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Congratulations, Your Sports Season Has Begun.

By Phil Eich

Chances are you started off excited and eager to start practices and competition, but the quality of a true
athlete is the ability to maintain that excitement and eagerness from the beginning of the season to the end.

One of the biggest factors determining that excitement is how you’re performing on the field, and in order to
perform your best you need to be recovering from practices and games as well as possible.

Sleep

Training breaks the body down so it can build itself back up stronger. One of the primary ways it does this
is through sleep. Getting enough sleep will increase energy, improve reaction times, decrease injury, and
minimize the chances of mental errors during performance. It will also help balance hormones in the body
and improve the immune system, decreasing the chances of getting sick.

How much is enough? Studies show anywhere from 7-10 hours of sleep being beneficial for athletes. Gen-
erally speaking, more is better. Although this might seem difficult to fit into a schedule, you can start out
small by making the sleep you do get better. Turning off your phone an hour before bed and not consuming
anything with caffeine after noon can make you sleep better, making sure the sleep you do get is the best
kind of sleep.

The next step would be to move to an earlier bedtime. It doesn’t have to be anything drastic, even a half
hour or one hour can make a huge impact on how you feel and your performance on the field.

Nutrition

Training requires energy, and energy requires calories. How many calories? It depends on your age, gen-
der, current weight and activity level. For example, if you’re a 15 year old, 150lbs male playing a very active
sport, you’ll need about 3000 calories per day to maintain your current energy level. There are many differ-
ent strategies for sports nutrition, but a simple one is to eat .5g-1g of protein per pound of bodyweight per
day, about .25g of fat per pound of bodyweight, and then fill the rest of your calories with carbohydrates.

Consistency

Sleep and good nutrition are only effective if they’re consistently a part of your athletic life. Sleeping five
hours a night and not eating enough food all week, and then doing a “carbo load” the night before a game
doesn’t help you or your team. You can’t “cram” recovery.

Improve your sleeping and eating habits consistently, and you’ll see a huge impact to your performance at
practice and during competition.
Joe Stewart, MSW, CF-L2, USAW L2
Owner
Mission 1 Fitness LLC
1900A W. Caro Rd.
Caro, MI 48723
(989) 553-1044
www.missiononefitness.com
Mission 1 Apparel
www.mission1apparel.com

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