Softball Nutrition Tips to Perform at Your Best!
by Marc Dagenais
Here are a few softball nutrition tips to be at your best on the field:
- Drink a lot of water. You’ve heard that hundreds of time for a good reason: water does wonder to the body. You should always carry a bottle of water with you. As a rule of thumb, try to have at least 7-8 glasses of water a day.
- Coffee increases alertness. Every sports nutritionist will tell you that coffee dehydrates and that it should be consumed in moderation. However, taken in moderation, coffee can help you increase performance because it increases your alertness. Sharp alertness is crucial to react quickly defensively or read the trajectory of a pitch and decide whether or not you want to swing at it when you are at the plate.
- Don’t over do energy drinks like Red Bull; they are quick fixes. Try not to become dependant. They are full of chemicals that your body doesn’t like.
- Go for Sports drinks like Gatorade and Powerade. They are designed for athletes and have been engineered not only to hydrate but also to provide real energy (carbohydrates) and replace electrolytes. You should definitely consider taking sports drinks especially if you are going to quite active for more than 90 minutes.
- Never go hungry! Softball requires mental sharpness, alertness and quick judgment to perform. Your brain lives off blood glucose exclusively. Blood glucose is sugar or carbohydrates circulating in your bloodstreams. When you are hungry, your blood glucose is low which means that you have a low functioning brain and reduced mental sharpness, alertness and judgment. This is especially important when you play several games in a day. Make sure to feed yourself on a regular basis.
- Coffee, sodas, juice and tea don’t count! As you know, you need to keep yourself well-hydrated and these drinks won’t do it as they more are likely to do the exact opposite: dehydrate you. To stay well-hydrated, rely on water and sports drinks.
- Juice up your performance. The simple act of juicing will take your physical performance to another level. Eight ounces of vegetable juice a day is the simplest, most cost-effective and powerful way to boost your health nutritionally. The best part is that even if you don’t eat all your veggies every day, you can just drink them in five minutes!
- Eat something right after you exercise. You should always eat something within 15-30 minutes of the end of your workouts, practices, and games. Doing so will accelerate your recovery because at that time, your body is starving for energy and nutrients to recover and regenerate itself. Choose high-quality foods. A mix of complex carbohydrates and protein is the ideal.
Nutrition really does make a difference when you play lots of game in a short period of time...
