel Stager, director of the Human Performance laboratory at Indiana University, has even one more potential workout recovery drink to add to the list: chocolate milk. His latest study, published in this month’s International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, names this kids’ favorite an optimal post-exercise recovery aid.

Before your stomach recoils, take a look at chocolate milk’s ingredient list. For a high-endurance athlete, Stager’s team sees it as a catch-all workout recovery drink.

Compared to plain milk, water, or most sports drinks, it has double the carbohydrate and protein content, perfect for replenishing tired muscles. Its high water content replaces fluids lost as sweat, preventing dehydration. Plus it packs a nutritional bonus of calcium, and includes just a little sodium and sugar — additives that help recovering athletes retain water and regain energy.

Drinking plain water after exercise replaces sweat losses — and that’s it. “Chocolate milk provides carbohydrate replenishment to your muscles — something they can metabolize,” said Jason Karp, MS, another researcher for this study. “There’s nothing to metabolize in water.”

Stager’s assessment of chocolate milk is even simpler. “It’s water plus a whole lot more,” he said.

The Case for Carbs

Ready to switch your bottled water for chocolate milk? Assess your workout level first. Downing a post-workout beverage chock-full of carbohydrates isn’t just for the weekend tennis player, said Stager — and that’s key. A drink like chocolate milk is most useful to a cyclist, swimmer, or long-distance runner. These sports stress high endurance levels and constant, sustained movement. Competing athletes need high levels of calories, carbs, and protein to sustain that level of performance.

Stager tested out chocolate milk’s performance as a workout recovery drink on nine cyclists. In his lab, each athlete biked until exhaustion, and then rested for four hours. During this break, each consumed low-fat chocolate milk, Gatorade, or the high-carbohydrate sports drink Endurox R4. Afterward, they cycled to exhaustion again.

The results were positive. His research team concluded that the athletes who consumed chocolate milk performed just as well or better as those who drank the other beverages. The high carb and protein content in milk make it an incredibly effective recovery drink, Stager said — even though it’s never been marketed as one.

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Nutrition Tips

Maximize your performance and fuel up the right way! Read more below for nutrition facts and tips.

Fuel Up Throughout the Day

According to Gatorade Sports Science Institute senior scientist Dr. Kim White, “A high school athlete’s diet should be very well-rounded, because if you’re not getting enough [nutrients], you start to see your performance suffer.”

Your diet should include a variety of lean proteins, along with a small portion of healthy fats with meals. The majority of your diet, between 55 to 65 percent of your daily caloric intake, should consist of carbohydrates, including complex carbs. Dr. White adds, “It’s very important for athletes to have simple sugars around and during exercise for added energy.”

Dr. White recommends incorporating the following foods into your daily diet to keep your body full of nutrients and performing at max effort.

Throughout the day: Complex carbs

  • Pasta, brown rice, bagels, beans, pita bread, whole-wheat bread, potatoes, corn and peas

Pre- and post-training: Simple sugars

  • Apples, cherries, oranges, peaches and pears

With meals: Lean proteins

  • Chicken, fish, lean cuts of red meat; if you’re a vegetarian, incorporate soy products

For added flavor: Healthy fats

  • Olive oil, tuna or salmon and soy cheese