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INTRODUCTION

Eating well is a very important condition to have success as an athlete. Most

levels of sport are really competitive and because of this a good preparation is
needed in every level both for preventing injuries and enhancing performance. It is
known that nutrition knowledge is essential to improve the performance level in elite
athletes. The availability of carbohydrate is also very important as many practices
impose a great cost of energy to the athletes thus they need to be well prepared
(Steiner et al, 2003; Roy, 2008).
Knowing what are the best elements for a good sports diet is something both
athletes and coaches should rely on because having a good nutrition can be a factor
that determines whether the athlete wins or not. Only having a good nutrition is not
enough to be a champion but having a bad nutrition certainly is something that
impedes the athlete to succeed.
In terms of sports coaching studies have shown that still there is a great
number of coaches that do not are familiarized with nutrition and this may happen
because of their qualification did not have any relation to nutritional aspects.
However on the other hand coaches that had a certain amount of qualification and
were accordingly prepared could have a bigger and positive impact on the athletes
performance by giving the right advices and directions (Zinn, Schofield and Wall,
2006).

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ATHLETES BACK GROUND
The athlete is a rugby player that play as a prop. Props normally are the
biggest athletes in rugby and as they play in the first row they have very specific
skills like rucking more than the most of players and playing in the scrum which is an
action that requires a lot of energy during a short specific period of time. In terms of
energy sources the game of rugby is a very dynamic sport and for this reason the
athletes are supposed to use the aerobic sources as well as the anaerobic sources
because there is a lot of movement and recovering. Such moving as kicking or
rucking are performed in a really quick way and the anaerobic system is responsible
for them. However as the game lasts for more than one hour the aerobic system is
responsible for promoting the recovery and restoring the athlete's energy (Pook,
2012).
The athlete is on a process of losing weight and because of this is taking a
supplement which is supposed to replace the meals and therefore help the athlete to
lose weight. The athlete's diet is being based on supplement that provides 201kcal,
14.9g protein, carbohydrates 23.5g and fat 3.6g. However this is not the only thing
the athlete is taking, fruits are used as a source of energy and once a week the
athlete is having a free day in which another food can be eaten.

Table 1
Calories Intake by day
Day/ kcal
Carbs
Pro
Fat
1
420.8 126.4
66.6
2
386
131.2
67.5
3
980.4 250.8 331.2
4
295.2 122.4
64.8
5
836.4 217.2
92.7
6
860.4 257.2 470.7
7
497.6 119.2
64.8

total
613.8
584.7
1562.4
482.4
1146.3
1588.3
681.6
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The athlete is practicing a lot of running during this diet period and is not
practicing rugby with the team. So most of the activities is being held on the
treadmill. There are two session per day of 60 minutes of light moderate effort on the
treadmill. Therefore the athletes expenditure in running per day is around 1080
calories which most of the days is more than what is eaten by the athlete and for this
reason there should be an improvement on the weight loss.
However when working with rugby some aspects should be highlighted in
relation to losing weight. The main objective should be losing fat and avoid losing
muscle. The athlete needs to stay alert to do not lose too much weight at one time.
To lose weight in a safe and objective way the amount of 1 kg per week seems to be
very effective because losing more than this may affect the athlete's lean body mass
and this is not good for a rugby player (Sheryn, 2004).

Table 2
Average of Calories by day
Carbos
Protein
Fat
Calories
Average
Percentage

610.9
64%

174.9
19%

165.4
17%

Total
951.3

The percentage of macronutrients that were consumed by the athlete is a

slightly wrong. The

right percentage for rugby players according to Bompa and

Claro (2009) is 60% to 65% of carbohydrates, 20% to 25 % of fats and 10% to 15%
of protein. But according to the athletes diet the percentages of protein and fats are
wrong. As the athlete has 17% of fats in the diet and this means that the intake of
fats is being lower than what should be expected. And the intake of protein is being
too high because the diet shows that the player has consumed around 19% of
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protein which is not needed at that amount. All this number are in this way mostly
because of the supplement that has being the base of the athlete's nutrition.
DIRECTIONS TO THE ATHLETE
There are some methods to maintain the level of fat lower and control the
weight:

Use jam or honey instead of butter or margarine.

