Rugby

Playing any physical demanding sport such as rugby places the body under unnatural stress. It is important to follow a good dietary regime in order to fuel the body efficiently and to maximise recovery. Most sports people have the belief that only weight training places such demands but they could not be further from the truth. When you consider how long a training session or rugby match can last then the body is certainly thrown out of its normal functioning parameters.

Divide your daily food intake into 5-6 meals
To ensure the body is fuelled efficiently and your metabolism functions optimally you should aim to eat 5-6 meals a day spacing your meals every 3 hours. Ensure each meal provides good quality food source delivering complex carbohydrates (for fuel), protein (for maintenance/repair/strengthening of muscles) and essential fats known as EFA’s (promoting/maintaining optimum health).

Consume ample protein from a variety of protein sources
If you’re dietary nutrition is deficient, performance and recovery will be impaired. Protein is very important for the maintenance, recovery and strengthening of the body’s muscles. It is not just weight training that causes muscle break down, any physically demanding sport does this. To help muscles recover from such demands it is important to supply ample protein steadily through out the day. Good source’s of protein come from chicken, turkey, fish, beef (lean cuts), pork, eggs and low fat cheese such as cottage cheese. CNP Professional protein supplements such as Pro Peptide, Pro M.R. Pro Dessert, and Protein Slams are an ideal, convenient and delicious way to supply the body with very high quality protein.
Certain positions in rugby require a greater amount of bodyweight than others. For those who wish to increase their bodyweight an increased calorie intake is necessary.  To increase muscular body weight it is important to deliver calories in the form of high quality protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats. Pro Mass is an ideal, convenient and delicious way to add such calories to your diet.

Improve Recovery
Maximise recovery immediately after a training session or match. The body’s energy levels will have been severely depleted and your muscles will be in a state of breakdown, known as a catabolic condition. It is important to replace lost nutrients and speed up the recovery process, by delivering fast acting proteins and carbohydrates in an easy digestible form. CNP Professional’s Pro-Recover provides easy digestible high quality protein to help repair muscle tissue and carbohydrates to restore the body’s energy levels.

Strengthen joints and connective tissue
Injuries occur with many people who participate in contact sports, whether muscular or joint related. This is why it is essential a good diet is implemented providing sufficient protein vital for the repair, strengthening of muscle tissue and help speed up recovery of any injuries sustained. It is not only the body’s muscles that need to be strengthened but also joints, tendons and ligaments which come under tremendous stress when playing a sport such as rugby. In fact an injury to these areas can be much more problematic than sustaining a muscular injury. Pro-Tect contains collagen and glucosamine which are ingredients proven to help protect and strengthen joints.

Increase explosive power and endurance
Creatine is a supplement proven to increase strength and power in sports athletes. A study was conducted demonstrating the positive benefits of creatine supplementation with football players. Creatine will certainly benefit rugby payers. For details of the study click here.

The following CNP Professional products all contain creatine:Pro Creatine E2, Pro G.F. NOx and Pro Creatine.

Imagine feeling less tired and being able to delay the onset of fatigue, now wouldn’t that improve your game and performance? Of course it would! Beta Alanine is a supplement that can improve performance, increase endurance, reduce fatigue and aid recovery. Beta Alanine can be found in Protein Slam and Pro-GF NOx. For further details on beta Alanine click here.

Strengthen your immune system
Glutamine is an amino acid with numerous benefits. Studies have shown glutamine reduces vulnerability to infections after prolonged exercise. Supplementing with Pro Glutamine will help improve recovery and immune function. For details of study proving benefits of glutamine click here
http://www.springerlink.com/content/n4n042344jt6261n/ 

Protein, Carbohydrates and fats are classed as Macronutrients and need Micronutrients (vitamins/minerals) to do their job properly. The body needs vitamins and minerals for maintaining a healthy profile, immune system and is vital for optimum recovery and growth. Fresh fruit and vegetables are a good natural source but many will not consume enough to cover the demands that an athlete requires. Pro Vital is a unique AM/PM vitamin & mineral formula, that will ensue virtually all requirements are fully met and provide additional anti-oxidants and ZMA. The importance of vitamins and minerals cannot be stressed enough, but is often overlooked and dismissed by many.

Drink plenty of water daily
Water is the most abundant and important nutrient in the body. Water aids the digestion/absorption of food and removes toxins/waste from the body. Research has proven that even a slight state of dehydration impairs performance dramatically, so being hydrated will assist in optimum performance. Aim to drink at least 3 litres of water a day.

Get plenty of rest
Make sure a good diet is consistently followed daily and you get plenty of rest to allow maximum recovery. 

Here is an example of how a diet may look.

Meal 1. (breakfast)
Cup of porridge oats with a small amount of honey made with water. 3 egg whites with one yolk. If you feel you need more protein you could have a 1 scoop of Pro Peptide or a Protein Slam.
Pro Vital AM capsules & tablet

Meal 2.
Chicken, turkey, fish, pork fillet or Lean steak (fillet) with a cup of rice or baked potato with green veg.

Meal 3.
Tuna in brine or Chicken salad sandwich made with granary/wholemeal bread.

Meal 4.
Chicken, turkey, fish, pork fillet or Lean steak (fillet) with a cup of rice or baked potato with green veg.

Meal 5.
As meal 1, 2, 3 or 4.
Pro Vital PM capsule & tablet

Eat 2-3 pieces of oily fish a week to ensure you get an adequate supply EFA’s (essential fatty acids) into your diet.

Have 2-3 pieces of fruit a day.

Eat 2-3 pieces of oily fish a week to provide EFA’s (essential fatty acids) into your diet. If you do not like fish, simply add daily some nuts into your diet or CNP Professional’s EFA (essential fatty acid) blend Pro Lipid.

Pro-MR – Is a high protein meal replacement that can replace any of the above meals.

How much to eat is the biggest question that gets asked and the simplest way to find out is to weigh yourself once a week on the same scales at the same time. Ideal time to obtain your true body weight would be to weigh yourself first thing in the morning before breakfast. If your weight (on the scales) stays the same then you are on maintenance calories and if you want to lose weight cut back on the carbohydrates (less energy) and if you wish to gain weight increase your food slightly in the form of protein and carbohydrates.