SOCCER

How to Carbohydrate Load

 

What is Carbohydrate Loading?

Carbohydrate is the main fuel a soccer player uses during exercise. Carbohydrate loading includes a special diet and training program. By carbohydrate loading, you temporarily trick your body into storing as much as two times the normal amount of carbohydrate in your muscles. This can be helpful for endurance athletes.

 

Who Should Carbohydrate Load?

Normally your muscles can store only enough carbohydrate to keep the body moving for about two hours.  So athletes competing in events lasting more than 1 1/2 hours may benefit from carbohydrate loading.  Carbohydrate loading may help in: cross-country skiing, distance running, distance swimming, long-distance cycling, soccer, triathlons, and tournament tennis.

Carbohydrate loading offers no advantage to athletes in short events. (like sprints) or stop-and-start events such
as volleyball, football, or basketball. 

 

How do you Carbohydrate Load?

Carbohydrate loading is a training and diet plan that last six days. The training portion has three parts:

 

• A long, hard training session that lowers the carbohydrate in your muscles six days before competition.
  
• Four days of tapered training--where you cut back your workouts to one-half to one-fourth of your usual time.
  
• One day of rest to allow your muscles to store carbohydrate.
  
  

The diet has two parts:

• The Modified Training Diet is eaten on the day of the long, hard training and during the next two days of moderate training.
  
• The Carbohydrate Loading Diet is eaten for three days before the event.
  
  

How does Carbohydrate Loading Work?

The three days of training combined with the Modified Training Diet use up the carbohydrate stores in the muscles. Next you take a rest from training and start eating the Carbohydrate Loading Diet. This will help you store as much as two times more carbohydrate than normal in your muscles.

Carbohydrate loading depends on working the training and diet schedules together correctly.

 

CARBOHYDRATE LOADING PLAN

Day     Training  Diet  6   90 minutes  Modified Training Diet  5  40 minutes   Modified Training Diet  4   40 minutes  Modified Training Diet  3   20 minutes   Carbohydrate Loading Diet  2  20 minutes  Carbohydrate Loading Diet  1  Rest   Carbohydrate Loading Diet  0  Competition   Pre-competition meal

 

Are there any problems with Carbohydrate Loading?

 

You will gain weight. This is due to water being held in the muscle with the extra carbohydrate. The weight gain may vary.

(You can "see" if you're storing carbohydrate by weighing yourself while carbohydrate loading).

REMEMBER

Carbohydrate loading will only benefit athletes in endurance events lasting 90 minutes or longer.