Instead of frying food use the microwave, grill or bake the food.

Remove all the skin from the poultry.

Reduce the intake of pastry products and eat them the minimum.

Eat low fat dairy products like yoghurt and cheese and avoid the full
fat products.

As now the athlete is in a diet to lose weight the amount of fat consumed
seems to be very low, however as we analyse the athlete weight it is clear that some
changes in the diet should happen. So the athlete could change the supplement and
start eating real food and follow the instructions to avoid eating too much fat.

NUTRITION IN RUGBY

CARBOHYDRATES
Carbohydrates are very important for the muscles to work and as rugby is a
such muscular and physical game this group of food should be seeing as essential
and should take most part of the diet as well. The carbohydrates when consumed
are transformed in glucose and then take place into the blood to be used as source
of energy or may be storage in form of glycogen to future action. There is no such
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big space to store glycogen and for this reason the levels of glucose should be
supplied frequently. If there is a lack or low levels of storage there is a big risk of
injuries and decrease of performance.
According to Meussen and Watson (2012) one important function of
consuming carbohydrate is to fuel the Central Nervous System as it needs
carbohydrates to work properly and this may be very important for the athlete's
cognitive functions as well as coordination.
There is a very large range of carbohydrate sources are bread, rice, fruits,
pasta, noodles, cereals and vegetables.

PROTEIN
Protein is important in rugby because it helps the players to recover from the
physical demand of the games because protein builds muscle and rugby players are
always in constant contact during the games or practicing in weight sessions which
produces muscle damage as well. Another good aspect of consuming protein is that
it can help players to prevent injuries and sickness because protein can improve the
health and immune system. (Campbell et al, 2007).
Energy production is not the main goal for protein but it can be used as a
source of energy when there is no enough glycogen stored. However must be
highlighted that protein should not be used as the main source of energy for rugby
players.
Rugby players tend to require a different amount of protein but is not easy to
consume so much protein by eating only normal food and for this reason is common
that players take supplements to increase their intake of protein. The most common

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supplement used for this purpose is the Whey Protein which can be found as a
powder.
Protein from animal sources normally are considered the better for a sports
diet and can be found in chesses, chicken breast, milk, eggs, fishes like haddock,
salmon and tuna. However protein can be found as well from vegetal sources for
example kidney beans, lentil soup, peanut butter, hummus and tofu.
FAT
Fat is a very concentrated source of energy that provides two times more
calories than carbohydrates and protein. Athletes should be aware that consuming to
much fat can be bad for their health as fat excess can lead to heart diseases and
other major issues because unlike carbohydrate that have a small space to be stored
fat has always a available place to be stored (Sheryn, 2004).
Some of the secondary roles of fat is that they are important for
psychological functions in the body and that

fat is the material for the cells

membrane (The American Dietetic Association, 2009).

Sources of fat are: Oils, fish, butter, margarine and eggs.

TIMING
PRE ACTIVITY MEAL
Pook (2012) says that a player should be aware of what eating about two
days before a match because in this way the body will prepared to store a glycogen
in a most effective way for the match. In the day of the match the athlete should eat
the main meal about three or four hours before the match starts. The meal should be
based in carbohydrates and protein, fat should be avoided as it will require a lot of

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work for the body to digest it. Minutes before a match fruits can be consumed if the
athlete is still hungry .

DURING ACTIVITY MEAL

Rugby is a really tough sport and for this reason a lot energy is spent during
the game. However according to Bompa and Claro (2009) the most important aspect
of nutrition during a rugby match is hydration. Proper hydration is crucial for a good
performance in rugby and players should drinking a little every time they have a
chance to avoid dehydration. By the half time some carbohydrate gel may be
consumed research says that mixing carbohydrate with protein in a ration that 80%
carbohydrates to 20% protein seems to improve performance (Kerksick et al, 2008).
But the main focus still should be hydration.

