burning body fat during the season
slimming down during the season poses special challenges if you are not to affect your on-field performance but you can shed weight without compromising your game as Matt Lovell explains
with Matt Lovell
At various points during a competitive season, and particularly post-Christmas, it’s easy to find yourself carrying a bit too much lard. Shedding just a few pounds of unwanted fat improves both speed and endurance.
In order to lose fat fast it’s necessary to
deplete your energy stores so that you burn fat for energy rather than use up the readily available energy stored in your muscles and liver as glycogen. When we switch our bodies over to
fat burning, often we can’t perform at maximum speed because our fat reserves aren’t as efficient in delivering energy to muscles for fast movements as glycogen is. To get round this challenge we use carb cycling. With this plan, glycogen (carbohydrate)
muscle stores are depleted in the early part of the week so that we burn more fat. We then top the glycogen energy stores back up again as the game approaches. On the first day of restricting carbs you’ll
probably notice no difference in your performance, however on subsequent days you may feel you aren’t quite as sharp as usual if you are doing high intensity work. Suck it up, it’s the price you have to pay for too many mince pies.
THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CARBOHYDRATES Let’s have a quick recap on the different
types of carbohydrate and their effects on body composition. Carbohydrates have different rates of
absorption and hence their ability to produce an insulin spike which can lead to fat storage. Familiarise yourself with the commonly
consumed carbohydrates and their glycemic index (GI). Glucose (sugar) has a high GI (ie it is absorbed very quickly) and broccoli has a low GI. You should also be familiar with the different classes of carbohydrate: Starchy (potatoes, rice, bread, pasta), starch proteins (beans, lentils, chickpeas, quinuoa) and fibrous carbohydrates (vegetables such as broccoli cauliflower, cabbage and cauliflower). Different carbohydrates have different
levels of energy density, with starchy carbohydrates having the highest energy density and fibrous carbs the lowest. Understanding this basic nutritional principle is the most important point for managing your weight on an ongoing basis.
PRINCIPLES TO ADHERE TO High glycemic carbohydrates should
Understanding basic principles such as the difference between starchy carbohydrates (potatoes, left) and starch proteins (chick peas, right) is important
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