Nutritional Intake and Training Load of Professional Female Football Players during a Mid-Season Microcycle

Abstract

Football (soccer) is a high-intensity intermittent sport with large energy demands. In a repeated-measures design, we analysed the nutritional intake and training load of fourteen female football players (22.50 ± 4.38 y; 57.23 ± 8.61 kg; 164 ± 6.00 cm; 18.33 ± 2.48% of fat mass and 23.71 ± 2.51 kg of muscle mass) competing in the highest female Football Portuguese League across a typical mid-season microcycle. The microcycle had one match day (MD), one recovery session (two days after the MD, MD+2), three training sessions (MD-3, MD-2, MD-1) and two rest days (MD+1). Energy intake and CHO (g.kg.BW−1) intake were lower on the days before the competition (MD+2, MD-3, MD-2 and MD-1 vs. MD; p < 0.05; ES: 0.60–1.30). Total distance, distance covered at high-speed running (HSRD) and the high metabolic distance load (HMLD) were lower on MD+2, MD-3 and MD-1 compared with MD (p < 0.05; ES: <0.2–5.70). The internal training load was lower in all training sessions before the competition (MD+2, MD-3, MD-2 and MD-1 vs. MD; p ≤ 0.01; ES: 1.28–5.47). Despite the small sample size and a single assessment in time, the results suggest that caloric and CHO intake were below the recommendations and were not structured based on the physical requirements for training sessions or match days.

The quantification of daily carbohydrate periodization among endurance athletes during 12 weeks of self-selected training: presentation of a novel Carbohydrate Periodization Index

“…Prior to this study, knowledge of the day-to-day dietary periodization practices of athletes has largely been limited to questionnaires [9–12], case studies [13, 14], and short-duration (∼7-d) observations of endurance [15] and team-sport [36–38] athletes. Longer-duration observational studies can help answer questions that would not be feasible to study in a controlled laboratory environment.…”

“…This study provides novel data on the self-selected dietary intake of endurance athletes across Prior to this study, knowledge of the day-to-day dietary periodization practices of athletes has largely been limited to questionnaires [9][10][11][12], case studies [13,14], and short-duration (~7-d) observations of endurance [15] and team-sport [36][37][38] athletes. Longer-duration observational…”