POST ACTIVITY MEAL

A good way to recover a rugby player after a workout session is using both a
drink supplement together with a high carbohydrate/ protein meal. Only the meal
itself is not enough effective because it takes a long time to digest all the food while
the drink is excellent for fast digestion. On the other hand the high carbohydrate and
protein meal would be good for the next meal not right after the exercise and this
may help in the recovery of the athlete (Price, 2006).
CONCLUSION
The athlete is doing well in the diet however there are some issues that
should be solved like changing the supplement for real food because having only the
supplement as a source of energy is not healthy and not good for performance when
the athlete comes back to practice with the team.

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Other points as timing should be implemented in the diet when the athlete
starts to practice again for eating at the right time may have benefits for the
performance and recovery.
Another good aspect is the weight loss process the athlete should be careful
with the amount of weight lost. Losing more than one kilogram a week is not healthy
and may lead to illness and decrease of performance.

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FOOD PLAN
Day

Food
Asda Meal replacement
2 apples
Asda Meal replacement
Grape Juice
total
3 apples
Asda Meal replacement
Asda Meal replacement
total
Asda Meal replacement
200g pasta
Asda Meal replacement
Snicker bar
total
Asda Meal replacement
Asda Meal replacement
Grape Juice
total
Asda Meal replacement
200g pasta
Asda Meal replacement
1 apple
total
Asda Meal replacement
Big Mac Meal
Asda Meal replacement
1 apple
total
Asda Meal replacement
600ml Coca cola
Asda Meal replacement
total

Carbs (g)
24.7
31.4
24.7
24.4
105.2
47.1
24.7
24.7
96.5
24.7
144
24.7
51.7
245.1
24.7
24.7
24.4
73.8
24.7
144
24.7
15.7
209.1
24.7
150
24.7
15.7
215.1
24.7
75
24.7
124.4

Protein (g)
14.9
1
14.9
0.8
31.6
3
14.9
14.9
32.8
14.9
24
14.9
8.9
62.7
14.9
14.9
0.8
30.6
14.9
24
14.9
0.5
54.3
14.9
34
14.9
0.5
64.3
14.9
0
14.9
29.8

Fat (g)
3.6
0.2
3.6
0
7.4
0.3
3.6
3.6
7.5
3.6
3
3.6
26.6
36.8
3.6
3.6
0
7.2
3.6
3
3.6
0.1
10.3
3.6
45
3.6
0.1
52.3
3.6
0
3.6
7.2

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REFERENCES
Pook, P. (2012). Complete Conditioning for rugby. United Kingdom: Human Kinetics.
Meeusen, R., Watson, P. (2012) Nutrition, the brain and prolonged exercise in
Jeukendrup, A (ed) Sport Nutrition: From Lab to Kitchen. 2nd edition. Maidenhead:
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Zinn, C., Schofield G., Wall, G. (2006). Evaluation of sports nutrition knowledge of
New Zealand premier club rugby coaches.. International Journal of Sport Nutrition
and Exercise Metabolism. 16 (2), 214-225
Campbell, B., Kreirder, R., Ziegenfuss, T., Roberts, M., Burke, D., Landis, J., Lopez,
H and Antonio, J.(2007) International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand:
protein and exercise, Journal of the International Society of Sport Nutrition, 4:8.
The American Dietetic Association. (2009).Position of the american dietetic
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Steiner, M.,Barton, R., Singh, S., Morgan, M.. (2003). Nutritional enhancement of
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Roy, B. (2008). Milk: the new sports drink? A Review. Journal of the International
Society of Sports Nutrition. 5 (15).
Price, R. (2006). The ultimate guide to weight training for rugby. Chicago: Price
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Kerksick, C., Harvey, T., Stout, J., Campbell, B. Wilborn, C., Kreider, R., Kalman, D.,
Ziegenfuss, T., Lopez, H., Landin, J., Ivy, J and Antonio, J. (2008) International
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Bompa, T.,Claro, F. (2009). Periodization in Rugby. Maidenhead: Meyer and meyer
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Sheryn, C. (2004). Rugby for real. London: AC Black. 180.

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