After a football workout what should you eat? | Exercise.com Learn: Your Fitness Business Resource

After a football workout what should you eat?

Tyler Spraul is the director of UX and the head trainer for Exercise.com. He has his Bachelor of Science degree in pre-medicine and is an NSCA-certified strength and conditioning specialist. He is a former All-American soccer player and still coaches soccer today. In his free time, he enjoys reading, learning, and living the dad life. He has been featured in Shape, Healthline, HuffPost, Women's...

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UPDATED: Aug 25, 2020

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  • A combination of carbs and protein is needed after a football workout.
  • By eating a combination of vitamins, minerals, fats, and proteins, you can help your body to heal any overused tendons or sore muscles.
  • Some of the best foods to consume include whey protein, high nutrient veggies, nuts, fish, or lean meat.

A combination of carbs and protein is needed after a football workout.

Those nasty white carbohydrates that you avoid at all other times are perfect because they will allow your muscles to recover more quickly.

Protein, on the other hand, will deliver nutrients in a slow and steady manner to help your muscles in the long term.

It is important to remember, though, that food not only fills the stomach, it also helps to speed up any repairs or healing the body needs to do.

Read on for a complete understanding of the best types of foods and a combination of nutrients to keep you going after an intense workout, and sign up for an Exercise.com PRO plan for access to tailored workout routines, training logs, goal trackers, and more.

What Combo of Nutrients Is Best After a Football Workout?

By eating a combination of vitamins, minerals, fats, and proteins, you can help your body to heal any overused tendons or sore muscles.

Each and every part of the human body needs some sort of nutrition after a hard football workout program.

If the cells do not get all that they require, over a period of time, parts of the body will decline. This leaves them open to injuries, such as sprains and muscle pulls. Therefore, besides icing when needed and stretching your muscles, it is important to eat the right type of healing foods as well.

What Are the Best Foods After a Football Workout?

Some of the best foods to consume include:

  • Whey Protein
  • High Nutrient Veggies
  • Nuts
  • Fish or Lean Meat

One mere red or orange bell pepper can give you as much as 400% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C. This vitamin is necessary for helping to repair cartilage and connective tissue. In addition, it helps to form collagen, which is important in building scar tissue, new bone cells, and blood vessels. Overall, vitamin C helps aid in healing. Other noteworthy vitamin C-rich foods include papaya, oranges, and cantaloupe.

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What Type of Fish or Lean Meat Is Good After a Football Workout?

Over the last decade, salmon has become highly touted for many good reasons. Whether it is canned or fresh, it delivers very important healing properties in omega-3 fatty acids and protein.

Protein is excellent for rebuilding muscles, helping to repair bones, tendons, and ligaments. A great number of nutritionists have begun to recommend football players eat protein at each and every meal, particularly right before a big game.

Additionally, those athletes who are injured in some way should try to eat up to five servings of salmon, lean turkey, or egg whites per day. Of the three, however, salmon is the most recommended, since it has twice as many essential fatty acids for every four-ounce serving. In fact, every time you eat fish that ­­is high in omega-3 fatty acids or you take supplements, it is like throwing an enormous bucket of super cold water on a smoldering fire.

As far as injuries go, inflammation happens when waste builds up around an injury. This can inhibit the healing process. What is nice about omega-3 fatty acids is that they actually help to filter out and remove the waste matter and promote the healing process, which is especially helpful for anything from a stress fracture to a sore muscle. Other natural foods that are rich in protein, as well as omega-3 fatty acids, are walnuts, mackerel, flaxseeds.

What Other Veggies Are Good After a Football Workout?

For a powerful measure of vitamin A, eat some carrots! A half-cup provides almost 350% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A. Carrots and vitamin A are famous for staving off infection with the help of white blood cells.

In fact, you may not believe that tendonitis can cause an infection, but the human body doesn’t take chances and activates your immune system at any sign of risk. This makes the demand for vitamin A even greater. For this reason, it is important to have vitamin A in your diet every day. Other healthful food products that have a high amount of vitamin A include spinach, sweet potatoes, and dried apricots.

Should I Eat Any Grains, Bread or Cereals After a Football Workout?

Yes, a good balance of carbs with your proteins if ideal. Many healing foods tend to be the highest in zinc, but too often have a great deal of saturated fat. For this reason, it is important to look for zinc in other places. Enter the fortified cereal.

When the body has been overexerted or injured in some way eating all whole-grain, fortified cereal can help to deliver as much as 100% of the recommended daily allowance. Zinc by itself cannot repair injuries. However, it does help fats and proteins to do the job.

One word of caution: too much zinc can suppress your immune system and lower your HDL cholesterol level. Other foods that are rich in zinc include pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and shellfish.

What About Nuts After a Football Workout?

One little ounce of almonds (about 20 of them) can give you almost 50% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin E. Vitamin E is an antioxidant, which helps to support your immune system by counteracting the free radicals in the body. Just like sunflower seeds and hazelnuts, almonds can also give you healthy and useful unsaturated fats which are necessary for building healthy cells. Other foods that are rich in vitamin E include vegetable oil, peanut butter, and avocados.

Keep in mind that you want to load up on carbs before your workout, and then balance carbs and proteins afterward. Add in a good balance of healing nutrients for muscle recovery, and you have the ideal post-football workout diet.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How many calories should I eat?

How many calories you should eat depends on a number of factors. To get a rough estimate, check out this article.

What is bulking? What is cutting?

Bulking and cutting are techniques used by bodybuilders to grow muscle and shed fat. Bulking requires eating in a surplus while weight training in order to build muscle. Cutting requires eating in a caloric deficit to shed body fat in order to “expose” the muscle built during the bulking phase.

Do I have to bulk? Do I have to cut?

No. Unless you are a professional bodybuilder, you do not have to bulk or cut to lead a healthy, happy lifestyle.

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