How to Get Bigger for Football
How to Get Bigger for Football
How to Get Bigger for Football
How to Eat to Gain Weight and Get Bigger for Football and for Maximum Football Performance
Getting bigger for football is not complicated, despite what you've heard.
When it comes to gaining weight, football players are completely clueless about nutrition. Sure, they read about training and usually put that stuff into practice. But, the topic of what to how to eat for increased performance or to gain muscle for football seems to send them into hiding faster than the promise of a dozen gassers.
I was woken up at 7am to the following text message the other morning:
"Yo, I ate peanut butter, jelly and some wheat bread for breakfast. I did good right?"
What a way to start my day.
The text was from my friend/trainee, Roeder. This is a guy I played football with for over 7 years. He's trained under me for long periods of time over those same 7 years. Recently, he fell off the football training map and gained about 50lbs. It's not pretty.
So, he asked me to re-train him. His text, while aggravatingly early and misguided, served as a wicked reminder that most football players are our of their minds when it comes to what to eat. This is a guy with significant experience. If he's this confused, no wonder I get the never ending parade of emails from nutritionally-challenged 15-year olds.
Now, I'm no fancy big-city Nutrition Expertbut, I'm pretty sure I can figure out what to eat to do things like run faster, jump higher, lift more, tackle harder. In fact, I have over 28-years eating experience.
The whole concept of nutrition has been made extremely complex by some supplement companies, the media, and people selling diet books.
However, eating to increase football performance (and really, for pretty much any sport) is surprisingly simple. Follow these 3 Simple Rules for Gaining Weight and Getting Bigger for Football:
1. Eat a Lot of Quality Protein
It's been called by some "The athlete's best friend." Other's have blamed it for kidney failure and kidney stones. What's the truth? Do athletes really need high protein intakes? How much is enough?
Protein is the building block of muscle (muscle is essentially protein and water). Without enough of the building block, you are not going to grow. Protein is an essential nutrient, without it, you would be in for a slew of health problems.
How much is enough? That's debatable, but as a hard training athlete, you should be aiming for 1gram of protein per LB of bodyweight. So, if you weight 200lbs, eat 200g/protein. Remember, this is just your starting point. During football camp, you many need to increase the amount. And, during an off week, you can bring it down a bit. Don't go to the extreme on either endeating 5g/lb is not going to make you any bigger; there is a point of diminishing returns. If you stick to 1 1.5g/lb, you will be way ahead of the competition.
Where can you find high-quality protein? Well, whey protein scores highest in use-ability in the body. But, whey is best used as a supplement, not as your base.
Foods like eggs, milk, cheese, chicken, turkey, pork, duck, beef, fish, buffalo, venison, cottage cheese, yogurt, and even foods like natural peanut butter are great sources of protein.
When you base your meals around getting a good portion of protein foods, meeting your daily requirement is not very difficult, especially if you supplement with protein shakes.
While we're on the subject of supplements, please understand that supplements are just that.they supplement your meals. They are not a magic bullet. No one protein supplement is going to turn you into a hulk or the MVP of the Super Bowl. If you want to try protein supplements, find one that you can afford and tastes good. It's that simple. Don't fall for the bells and whistles and the sales hype. Just get a good, quality whey or milk protein and you will be fine. I like Optimum, IronTek and Muscle Milk, but find what you like.
Limit Junk Food, Especially In-Season
No one loves junk food more than me. I love to eat a bag of oreos and a giant Hershey bar as much as the next health nut. But, this is not the stuff you want to eat before practice or games.
That last sentence seems absurd. However, I can't tell you the number of times I've seen a high school football player walking to practice eating Doritos. They then puke and run out of gas half way through and can't figure out why.
Yes, sometimes we need to eat a lot to maintain during the season. Three hour practices in full pads and a game on the weekend has a tendency to burn a calorie or two. This does not mean that you should just eat crap to make up for it. With all the great protein supplements and "weight gainers" today, you have no need to supplement your diet with potato chips in-season.
This brings me to my favorite people in the worldthe Lineman. Yes, yes, we need to be big and strong. However, some of the diets I've seen you guys eat are beyond awful. Being big doesn't mean being a big slob. Lineman need good footwork and the ability to pass block and pull. If you're a D-lineman and haven't noticed the trend towards big but lean lineman, you're going to be left in the dust.
2. Eat Your Vegetables with Every Meal
Sometimes I feel like I'm coaching 5-year olds.
Is it really so hard to just eat some damn green foods? I've had college football players almost cry when I tell them they need to eat more vegetables. What the hell went on in their childhoods that they're afraid of asparagus?
Vegetables help in countless ways. Fiber, vitamins, water content, positive acid/base balance, joint health are just a few advantages.
This is so simple, just eat one or two vegetables with each meal. Use the green ones as your base and then add colors.
Spinach
Broccoli
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Tomato
Peppers
You get the point.
Bill Romanowski tells a story about how, during his college football days, he'd drive out to the docks at 5am to pick out the freshest vegetables and fruit so that he'd perform at the top of his game. My kinda guy.
3. To Gain Weight for Football, Embrace Fats, Use Carbs Sparingly
The topic of eating healthy fats is worthy of volumes of books. But, in short let me say this: eat fat.
Concentrate on these:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Natural Peanut Butter
Almonds and walnuts
Fish Oil
Krill Oil
Flax Oil
Coconut Oil
Eggs
Fats like Fish, Flax and Krill oils need to be taken in supplement form and can help reduce inflammation. If, after playing football for any length of time, you don't feel that reducing inflammation during the season isn't important, you obviously don't see playing time much. I realize that taking fish oil is boring compared to No7-F X-plosive Swole, but one reduces soreness and joint pain and one gives you expensive pee.
For those who freak when you see that Coconut oil is mostly saturated fat, relax. Not only is it good for you, it'll help build testosterone.
As for carbsforget em. You'll get plenty from vegetables, the few in your protein shakes, and just in the general course of eating.
This idea that football players need to load up on pancakes and pasta before a game is stupid. We are not endurance athletes. Frankly, I've played both ways, every play (except special teams, those guys are insane) for a full 3-hr game while eating less than 30g of carbs. Fat is the better source of fuel. Leave the carbs to the cross country boys.
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