Here's What You Should Eat Before Basketball Games and Practices

Now, the big three of those macronutrients, carbohydrates, protein and fats. I'm sure you're wondering where proteins and fats kind of fit into all this as well and just kind of off the bat. Again, the majority of the fuel for gains is going to come from carbohydrates, but fats can play a role as well. Now, they're not going to play as big a role, especially during anaerobic production. Typically that's going to be just carbohydrates. But when we talk about low intensity or moderate intensity work, then fats can actually play a role in that as well. So it's important that we don't just consume carbohydrates, but fats are a part of that as well. So that especially during rest periods, during all those times your body's recovering, it's proven that well trained athletes actually have fats stored in their muscles that will help them to recover quicker. Okay, so those two nutrients right there are really gonna be key for us in terms of recovery, in terms of fueling, and protein has a place as well. We'll get more into protein as we move along forward, but protein is not going to be as big of a factor for the actual time on the court. Okay. Typically that's going to be something we're going to focus on after. So I didn't mention this at the beginning of the podcast, but, you know, this is probably something you're going to want to take notes on. Specifically, different points. If you feel like you hear something that's like, oh, man, I feel like I definitely need to know this, then, you know, open up your notes app on your phone or whatever and just write some stuff down if you feel like you need to. And I think this part right here is something you definitely could, could write down. Essentially, there are different guidelines in terms of how many carbohydrates you need to intake. And I'm sure you guys are wondering, okay, you know, coach, tell me about how important carbohydrates are. Like, how much do I need? Like, what should I do before games to make sure that I'm prepared to actually have the enough fuel to be at my best the whole time? And these guidelines I actually got from the Gatorade Institute of Sport. They did a big study on this with a lot of doctors, a lot of researchers. And so essentially your intake for carbs is going to be different depending on what the actual event is. For example, if it's a practice day or just a preparation day, maybe Just workouts that day, it's probably not going to be as high intensity as a game will be. A game, especially if you play big minutes during a game, it's going to be more intense on your body than an hour long workout will be in an hour and a half. Long practice will be where there's going to be a lot of, you know, time where you're down, a lot of time where you're going through plays where you might be going 100%, as opposed to a game where it's really, you're going the whole time. When we talk about, you know, your practice days, for example, so a day where you only have a practice or maybe a workout, whatever that might be, you're going to typically want to consume 5 to 7 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight. Okay? And obviously for you guys who live in America, you guys are like, what on earth is kilogram? Okay, just to kind of break it down for you guys, a few examples. So let's take a player who weighs 160 pounds, okay, that would be about 72 kilograms. So what we'll do is the low end of that, right? Five per every, you know, kilogram of body weight. So we'll just go, you know, five by 72. So the low end for a player who's 160 pounds on a practice day or a moderate intensity day or would be at least 360 carbs that day. And the high end would be 72 times 7, which would be 504. So the ideal range for that player, for a 160 pound player to consume on a practice day, on a more moderate day would be between 360 to 504 grams of carbohydrates that day. Okay? And just a disclaimer for this whole entire thing, a lot of this is going to be personal preference. So you might want to be in the low end, you might feel better doing that, or on the high end, you might feel better as well. Okay? So you kind of have to figure out what works best for you. But that's the general guideline that the research backs up. Okay. And like I said, though, that's going to change depending on, you know, the amount of work you're going to do that day. So if you have a day where it's a game, right, and you're going to have to be, you're going to have to put in a little bit more effort, it's going to be a little bit more intense, a little bit more draining. On your body. Now all of a sudden we can talk about what to do before that. Right. So that's kind of leading up on those practice days. But when we talk about before that game or even before practice, let's say. So let's say before your practice, what should you do to make sure that by the time practice gets here, by the time your game gets here, you're fueled up and you're ready to go? Well, the best thing you can do is eat a carbohydrate rich meal. So a meal with a lot of carbs in it, you're going to want to try and do that the night before. Okay. So the night before, you know, your practice, your game, whatever it might be, you're going to want to fuel up on carbs with that last meal