Fitness and Nutrition, News, Minor Bantam White, 2014-2015, A (Oakville Rangers Hockey Club)

This Team is part of the 2014-2015 season, which is not set as the current season.
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Sep 23, 2014 | dkerec | 2114 views
Fitness and Nutrition
Fitness and Nutrition – by Rod Oliveira 

Rangers, Getting ready for your game involves more than throwing your equipment in your bag before the game. Now that you are playing a faster, more intense and more physical game, you need to prepare your bodies to compete at their best. To do that you need to be thinking about 3 key things: hydration, nutrition and rest. I will go into a little detail on each area below to give you some ideas… 





Hydration 

This is probably the single most important thing you can do to get your body ready for a game. Since your bodies are largely made up of water it stands to reason that you need water to function properly. Hydrating before a game does not mean drinking a bottle of water on the bench. The water you drink during the game is doing nothing for your bodies’ performance during the game. In order to hydrate properly you must drink a minimum of 2-3 hours before the game and preferably be drinking the entire day leading up to a game or practice.  You should drink a minimum of a liter of water the day of your event, this is just a guideline based on your body size. The bigger you are the more water you need so some of you should be taking in more. Hydration will help with muscle endurance, mental acuity and reaction time. Notice I said WATER not juice, pop or milk… Although these are all fluids your body has to extract the water from them in order to use it and don’t get me started on sugar and how bad that is for you…  So if you want to be quicker on the puck HYDRATE! 

Nutrition 

Feeding your body is the next most important factor in preparing for a game or practice. The pace of play and practice is very high at your level and you need to give your body every advantage you can.  So let’s talk about what to eat in the real world… Ideally you will have a good breakfast in the morning such as a complete cereal, oats or proteins. Good things to eat are eggs, whole grain breads, no sugar added peanut butter and fruit. Milk is also very good in the morning if your body is ok with that. Lunch should be balanced with a (carb) such as whole grain bread, (protein) such as natural meats, eggs or fish (tuna) and a fruit or vegetable. Dinner or pregame snack if you’re on the run like many of us are should again be balanced. Some ideas for things you can grab on the run if you have to include whole grain bagel with cream cheese, a sandwich with lettuce, tomato and no sugary sauce like honey mustard or a salad with some protein such as chicken or fish.  Naturally if you have time to eat at home before the game a balanced meal is best but with our crazy schedule that is not always possible so I hope that helps give you some ideas. The key is to feed your body before the game with something good for it. If it has no fuel you will feel flat on the ice and like hydration you have to give your body time to absorb the nutrition so eat a minimum of 2 hours before game time. 

Rest 

Proper sleep is the last piece of the puzzle, which means getting a minimum of 8 hours of sleep the night before a game and at your ages preferably 9-10. Your bodies are growing so fast right now you need your sleep to allow your body to regenerate and heal. You should also take a nap if you feel like you need one. After school you are all a little tired and a 30 minute nap can do wonders to recharge your bodies. I suggest 30 min because that is the amount of time your body needs to complete one rem cycle. If you go beyond that then you need 90 min of sleep to complete the next sleep cycle. So to avoid waking up feeling groggy set your alarm for 30 min and no more. Everyone is different so some of you may like a nap and others not. The key is to start listening to your bodies. They are amazing machines and if you can get in tune with what they need you will be a much better athlete for it. See you all at the rink…   Coach Rod
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