of the day. So, you know, that might be, you might have some pasta, you might have, you know, some, you know, some sandwiches, whatever it might be, that that's going to allow you to kind of fuel up on those carbs the night before. And then two to four hours before your game, ideally you're going to want to fuel up again with a meal that's kind of high in carbohydrates. Okay. And so after that two hour mark, right. So we decided, let's say you have a game at seven that night. Okay. So we'll say at, you know, at 4:30 or at 5, right. You, you finish up your meal and you know, let's say you have some, some fettuccine Alfredo, right? So you had a lot of carbs in that meal. So now we can talk about leading up to that game. So you know, if you still feel like you want a little bit more, then that's where you can kind of supplement with different snacks. Maybe you have a peanut butter and jelly or you might have some peanut butter crackers, just some stuff that can give you some kind of quick carbs right there. You might drink a little bit of a sports drink before that as well. That's kind of ways. So in that two hour mark before the game, you can also fuel up a little bit more on those carbs. And typically the guideline is about 30 grams of carbs per hour. And those two hours before that game or that practice. But, but again that's more so an individual preference whether or not you need it or you don't need it, or you need more or less, whatever it might be. But kind of adhering to these guidelines in terms of the night before, loading up on carbs a couple hours before Two to four hours before you're going to load up again with a meal on carbs. And then kind of leading up to the game, that's going to make sure that the glycogen levels in your liver are high, that your muscle glycogen is topped off as well, and that your brain is alert. Okay, so you're ready to go. You're firing all cylinders at that point. So now let's talk about the actual games. Right, so we went over the practice and having 360 grams to 504 grams on kind of lighter days. But when we talk about actual game days, it's gonna, it's gonna go up a little bit there. So now all of a sudden the, the guideline becomes, okay, 7 to 12 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight. Okay? So now all of a sudden we're gonna go. On the low end would be about 504, and on the high end would be about 864 grams of carbohydrates that day on the day of a game. Or maybe it's just a really, really intense day where you might have multiple workouts. That's where you're gonna want to increase those carb levels a little bit. Okay. And then we can talk about, you know, a lot of you guys. If you're playing in a tournament. So you might have multiple games in a day, multiple games in a weekend, obviously the level of carbs is gonna have to increase even more off of that. Now we're gonna get into that 10 to 12 range in terms of grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight. Okay, so these numbers are still 160, 60 pound athlete. And now we're looking at the low end of that being 720 grams to 864 grams of carbohydrates for that 160 pound athlete. Now obviously, you got to tailor that to yourself. So if you weigh 150 pounds, well, all you got to do essentially is just kind of figure out, okay, what is that in kilograms? And then multiply it by, you know, five to seven on a light day, seven to 12 on, on a, on a game day, and then that 10 to 12 on a, on a tournament day. Okay, and that kind of is based on what? On, on, on you personally. And again, figuring out that range, maybe you're slightly below that range, slightly above that range. You have to figure out what works best for you. But those are the guidelines to kind of, if you're, if you're Unsure of where to start. Maybe pick somewhere in the middle of that, and then all of a sudden you'll be able to figure that out. Okay, so again, just to kind of recap that on a lighter day, typically the guideline for that is going to be you're going to want to have about 5 to 7 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight. And that's going to be enough to kind of to make sure, again, that your glycogen levels are where they need to be. On a game day or a very, very heavy practice workout day, that's going to want to be up to about 7 to 12 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight. And then on a tournament day where you're gonna have to be playing multiple games, that's gonna go up to 10 to 12 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight. And that's gonna again, help you to make sure that your liver is full of glycogen so that you can kind of regulate those levels in your blood. When you start to play, you don't feel tired, you don't feel like you hit a wall. When you play, it's gonna help you to make sure that your muscles are firing in terms of your aerobic, but also importantly your anaerobic being able to jump and, and sprint as fast as you can, beat your peak performance. And then obviously, like I said, your brain is really going to be impacted by your glycogen levels as well. So making sure that you're able to stay focused and stay alert the whole time. Also, an important reason why you want to make sure that we're not lacking in the carbohydrate department before those practices, before those games.